Page 14 of Ella’s Data

It was a slight battle between the two of them, because Prophet wanted the baby in their room, but Fee told him that they’d sleep better if they started out the way they intended to go. They compromised, albeit slightly, and for the first few days when she came home, Colleen slept in a bassinet next to their bed. Now, however, she’s in her crib in the nursery.

“Look at you, pretty girl,” I murmur as I reach down and pick her up. “Let auntie get you changed and then your mama can feed you while I see what your sissy is doing.”

“They’re almost Irish twins, I guess, huh?” I ask as I play with Cami. She’s on a huge, padded quilt with a bunch of colorful blocks surrounding her, and I’ve been stacking them up so she could knock them down.

“I mean, they’re somewhat close, although, I think that’s a term reserved for babies who are less than a year apart,” she counters. “Still, I’m so glad he’s getting to experience everything with Colleen that he didn’t get to do with Cami because of Rosa and her stubbornness.”

“They favor each other a lot too, but that makes sense since they’ve got the same father and you and Rosa could’ve been twins,” I muse. “They’re both beautiful, Fee.”

She smiles at Colleen, who’s fallen asleep after nursing, then looks down at Cami before nodding. “Yeah, they are, and even as young as she is, Colleen’s already following in her big sister’s footsteps. She isn’t sleeping all night, but we get a good four or five hours between her last feeding and when she wakes up for the next one. I did ask the pediatrician about it and since she’s gaining weight, he’s not worried. Now, tell me about you and Data.”

“I know I told you that he was the one who got away, but in reality, I’m the one who left,” I quietly confess. “Remember that one assignment when we first graduated where I was gone for a month? You went somewhere else that time and I met Data then, only I knew him as Eddie because he wasn’t in the club. God, Fee, he… he was everything, but then I got scared, so even though I promised to keep in touch, I didn’t.”

“What scared you?” she gently probes.

“I fell in love with the boy of my dreams when I was in high school,” I admit, “to a boy named Timmy… Tim. He was by my side when my family died in a house fire, and I was taken in by my great-aunt. And we made plans,” I whisper. “For after college, that is. I had dual-enrolled and was graduating with my high school diploma and an associate’s degree, and he was going to go to medical school.”

“What happened to him, Ella?”

I can’t stop the tears that have started as emotion fills me once again. “We were studying in the library for one of his final exams when… when three of our classmates came in with guns and started shooting. He died protecting me, Fee. In a matter of two years, I lost everyone except my Aunt Ruby, who passed a few years ago, and I vowed then I’d never fall in love again. That way, I couldn’t be hurt.”

“But you fell in love with him anyhow, didn’t you?” she asks.

“Yeah, I did,” I finally admit. “And that scared the shit out of me because what if we planned a future together and he died on me, too?”

“Life doesn’t come with guarantees, Ella, you know that, honey,” she replies, placing Colleen in the bassinet that’s in the living room so she can get on the floor with me.

Before I know what’s happening, she has her arms wrapped around me as I sob.

“Holly nearly lost Rebel, Marnie almost died, Rebel almost lost his son and Holly, yet you won’t find two couples happier with their lives. You can’t live in a vacuum, that’s not how life works. And wouldn’t it be better to have someone who loves you by your side, no matter how long that’s for, than to be all alone?”

“I’m terrified, Fee. What if he’s okay with the boundary I put in place?”

“What boundary?” she asks, still holding me.

“Because you and Prophet are married and we’re best friends, there’s no way I wouldn’t want to see you whenever possible. He pointed out that the clubhouse is his home and I wasn’t going to chase him from where he lives whenever I come into town, and rightly so. I told him we could be friends, but I couldn’t do more than that,” I admit, my voice low.

“Oh, honey, he may be willing to be friends, but trust me, he still loves you. I’ve seen how he watches you when you’re not paying attention. These men? When they find the one who speaks to their soul, they’ll do whatever it takes to be around that woman. You talked to him that night we came home with the baby, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” I say.

“And since then, you’ve seen him every day, correct?”

I stop and think about the past few days. “He came over here yesterday when I was drugged to the gills,” I reply, ticking everything off, “then this morning, he picked me up, took me to breakfast, and then showed me the haunted house.”

“Now, I’m not saying that friends don’t hang out that often, because we know they do, but it sounds like he’s spent a lot of time with you since agreeing to be friends. So, you’re a smart woman, what do you think that means?”

“That he never got over me or what was starting to grow between us,” I whisper. Turning wide eyes to her I state, “Holy shit, Fee, he’s playing the long game, isn’t he?”

“Sounds like it to me. Now, you’re gonna have to help me up and I need to go get myself cleaned up. Who knew that every little movement would have me leaking?” she muses.

I start laughing as I get to my feet then help her to hers. Because of her HG, she didn’t gain a ton of weight during her pregnancy, so she’s nearly back to her pre-pregnancy weight already. Truly though, she did lose a lot in the beginning, so as far as I’m concerned, she’s fine the way she is right now. She’s still healing though, and while I’ve never given birth, I remember my classes and she’s bleeding.

“Do you need me to grab a padsicle?” I ask.

“No. Eli went and bought a small freezer and put it in our bathroom, so they were readily accessible,” she says as she walks toward her room.

I’m laughing as I pick Cami up. “Of course, your daddy did that, because he loves your mama.” Since she’s acting sleepy, I place her in the playpen that’s next to the bassinet and then clean up the toys before I head into the kitchen to see if there’s anything I can do in there.