Page 13 of Stowaway Whirlwind
I lean back, too, to fill out the form, tapping my pen when I get to the father’s information section. I skip it, filling out the rest of the form before coming back to it, debating what I should do. In the end, I leave the section blank. If Colton changes his mind and decides he wants to be in Lily’s life, then he has to put in the effort to prove it by pursuing legal action to get his name put on her birth certificate.
I set the clipboard aside after I sign my name and take a sleeping Lily from Davis. He mumbles something, readjusts to get more comfortable, and immediately falls asleep. I smile as I place Lily in her bassinet, plug in my phone to charge, then scoot down the bed and fall asleep beside Davis.
Davis
I’m the first to awaken when Nurse Sandy—who talks as fast as a hummingbird beats its wings in a thick, East Texas accent—strides into the room the next morning, bouncing on her toes to collect Lily’s birth certificate form. I reach over Goldie to find it and hand it to her, and she scrunches her nose as she flips through it.
“Uh oh, Daddy,” she says, giving me theick, as Dolly might say.
All the staff have simply been referring to me asDad. The only one I wouldn’t mind calling meDaddyis Lily, though she can’t speak yet, and maybe…maybe Goldie.Hmm. I’ve overheard Dolly calling WyattDaddyplenty of times when they think people can’t hear them. Those two don’t know how to whisper to save their lives—much like Nurse Sandy—so I usually try my best to block it out.
“You forgot to fill in your section. See here?” She uses the pen to point out the empty section for the father’s information, and my heart thumps hard against my ribs. Goldie didn’t fill in the deadbeat’s information. “I’ll give you a few more minutes to complete it and be right back.” She hands over the clipboard and bounces out of the room before I can come up with an explanation as to why my information isn’t included. You know, because I’m not actually Lily’s father…
There’s that pang again as my eyes drift down the paper. I don’t know what to do. “Goldie,” I whisper, trying not to wake Lily, who is miraculously still sleeping peacefully in her bassinet. I try again when Goldie doesn’t stir. “Honey?” Her pale eyelashes flutter briefly, and she shifts closer, throwing her arm around my middle and nuzzling her cute little nose against my arm, letting out a sigh of contentment before going still.
I eye the blank section again and make another decision in a long line of crazy decisions I’ve made since meeting her—I start filling it out, but with my information. My hand twitches whenI see Lily’s last name filled in asLewis, but at least I can resist the even crazier compulsion to cross it out and write in my last name,Freeman.
By the time the nurse returns, I’ve finished filling out the form, my heart racing as I hand it over. I try not to think too hard about the implications of putting myself down as Lily’s father as if she were my daughter.Too real, too real, too real.
She checks the form, frowning again, though she tries to hide it. “The baby isn’t going to have your last name?”
I scratch the back of my neck, trying to think up a good excuse. Goldie’s left hand twitches on my stomach, and it hits me when I see her bare ring finger. “Oh, Goldie and I aren’t married…yet. She, uh, she wants Lily to have her last name until then.”
Surprise flashes across Nurse Sandy’s features before transforming into a slow, conspiratorial smile. “Ah, I get it. Might want to take the hint and get to it, Daddy.”Ick. “Clever girl.”
The door barely swings shut behind her when Dr. Patel walks in. She’s quieter than the nurse, but this time, Lily starts fussing in her bassinet, and Goldie jerks awake, wiping drool from the corner of her mouth.
“Good morning, Marigold. I’m here to go over a few things before we can get you discharged and on your way home.”
I check the time on my phone and don’t try to hide my annoyance. “It’s been less than twenty-four hours since she gave birth, and you’re sending her home already?” I slide out of bed when Goldie rolls to sit up slowly with a groan, a hand pressed to her belly as she tries to stand up. I rush to her side quickly with my hand under her elbow to help her, and she flashes me a tired smile. And there I go, wanting to kiss her again. I really need to get control of myself.
“I’m sorry. It’s standard procedure since Marigold hasn’t experienced any complications,” Dr. Patel says with sympathy, pushing her hands into the pockets of her white coat. “If I had it my way, new mothers would be able to stay at least a week while they recover. Alas…” Dr. Patel is quick to go over everything Goldie needs to do once she’s home, though she listens attentively and answers Goldie’s questions without trying to rush her.
When Dr. Patel leaves the room, Goldie slides back into bed to nurse Lily. I look away when she pulls down her hospital gown so she doesn’t catch me staring at her bare breastsyet again.
I gather the items I bought for Lily, stuffing them back into the plastic shopping bags. I hand Goldie her phone, which looks to be at least a decade old, when she asks for it. I also hand her the purple backpack sans the handgun and wonder if she’ll notice it’s missing. She must have found where I’d hidden it at some point when I was asleep in the rig and stuck it in her backpack. I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to bring firearms into a hospital—loaded or not—so I snuck it out, tucked in the waistband of my jeans, when I left earlier and stashed it in the Ford’s glove box.
I have one more shopping bag I hadn’t emptied before and sheepishly hand it over, feeling like I’ve overstepped now that I think about what I purchased for her. “So, uh, Nurse Martina said you might need this.”
Of course, the first thing she pulls out is what I was most worried about. “You bought me a nursing bra?” Her brows dart up. “Thank you?” She says it like a question before rushing to follow it up with a genuine, “I mean, thank you.”
I bob my head, then put on my ball cap, yanking the brim low over my eyes. She thanks me again when she pulls out a brand new pair of black maternity leggings—after checking the size of the leggings she was wearing when she went into labor—andan oversized navy blue hoodie with my dad’s favorite football team’s name printed in silver across the front to replace the New Mexico hoodie I bought.
“I, uh, would have bought you panties,” I say, looking out of the window at the cloudy sky instead of at her, “but the nurse showed me the, uh, the maternity panties they’re providing you with.” I can barely get the words out, sounding strangled as I think about her pulling those panties on, figuring she’s just as uncomfortable with the subject as I am.
She doesn’t say anything to that, thank god, and I still can’t quite bring myself to look her in the eye afterward to see her reaction. When she finishes nursing Lily, she asks me hesitantly, “Will you watch Lily while I take a shower? I mean, of course, you don’t have to if you don’t want to, but—”
“Course I will.” I eagerly take Lily from her and gently pat her back to burp her, just like Nurse Martina showed me how.
“Are you sure you don’t mind?”
“Go on. We got this. Unless…you don’t need help in the shower or anything, do you?” I ask her when she takes her backpack and bag of new clothes and gingerly shuffles toward the bathroom, wincing with each step. My cheeks heat when I realize what my question implies. Her—naked in the shower. Me—keeping her steady, helping her soap up her body. “Shit, never mind.” I try to laugh it off, even though my dick—the disgusting, perverted thing that it is—twitches at the mental image.
What the fuck is wrong with me?She’s literally just given birth, and here I am, thinking about what it would feel like to slide my soapy hands over her swollen breasts and her belly, wondering how different it would probably feel now that Lily is Earthside. Would Goldie let me kneel before her and shave her legs? Tenderly clean her sore pussy?
Jesus fucking Christ, snap out of Davis!I hate myself at this moment as I give Goldie my back to adjust my raging hard cockbehind my belt buckle, which thankfully deflates as soon as I turn my attention to taking care of Lily. I hum one of Mom’s favorite songs she used to sing all the time when Lily starts to squirm, no doubt missing her mother already—Fancyby Reba McEntire. Maybe it’s not the most appropriate song to sing to a newborn, but at least it brings back good memories as I slow dance around the room with Lily to keep her happy.
While Goldie is occupied in the shower, yet another staff member walks in to discuss health insurance before the girls can be discharged. He tells me that, although my insurance doesn’t cover Goldie,my daughterwill be so long as I call my insurance provider within a few days of leaving the hospital and add her to my plan. And since I’ve fraudulently claimed Lily as my own, I continue riding the crazy train by digging my billfold out of my back pocket and handing him my insurance card. It’ll be one less thing Goldie will have to worry about, and this way, Lily’s follow-up pediatric appointments will be covered as well.
