She made a murmuring sound. “I don’t feel good.”
“What’s wrong?”
Another inarticulate sound. “Sinuses and headache.”
That didn’t sound good. “Okay. Take some medicine and crawl back into bed. I’ll call you later to check on you, and then be by after work.”
“‘Kay.”
Unease and random worry invaded me constantly throughout the day, but especially after I hadn’t received a response to my texts in three hours. The entire day I felt off. Not having Roe nearby was a strange, empty feeling that I didn’t care for. By hour five with no response and Roe not picking up my calls, I left before three. My schedule was clear, and I took advantage of it.
When I arrived at Roe’s, she answered the door more unkempt than I’d ever seen her. Her hair was a tangled rat’s nest around her head, eyes barely open, nose red, and she looked like she could hardly hold herself up.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, her sinuses sounding completely stuffed.
“I came to take care of you.”
She blinked at me. “What time is it?”
“Just after four,” I said as I stepped in, making sure to lock the door behind me.
She blinked slowly, not really looking at anything. “I need to go get Kinsey.”
Kinsey wasn’t there? “How in the hell did you get her to daycare this morning?”
She shook her head. “I wasn’t so bad then. I came back and laid down, and when I woke up it was like someone ran me over.”
“You’re not going anywhere right now.”
She shook her head. “I have to pick her up by five thirty.”
“Call them and tell them I’m coming to get her.”
Her brow scrunched. “You?”
“Yes.” I directed her to the couch and sat her down. “I’ll go pick her up and bring her back here while you rest.”
“But…” she trailed off, her sick brain unable to fire off on all its usual cylinders.
“Just do it.”
I went into the bedroom and located her phone. After handing it to her, I went back into the bedroom and pulled mine out to call her mom. I’d only been sick twice in the last eight years, so I had no clue what Roe might need.
She answered on the second ring, an unsure edge to her voice. “Hello?”
“Hey, Linda, it’s Thane,” I said.
“Thane, hi,” she said, relieved, and then her tone turned grave. “Is everything okay?”
“Pretty much. Your daughter is a disaster right now, and I wanted to see what you thought was best for her.” I described Roe’s symptoms, and Linda rattled off a list of items that were thankfully in Roe’s medicine cabinet.
“Have her take all of those at the doses listed. I think I should be able to get Kinsey in time.”
“Don’t worry, I’m going.”
“You are?” she asked in surprise.
“Yeah, she was calling them while I called you. I just hope they understood.”
“Thank you,” Linda said.
“For what?”
“You care about them a lot, don’t you?”
Warmth filled my chest. “More than you know.”
“I’ll call later to check in, then. Thanks for calling me. Sometimes Roe is just too independent for her own good.”
She was spot on there. Roe had trouble asking for help, even from me. Trying to anticipate her needs was difficult. I would not fail her now.
After helping Roe with the meds, I grabbed her keys and gave her a kiss, then headed out to pick up Kinsey.
Thankfully, even in Roe’s sickness she had called the daycare, but when I arrived they were wary. Roe sent them a photo, but the real proof came when Kinsey’s face lit up and she crawled to me when I walked through the door. That solidified it for them, and I loaded her into the stroller and headed back to Roe’s.
Stairs. How the fuck did my tiny girlfriend manage to lug the stroller with a twenty-pound baby inside up two flights of stairs? Not only just for her building, but she constantly did it for the subway as well.
Kinsey was half asleep when I pulled her from the stroller and to my chest. I quietly stepped over to the bedroom door, hoping all the ruckus hadn’t woken Roe up. Thankfully I heard little snores, confirming she was out.
We moved back into the main room, and I kicked off my shoes and lost my dress shirt, which was difficult with Kinsey in my arms. While I’d spent a lot of time with them, I still wasn’t confident of her schedule, but I knew Roe liked to keep to it.
Kinsey nuzzled into my chest, and it felt like I’d been hit by lightning. It was an intense shock to my heart that I could hardly contain. An intense paternal love for her tugged at me. That little movement that said she trusted me, was comfortable with me.
It gave me a sense of completeness I didn’t know I was lacking. I sat on the couch and pulled her close, pressing my lips to the top of her head.
“I’ll make you a deal, okay?” I whispered. “You help me get your mama to fall in love with me, and I’ll be the best dada ever.”
Kinsey had reawakened a part of my heart I’d locked away. I’d been excited to be a father, to welcome my son into the world, and when he was gone, I shut that part of my heart down.
I was head over heels for Roe, and I wanted to be with her always. And like her mother, I’d fallen for the beautiful creature in my arms. Roe and Kinsey were a package deal. One that I’d gladly accept—after all, I wanted to be Kinsey’s daddy.
I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep but when I woke up, I heard a baby giggling. Immediately I sat up as confusion washed over me.
Kinsey. Did I pick her up?
There was music coming from the other room, and I climbed out of bed. As soon as I opened the door, the sight had my chest clenching and my ovaries exploding.
Thane stood in the middle of the room with Kinsey in his arms. They were dancing to the music, and she was giggling at him like mad.
A few steps in, I leaned against the wall to watch them.
It wasn’t until they spun around that either one of them noticed me. Kinsey let out a squeal while Thane shot me a megawatt smile.
“Look who’s up, Kinsey,” he said to her.
“Mama.” Grabby little hands reached out for me. I stepped closer, but when I did, she just grabbed my hair and pulled me closer to them, making me chuckle.
“You look like you’re having a good time,” I said.
“The meds worked, huh?”
I nodded. They had helped greatly. The symptoms were only tamped down, but that alone was huge. I wondered how he knew. “I’m a little confused on what’s going on, though.”
He laughed and told me about a conversation that I could only kind of vaguely remember, and also about the conversation with my mom.
I still had a sinus migraine, but the pain in my face was less and I could breathe, and that was a huge improvement.
“Thank you,” I said as I slipped my hand in his. “It means so much to me.”
“Me as well.”
“How so?”
He looked to Kinsey, then back to me. “You trusted me with your daughter. You trusted me to take care of you.”
“Well, you’re kind of a great guy.”