Page 129 of Family Bonds: Coy & Angel

“So you want to carry your own things?” he asked.

“I want you to be helpful like you can be, but not overbearing. You’re so overbearing that they could look the word up in the dictionary and it’d have Coy Bond in platinum next to it.”

“Got it,” he said. “What else?”

“I know you talked to Abby today when I specifically told you not to.”

“It’s my right to do that,” he said, frowning.

“It’s your right as your practice,” she said. “I’m not arguing that. But I know you are going to make things worse. I wanted to handle it my way.”

“You didn’t tell me that,” he said.

“Because we didn’t have a chance to talk about it. When were we supposed to do that? It happened this morning and then we’d been working all day. I told you not to say anything, but you did.”

“She needs to cut the shit,” he said.

“And I would have told her that. It should have come from me if she had an issue withme. Now it just looks like I can’t deal with anything and my husband has to hold my hand and do it all. One more thing for everyone to think about me.”

“No one thinks that,” he said.

“Coy. You’re not a woman. They all think it. I’m surprised you don’t jump up and run and get me water when it’s empty. You might as well. You could tie my sneakers for me too even though I can bend and do it. Or maybe pull my pants up after I pee. Give me a break. I’m tired of this!”

He’d never heard her yell before.

He wanted to ask if it was hormones, but his mother didn’t raise a fool. Those words would be locked up tight.

“I didn’t know you felt this way.”

She threw her hands up and marched toward him. They were still in Spencer’s room.

“How can you say that? It’s not the first time I’ve told you that I can’t stand it that you won’t let me do anything. You know I hate to be babied and you’re doing it worse than my brother and father did.”

Hearing her say that didn’t help that she was right and he hadn’t realized it.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “Maybe I’m just scared.”

“You know what?” she said. “So am I.”

“Why?” he asked in a panic and started to move toward her.

“Stop,” she said, putting her hand up. “I’m fine. I’m scared because every pregnant woman out there is at some point. I don’t know what could go wrong. Or maybe I do know what can go wrong and it worries me. But if I tell you I’m scared then you get worse than you are. I said I wanted a partner. I should be able to go to my husband and tell him these things without him trying to find his cape and fly me away from my fears. It doesn’t work that way.”

He ran his hand over his face.

“I didn’t want you to know that I’m nervous and scared. I didn’t want it to upset you.”

“It’s not upsetting me. It makes us human and being able to talk to each other rather than you holding it in and trying toprotect me. There are things even aBondcan’t protect against, Coy. All the money in the world can’t change some things.”

“I know,” he said. He remembered what Drew and Amanda went through when she had a miscarriage last year. The same when he was young and his mother lost his baby sister.

It all came back to him tenfold now that he had a child of his own coming.

“Then stop acting like you can do it all. No one can do it all.”

“I can try to stop,” he said.

“Good,” she said.

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