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“I love you, babe.”
“I…” I heard her clear her throat. “I love you, Garret.”
If she weren’t still recovering from giving birth, and a full hysterectomy, I would have dived into the shower with her then and there. Instead, I practically sprinted out of there before my dick decided to do something dumb. My heart felt full to the point of bursting, and I walked downstairs with a stupid grin on my face.
“Looks as if the full night’s sleep did someone good,” Mom murmured with a yawn. She lifted a travel mug to her lips and took a long swallow. “Glad at least one person got one.”
“Me too,” Nova grumbled, pulling her hair up into a knot on top of her head, her movements a little aggressive. “I tossed and turned all night, even though I was exhausted.”
I slung an arm around both their shoulders and turned them toward the front door. “Let’s get you two settled in the back of the SUV. You can nap on the way to the hospital.”
“Mr. Garret,” Maria called, appearing with the cooler of food and the bag with all of Lis’s pumping supplies. “Everything is all ready to go.”
“Thanks, Maria,” I said, taking my arm from around my sister to accept both cases from her. “Remember what I said earlier.”
She smiled up at me. “Everything will be taken care of. Please give baby Justice my love.”
I winked and then escorted the other two women out to the SUV. Opening the back door, I didn’t wait for them to get in before securing the cooler and other case in the trunk area. Once everything was in place, I pressed the button to lower the back gate and went inside to check on Lis.
She was coming down the stairs as I walked in. Maria met her at the last step with a food storage container of fresh fruit, a refillable water bottle, and a hug. “Any request for dinner tonight?”
“Ajiaco?” she suggested, licking her lips. “With whole ears of corn, please.”
“I know what my girl likes in her chicken soup,” Maria said with a laugh. “Now, you get going. That baby is going to want to see her momma.”
“Thanks, Maria,” she called, skipping over to where I stood. I took the container of fruit from her so I could clasp her hand in mine, and we exited the mansion.
I helped her into the front passenger seat and then went around to the driver’s seat before returning her breakfast to her.
“Where’s Guzman?” Mom questioned with a frown from the back seat.
“Some business came up,” I told her as I concentrated on driving rather than looking at her in the rearview mirror.
“This fruit is so juicy and sweet,” Lis commented. “Felicity, did you and Nova eat breakfast?”
“We did, sweetheart,” Mom told her, easily distracted. “Did you sleep well last night? You seem energized.”
“Surprisingly, yes. Considering everything,” she mumbled, looking out the window.
I reached over and put my hand on her thigh, giving her leg a gentle squeeze. After her talk with Guzman the night before, I’d thought it would take a while before she fell asleep. Yet it was only a matter of minutes after we’d lain down in her bed before she’d been sound asleep, her head pillowed on my chest and the rest of her body wrapped around mine.
I’d fought my own need for sleep for a while, simply enjoying having her in my arms again, before finally giving in.
Nova fell asleep on the drive to the hospital, but Lis and Mom kept up a quiet conversation along the way. The guards had already switched shifts, and we passed them in the lobby. I paused long enough to ask if there had been any activity I needed to know about, but as usual, everything had been quiet. It wasn’t that I was expecting anything to happen. With Manuel dead, and many people still thinking Lis had died with him, there were no enemies to come in search of trouble.
But it put my mind at ease, knowing that the NICU was protected, especially when I wasn’t around. Playing with Justice’s safety was the last thing I would ever do.
Upstairs, Lis and I went straight into the ward. The doctor was doing his rounds, and we got our morning report. Her vitals had remained stable all night, as the night nurse had told me on the phone, and the doctor was even lowering her pain medication dosage a little more but upping her magnesium. He had nothing critical to tell us, other than he expected Justice to be a guest in the NICU for quite some time. Nothing new about that information. We were prepared for her to be there for longer than many of the other tiny patients.
We stayed with Justice long enough to hold her hand and love on her as best we could before Lis needed to pump. Promising our baby girl we would be back soon, I guided her mother out of the ward and toward the waiting room.
As I pushed the door open, the elevator dinged down the corridor, and I paused. Lis looked up at me questioningly, but I turned my head to see who stepped off. When the guards I’d had Guzman send to the airstrip appeared first, I held my breath, waiting for my dad to exit next.
The moment my eyes landed on him, I knew he’d been having an even rougher time of it than I’d originally suspected. His clothes were wrinkled, as if he’d been wearing the same outfit for days, and his hair was longer than I could ever remember seeing it, looking just as unkempt as the rest of him. His green eyes were bloodshot, and he looked like he could use a little time in a hospital room himself from how gray his skin was.
I smelled the whiskey on him the closer he got, his blurry eyes demanding answers. “Where is she?” he rasped. “Where is your mother, Garret?”
Urging Lis aside, I opened the door wider and waved him inside.
