Page 112 of Empowered
“You know what I mean, Luke.”
He kissed her hand. “Year’s still young yet, Angel.”
Sarah was ready to crack a joke at his expense when Damon Monroe approached, stripped down to nothing but his tailored trousers and a baby blue silk shirt he must have been wearing at his meeting one city away. His face veered between excitement andoh my fucking God.The moment he made eye contact with Lucas, both men grinned.
“It’s a girl.” Damon rarely smiled like that, let alone covered his mouth with his hand to keep the whole world from seeing him behappyfor once. “I mean, we always knew it would be a girl, but…”
“Congrats, man.” Lucas stood and held out his hand. “Welcome to the special club. Everything go all right?”
“Yeah… took a long time, you know?”
“Four hours is record time for a first time mother. You’re lucky you weren’t here for two days like I was.”
But Damon hadn’t paid attention to that. He was too busy fixing his composure when he faced Sarah, still sitting in her chair. “Thank you for driving my wife here, Ms. Clayborn.”
“Don’t mention it.” She left it at that. One of the most casual statements she had ever said to Mr. Monroe.
“When do we get to see the little princess?” Lucas asked.
“Our families will be here soon. Well, her mother’s already here. My mother’s on her way.”
“Of course. We can wait.”
They waited another ninety minutes while the grandmothers squealed, the nurses proclaimed Baby Girl Monroe to be the cutest newborn yet, and Alice kicked everyone out of her private room because she was exhausted. A nurse put the little baby girl in a bed by herself.
So that’s what’s been growing around here for the past nine months, huh?Clarise Monroe – and that name was not a surprise, least of all to Sarah, who had already done a shitton of things on behalf of the then-unborn Clarise – was a solid seven pounds, nine ounces. Her red, wrinkled skin made her already look pissed off at the whole world, which she consistently shook her tiny fists at.Eh, she’ll be fine in that family with an attitude like that.
It helped that whatever distinguishing features a baby had, this one screamedMonroe.
Sarah turned away. Lucas, who had spent the past minute making nice with the baby through the window, put a reassuring hand on his girlfriend’s side.
“Everything okay, Angel?”
“Just had a thought.”
She had many thoughts. The most prominent one was that her own baby would have probably looked similar to Clarise. The Monroe genes were strong. Damon’s mother had red hair and freckles, and Alice’s family were blond and fair – yet the dark hair and amber eyes of the Monroe clan would always win out. Sarah’s baby boy would have looked exactly like his father.
Would that pang always be there? Triggering her heart into brief glimpses of despair?
Would Lucas always be there for her? To kiss away the pain and remind her to live in the present? Where so many people lived and loved her?
Sarah’s problems couldn’t be solved overnight. She would be foolish to believe that, even for a second. Not even her boyfriend would be enough to make her trauma go away as quickly as she would like. Because the world didn’t work that way. Human brains and hearts could be decimated in one night, but it took years to put the pieces back together again. At least Lucas understood that.
“Let’s go home, Angel.” He kept his arm firmly around her shoulders as he nuzzled her temple with the fuzz on his chin. “I’m thinking a nice, long bath and a massage. Oh, we should get some real dinner, too.”
She scoffed, showing herself out of his embrace. “Massage for who?”
“Why, you, of course. You did all that acrobatic driving earlier. Your boss eventhankedyou for putting his wife’s life in danger.”
“Damn straight I need a massage.” That kink in her neck wouldn’t go away on its own. “Not all I need, too.”
Sarah was tired of dealing with other people. The whole reason she was quitting was to finally have personal time to herself again!Personal time with the only man I love like this.She made sure to spare Lucas a wan smile before getting into the elevator. She took it that he would pay for the cab back to his place.
She held the door open for him. They were the only ones in the car the whole ride down to the parking garage.
“What say we do a little role-playing tonight, hm?”
Really? Suggesting that in a hospital elevator?
“What did you have in mind?”
“Well… who said we had to go home at all? We could hop my plane up to New York City tonight. I hear there’s a hoppin’ club there where women go to have some fun.”
“See? This is why we can’t have kids. How the hell would we explain how we met?”
“I’m sure they’ll hear worse at school.”
He had to be kidding. He was kidding, right?
The fact that Sarah wasn’t sure was part of the reason she loved him.
