Page 10 of Theirs to Have

“So, who tipped you off that we were coming?” Cash asked.

Mary’s sly smile was back in place, “Well, no one. Mercy came home last night after you dropped her off and told me the whole sorted story. I’ve been around the block a time or two boys. When a beautiful young woman tells her guy or in this case—guys, that she is pregnant they usually need to take a minuteto sort everything out. I figured that if the two of you were as smart and caring as she makes you out to be you’d be here bright and early this morning. We have some work to do boys. My girl is a stubborn one.” Mary nibbled at her toast and Cash couldn’t help his smile. He liked Mercy’s grandmother and from the way Callan was fawning all over her, he did too.

“Eat up now and after, we can put our heads together and come up with a plan. You two are going to make my granddaughter very happy, she just doesn’t know it yet.” Cash shook his head at how brazen Mary was. Mercy must have gotten her sass from her grandmother.

They ate breakfast talking, laughing, and getting to know each other, and with every passing minute, Cash fell even more in love with Mercy’s grandmother. Mary was a very special lady. She shared with them that she had been seeing some guy named Joe from down at the rec center. She and Joe had plans to get married, but she felt bad leaving Mercy all alone. She told them that if things worked out between them and Mercy she would like to marry Joe next month since they both weren’t getting any younger.

Cash’s wheels were turning, and he knew that if Mary wanted to marry Joe in a month, that didn’t give them much time to claim Mercy and move her into his house. Callan had agreed to give up his shitty apartment and move into Cash’s house. They even had plans of tearing down a wall between two bedrooms to make one big master suite for the three of them to share. Cash knew that for their plan to work they had to present a united front. He wasn’t sure if he and Callan would be able to do that, but his friend reminded him that they had each other’s backs and that was all that mattered. Cash had forgotten what it was like to have a friend. Allowing someone back into his life who could easily break his heart scared the shit out of him. Here he was letting two people in and soon, a third. But he knew that itwould be worth it in the end. At least, he hoped that would be the case. He was ready to let go of the past and move on because he wanted Mercy, the baby, and now, Callan to be his future. He decided that much last night.

They finished breakfast and he and Callan did the dishes while Mary got ready for her date. When she returned to the kitchen, she told them that her ride was there and to lock up on their way out.

“But we don’t have a plan yet,” Callan said.

Mary smiled at the two of them, “You boys seem to have good heads on your shoulders,” she winked at them and Cash couldn’t help his smile. “I think that between the two of you, you’ll figure it all out. I’m putting my trust in you both to take care of my granddaughter.” She pointed a finger at them, waggling it between the two of them, “Don’t fuck it up, boys,” she barked. Mary turned and left the room, grabbing her handbag on the way out.

Callan looked at Cash and they were both grinning like fools again. “I like her,” Cash whispered as if he didn’t want Mary to hear him. Cash chuckled.

“I like her too, man,” Cash slapped Callan on his shoulder and they got to work finishing up the dishes. They had a full day ahead of them if they were going to convince Mercy to give them a chance. He wanted to pack her shit and move it into his house, but he knew that bullying her into moving in with the two of them wasn’t the way. Emily warned him that Mercy was stubborn. If they pushed her, she’d push back. He was starting to see that their girl was going to give them trouble at every turn, and he couldn’t wait.

Mercy was just what he needed and everything that he didn’t know that he wanted. He had spent the last five years haunted by the ghosts of his past. It was time to move on and let go of everyone that hurt him and everyone that he hurt. It was time toforgive himself and find happiness and he was betting he’d find it with Mercy and Callan. If he and Callan could convince her to be between them, they’d both be the luckiest guys on the planet.

Mercy

It was a long ass day and by the end of her twelve-hour shift, Mercy was dead tired. Her feet hurt, her back hurt, and she was pretty sure that her little bump grew overnight. Her belly was straining against the front of her shirt, and she knew that everyone on staff noticed, judging from the stares and whispers that followed her around all day. It was as if telling the guys and her grandmother about the baby, had given her body permission to do what it needed to. She was still not quite ready to tell work but the post-it note on her computer screen told her that her time was probably up. Her boss wanted to talk to her before she left for the day, and she was pretty sure that her growing belly was going to be the topic of conversation.

Mercy entered the employee locker room after taking a long, hot shower and changing out of her scrubs. She tried to limit her time in the shower at home, not wanting her water bill to go up more than it already was. She was barely scraping by and showering at work was free. Mercy regretted her choice of pants, not quite able to zip them up and her shirt barely covered her belly. She was trying to decide if she should just give up the fightwith her body and put back on her scrubs. But the thought of putting dirty clothes back on made her skin crawl.

“There you are,” her supervisor had asked her to stop by on her way out, but her time was up.

“Hey Lisa, I was just coming to find you.” Mercy sounded way too perky, and she was afraid that she was going to come off as fake. She was dead on her feet and ready to go home to bed but from the way Lisa was staring at her belly, bed was going to have to wait.

“I wanted to catch you while you were still down here. You had visitors today, but I told them both that you were with a patient. I hope that you understand, Mercy we can’t have that type of behavior happening in this hospital.” Lisa crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Mercy’s bump. Mercy wanted to cover her belly with her hands, but she didn’t want to draw any extra attention to herself. Besides, she didn’t do anything wrong, women had babies all the time. Why should she hide her baby bump?

“And what behavior are you talking about, Lisa? Having visitors isn’t against hospital policy now, right?” She wanted to ask her boss who had stopped by to see her, but she had a pretty good idea about who Lisa was referring to. If Cash and Callan had come to see her everyone on the floor would have noticed. Those two were not men that you could walk past and ignore. What she couldn’t figure out was why they were both there together or why Callan was there at all. He never returned any of her text messages that she sent, trying to meet with him to give back his jacket. She sent Cash a text letting him know that she thought that dinner was a bad idea and would only cause problems for the three of them. She explained how she felt about Callan and told Cash that it didn’t feel right to pursue a relationship with him while still having feelings for Callan. She hadn’t heard from him either and she knew that she might neverhear from him or Callan again—or at least until after the baby was born. So, why would they just show up to the hospital?

“No,” Lisa sneered. “It’s not against hospital policy to have visitors when you are on a break. Like I said, you were with patients. I also don’t think that I need to remind you that you have only been here a couple of years, and that insubordination won’t be tolerated, Mercy. I would hope that you would show me a little more respect and not question my decisions,” Lisa growled. Mercy didn’t just want to question the woman; she wanted to full-on punch her in the face. That could also be her crazy pregnancy hormones talking but it took all her willpower to not walk up to her boss and smack her.

“I mean you no disrespect, Lisa,” she said through clenched teeth. “I was just saying that you could have asked my visitors to wait for me to have a break. I’m sure they would have.”

Lisa barked out her laugh, “Oh, I bet they would have waited to see you during your break. It looks like they have seen plenty of you from the size of your bump, I’d say they have been seeing you for a few months now.” Mercy wanted to throw up the white flag, surrender, and call it a day. There would be no talking to Lisa, she had already made up her mind and judged Mercy.

“I think that you’re the one who owes me an apology now, Lisa,” she spat, furious that she was being made to feel bad about her private life. What she did outside of the hospital was her business and Lisa couldn’t do anything about that, could she?

“Well, Mercy, you won’t be getting one from me. You hid your pregnancy from me, and I’ve had some complaints that you haven’t been working up to even subpar standards.” Red flags were dancing in Mercy’s head and alarm bells were going off. She knew what Lisa was about to say and there was nothing that she could do about it.

“Who complained about my work standards?” Mercy almost whispered.

Lisa’s smile was mean, “Everyone on the nursing staff has told me that they have had to cover for you while you run to the restroom. I’ve had my suspicions that you were pregnant for months now. But seeing you today confirmed them. We’re going to have to let you go, Mercy. We can’t accept anything less than one hundred percent from each one of our nurses. We are already short-staffed and keeping a nurse that doesn’t give her all isn’t fair to the other hard-working professionals on staff.”

Mercy took a step back, feeling as if Lisa slapped her. “You’re firing me?” Mercy clutched her belly, worry piercing through her body.

“I am,” Lisa checked her watch as if she had somewhere else she had to be.

“I need this job, Lisa. I work my ass off, putting in overtime and taking shifts from other nurses just to make ends meet. Maybe you should look at some of their subpar performances. They don’t even show up to work, they just call me to take their shifts because they know I’m taking care of my grandmother and need the money. It’s laughable that you are accusing me of not giving one hundred percent to this job. Hell, I give one hundred and fifty percent to this fucking job, and look where it’s landed me.”

Lisa barked out her laugh, “You landed yourself between two men and now you’re pregnant and can’t make ends meet. You did this to yourself, Mercy. Clean out your locker and be out of here in fifteen minutes or I’ll have security throw you out—with force.” Lisa turned and left the locker room before Mercy could get another word out. She wasn’t sure what she would say anyway. She wasn’t going to lie and say that she didn’t sleep with two men at once and get herself pregnant. But now what was she supposed to do? She could barely take care of her grandmother and herself with the money that she brought home. Now, she was going to have to take care of a baby and do it all without a jobor health care. Mercy wanted to sit on the bench and cry but the thought of being forcibly removed from the hospital in front of people she considered her friends wasn’t something she wanted to face. She packed her locker contents into her backpack and walked out.

She noticed the way people were whispering behind her back and watching her as she walked to the elevator, hot tears streaming down her face. She didn’t miss the snarky comments or smirks on faces that she considered her friends. The elevators felt like they were taking forever to get to her floor and when the doors finally closed, she collapsed onto the floor, sobbing and shaking. How was she going to get through this? She had no one to turn to, only her grandmother, and she couldn’t put this on her. Mercy had already unloaded too much on Gram last night; she couldn’t tell her that she lost her job now.

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