I look up to meet his eyes. “Could you give me a hug? A real one. Not a broken-doll one. A real, strong, honest-to-goodness Micah hug.”
His eyes flit around me. “What about all these wires and stuff? I don’t want to dislodge something important …”
I can’t wait any longer. I throw my arms around him in a desperate hug, ignoring the IV and everything else. Some sort of alarm starts going off, but I ignore it as Micah’s arms pull me in. Let the nurse come and fix whatever it is. Right now, I need a hug.
I need Micah.
The tears start almost the instant he returns the embrace. Everything I hadn’t been letting myself feel comes crashing to the surface, and within seconds I’m bawling. Micah sniffles, too, and he makes gentleshushingsounds while he holds me.
“It’s going to be okay, Iris. You’re okay. I’m here for you, always. I’m not letting you go.”
As I predicted, the nurse, Devlin, rushes in to check and see what’s beeping. He screeches to a halt when he sees that I’m awake and obviously having a private moment. After giving us a few minutes, he clears his throat, then waits patiently for Micah and me to acknowledge him.
“Ms. Bridges, you’ve knocked some of your monitors loose. I really should check those.”
I wipe my eyes and sit up straighter. “Sorry. I can assure you, though, I’m alive.”
Devlin chuckles and sets to fixing what I fucked up. “I can see that, but it’s still handy to have these things telling mehowalive you are. The more healthy beeps I hear, the better I feel. It’s a nurse thing.” When he’s finished, he claps Micah on the shoulder. “Guess you can go home and get some rest now, huh?”
Micah just laughs it off. “Are you kidding? I’m not missing a second. I might just have to move in until she’s discharged.”
My nurse messes with a tablet he brought in and gives Micah a sideways glance. “I’m going to have to remove her catheter; you might not mind missing that procedure.”
“Did I stutter? I said I’m not missing a second, and I meant it.”
“Oh, God!” I groan and cover my face with my hands. “Micah,please, maybe during that part you could take Hailey to the cafeteria for a late-night snack?”
The two men laugh, and my fuzzy brain realizes they were teasing each other.
“Don’t worry, Iris. If you don’t want me here for that, I’ll make myself scarce.” He bends down to kiss my cheek before picking Hailey up. She stirs and blinks, then her eyes land on me.
“Miss Iris! You woked up!”
“Yep. Your daddy was just about to take you to the cafeteria for a snack.” I wink at her. “And maybe if he’s feeling generous, he’ll bring me a cup of coffee when he comes back.”
The nurse checks his tablet again, like there’s something in his electronic notes that might negate me having a cup of joe. “Well, there’s nothing here that says we can’t let you have something to eat or drink. I guess one cup is okay, but I wouldn’t recommend more than that until OB has checked you out again. They did a cursory exam in the ER, but this says there are a few more tests to run.”
I’m smack dab in the middle of a sip of the tepid water when he says that, and I do an instant spit-take. “Why would OB need to check me out?”
Devlin looks from me to Micah and back again. “Oh, shit. Did I ruin a surprise? I’m sorry, but it’s standard procedure when a woman is brought in for us to do a pregnancy test. I thought you guys already knew.”
“Daddy, what’s a preggasy test? Does Miss Iris have to study for it?”
Micah snorts back a laugh. “Hailey, sweetie, I think what the nice nurse is trying to tell us is that Miss Iris is going to have a baby! Isn’t that great?”
Isit great, though?
Chapter 34
Micah
I damn near skip down the hallway towards the cafeteria. A baby! Iris and I are going to have a baby! That’s the most amazing news—even better than the news that she’s going to be okay.
Except I’m not so sure Iris thinks it’s amazing yet. She looked to be in a bit of shock when Devlin spilled the beans.
My mind reels with everything that we’ll need to do. First and foremost, of course, is for Iris to get better. Make sure she heals good and strong from this. We’ll need to convert the guest room into a nursery, but there’s plenty of time for that. Definitely going to have to sit Iris down and make her choose which house we’ll live in. Her house would be fine I guess, but I’d prefer it if she moves in with me and Hailey.
What else? Oh! She’ll need a new car, of course. I can get another like mine, so we both have the same model. Maybe a different color, though. Something obnoxious, something that would piss Karen off to see in the driveway.
