“Really?”
“Yeah. There’s a lot more that goes into it also, but those are some of the basics.”
“Sounds interesting. Would you need to go to school for this?”
I nodded. “There is no strict requirement for certification, but I would get certified and registered with one of the major doula organizations. While it takes some up to two years to get through all of the courses and become certified, my medical background would allow me to be fast tracked so it wouldn’t take as long.”
Josh glanced from the papers in his hand up to my face. “You’ve put a lot of thought into this.”
“I have. Every time I looked at Victoria over the last few months, I kept thinking about the mothers who never make it home, or who die in the months after their baby is born, leaving them motherless. It makes my heart ache.” I rubbed the left side of my chest, feeling that ache again from just talking about the subject.
Joshua placed the files down on my desk before moving to me, wrapping his strong arms around me. Melting into his body, I wrapped my arms around him and inhaled deeply.
“You know I’m with you a hundred percent of the way for anything you want to do. I’ll move heaven and earth to get you whatever it is you need.”
I smiled against his shoulder before pulling back. “Right now I need you to finish what we started a few minutes ago.”
He sighed and his green eyes lit up in excitement. “God, I was so hoping you’d say that.”
My laughter was cut short when Joshua pulled my mouth to his, covering it with his lips.
Mortality rates, doula certifications, and everything else could wait.
Chapter Thirteen
Present
Joshua
“So you’ve known Buddy for a long time then, huh?” I questioned my father, just after we entered the dark basement area of the seemingly abandoned building. The sounds of the cheering crowd could be heard as soon as we stepped over the threshold of the metal door. We were in the underground fighting ring, simply known as The Underground. My father, of all people, had introduced me to fighting nearly nine years earlier, though he rarely came to these matches with me.
He nodded as I glanced over at him. “We go way back.”
“Look what the wind blew in,” Buddy greeted as he strolled over in our direction.
He was about a half a foot shorter than my father. He’d always said his height was the main reason he stuck to training and not getting into the ring himself. Though, I was sure he could handle himself if he needed to. You don’t spend more than fifty years around a boxing gym, fighters, and training some of the best of the best, and not pick up on a few things yourself.
“Buddy,” my father greeted, extending his hand to Buddy and pulling him into a short but warm embrace.
The many sides of my father often intrigued me. One minute he could blend in with a dingy fighting club and its trainer, and the next he could command the boardroom whose occupants combined for a net worth in the tens of billions. And a minute after that, he’d come home and be a doting, loving husband and father. He was a chameleon. But I wouldn’t dare call him a jack-of-all-trades, because unlike that saying, he actually was a master at it all.
Do it a hundred percent or don’t do it at all. Don’t half ass anything.
I remembered that lesson he taught me when I first came to work at Townsend Industries. I’d made it clear from the beginning that I wasn’t interested in the energy side of things but I was all in when it came to the real estate division. My father had told me those words and then got out of my way to let me sink or swim on my own.
“I know you’re getting old, but are you getting senile on me? You came down here to fight?” Buddy questioned.
My father shook his head. “Just checking up on my third youngest. Seeing how this operation of his is running.”
Buddy’s gaze shifted to mine. “The kid’s doing alright. A chip off the old block.”
I grunted at Buddy. “Whatever. I didn’t come here to talk and reminisce. You came to watch me fight or what?” I questioned my father.
“Let’s see what you’ve got.”
“Finally.”
I parted ways with my father and Buddy to head to the bathroom to change into my fighting gear which was only a pair of boxing shorts, boxing shoes, and hand wraps. I waited until Buddy entered to tie my wraps.
