by Dianne Drake
“That’s all for the night,” Del said as she and Simon walked away from the ICU viewing window. “You can see her again in the morning.”
“This has been the longest night of my life,” Simon said, stretching his arms as he turned and started down the hall. He reached over and took hold of Del’s hand. “Congratulate me. I’m going to be a father.”
“Since I’ve known you, you’ve never not been a father,” she said.
“You got pretty feisty in the confrontation.” They walked past the exit sign and on to the front door. “I’ve never seen that side of you before.”
“That’s the mother side of me fighting for a child. Tonight I was fighting for Amy.”
“But you’re not her mother.”
“And you were in the position where you had to be more diplomatic than I was. One wrong word and Amy would have been chucked into a nursing home while Yvette and Mack went to Vegas. So as the innocent bystander...”
“You’re not so innocent, Del. Let me tell you, I have a new appreciation for that side of your motherhood. Pity the poor idiots who try to get one over on Charlie, because you’ve got some wicked claws.”
She laughed. “It’s called a mother’s defense mechanism.”
They headed out into the parking lot and decided to spend the rest of the night next door in the clinic so they’d be close to the hospital in case Simon was called back. Not that there was much left of the night, as it was going on to four a.m.
“I wonder if I’ll develop something like it.”
“Oh, I think you already have. You stand up for Amy quite nicely. Nice enough that it got you a child tonight.”
“I don’t think that’s sunk in yet. More than likely it won’t until I see the signatures on the court document.”
She stopped and pulled him over to her, and reached up and kissed him full on the lips. “That’s for good luck.”
“I’ve already had all the good luck I’ll ever need,” he said, putting his arm around her waist as they finished their walk over to the clinic. “And it’s sure been one hell of a night, you know that?”
“I know,” she said, remembering how it had started in bed. Just for a quickie was what she’d promised herself, except somewhere in there that quickie had been extended into an emotional commitment. She realized then that she did love Simon, and she didn’t regret that for a moment. Loved the way he took care of his child, loved the way he was with her. Too bad he still wouldn’t commit to another woman with a child because she was suddenly in the mood to be committed to him. But that just wasn’t to be and she knew that. Couldn’t blame him, either, after what he’d gone through with Amy. Besides, Amy would be enough for him to deal with for a good, long time.
Del sighed. Their timing was sure off, she decided. Which didn’t make them too much of a meant-to-be proposition. It was on that note that she decided to leave him alone at the clinic and go on home, where she was supposed to be. At least in the morning she could see Charlie, and he would renew her vitality. Because tonight she felt fully drained. Fully, completely drained.
* * *
“She’s doing great,” Simon said. “She’s in physical therapy next door so I decided to run over here to the clinic to see how things were going.” He was on an extended leave of absence, pending Amy’s release from the hospital any day now. And although he was officially offf call, he’d managed to drop in on Del at least once a day for the past two weeks. Sometimes he had a legitimate excuse, sometimes he just came to loiter and be near. Either way, she always seemed glad to see him. Glad, yet back to the casual. So while they hadn’t managed another night together yet, that connection was still there between them, ever clinging. But he felt it slipping away.
Besides, Del’s parents had gone home to Costa Rica and she was back to her old schedule, which left her with very little time to herself. “I’ve checked in on her a few times when I’ve gone over to visit Charlie on my lunch hour and she’s wonderful. So bright. So eager to work hard to get better because she wants to come home and live in her new daddy’s condo.”
Simon smiled. “I can see why you didn’t want to leave Charlie. It’s a hard adjustment to make.”
“It’s getting easier when I drop him off, but it’s never totally easy.”
“Have you ever thought about a child-care center here in the clinic? We’ve got a few parents here who could benefit from that.”
“Actually, no. I’d never thought of it, but it might be worth considering.”
“That would keep Charlie closer to you. And Amy closer to me before and after school.”
“So you’re really going to come back to us when she’s better?”
“Yes. I’d never planned on quitting altogether. Somebody’s got to support us. So unless I marry a rich woman who doesn’t mind taking on all the responsibilities...”
“She can’t have children,” Del reminded him.
“About that. I think I’ve changed my mind.”
“Changed your mind about what?”
“About someone with children. I think I could possibly manage to have a relationship like that in my life.”
“How? When all I’ve ever heard from you is that you wouldn’t get permanently involved with a woman who has a child. When did that change, or did it change?”
“It changed when I started using my head. And it’s about finding the right relationship. Knowing that she would love Amy as much as I would love her child.”
“So you mean a blended-family type of situation?”
“That’s what they’re calling it these days.”
“But could you do that, Simon? Just walk into a family and love her children as much as you love Amy? Or would Amy always come first? Because that wouldn’t be right. Children need love on their own terms, and they don’t need it in a pecking order. Amy comes first, the other child comes second.” She shook her head. “It wouldn’t work.”
“But what if I didn’t have that pecking order? If I accepted all the children as they are and loved them in no particular order?”
“You’ve gone to hell and back for Amy. How could she not come first in your life? I mean, you bring with you, by default, a split family already.”
“Not split. Just blended.”
Del blinked hard. “Anybody in mind?”
“Just one person. But I’m not sure she wants a relationship with anybody other than her son.”
“I think she does. Something tells me she had a change of heart somewhere along the way. But you scare her because of your close ties to your daughter. Can anyone else truly fit in or will there always be a division? And while we’re on the subject, do you still have feelings for Yvette?”
“I’ll always care about Yvette because she’s Amy’s mother. But does that mean I want her back? Hell, no! I want to stay as far away from the woman as I possibly can. As for that division, we wouldn’t be divided, Del. I don’t worry that you couldn’t love Amy as much as I do because I know your heart. As I hope you know mine.”
“It still scares me, Simon. I’d love to have a daughter and Amy’s a wonderful little girl I’ve already grown to love. But you...you’re the unknown to me. Could you ever love Charlie the way I do? Because you’d have to before I...committed to anything. And I just don’t know.”
“What tripped me up?” he asked.
“Your own words, that you won’t have a woman who has a child. I know that’s not playing fair using them against you at this stage of our relationship, and especially now that you have your daughter, but it scares me that Charlie will always run a distant second to Amy, and I can’t have that.”
“Yet you don’t think that Amy will run a distant second to Charlie?”
Del shook her head. “I have room in my heart for many more children. Amy would just fill in one of those em
pty spaces.”
“Yet you don’t think I could do the same for Charlie?”
“Blending isn’t easy, is it?”
“What if I were to adopt Charlie and give him my name as my legal son instead of my stepson?”
“You’d want to do that?”
“In a heartbeat, if you’d let me, and if it would prove to you that I could love him as much as I love Amy. Stop and think, Del. Amy is not my biological child, either, yet I’d defy anyone who said she’s not my daughter. I fell for her just the way I’m falling for Charlie.”
“Then that makes you a remarkable man,” Del said.
“So if I’d ask you to move in to my much larger condo...”
“I might be willing to accept. Provided you really want to take on another woman’s child again and maybe add two or three more to the mix.”
“More kids?”
She shrugged. “I like being a mother.”
“Well, Amy could use another child in the house. She’ll make a super big sister, and I could certainly use a woman who would stand by me as staunchly as you do.”
“That’s a mighty tall order.”
“From a man who’s head over heels crazy in love with you?”
“And you’re sure my having Charlie doesn’t matter to you?”
“Oh, it matters a lot. I’d love to be the one to teach him to play ball when he’s old enough.”
“I think Charlie would love having a father.”
“But would you love having a husband?”
“Depends on who it is, and since there’s only one candidate on my list...”
“Want to go to Ming’s tonight and discuss it?”
“I have a better idea. Let’s go to your condo and discuss it. Because here’s the thing. Now that I’m going to be the mother of two children, I’m dying to have another baby. So I could get a sitter and we could go to your condo and begin to work at making a baby of our own.”
“Seriously?”
“You want to be a father, don’t you? And I’m assuming it’s to be a large family. So one or two more children should round us out nicely.”
“Why, I’d love to make a baby with you, Del.”
“And I’d love to make a baby with you, Simon.” With that, she twined her fingers around his neck and pulled him closer for the kiss that sealed the deal. “I love you,” she whispered to him, not caring that they were standing in the middle of the hall where anybody could see them.”
“And I love you,” he said back, his lips to hers.
“I love the family we have and the one we’re going to make together, too,” she continued, only this time in a whisper.
“Do we have to wait until tonight to start?”
“Just a minute,” she said, then went to the doctors’ board and wiped her name off it. “Now, we’ve got three hours until I have to pick Charlie up from day care.”
“And I promised Amy I’d be back at the hospital to have dinner with her. This is our life now,” he warned. “You do know that, don’t you?”
“I know,” she said, taking his hand as they hurried out the clinic door. “And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
As they walked hand in hand down the sidewalk to his condo, which was the closest by a block to the clinic, she looked out over the lake and smiled. Yes, this was her life now. The one she wanted. The one she needed.
The one she loved.
* * * * *
If you enjoyed this story, check out these other great reads from Dianne Drake
TORTURED BY HER TOUCH
A HOME FOR THE HOT-SHOT DOC
A DOCTOR’S CONFESSION
A CHILD TO HEAL THEIR HEARTS
All available now!
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ISBN-13: 9781488009655
Doctor, Mommy...Wife?
Copyright © 2016 by Dianne Despain
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