“Nothing we can do about that,” Nate replied. “We can’t reveal any confidential information about our patients, and Roni wants utter privacy.”
“That’s not all, though. The press corps camped outside the clinic has been pushy and aggressive since the day they arrived. I’m worried about how they’re responding to staff. One of them already grabbed Willow’s arm when she tried to walk away from him.” Theo felt a twinge of guilt, as Willow had said there was no need to mention the incident to Nate. Still, seeing the throng of press outside when he arrived at work every day was unsettling. They seemed to be constantly pushing back against the security staff.
“Is Willow all right?”
“She’s fine. But I’m concerned that things could have been more serious. I’ve never seen reporters act in such a way.”
“It’s because it’s not just press, it’s paparazzi,” another doctor chimed in. “They’ll do anything to get a compromising photo of Roni. Theo’s right, though. We should do something about it before the situation escalates.”
Nate nodded. “I’ll talk to the clinic security staff about ways we might need to change procedure. Everyone should feel safe coming here, no matter what. But don’t worry, Theo. We’ve dealt with these kinds of situations before.”
“Yes, I heard about the K-pop band,” Theo said, and everyone laughed.
“That was a fiasco,” said Nate. “I think every single teenage girl on the island faked an illness or injury in order to come here and catch a glimpse of those boys.”
Most of the doctors were still laughing as they left the conference room. Theo was glad that he seemed to be fitting in well. But as he headed back toward his office, he found himself wishing that he knew where he stood with Willow.
They’d had ample opportunity to see each other over the past few days, as they were both part of Roni Santiago’s medical team. She’d been warm, but professional, and he’d tried his best to respond in kind. He always seemed to find himself tongue-tied around her.
Though, for some reason, he hadn’t felt nervous at all during their kiss. It had seemed like the most natural thing in the world to bend his head to hers and to feel her mouth yield to his, with nothing but the gentle lapping of the waves on the beach to keep him from getting utterly lost in the moment, in her.
He understood why she’d pulled back from him. If he knew one thing about Willow, it was that she was protective of her daughter. There was no way for the two of them to become involved without acknowledging the fact that it could be confusing for Maisie. He hoped Willow knew that he’d agreed with everything she’d said about wanting to put their feelings on hold because of Maisie. He thought it was for the best, too. Complicating, or even losing, his chance to get to know Maisie was out of the question. But losing the chance to kiss Willow again...well, that was also a grim prospect.
After she’d pulled away from their kiss, he’d thought, for a moment, that Willow would say that they had no chance at all. But he’d been relieved that she’d kept the door open for...something.
He wasn’t sure what that something might be, or just how far into the future she envisioned “later” to be. He was still trying to think of a way to bring it up with her when he arrived at his office and found a sticky note stuck to his computer screen. It was from Willow, inviting him to meet her for lunch in the cafeteria.
He arrived to find her already nibbling at a chocolate croissant.
“Interesting choice,” he said, sitting across from her. “A cafeteria staffed by Michelin-star-quality cooks, and yet you’re opting for a coffee and croissant for lunch.”
She closed her eyes in pleasure as she took a bite. “Clearly you haven’t yet enjoyed the magic of the Island Clinic morning pastry table. There are hardly any leftovers by lunch, but I managed to snag this one today.”
“I’ll have to try one soon.”
She gave him a mock glare and pulled the croissant toward herself. “Don’t get any ideas. This one’s mine.”
He held up his hands. “Your croissants are safe with me.”
She took a long sip of coffee, and he had a feeling she was gathering her thoughts. He was bracing himself for whatever she might say next. He hoped, more than anything, that she wasn’t about to tell him that they couldn’t see each other, because of Maisie. And yet if she was, well, then...he might not like it, but he could understand.
“I really enjoyed having dinner with you,” she said. He noticed that she seemed as careful to avoid the word date as he was. “It was my first night out in a long time, and it was fun.”
“Even with the medical emergency?”
“Especially with that. It gave me a chance to show off a little.”
He sighed. “I can’t help but feel that there’s a ‘but’ coming.”
“Theo, honesty is extremely important to me. Which is why I want to tell you that I had a good time the other night. And... I am enjoying getting to know you. I’ve been thinking a lot about roads not taken, and if it were just me, if I were completely on my own, then this would probably be a road I’d want to explore. But I’m not on my own.”
He reached across the table and covered her hand with his, and she didn’t move away. “I appreciate your honesty, and I understand. And just so you know, you’re not in this alone. Protecting Maisie is important to me, too.”
“I can see that. And that’s why we need to take things really, really slowly.”
His world stopped for a minute. He wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. Once again, he’d been so certain that Willow was going to tell him that she couldn’t be romantically involved with him at all. But if she were talking about taking things slowly, then that meant he had a chance.
“We need to take our time,” she continued. “We’ve both been through some very sudden changes lately, and we need some time to adapt. If it were just me, I might be ready to jump in with both feet. But I don’t want to throw lots of sudden changes Maisie’s way.”
Her hand was still under his, on the table. Cautiously, without breaking eye contact, he turned his hand so that he was holding hers. “So just to be clear, this isn’t a full stop, but a slowdown.”
She held his hand as firmly as she held his gaze. “I need you to be okay with slow.”
He couldn’t stop the relieved grin that broke over his face. “Are you kidding me? I am thrilled with slow. If slow is my chance to get to know my daughter, and you, then slow is my new favorite speed.”
She gave his hand a squeeze before she took hers back. “I hope you can understand.”
“Willow, I do. I meant it when I said that you’re not in this alone. Protecting Maisie will always be my first priority.”
She nodded, but he wasn’t sure if she understood what he meant. How could she? He hadn’t yet had a chance to explain to her what having children meant to him.
“When I was diagnosed with cancer, I worried that having lots of children would be one of many dreams that I’d have to put on hold. I didn’t know if it was ever going to happen. Having my sperm frozen was my last chance. But even with that, there was no way to be sure that I would ever have children. All it did was help to increase my chances a little. And so when the clinic had their accident and Maisie was conceived...to me, it wasn’t an accident. It was a miracle. And even though I don’t know her, she’s very precious to me, because she represents part of a dream I once had. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for her. Including taking things slow.”
Willow was staring at him intently. Theo hoped his words had made sense. He hoped he hadn’t come on too strong, but even if he had, he didn’t think he could have put it any other way. He’d meant every word.
But then she smiled. “I know a little something about feeling like your dreams are being taken away. Maisie represents a dream for me, too.”
He realized that she must be referring to the reason she’d
had Maisie via donor insemination. It was such a personal decision that he hadn’t yet had a chance to ask her about it, but he was curious.
“What kind of dream did you have?” he asked gently.
“Oh, nothing too uncommon, I suppose. I didn’t grow up in a big family like yours. But I was always envious of people who did. I imagined having a large family of my own. And I thought my ex did, too. He’d said he did. Until, after eight years together, he decided he didn’t.”
Theo winced in sympathy. “It’s an awfully big thing to change one’s mind about.”
“The worst part is, I could have forgiven him a long time ago if he’d simply changed his mind about it. But he always said that we’d have children someday, when the time was right.”
“And the right time never came?”
She shook her head in frustration. “At first I was furious with him. All that time, he could have told me the truth, instead of saying the things he thought I wanted to hear. If he had, then maybe we could have parted as friends. Maybe we could have both found people who wanted the same things we did. But now I think I was just as angry with myself, for not seeing the truth sooner. Of course Jamie wouldn’t want children. He didn’t even like children. He never wanted to spend any time with his young nieces and nephews. He’d even complain if we went to a restaurant and there were children nearby.”
“It sounds as though you two were rather badly matched.”
“To say the least of it. I can see now that we weren’t right for each other. But we started dating when we were very young. I’d never broken up with anyone before. And the worst part wasn’t just losing the relationship. It was losing that whole dream of having a family.”
“And so you decided to have Maisie.”
“Exactly,” she said. “So you see, Theo, I do know how it feels to worry that your dreams are slipping away.”
Theo realized that he and Willow might be more similar than he’d thought. They’d both had to find creative ways around life’s obstacles. He found his respect for her growing even more.
“I had so much of my future built up around Jamie, and so when we broke up, I knew that I never wanted to put myself through that pain again,” she continued. “Especially once Maisie arrived. And so I swore off relationships for a while. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m pretty out of practice with...certain things.”
He smiled. “So we go slow.”
“Yes.”
He tried not to let his expression betray his thoughts. She was out of practice? He hadn’t been with anyone for nearly four years. His body was such a shadow of what it used to be after chemo that it was hard enough for him to look at it, let alone anyone else.
But when he’d kissed Willow on the boardwalk, his body had seemed to know just how to respond when he’d felt her hot skin against his, out of practice or not.
He wanted very much to find some secluded place with Willow now, where they could finish what they’d started on that boardwalk, and catch up on whatever practice they needed after taking the past few years off from relationships.
But they were trying to take things slow. And so instead, he said, “I found a house to rent last week. I decided to decline the staff housing here, in favor of increased privacy. Would it be going slow enough if I invited you and Maisie over to see the house this weekend? We could make it a bit of a housewarming party. I could spend some time with her, and you can see if the house meets with your approval.”
“You have a house already? You’ve only been here three weeks.”
“It turned out to be much easier to find a place to rent than I thought. It even came with a dog.”
“I...didn’t know that was typical.”
“The landlord said he’d been living on the porch for months. He’s very friendly. Do you like dogs? Does Maisie?”
“She’ll be over the moon. She’s been pestering me for one for ages, but I was going to wait for her birthday next year.”
“You’ll come, then? It’s a...date?”
“It’s a start.”
CHAPTER SIX
THE HOUSE THEO had rented turned out to be on a stretch of beach just outside Williamtown, about a twenty-minute walk from Willow’s home. Willow was grateful for the walk, as she wanted time to collect her thoughts. This would be the first time Maisie would have any amount of interaction with Theo, and she was nervous about how it would go.
Willow had simply told her that they were visiting a friend. The plan was to have a picnic lunch on the beach, and Maisie chattered excitedly from her stroller about the dog Willow had said would be there.
Maisie, Willow knew, would be fine, no matter how this afternoon went. After all, as far as she was concerned, this was just another day out. To Willow, it was much more. Her conversation with Roni had been spinning in her head all week. She knew that she hadn’t had feelings like those she felt for Theo in a long time. But despite all the reasons not to start anything with Theo—and there were so many good reasons—maybe Roni was right. Maybe all of those reasons were nothing more than Willow’s way of hiding from herself.
Swearing off relationships had let her feel safe. For years, she’d told herself that she could be content with just herself and her daughter. But then, she’d never encountered anyone like Theo over the past few years. Someone who gave rise to the first stirrings of a desire for something more.
Or perhaps “first stirrings” was a bit of an understatement. She still remembered the way Theo’s hand had brushed her neck when they kissed. The way her shawl had dropped down from her shoulder.
She’d wanted so much more than just a kiss.
But she’d also meant what she’d said, about wanting to take things slow. The attraction she felt for him had disrupted her calm life and left her feeling thrown off-balance, because she knew the heartbreak that could come if things went badly.
She’d felt encouraged by the conversation they’d had in the cafeteria. But then, Theo always knew what to say. It was whether he followed his words up with actions that mattered.
They approached Theo’s house, where he waved to them from the porch. Like their own house, it was built on stilts to protect against hurricanes. Maisie hopped out of her stroller and they traipsed down the narrow pathway, until Maisie came to a dead stop.
“No,” she said.
“What is it, love?”
Maisie pointed a chubby finger. “No dog.”
A large, curly-haired dog sat placidly next to Theo on the porch. As Willow and Maisie stared at it, it placed its head on Theo’s knee and gazed at him with brazen adoration.
“This is Bixby,” Theo said, scratching the dog behind its ears as Bixby closed his eyes in ecstasy. “He came with the house. He lives out here on the porch, and seems very determined to stay.”
Maisie stepped back, and peeked out from behind Willow’s skirt. “What’s wrong, Mais?” Willow asked. “I thought you were excited to meet the doggy.”
“That one’s too big.”
“He is a big fellow, isn’t he?” said Theo, rubbing Bixby’s sides. The dog stood up and shook, and Maisie cowered behind Willow even more. Willow guessed the dog was some mix of Labrador and poodle. He seemed to resemble the average dust mop, with about the same amount of coordination.
“Here’s the great thing about big dogs, though,” Theo continued. “They’re big enough to hug, which is important when you’ve got a dog with as much fluff as Bixby here. And they’re clever. Bixby and I have only known each other a few weeks, but he can do all kinds of tricks.”
Maisie’s lower lip began to pout, and Willow knew where this was going. “She doesn’t have much experience with dogs,” she said to Theo. “I think she was expecting a small puppy.”
“He’s very well-behaved,” Theo said.
“Yes, I can see he’s perfectly calm, but it’s not him I’m wor
ried about.” She jerked her head toward Maisie, whose lower lip was now trembling. Willow was certain tears were on the horizon. Her protective instincts were on the alert. Bixby clearly wasn’t a vicious animal—at the moment, he was trying to lick Theo’s face—but she didn’t want her daughter to feel afraid. “It might be best to take the dog inside,” she said.
“Let’s just try one thing more,” Theo said. Willow grit her teeth. Theo might mean well, but he didn’t seem to understand that Maisie was about to implode. He needed to take the dog inside before she had a full meltdown.
“Look at what he can do,” Theo said. “Shake, Bixby.” The dog sat up, alert, and extended his paw.
Willow began, “I don’t think that’s going to—” But to her surprise, Maisie had stuck her head out from behind her skirt.
“What else can he do?”
“Oh, lots of things. He can give me a high-five.” Theo and Bixby demonstrated. “But this is my favorite. Let me show you.”
Maisie watched intently as Theo showed her a tennis ball and three paper cups. Willow watched Maisie just as intently. Only a moment ago, her child had been showing classic signs of an imminent Maisie Meltdown, and Willow had been determined to rescue her from anything that could cause her a moment’s fear. Now, she was taking tentative steps toward the porch, all traces of tears gone as she watched Theo and the dog.
Theo hid a tennis ball underneath one of the paper cups, and switched the placement of each cup in front of Bixby. “Go on, Bix. Find your ball.”
The dog knocked over one paper cup, then another. Neither hid the ball. He placed his paw on the third cup and looked expectantly at Theo.
“Sorry, boy,” Theo said. He turned the cup over to reveal that it, too, had been empty.
“You tricked him!” Maisie shouted. “Poor Bixby, that wasn’t fair!”
Theo tossed the tennis ball to Maisie, who caught it with both hands. “Maybe you can be a better playmate for him. He loves fetch. He’ll bring that ball back to you as many times as you’re willing to throw it.”
Caribbean Paradise, Miracle Family Page 9