“Hey,” I greet them.
“Hey, Marcy. I heard you experienced quite the roller coaster ride over the last thirty-six hours,” Anthony replies.
“Sure did. How was the flight?”
“Good. We were lucky to catch the first one out and made it here a few hours ago. How are you feeling?”
I roll my eyes, but it only amplifies my headache. Grimacing, I answer, “I’m okay.”
“Bullshit. Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Don’t worry. Ben’s taking good care of me.” My gaze darts over to him as I smile shyly.
“I have no doubt,” Sway quips, grabbing my attention. “I heard you haven’t had a chance to formally meet our Little Miss yet.” As Anthony angles the camera down, she gently nudges away a bit of the pink blanket to give me a glimpse of the most precious baby girl I’ve ever seen.
I gasp and cover my mouth. “Oh my gosh…she’s beautiful, you guys. I wish I could hold her. She’s so tiny!”
“I know! I can’t believe how little she is. She feels like a doll.” Gently, Sway rocks her back and forth while Anthony gives me a close-up of the baby girl who’s been hanging out in my uterus for the last few months. I melt instantly. Red chubby cheeks. Soft, black hair. A cute button nose just like her mama. She’s sleeping, but her little pink lips are puckered and wiggle up and down in tiny movements like she’s sucking on a bottle.
And that’s how long it took for me to be wrapped around her little finger. Two seconds flat.
“What’s her name?” I whisper mesmerized.
I can practically hear Anthony’s smile as he answers, “Stella Marcy Wright.”
Marcy.
My bottom lip quivers, but I try to get a grip on myself and take a slow, deep breath.
“You guys….” My voice cracks. “You didn’t have to do that––”
“We wanted to,” Anthony interrupts. “Besides, we think it fits.”
My heart wants to burst with joy at the miracle on the screen. “I love it. And I love her. She’s absolutely gorgeous. But I’m so sorry I couldn’t keep her in the oven a little longer.”
Sway laughs, but her eyes are glassy. “You cooked her just enough. The doctors say her lungs look great, and she shouldn’t have any complications. It’s…she’s a miracle, Marcy,” Sway cries, finally losing the battle with her emotions. “You gave us our miracle.”
“I didn’t do much.”
“You did more than you’ll ever know,” Anthony corrects me. “Thank you.”
Sniffling, Sway runs her finger along Stella’s rosy cheek. “You have no idea, Marcy. Thank you so much.”
The world starts to spin, and I squeeze my eyes closed before whispering, “You’re welcome. The drugs are making me feel a little crappy, though, so I think I should follow doctor’s orders and get some rest.”
“Of course. You must be exhausted. We’ll chat later, okay?”
“Sure thing.”
The mattress compresses as Ben leans closer, takes the iPad away from me, then sets it on the small tray beside the hospital bed. With a gentleness I’ve grown accustomed to, his warm hand grasps mine, and I peel my eyelids open.
“Hey,” I croak. “I don’t feel good.”
“Unfortunately, that’s kind of normal for a girl who’s recovering from preeclampsia,” he admits with a frown. “Like I said, the mag sulfate has some shitty side effects, but you’ll feel better soon.”
“Do I need another needle?” I pout.
He laughs, and it’s the first one I’ve heard since my last appointment. “To be fair, I warned you about the crash course in needles…but other than the IV, I think you can take a break from them for now.”
“Promise?”
“For now,” he reiterates with a grin.
“Thank goodness my trusty doctor is here to take care of me.”
Trust being the key word. If anyone else were here to take care of me, I’d be freaking out. But it’s Ben. And I trust Ben with every fiber of my being. I love him too. So damn much that it hurts.
“You should get some rest.”
31
Marcy
The next few days go by in a blur of needles, medications, and waiting––lots of waiting. People drop by to visit me, coming and going like the tide in the sea. But one of them is constant and refuses to leave my side.
Ben.
And while I appreciate it more than he’ll ever know, I’ve officially been deemed out of the woods and will go home tomorrow, which means he can finally breathe easy. Or at least, he should.
“You can go home, you know. Get some rest.”
Ben shakes his head. “Not until the nurses let me sign the discharge papers.”
“Which they will tomorrow morning, remember?”
“That’s not soon enough,” he argues.
“Ben, I’m okay.”
“I know.”
“I’m serious.”
“I know you are. I’m the one that delivered the news, remember?” he quips with a relieved smirk.
Grinning, I pull my freshly washed hair over my shoulder. “Then why have you refused to go home and shower instead of using the one here? And there’s no way that chair is comfortable for sleeping.”
“You’re my home,” he insists. “I’m not leaving without you.”
“You’re being ridiculous right now. Adorable, but ridiculous. You know that, right?”
“I love you, Marcy.”
“I love you too, which is why I’m insisting you take care of yourself right now. You’ve already spent the last week taking care of me. Please?”
“On one condition.”
“And what’s that?”
“Move in with me.”
“Ben….”
“Why not?” he argues.
“Because I don’t want us to move our relationship forward just because you’re scared to let me out of your sight.”
“That’s not true.”
“Isn’t it?”
“No. It’s not about that. It’s about the fact that life is precious. And precarious. I don’t want to waste it by taking the slow, traditional route that society deems acceptable. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. If it wouldn’t freak you out, I’d be on one knee right now, but I figured I should probably take it one step at a time.”
The hint of a proposal causes my pulse to spike, and my words to fail me.
“I….”
“I told you it would freak you out,” he teases. “One step at a time. But I wasn’t kidding about the whole moving in part. What do you think?”
I consider his proposition, but it doesn’t take me long to jump on board. He’s right. I love him. What else matters? And who cares what other people think? I want to spend the rest of my life with this man by my side, a few little kids toddling around, and even a pet pig.
But I’ll still settle for a dog if I have to.
“So?” he presses, looking anxious and adorable at the same time. I stride toward him and kiss him softly.