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The driver looked at him admiringly and nodded. “I wish he could come, too,” she said, winking at Katrina, making her laugh. “But he probably wants to have his car, am I right, daddy?”
“Right. I’ll be right behind you.”
“Stop and get some dinner, sir. It takes us about fifteen minutes to get settled in the truck before we leave. There’s a fast-food drive-thru right outside of the ER here.”
“I’ll do that.” He leaned over the side rail and kissed Katrina. “I’ll see you in about an hour.”
“Almost to the minute,” the driver replied.
“I’ll take your suitcase,” Dave said, picking up the bag.
“I’ll see you,” she said, the whole situation surreal, watching him leave the hospital room while she lay in bed.
The nurse came in to unhook her from the monitor. They’d hook her up in the ambulance. A labor and delivery nurse would accompany her to monitor her on the trip. All would be well, Dave thought, reassuring himself.
From the door, they made eye contact over all the activity in the room and he blew her a kiss. And then he realized he couldn’t leave her so he returned to the bedside, trying not to get in the way.
“I’ll wait until you’re settled,” he said.
She reached out her free hand and took his, grateful he was staying.
Chapter 6
The leaves had a hint of color, a gentle reminder that the end of the year was not far away. Leaving New Orleans, they entered the rural area that would take Dave and Katrina and tiny baby David home to Cypress Cove. Katrina had a luminescence that Dave attributed totally to giving birth. It had changed her, the process of doing everything she could that was humanly possible to delay welcoming the baby into the world and being successful at it. Even the doctor had given her credit.
“You’re amazing, mama. Certainly, you followed doctor’s orders, but there had to be more than that. You must have been meditating or something, because he was nearly full term. He weighed almost seven pounds. How’s that even possible?”
Katrina didn’t give up her secrets for success.
“You never answered the doctor when she said there was more than following doctor’s orders to delay the birth.” He talked to her, looking in the rearview mirror from time to time because she was sitting in the back seat with the baby in his little car seat.
Smiling with a mischievous grin, she shrugged her shoulders. “I didn’t really do anything. I worked from a hospital bed. You saw me. Perhaps it was the lure of losing my job if I didn’t get that project done on time.”
“Ha! I doubt that, Katrina. Get real,” Dave said, laughing. “When I came into your room today, you looked so beautiful. You don’t even look like you had a baby.”
“What does a comment like that mean?” she asked, snickering. “I looked like I had one right after he was born or did you block that out?”
“You looked great. I mean, you don’t look tired or sore or whatever,” he said, at a loss.
While she was on bedrest in the hospital, she kept up with her usual beauty routine. She was pretty secretive about the physical detritus of birth, not exposing him to too much reality. And she’d kept it up. He’d seen a hint of mesh maternity underwear when she got out of bed the night before, but she had pulled the sides of her gown together in back.
“You don’t have to hide that from me,” he’d said.
“Trust me, Dave, I’m sparing you. It’s not pretty.”
“I’m digging the mesh,” he said, teasing her, but she swatted at him, embarrassed.
With Katrina in the back seat, wearing full makeup, every hair in place, he wondered if he’d set up that expectation, that she thought it was necessary to keep his interest.
“I hope you can relax when we get home. I don’t expect you to get dolled up every day.”
“I know you don’t,” she replied. “But I have to make the effort for myself. And I don’t want people to feel sorry for you because your girlfriend is a drudge.”
Shaking his head, amused, he kept his eyes on the road when he brought up the next topic.
“So,girlfriend,do you want to get married?”
She looked into the rearview mirror, grinning. “You’re not looking at me.”
