Page 75 of Craving You

“You were trying not to be too braggy about being the reason Billie and Marcus got back together,” she reminded him. “And I commended you on it and said…”

“It’s only fair. You’re kind of a hero,” he finished for her. “And while you did mention it that night, you just said a hero. Very general. Right now, you said I was your hero, and that means more than anything.”

“It’s true, you know.” Her breath was a little shaky because she was happy and emotional and a little overwhelmed, but as she placed her hand over his heart, she said, “Never in my life did I ever imagine a man could be as sweet and caring and amazing as you. Every day you show me how you feel without saying a word. At first, I didn’t trust it; at least, that’s what I told myself. The truth was that I didn’t trust myself, my own judgment.”

His smile softened as he simply listened.

“When you stepped out of the room when the doctor left to get the ultrasound machine, I told myself that…if the worst happened, I’d move back to Florida because I wouldn’t be able to handle seeing you every day knowing what we lost.”

“Hailey…”

“Then when he told us that sound we were hearing was our baby’s heartbeat, it was…it…” She paused. “We’ve talked about me being pregnant and that means there’s a baby, but that rapid little heartbeat just made everything real. Like…really real, and I’m already in love with that tiny little strawberry.” Tears stung her eyes, and she noticed Max’s eyes looked a little bright too. “I know we said we could co-parent, but…I don’t want that.”

His expression fell and he went to move away, but she clutched the front of his shirt and tugged him close.

“I don’t want to just co-parent with you, Max. I want…”

“Here you go!” A nurse cheerfully called out as she walked into the room, effectively ruining the moment. “I have all your paperwork here. We sent your prescription to the pharmacy you requested. Be sure to pick it up and start taking it right away.” She handed Hailey a pen. “You just need to sign them and then you are free to go!”

Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted Max inching toward the door. “Max?”

“I’m going to pull the car up to the front door. I’ll meet you out there.”

Well, crap.

I guess I can profess my love to him when we get home…

It was as if the universe had sent out a signal to all the Donovans because as soon as Hailey got in the car, her phone started blowing up with texts. Then his father called to find out what was going on and to find out how Hailey was doing. Max filled him in on everything.

“You didn’t mention anything to Kevin, did you? Did Ronan?”

“I didn’t say anything to either of them. I did what you asked and said you think you got food poisoning. Naturally, Ronan wanted to know what you ate since there are only a handful of restaurants in town, so that was a whole thing.”

Chuckling, he asked, “So, what did you tell him?”

“I said you ate some leftovers you found in the back of the fridge and, obviously, they had gone bad. He seemed to believe me.”

“Very resourceful, Dad. Thanks.”

“So Hailey’s really okay? The baby’s fine?”

“Everyone’s healthy,” he said, and it felt so good to say it out loud. “We’re on our way back to the house now.”

“Your house or Marcus’?”

“Dad, you know our house isn’t ready yet, so we’re obviously going back to Marcus’.” And honestly, right now, he seriously wished they were going to their own home.

“Okay, okay, no need to get testy. I was just asking.”

“Sorry. It’s been a stressful afternoon.”

“Don’t worry about it. Is there anything you need? Anything I can do?”

“Thanks, but I think we’re just going to go home, order some takeout, and relax.”

“That’s probably the best thing. Call me tomorrow and let me know how she’s feeling, and we’ll work on rescheduling that walk-through.”

“You didn’t do it? I just figured you and Ronan would still go.”

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