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“What if trust isn’t the only issue?” she asked. “What if everything has changed us too much?”
I knew she was talking about herself. Out of the three of us, the change in her was the most notable. She was colder, withdrawn, and so serious all the time. I missed her sass and warmth. “If we’ve changed, we still need to give each other a chance.”
She looked uncertain.
“You need to try, Maura, and I want you to come visit me every day until I’m healed,” I said.
She gave me a defiant look. “And if I don’t?”
“Then I’ll tell Stefan about your suicidal tendencies.”
Her mouth dropped open. “You’re blackmailing me?”
“You bet your perfect ass I am.” I pulled back the blankets on the other side of the bed. “Now lay down with me for a while.”
She looked ready to argue.
“Don’t test me, princess,” I told her.
She exhaled heavily through her nose, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if there had been smoke with how pissed she looked. Reluctantly, she lay down flat on her back. Staring up at the ceiling, she grumbled, “What now?”
The corner of my mouth lifted. “You might be more comfortable if you took your jeans off.”
The glare she gave me warned me not to push it. It made me chuckle. The moment my body started to shake, pain erupted in my abdomen. “Don’t make me laugh,” I groaned.
* * *
I woke when I heard the bedroom door open and then close. I lifted my head from behind Maura’s to see. Jameson was walking toward the bed with the baby I had yet to meet in his arms. He looked from me to Maura, who was still asleep.
I had put the TV on not long after she had climbed into bed next to me. Within a half hour of the TV being on, she had fallen asleep. Since then, she had migrated to the center of the bed, the place she had always slept between Jameson and me.
“Looks like you’re getting along with the baby,” I whispered.
Jameson ignored my comment. “What happened?”
I shook my head slightly. “Don’t worry about it.” Jameson didn’t need to know about my deal with Maura.
Trusting me, Jameson didn’t push to know. Instead, he lay down on the side of the bed Maura had vacated and adjusted the baby so that he was lying on his tummy on Jameson’s chest. The little guy’s head was turned to face me. He was sucking on a pacifier with a teddy bear on it. I noticed his bright blue eyes first and how they caught sight of Maura right away.
Maura, who I had thought was asleep, reached up and ran her finger over the baby’s cheek, adoringly. Jameson’s eyes met mine and I knew what he was trying to convey. Maura cared for this baby, more than she wanted to admit, according to Jameson. Right now, he was making sure I saw the evidence of that.
“Can I hold him?” I asked.
I felt Maura still against me for a second. Then she sat up and I did the same, just a lot slower. She took the baby from Jameson and when I was ready, she placed him in my arms. “Make sure you hold his head,” she instructed.
“I know. I read the baby books,” I said.
“You read the baby books?” Jameson asked, sounding like he didn’t believe me.
As I stared down at the baby, feeling extremely grateful the kid looked more like his mother than his father, I answered, “I downloaded them on my phone and read when I could.”
Both Maura and Jameson had gone quiet, and I saw they were trying to mask the sadness they were feeling.
“Does this little guy have a name?” I asked, changing the subject.
Maura sighed. “No.”
I reached over and grabbed my phone off the nightstand. The small movement still made me wince, but I pushed through the discomfort. I looked up baby names on the internet. “Pick a letter?”
