Page 61 of Stone Vows

Shit.

“I’m sorry. I’ll talk to her.”

“No, don’t. She likes you. I can see that. I think she was just trying to, I don’t know . . .”

“Size up the competition?” I ask.

Her eyes snap to mine. It’s the first time either of us has really acknowledged this, whatever this is. Other than the mutual bite of blue Jell-O we shared last week.

“Am I . . . competition?” she asks.

“Do you want to be, Elizabeth?”

She rubs her hands across her belly in thought. I wish I knew what was going through her head right now. I damn sure know what’s going through mine. I haven’t ever held her in my arms. Haven’t kissed her. Hell, I don’t even know where she lives, or where she grew up, or what the name of her first pet was. But one thing is for sure, I don’t want her leaving the hospital without me.

“It’s a lot to think about, Kyle. Can we just take this one step at a time?” she asks.

I nod in agreement. “Yeah. We can do that,” I say. “Let’s make sure this little one arrives safely. The rest can wait.”

“The rest,” she whispers under her breath.

Then she looks up at me and smiles.

Chapter Twenty-seven

I try to schedule my time so I can pop in to see what Elizabeth thinks of her baby shower. With the increasing number of cases Dr. Redman has assigned me to, it’s been harder to spend the hours per day I was spending with her just a week ago.

I’m happy my attending has decided to quit punishing me for my father’s indiscretions. But at the same time, being sentenced to spend my days with Elizabeth was the best kind of resident torture.

I’m relieved when I hear nothing but delightful conversation and laughter as I make my way to the end of the hallway. I was worried she’d be upset by the outpouring of their generosity.

“Did you know about this?” Elizabeth asks with a smile when I walk into the room.

“I plead the fifth,” I say with a wink. “Plus, baby showers are for chicks.”

Several small stuffed animals are thrown at me by my sisters-in-law.

“They are not,” Baylor says. “You should have seen the combined shower our friends and family had for Skylar and me.”

“It was epic,” Piper says, laughing at the memory. “They even hooked some guys up to a machine that simulated labor. It was hilarious.”

I shudder thinking of it. Definitely for chicks.

I look around the room to see what they’ve brought her. I know they were only planning on bringing a few things to the hospital. They didn’t want her to have to take much home. They told me they were hoping to have the rest delivered to her apartment.

I just wonder if that will happen. Will she tell them where she lives? Will she tellme?

I see several small outfits that could be used for either a boy or a girl. There is one of those Snugli things that allows a woman to ‘wear’ her baby on her chest. The largest thing in the room is an all-in-one car seat/stroller that looks like the Cadillac of all strollers.

I’m glad they didn’t overwhelm her with gifts. All in all, everything they brought her could easily fit in the under-compartment of the stroller. But Elizabeth is smiling. That must mean they haven’t yet told her about the garage full of other crap Baylor has accumulated for her.

“You’ve all done so much,” Elizabeth says sadly, looking down to fiddle with her chunky bracelet. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

“See, that’s the thing about friends,” Mallory says. “You don’thaveto repay them.”

Elizabeth shakes her head. “It’s so much.”

“You realize we were just going to give this stuff away or donate it, right?” Baylor asks.

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