“You should come by to see Cat, it would be nice for her to see someone from her family that’s actually happy for her.And not make her feel like she’s the dirt underneath their fingernails that needs to be scrubbed away.”
“I will.Tell her I said hello.I’ll give her a call tomorrow.”
“I will.Bye, Sophie.”
“Bye.”
The first thing I dowhen I get home is kiss Cat.It feels good to come home to her and hold her in my arms.After we eat dinner, I go to my office to finish working.She showers and knocks on the door before she walks in, wearing cotton pajama shorts and a sleeveless top.
“Can I come in?”
“You’re already in.”
“Yeah, I am, smartass.”
She’s smiling at me when I look up from my papers.I push my chair back from the desk and hold my hand out for her to come to me.She sits on my lap and I kiss her stomach; her hands play in my hair, and my thoughts start to go south when my hands make contact with her skin, inching up her shorts.
“Nick?”
“Yeah?”I answer, kissing the side of her breast through her shirt.
“This morning you said you wanted to tell me something.”
Damn.I have the papers in my drawer.We haven’t had sex in a long time and I was getting turned on.Good thing she reminded me, I’d almost forgotten about that.I pull my hand out of her shorts.
“I want you to consider giving me power of attorney for you medically.”
She looks at me with a furrowed brow.“Why?”
“God forbid, but if something happens to you, and you’re in the hospital, I won’t have any say in what happens to you.Your parents would.If we were married I would, but we’re not.”
She stares at me and doesn’t say anything.
“You don’t trust me?”I say to her.
“I do.This is a big decision to make.”
“It is.I don’t want your life or our child’s in the hands of your family.Especially after hearing what your mother had to say last night.”
“She really didn’t know I was this far along.”
I hold my head down, press my teeth together, and hold back before I answer.
“Don’t get upset.”
“Don’t say another word to defend her.”
“I wasn’t, I wasn’t defending her.”
I let a breath out and hold my head back up.“I don’t want your family making decisions that will affect our lives.”I bend down and pull a drawer out, reaching for the papers.“I had the papers drawn up when I went back to the office yesterday.”She looks at them on my desk.I can’t tell if she’s mad.I know she’s not happy.“All you have to do is sign them.”
“That simple, huh.Sign them.Put my life in your hands alone.”It’s not a question but she’s looking at me as if it’s a question she needs to ask.
“It’s your choice.Look over them.If it’s not in my hands, it’s in theirs, and so is the life of our child, until he’s born.”
She takes the papers off my desk and leaves the room, leaving me wondering what she’s going to do.Does she trust me with her life?I trust her with mine.
The next morning I’m dressed early.I have to go in to prepare for a case.I make sure not to wake Cat before her alarm is set to go off.
