“Dylan…”
“Trust me, man. It’s under control.”
“How are you doing, sweety?” Dani reached out to hold Cat’s hand, listening to the monitors beep all around them. Cat’s fingers were cold and clammy, and Dani pulled her chair closer and tucked the blanket around her belly.
Cat let out a breath that shook and shuddered. “I’m scared.”
“I know. Josh will get back here, and everything will be just fine.” The doctor had given Cat a cocktail of meds in her IV. With the pain easing, the adrenaline had deserted her, leaving her looking exhausted and emotionally wrecked.
“What if this is my punishment?” Cat whispered. She slipped a hand under the sheet and cradled her stomach, her already puffy eyes spilling again. “What if this is what I deserve?”
Dani’s heart sank. “For what, Cat?”
“For not wanting this. For crying over it. For not celebrating the way I should have. I said it was a mistake.” Her words trailed off into a sob and Dani’s eyes burned.
“Cat. No.”
“That was only a few months ago and now the thought of not having her is ripping my heart out.”
Dani climbed onto the bed and laid her head on the pillow beside Cat. “Priorities change really quickly sometimes. Sometimes you wake up one day and something you’d never even considered becomes a reality, and it feels like a smack in the face. It’s okay to be sad that it didn’t go the way you planned, and it’s okay to admit you were wrong and that the new plan brings you a joy you hadn’t expected.”
Cat sniffed and rubbed her belly again. “She does bring me joy.”
“Well, there you go. It doesn’t matter if you planned her or fate gave you a little shove in the right direction. You love her just the same.”
“I do.”
“Wait!” Dani’s head snapped up. “She? You know?”
Cat’s pale, sweaty face actually pinked. “Yes,” she admitted. “Don’t be mad I didn’t tell you. I was thinking about what you said, and at my last appointment, I asked the tech to tell me. Josh doesn’t know.”
“So I know something before Prince Charming?”
Cat chuckled through her tears. “Yup. Congratulations. It’s our secret.”
Dani clapped her hands together. She was happier than she should be in the current situation, but she never claimed to be magnanimous. She moved her face to Cat’s belly, whispering around the monitors. “Aunt Dani’s going to spoil you rotten, little girl. But you have to stay in there a little longer, okay? I have too much shopping to do.”
Cat smiled and leaned back into her pillow, finally letting her eyes close. “She’s the luckiest little girl already. She has so many aunties and uncles.”
Dani looked at the exam room door, still ajar from when Dylan had left for a coffee run.
So many people who loved her.
Thirty-seven
Cat was snoring peacefully. With her contractions stopped, all of the commotion and pain must have finally caught up to her because she’d passed out hard.
Dani glanced at Dylan, stretched out in a too-small wooden chair, his boots on the rolling stool the doctor had used and his eyes closed. With things having calmed down for the moment, the awkwardness of seeing him began to seep back into the room. No. Awkward wasn’t accurate. It hurt.
But she needed to focus on Cat now, not think about how Dylan’s green eyes were red-rimmed. How he’d looked scared when she found him in the hallway. How she’d been scared too, and she’d wanted so badly to fall into his arms and let him hold her. Now, with Cat asleep and stable, she felt that urge again. She wanted one of his hugs—the slightly-too-tight kind. She wanted it so badly she could feel the ghost of it in her limbs. She wanted him to say something completely inappropriate and laugh away this tightness in her chest. She’d been surprised at how much comfort she’d taken in him when things weren’t right with Cat, and a part of her still wanted to cross the room and curl up in his lap and have a good cry over the fact that her best friend was in the hospital. Maybe she was imagining it, but he looked like he could use it too.
They didn’t do that anymore, though. He’d ruined it. That fact that she couldn’t go to him now felt like a new wound. Like he was betraying her all over again.
“You can take off,” she said, trying to sound indifferent. His presence was superfluous at this point. She was there now to watch over Cat. He could go back to whatever it was he was doing before breaking her heart again. “I’ll stay with her until Josh gets here.”
Dylan looked exhausted, his eyelids heavy as he slumped in the small chair, but his expression told her he had no intention of leaving. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes.
Maybe he thought he owed it to Josh to stay.
“She’s in good hands, Dylan. It’s not like you’re leaving her alone.”
“I’m not worried about Cat. The nurse said she was stable, and she’s asleep.” He looked like he was going to say something, then stopped himself and pivoted. “I just want to be here.”
“Fine.” They might have to share the room, but they didn’t need to keep each other company. She pulled out her phone and found the group chat she’d been using to keep Sonya and Emma updated. It was an old one that didn’t include Cat because they’d started it to plan her bachelorette party. Cat would kill them if she ever read through this exchange. Mostly she’d kill Dani. A different death for each time she’d brought up the idea of male strippers.
She held in a laugh as she read through the old messages, but it only had the effect of forcing fresh tears to burst from the corners of her eyes. She sniffed and wiped them away. Dylan opened his eyes again, looking at her like a lost little puppy, but she ignored it.
A new message from Sonya popped up. She and Emma had been waiting for an update. Dani told them Cat and the baby were fine, and she didn’t even tell them that the baby was a girl because she was working hard on her self-control. It was the same reason she hadn’t taken a picture of Cat snoring in her hospital gown.
She glanced at Cat again—her mouth was open and her hair was half out of her ponytail.
Okay, fine. Everyone was safe and she couldn’t change who she was. She snapped a quick picture and sent it to the group chat.
Levity. If they didn’t need it now, when did they?
Emma: Evil.
Sonya: Tell her we love her.
Dani: I promise.
Dylan’s breathing had turned into a tiny snore and she watched his chest rise and fall. In addition to holding onto the baby detail, she also didn’t mention that she was stuck in the room with Dylan because A) she really didn’t need anymore checking in on her emotional state, and B) she didn’t feel like giving him the credit he might deserve for taking care of Cat. They could hate him a little while longer.