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Chapter Fifty-Eight
Maggie
There’s a pained lookin his eyes as he stands in the doorway of the nursery, leaning on the doorframe.
“Declan, it’s only a few hours.” I look up from the painting I’m mixing on a palette and study him for a moment.
“Yeah, it’s going to be fine. I won’t leave until you return,” Celeste says. She pulls up her hair into a messy bun and takes a paintbrush from me.
Declan turns his attention to Celeste. “You’ll tell me if she so much as sneezes.”
Celeste lets out a loud laugh. “No, I definitely won’t do that.”
He scowls at her.
“But I will let you know if anything of concern happens, I promise. Go, have fun. When was the last time you left the apartment?”
He doesn’t answer. I know the answer – the only time he’s left this apartment since I was in the hospital is to take me to doctor’s appointments.
“Bye, Declan,” I say, giving him a little wave.
He nods and finally goes, like he’s physically struggling to pull himself away.
“Say hi to everyone for me,” I call after he’s out of sight.
Celeste lets out a big sigh after we hear the front door open and then shut.
“Is he smothering you?” she asks.
I grin. “No, he’s really not, but I feel bad that’s he’s completely put his life on hold.”
“He cares about you,” Celeste says as she paints a pale yellow streak of a shooting star on the nighttime scene.
“He cares about the baby,” I respond.
She stops painting and looks at me. “That’s what you think? You think all of this is just for the baby?”
I continue mixing a little orange into the yellow without looking up. “I mean, we’ve been friends for a long time, but things got really ugly between us and...”
I just let my voice trail off. “He’s doing this for the baby.”
