It's Always Been You

by Elle Wright

  They watched as Derrick stood and hugged Love. Before Drake realized it, he’d stepped forward, halting in his tracks when Derrick rushed out of the cafeteria.

  Gloria hooked her arm in his and pulled him toward Love, who was finishing her burger. “Hey, Lovely,” she said, taking the empty seat across from her daughter and forcing him to take the seat beside her.

  Love shot a glance at him. “Hey.” She smiled at her mother. “Hi, Mom. How are you feeling today?”

  “Better,” Gloria said. “Especially now that Derrick is gone. I hope he’s gone for good. Lovely, you really shouldn’t be eating all that cheese. It will mess with your stomach.”

  As Gloria went on about cheese and the digestive system, Drake swept a hand up Love’s leg and squeezed her thigh.

  “Lovely Grace, are you listening to me?”

  Drake chuckled, knowing that she had tuned her mother out.

  “Sure,” Love lied.

  “I still want to throw you and Drake a reception.”

  Drake dug his fingers into Love’s thigh. He’d spent the morning avoiding talk about a reception, but it seemed Gloria wouldn’t be deterred.

  “Mother, I don’t think it’s a good time,” Love told her.

  “I’m not going to deny that I was hurt when I found out about your hasty wedding. But I’ve moved past it. By the way, I heard you and Drake in the kitchen last night.”

  Drake choked and rubbed the back of his neck.

  “Mother, please.” Love covered her ears. “Oh, my God. I’m so embarrassed,” she muttered.

  “What? You know I have ears like a hawk,” Gloria said innocently.

  “Oh, God,” Love grumbled. “Make it stop.”

  “Okay.” Gloria folded a napkin into a little square, like she used to do when they were children. “Anyway, I had to look at myself in the mirror. I swore I’d never be as old-fashioned as my parents were. I didn’t intend to raise my child the same way they raised me.”

  “Mother, you’re nothing like your parents.”

  Drake knew the history. Love’s grandparents had co-pastored one of those Southern Baptist churches in the backwoods of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, before moving to Las Vegas to start a ministry in what they called the den of sin. Her Nana and Papa didn’t understand when Gloria showed up pregnant out of wedlock, and they disowned her. They hadn’t even shown up for the wedding a few months before Love was born.

  “So I can’t be too mad you went and eloped without me or your father there,” Gloria said. “But I can say I’m ecstatic that you married Drake. He’s perfect for you. And in an effort to prove to you that I’m really okay with this decision, I want to give you two a reception.”

  “Mom, you have a lot going on right now.”

  “She’s right, Mom,” Drake agreed.

  Gloria could need surgery, and he didn’t want her stressing about something that didn’t matter to him. He knew Love felt the same way.

  “Can we table this discussion for after your appointment today?” Love picked up her mother’s hand and kissed it. “I want us to focus on getting your health under control, right, Drake?”

  “Exactly,” he agreed. “If you want to help, fry me some chicken for dinner.”

  Love glanced over at Drake, who shrugged and ate one of her fries.

  Gloria gave them a watery smile, stood and pulled them both into her arms. “I love you, my Lovely. You, too, Drake. You have made me so proud.” She gave them each a kiss on the forehead before pulling back. “We have to go. I want to use the bathroom before my appointment.”

  As Gloria walked off ahead of them, Drake and Love followed at a good distance. He leaned into her. “I saw Derrick.”

  “You did,” Love said, a sneaky smile on her plump lips. She was so ready to be kissed, and he wanted to push her into one of those little nooks and do it. But he’d promised himself he’d keep his hands to himself at work. It was becoming harder by the minute, though.

  “Why was he here?”

  She raised a brow. “Are you jealous?”

  “Pretty much,” he admitted.

  She laughed, and his mouth went dry. “That was honest.”

  “I know no other way to be.”

  Nodding, she told him about her visit with her dad and the subsequent lunch with Derrick. “It was time to let him know, in no uncertain terms, that we are over.”

  Drake couldn’t deny he was glad Love had handled Derrick, even though he still wanted to knock him out.

  Love stopped in front of the restroom her mother had entered, and folded her arms over her chest. She grinned up at him, biting her lip. “I like that you’re jealous.”

  He couldn’t help it; he reached out and rubbed her bottom lip with his thumb. It took everything in him not to kiss her right then and there, gawkers be damned. “Well, I don’t like when you laugh with other men.”

  She gasped. “You’re hilarious. Am I supposed to be serious all the time, Drake?”

  “When you’re not with me.”

  She shoved him playfully, but he grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. It was strange being like this with her in the hallway outside the cafeteria. Anybody could see them, but he didn’t care. He imagined how she’d taste right then, could almost hear the breathless way she said his name when she was coming for him.

  He leaned in closer, his hands tightening around her waist. His gaze lingered on her mouth, before he pressed his lips against hers. She pulled him against her, taking control of the kiss and prying his lips apart with her tongue. A low moan escaped from his throat. Or was it hers? He honestly didn’t know where he stopped and she began, they were so close.

  Someone clearing a throat behind him put a halt to what was sure to escalate. He’d already spotted an empty nook to his left.

  Love giggled against his mouth and they slowly backed away from each other. Gloria was standing with a hand on her hip. Around them, a few people clapped, and Drake took a bow.

  “I’m going to go,” he said, when the applause died down. He could still taste Love’s lips, and fought back a groan. He hugged Gloria and placed a kiss on her forehead. “Bye, Mom.” Then he turned to her daughter. Brushing her hair back, he whispered, “I’ll see you later, Love.”

  She waved at him, and he saluted her, then left.

  Chapter 14

  Love tapped her foot against the tile as she replied to an email. Her mother sat on the exam bed, rambling on about how she was sick of doctors scheduling appointments for a certain time, then not even walking into the room until an hour later.

  “Lovely?” she called. “Are you listening to me?”

  Love gave her a grin. “I’m sorry, Mother. I had an urgent email. What were you saying?”

  “Never mind.” Gloria waved a dismissive hand. “You always do that—tune your poor mother out.”

  The fact was—and she was ashamed to admit it—she rarely listened to her mother completely. It was a big problem because her mom had a habit of sneaking things into the conversation when Love wasn’t paying attention.

  “Mom, I’m sorry. You have my undivided focus.”

  “I’m scared,” Gloria whispered, tears welling in her eyes.

  Shocked by the uncharacteristically emotional admission, Love scooted closer to the bed. Throughout her life, she had seen her mother loud, frantic, nosy, sweet, but never scared. She rubbed her knee. “Aw, Mom, it’s going to be okay. No matter what, I’m going to take care of you.”

  It was the least she could do, because Gloria had always put her first.

  Gloria dashed tears from her cheeks with both hands. “When your father left me, I tried my best not to let you see how devastated I was. I didn’t want you to witness that and think all relationships were bad. I worried about you for so long. You’d be so
wrapped up in school, and I wondered if you’d ever actually let yourself start to live. I wanted that for you so badly. I wanted you to be able to be free, because I wasn’t.”

  Love found herself wiping her own eyes, as her mother continued, “To see you happy, and in love, makes me feel like I didn’t fail you.”

  “Mom, please.” Love leaned forward and embraced her. “You did not fail me. You’ve been there for me through everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She held her gently as she cried into her shoulder. Love wasn’t sure what was going on, but it frightened her.

  “Lovely, I won’t be around forever. It does my heart good to know that you will be well taken care of when I’m not here.”

  “Stop talking like that, Mom. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make this okay, even if that means moving you to Michigan so that I can take care of you.”

  Gloria laughed. “Yeah, right. You’d hate living in the same house with me.”

  Love let out a shaky laugh of her own, grateful that her mother found anything funny. “I would, but I love you more than I love my solitude.”

  “Solitude? You have none of that now. Drake is there.”

  Love paused. Her mother was holding on to her marriage for dear life, it seemed. “True. It’s been an adjustment.”

  “Don’t be too hard on him.”

  Love smirked. She remembered when she’d refused to let Drake stay with her years ago when he’d been looking for a place to live. Now, he was living with her, sleeping with her. He had a toothbrush in her bathroom, underwear in her drawers.

  What a difference a wedding and good sex made.

  “I have a confession to make,” Gloria whispered.

  Curious, Love pulled back and met her gaze. “What is it?”

  “When I first found out you and Drake were married, I thought you were up to something. I couldn’t believe it. I even considered a drunken night might be the reason.”

  Love laughed. Loudly. “Wow, Mom. That’s...something.”

  “I know. But watching you two together made me realize that you really do care for each other. You’re in love.”

  Love thought about that for a moment. She did love Drake—really loved him. Not just because he was Drake but because he was her Drake. Her husband. And she wanted it to stay that way.

  * * *

  It was hours later when Love got back to work. She opened the door to exam room three and stepped in to see her favorite patient. “Hi, Sydney.”

  Sydney Smith, her friend Jared’s twin sister, looked up from a magazine and smiled. “Dr. Love.”

  They hugged. Normally, Love wouldn’t do that with a patient, but Sydney had become a friend. The two had clicked immediately when Love had had the pleasure of delivering baby Brynn.

  There was nothing more rewarding than being in the delivery room. Love enjoyed helping mothers bring babies into the world. Early on, she’d vowed to help women with conception problems and little or no access to health care realize the dream of having a child. It was her passion, and her ultimate goal was to open a specialist clinic devoted to women’s health.

  “What brings you in, Syd?” Love asked, taking a seat on the stool. She quickly docked her tablet and signed in to the system.

  Syd sighed, her hazel eyes flashing. “I think Brynn is going to have a little brother or sister.”

  Love gasped. “What? So soon?”

  Syd’s little one was only two years old, and it had been a rough pregnancy. She’d ended up on bed rest for two months leading up to the harrowing birth of her daughter.

  “Is Morgan ecstatic?”

  Morgan and Sydney had an adorable, devoted relationship. There was no hiding the love they had for each other. Love had been honored to attend the wedding, right there in the hospital chapel. Love recalled the despair in Syd’s eyes the day they’d brought him in with a life threatening gunshot wound, after an attempted robbery. It had been touch and go, but Morgan eventually pulled through and popped the question a few minutes after he’d regained consciousness.

  Ironically, Drake had been a first year surgical resident in the OR during Morgan’s surgery. The two men had become cool after that, often meeting for basketball at the gym during the week.

  Syd crossed her legs, her wedding band sparkling under the lights. “Girl, you know he is, but I’m not so sure I’m ready to go through another pregnancy. It was hard, and I was miserable.”

  Love laughed, and typed a few notes into her tablet. “Are you concerned about being able to carry to term again?”

  It was a common fear for women who’d had difficult pregnancies.

  Syd bit her lip. “It’s crossed my mind. I don’t want to spend my entire pregnancy worried. Then, too, my business is booming. We just expanded our current building, and we’re scouting spots in Canton. It might not be the best time to have a baby. Brynn is a handful already.”

  Love nodded. Syd owned the Ice Box, a restaurant in the neighboring town of Ypsilanti. The city was named in honor of Demetrius Ypsilanti, a Greek revolutionary leader, and was the home of Eastern Michigan University. Love spent a lot of time in Ypsilanti, whether she was eating at one of the many restaurants in Depot Town or hanging out at Sydney’s bar with Drake.

  “I understand,” Love assured her. “But let’s start with a pregnancy test. There’s no point in worrying yet. You don’t know if you’re going to have a bad pregnancy, so we can’t make assumptions.”

  Syd sighed. “Right. Let’s do it.”

  Love pulled up Syd’s medical records and skimmed them. “I want you to head down and get your blood drawn right after your appointment. I won’t do an ultrasound or anything until we get a positive test.”

  “Thanks, Love.”

  Love prepared a lab requisition and wrote a script for prenatal vitamins. “Anything else going on?”

  “Nothing much. How are things going with you? Last time I saw you at the bar, you were drowning your sorrows with your best friend.”

  Love snorted. “That was a while ago.”

  “It was. He’s a hottie, by the way.”

  Grinning, Love tugged at her ear. “We got married a few weeks ago.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “Yes. It wasn’t planned. It just kind of happened.”

  “That’s awesome, Love. Are you thinking of starting a family soon? Because I’m going to selfishly ask you to hold off until I have my baby.”

  Love barked out a laugh. “Girl, you don’t have to worry about that.”

  “You never know. I mean, kids were the last thing on my mind when I started seeing Morgan. And then it just happened.”

  Love clicked on the calendar of her tablet. Her period wasn’t due for another week or so, but Syd was right. Essentially, they’d done nothing to prevent a pregnancy. The few times she and Drake had had sex, they hadn’t used a condom. Love was on birth control, yes, but she’d seen that fail time and time again.

  Her hands trembled as she finished with her notes. The thought of being pregnant herself was enough to make her rethink everything. Making love to Drake was becoming one of her favorite things to do. So much so that she’d been counting down the hours until she could see him again. But they had to take better precautions, because neither of them was ready for a baby.

  “Love?” Syd called.

  Shaking herself out of her thoughts, she offered her a small smile. “Sorry. A lot going on right now.” Not wanting to get into the details of her marriage, she explained about her mother instead. “My mom is in town dealing with some health issues.”

  Her mother’s appointment with the surgeon had gone well. He’d determined that amputation should be a last resort. In the meantime, he set up Gloria on a new treatment he was hyped on. Gloria had sobbed openly at the news. />
  Love still wanted her mother to consider moving to Michigan, or at least staying for an extended visit. But Gloria was stubborn, and hadn’t budged.

  “We should really catch up over drinks soon,” Love told Sydney. “Well, I can drink and you can have apple juice and pretend it’s cognac.”

  They both laughed then.

  Syd stood up and took the form from Love’s outstretched hand. “Thanks. I’m going to head to the lab and then go to work. Please let me know as soon as you get the results.”

  “I certainly will.”

  The two said goodbye and Love started toward the office. Along the way she pulled out her phone and typed a text to Drake: What if I’m pregnant?

  * * *

  Drake stumbled and almost took an L in the middle of the floor. His wife had sent him a text asking what would happen if she were pregnant. Hell, the thought was enough to send him straight to the bar. But he was scheduled to scrub in on a surgery in a few hours and wanted to study a bit beforehand. Dr. Leon had sent him a curt email reminding him of his obligation to the hospital, informing him that his recent change in marital status would not grant him any favors, and letting him know that he’d be assisting him with a heart transplant.

  Drake had hoped to talk to Dr. Leon again, but it was obvious the older man didn’t want much to do with him outside of work. He suspected the recent change of heart had more to do with his father’s demands than anything else, which pissed Drake off. But at least he knew where he stood with his mentor now.

  He stared at the text, dissecting the words. What if I’m pregnant? Drake was hit with a dilemma. Should he go to her and ask her what she meant, or send a lighthearted text like “stop playing around. LOL.”

  Deciding against both options, he typed: We’ll talk later. He hesitated for a minute, deleting and retyping the same message at least three times. Sighing, he hit Send and dropped his phone into his pocket.

  A few minutes later, he was knocking on El’s office door.

  El swung the door open, a pinched look on his face. “You do know that I actually have a job that I do on a daily basis.”