Page 75 of Just Say (Hell) No
Taking him up with her like a witch. Like a magician. Like a woman.
Days after were always awkward, Nyree knew. Except this one. Because when Marko walked through the door, dropped his bag, pulled her into his arms, and kissed her breathless… how could any woman on the receiving end of that do anything but melt?
Marko couldholdyou. And bloody hell, but the man could kiss.
He pulled back, smiled down at her, and asked, “Good day? Good work?”
“Oh, yeh. Call me inspired.” She nuzzled her face against the hollow at the base of his throat and wondered how she’d ever thought he was too big for her. “You’re a good size, by the way.”
She felt his laugh, a vibration from the depths of his chest, before she heard it. “So they say.”
“Uh,excuseme?” Ella’s voice, coming from the passage to the kitchen. And Marko stepping back from her, maybe because Cat was climbing him like he’d been created to be her activity center. Nyree knew how she felt. Ella went on, “I’m only having my sonogram today, to find out what gender of humans I’m producing? Not that it’s important or anything.”
Marko put his arm around her and gave her a cuddle. “That’s why I’m here, isn’t it.”
“Yeh, right,” Ella said. “You know, for somebody who gave Tom the side-eye for kissing my cheek last night… When you met Nyree, she wasfourteenand you were nineteen. I counted back.”
“Yeh,” Marko said. “And I wasn’t kissing her, because she was too young for me.”
“That’s not the only reason,” Nyree said, and Marko grinned and asked Ella, “Ready to go find out about these babies, then?”
“Well, yeh,” she said. “Obviously.”
They had to wait through the obstetrician’s appointment first. A visit that, when they got to the office, Ella said she would do by herself.
“Are you sure?” Marko asked. “I can see why you wouldn’t want me, but it’d be better to have Nyree, surely.”
Ella said, “Nyree isn’t here, though.” She shook her head. “Well, she is, but… she’s not in my head, is she? I have to be able to do this alone, because I am. Anyway, the questions can be pretty embarrassing. Not sure anybody else needs to hear about my toilet habits. Or the mucus plug. Blech.”
Marko looked at Nyree, and she said, “Fine. But if you want me, this time or anytime, I’m here.”
Ella nodded, but when the nurse called her name, she went into the back alone.
Marko shifted in his chair, and Nyree took his hand and said, “She’s all right. We’re both here for her, and she knows it. Sheisthe one who has to do this. To go through all of it, and live with it afterwards. Call it practice.”
“Right,” he said. “I’ll believe you, since I don’t have a clue here. But I’m going into that scan with her. Got to make sure they don’t give her that same tech, for one thing.”
Nyree laughed, and he smiled. Reluctantly, but he did. “Even if we got the same one,” she said, “you’ll have shut her up.”
“Yeh?”
“You know you did. You were impressive.”
“Always good to hear. So about this return to the homeland next week. What do you think? Once the whistle blows on Saturday night, I’m all yours. But there’s that job, eh. Not to mention Pookie and Precious.”
She gave him a sidelong look. “If you were my mum, you’d be telling me it’s not a real job. In this case, she’d be envisioning you coming through the door of the restaurant, and me ripping off my apron and tossing it to the floor. And possibly you picking me up and carrying me out of there, taking me away from all this. My mum’s seenAn Officer and a Gentlemantoo many times. AlsoLove Actually.No carrying, but similar theme.”
“That what you want me to do, then?”
She laughed. “Nah. I think I’ll keep my job, thanks. But I may have checked about shifts. What would you say about Sunday to Wednesday?”
“I’d say I’ll take it.”
They didn’t have the same technician. Whether that was because of the conversation Marko had beforehand at the front desk or not, he didn’t know. At one point, he overheard Ella asking Nyree, “Could he embarrass me more?” and Nyree answering, “Probably not. On the other hand, you know he loves you. I’d say Marko’s a ‘Show, don’t tell’ type of fella.” Which was probably true.
At any rate, when they got back to the little room and the ugly gown and the paper-covered table, the tech turned out to be a comfortable lady with a jolly smile who started out by saying, “Not your first scan, I see, love, so you already know how cold the gel is. That’s usually the big shock. Let me take some measurements, get through the business end, and then we’ll see if we can find some naughty bits to look at. Nearly eighteen weeks? We should do, but you never know.”
Ella didn’t look nearly as scared this time. In fact, Marko would say she looked excited. He sat beside her, held her hand, watched the screen, and said, “I think that’s a leg. I see toes. Kicking, eh. Can you feel it?”
