Page 31 of Doctor Daddy Dilemma

“I’m comfortable. I just want to go home. This feels like a waste of time and money.” I locked my phone and set it to the side. He stayed there by me, crouching next to my bed, for a while longer.

“Have you thought of any names? You haven’t said much to me about that.”

Since moving to San Francisco, I hadn’t been as in touch with them. Dad flew with me to the northern California city for the audition and they gave me the job on the spot, then three weeks to relocate. Amy had been overjoyed but still hadn’t managed to make the trip to visit yet. I accepted the offer thinking I’d continue to pursue writing jobs, but I ended up loving it so much, I stopped looking for something else.

When Mr. Lewis explained the maternity leave policy and how the studio had an in-house daycare for my post-pregnancy days, I was ecstatic. It was such a shift from working for Mr. James at the Register, and so many more benefits. It felt like I hit the jackpot and healed part of my heart following such an awful experience in Florida.

“I have,” I told him, though I hadn’t even told Mom yet. Not having learned the sex of the baby yet, I’d kept everything to myself. And with moving to California so late in the pregnancy and right in the middle of the holidays, I didn’t even have a baby shower. Lucky for me, Mom and Dad had purchased everything I needed. I still had to pay them back for that.

“When do we get to hear them?” His smile was mirrored on my face. I knew what he was doing, trying to distract me from what was going on so I wouldn’t be so irritable. It was one thing I loved about him, one thing he was really good at.

“Well, whenever I’m actually in labor and this kid comes out of me, you’ll get to meet him or her and learn the name.” I patted his hand and he shook his head and stood up.

“You are torturing this old man’s heart, Charlie. My grandson or granddaughter will become the center of my world and I can’t even know their name yet?” His tone was overly dramatic and made me chuckle. Mom looked up at him over the rim of her bifocals and clicked her tongue.

“Charlie is in labor. This is no time for joking around.” Mom’s puzzle book lowered to her lap and I rolled my eyes at her.

I was about to complain again when a nurse walked in with a pair of gloves in hand and a smile on her face. “How’s Momma doing?” she asked as she walked up to my bed. The contraptions they had me hooked to were so uncomfortable, and the machine kept spitting out paper with a line graph scrawled on it, but I was mostly just bored.

“I’m fine. Can I go home now?” I asked. I didn’t even feel like moving. I just laid there and stared at her as she approached, stretching the gloves onto her hands. My dad backed away to give her space and she stopped near my bed and started to lower the head so I was lying more flat.

“I’m not sure about that, but we can see how labor is progressing and if you’re ready for some pain meds.”

I grunted and closed my eyes. “I’m not in pain.”

“Well, that’s okay. A lot of moms have little to no pain until they reach four centimeters or so. That’s when we will know for sure if you can have pain meds. Any time before that and your labor could stop progressing and we send you home.” She patted my knee and I huffed out a sigh.

“I’m telling you, nothing is happening. I’m not in any pain and I just want to go home.” I rolled to my back and let the nurse check my cervix and it was the most uncomfortable thing in the world. As her hand was buried up inside me, she raised an eyebrow in confusion and looked right into my eyes.

“Are you sure you’re not in any pain at all?” She pulled her hand back and folded the blankets across my legs again, but all I could do was shrug.

“My back hurts pretty badly but it’s been hurting for two days.” I watched as she turned to the thick swath of paper the machine was ejecting as she peeled her gloves off and tossed them in the trash by my bed.

“Honey, you’re nine centimeters. We need to call the doc; it’s time to get this bed set up. You can start pushing any time now.”

“What?” I asked sitting up. The spike of pain in my back was so intense I whimpered and laid back down. “I’m going to push?” My mind was a whirl of activity. Mom stood up and put her puzzle book down, smiling the entire way.

“I told you,” she said as the nurse maneuvered around my bed and used the call button to get more help to join her.

“But I’m not in pain…” My feeble protest was met with no response as the nurses flooded the room. I watched the space transform into a medical fortress. They wheeled a bassinet with a heat lamp into the room, then escorted Dad out, after a dozen forehead kisses. And in less than ten minutes Dr. Gibbons was in the room seated on a stool at the foot of my bed, which was only half together anymore.

“It’s baby time, Charlie.” She tied a mask on her face and then slid a pair of gloves on her hands and I looked at Mom, suddenly scared.

“You’ve got this, baby. I’m here… Now, when the doctor says, you’re going to push like you’ve never pushed before. We get to meet your baby tonight.”

I trembled and nodded, biting my lip as I focused on my doctor’s face. Suddenly I wanted Lex here. His words of encouragement, his calming presence, the way he knew how to take charge and own a room. I wanted him and everything about him, and I had to do this alone. It was all my fault.

I missed him. I didn’t want this anymore. I wanted my family, the way it should be.

24

LEX

The swing was wild, the ball shanked far to the right. I watched it bounce across the rough and land in the water trap where a gator or moccasin was probably feasting on it. No way I’d get it back now. I scowled and slammed my five iron onto the turf, shaking my head. It was the perfect day for golf, but I wasn’t in the mood. It seemed I wasn’t in the mood for anything I enjoyed at all anymore. I hadn’t been for a long time and everyone around me knew it.

It had been more than a year since I took on help with my practice. Ella insisted if we didn’t hire another surgeon to care for our patients we’d have none. She was bossy and demanding, but following the scare last year with my heart, she had basically held everything together. I hired Dr. Divens and Dr. Price, both excellent plastic surgeons, and the business started to take off again. I was nothing but a figurehead these days; they did all the hard work.

“That’s alright, Doc,” Dr. Divens said, slapping me on the back. “You’re a stroke ahead from the last hole. He side-stepped me and pushed his tee into the ground with the ball perched on the top.

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