“Maybe I overreacted?” I wasn’t in the mood to dissect all of my abhorrent behaviors. I’d bundled them all into a giant overreaction.
“It doesn’t matter. I want to know how you’re feeling. Did they examine you? Say how far along you are? You’re in Mexico…it was an English-speaking doctor? Did you get all the details?” Cal was in full-on doctor mode.
“Around ten weeks. I’m tired, nauseous. I’m fine. I don’t know why it didn’t register when I skipped my period. I told myself it was stress.”
“They can give you something for the nausea, but you need to rest. Willa, I’m a doctor. This is my specialty, you know that.” Cal was not in the mood for my musings.
“Of course I do. You’re also the father, so that doesn’t make you objective when it comes to this. I have a job to do, and this is not going to get in the way.”
“I know. I’m not taking your job or who you are away from you. But you not only have to take care of yourself, but the baby too. You need to see an OB and make sure they’re looking after you.”
“We have another two weeks on set, and then I’ll be back and see my doctor.”
I took a sip of my water that had been resting on the arm of the couch. My stomach started to roll at what was ahead. A baby—hopefully, a healthy one. The weight gain could destroy my career. Ford was going to lose his mind when he found out—I was his sister and the star of his movie. He’d be wrecked over my general wellness and the health of his film.
My mom would surely go off the deep end about my not being married and Cal being a nobody in her mind. And Cal… What about Cal? I still didn’t know more than his medical opinion.
I heard the man of the hour clearing his throat. “Did you hear me?”
“Um, no. I’m sorry. I was lost in my thoughts.”
“I’m the father,” he repeated himself. “I’m also a physician who delivers high-risk babies. I brought your niece into this world. I’m coming to Cabo. Until you get back here, I’m coming to check you out and take care of you for a few days. Then we will make sure you’re under the care of the best possible physician for you.”
“What about your patients?”
“Let me worry about that. This is the reason why I have partners, Will. I’m sorry things were left off how they were with us, but this changes it all. I tried to be understanding and give you time, but I can’t anymore.”
I closed my eyes. This was exactly what I didn’t want. “I don’t need a pity party or peace offering because I’m carrying your potentially-not-healthy baby.”
“Does Ford know?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, you’d better tell him because he’s getting a call from me in the morning. And I’m going to give him some guidelines.”
“Cal, you can’t.”
“I can, and I will. Go get some sleep. Eat some crackers and drink plenty of bottled water. A cup or two of coffee. I assume Suzie is there? Let her know I’ll be touching base with a list of requests. Or demands—things I need her to procure and do. Good night, Willa. See you in a few days.” He hung up.
That was how he left me—instructing me to eat some crackers and tell my brother, who was also my producer, that I was knocked up with his surrogate’s doctor’s baby.
They should make a movie about this—but no one would believe it.
Billy
“The biggest problem with you waiting to tell me all this bullshit is the actual man we need to be here sat on some commercial flight, after connecting through Arizona, to get to you, when I could have sent a plane. And I don’t mean because he’s your baby daddy, but a goddamn freaking doctor, who called and schooled me on how I need to protect you.” Ford paced his hotel suite, refusing to look at me.
“Kellan is going to send you a bill soon enough… You can’t keep borrowing his planes, sending them all over the country.”
“He doesn’t have to send me jack shit. I bought into his company. I can take a plane whenever I damn well feel like it. That’s what a man does when he travels away from his family all the time. He makes arrangements.” Ford slapped his hand on the granite slab under the television. It was for effect. I knew my brother; I’d been putting up with his tantrums for decades.
I did wonder when this partnership had happened, and why I didn’t know. Then again, we’d all been harboring a few omissions over the year.
“A man who can afford to do so makes arrangements.” I mocked his words. “Not everyone can buy into private planes and such. And your family is here, if you didn’t notice,” I added.
“Shut it, Bill. I need you looked at by a doctor. I need your feet up when you’re not filming, and tell Suzie to get Glory out here. You’re not twenty-five. Glory needs to be on call.”
His words felt like a punch to the gut. “That hurt. Be careful—your wife is older than me, Ford.” The words came out on a growl, and I could feel my eyes blazing in his direction.
