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She groaned as she stood up and wiped her mouth. “About a week.”
“So you weren’t just avoiding us?” I scooped her into my arms and carried her towards the main house. “You should’ve said something, Memphis.”
Remy pushed Wells towards the house and nodded to Pete before following us. “Get that doctor here, Boone.”
I looked back at Wells, who still looked shaken and turned to him. “Take her while I make the call.”
Snapping to attention, he held Memphis close to his chest and breathed out a hard sigh. “I saw you fall back. Do you understand how much you just scared me? I’ll live at least ten years less now.”
Memphis wrapped her arms around his neck. “You shouldn’t have been spying, Wells Hawke. This is called karma.”
Wells sputtered in frustration before grunting at her. “Funny. I’m laughing so hard right now.”
“You’re about as much fun as my yoga instructor right now, Serious Sal.” She yawned and then giggled. “Farts are funny. I’m not wrong about that, am I?”
Remy looked at me and then back at her. “What are you talking about? Maybe we should take you to the hospital.”
“Oh, hush. I’m fine.” Memphis carried on like she hadn’t just shocked Remy by telling him to hush. “I’m just tired. I haven’t been able to sleep much. Morning sickness is not a good name for what really happens, apparently. Anyway, farts. Mrs. Hall got mad because she was in the middle of showing me Rocking Baby or whatever and she passed gas. I laughed. Was I supposed to ignore it? I told her it was fine. We all fart. But she stomped out of there so fast, I wasn’t sure if she was just that angry or if the fart hadn’t been just a fart. You know?”
Unfortunately, Dr. Braddocks’s assistant answered the phone right then and I choked on a laugh while trying to convey the seriousness of the situation to her. It was probably hard to believe while she listened to me chuckling. Eventually, I got through to her, though, and she said she’d have Dr. Braddock call me right back. True to her word, he did call me in less than two minutes and agreed to come by within the hour.
With the doctor arranged, I was free to be consumed by the massive fear sitting on my chest that something was wrong with Memphis.
47.
***Memphis***
Sevenweeks.Thatwas how long it took me to feel murderous towards the guys. Seven weeks, two days, and fourteen hours to be exact. I wasn’t sure we’d make it to the fifteenth hour.
“What are you doing up?” Wells put his easel down and rushed over to me. “Back on the couch, Memphis.”
“I’m just getting a new book to read, Wells.” I gritted each word out through my clenched jaw. “I thought we agreed that you weren’t going to move in here to hover over me all day?”
Remy strolled in with his laptop and phone in one hand and a pregnancy pillow in the other. “Alright, the woman at the baby store said this will fix everything. Why are you up?”
I put my hands on my hips and took a deep breath. “I don’t need a pillow or babysitters! Y’all, I’m fine. I had that spell over a week ago and I’ve been fine ever since.”
“Oh, isfinewhat we’re aiming for?” Wells pointed to the couch. “I read a bunch of articles about the things that are happening in your body right now and you need to sit down.”
Remy hesitated. “What’s happening in her body?”
“I’ll send you the links. The baby is sucking all her life out of her, basically.” Shuddering, Wells pointed to the couch with both hands. “I’ll carry you. You know I will.”
“Guess who doesn’t have surgeries this week, unless someone does the very selfish thing of having an emergency!” Boone preened his way into the library and stopped when he saw both of his brothers. “What the hell are you two doing here? I’m trying to impress the lady with my willingness to put her health over others and you two are ruining it. Also, why aren’t you on the couch, Memphis?”
I stomped my foot and balled my hands into fists. “That’s it! Y’all are driving me up a wall! I’m not dying. Women have been having babies for a lot longer than you three have had the internet and an interest! I was dehydrated from the morning sickness and maybe stumbled over a bit last week, but I’ve been poked, prodded, and pinched in every orifice and way imaginable by your doctor friend and the nurse that you have coming once a day. Now, I don’t mean to be rude, but if y’all don’t leave me alone, I’m going to set this whole place on fire and walk out of here smiling. So, what’s it going to be? You leave me alone and I don’t murder the three of you in your sleep? Or do you want to keep hovering over me and find out if I’ve gotten my pregnancy strength yet? I’ve got nothing but time, so y’all just let me know.”
Silence stretched out after my tantrum and I had time to feel embarrassed about it before the three of them shared a look and all started laughing like a pack of hyennas. I grumbled under my breath and snatched the pregnancy pillow from Remy before settling on the couch with it.
“Can you bless our hearts, too?” Boone wiped his eyes and gripped his sides.
I flopped into the embrace of the pillow and had to resist the urge to moan in pleasure as it held me just right. I didn’t have a bump yet, one that wasn’t from eating all of Chef Rork’s food anyway, but that pillow was a miracle.
“Looks like someone likes the pillow I brought her.” Remy sank into the couch by my feet and lifted them into his lap so he could rub them. It was something he’d been doing every day and it was one of the things I wasn’t going to complain about.
“So, are we pretending that whole foot stomp didn’t happen?” Boone sat across from us and grinned. “Or the threatening to murder us thing?”
I nodded. “Only take from that the part where y’all stop hovering over me like I’m going to die any second.”
