Page 71 of Doctor Daddy

Everything was so confusing. I was so tired. I just wanted to take a shower and go to sleep. Maybe sleep first. But I couldn’t sleep, I needed to make sure my babies were all right. I didn’t ever want them out of my sight. I reached out for them.

“My babies,” I said.

“Don’t worry, they’re coming with you.”

I was so tired.

“Mark,” I called out. He was by my side faster than I expected.

“How are you feeling Brooke?”

“Whatever you do,” I wanted to tell him not to tell my parents. I wanted to tell him to stay with the girls. I wanted to tell him so much. But my mouth was so dry, and my tongue felt thick and sticky. I think I managed to say his name one more time before I passed out.

33

MARK

Iwatched as they rolled Brooke out of the ballroom, followed by her babies. She was so exhausted she had passed out mid-sentence.

“Are you coming?” one of the crew asked me.

I shook my head. “No, not me.”

“Dr. Whitmore,” I said, extending my hand. “Thank you for stepping in when you did.”

“Someone in the lobby mentioned that a woman was having twins in here. I figured the help was needed. Was she your patient, you know her?”

“No, not my patient.” I didn’t feel comfortable answering the rest of her questions. I was raw with fatigue and emotional burnout. I didn’t want or need to verbally dump on this woman, who I literally just met, that Brooke was definitely the one who had gotten away, and I hadn’t been more keenly aware of that until I was delivering another man’s babies.

It was clear to me now that I still had feelings for Brooke and seeing her in that much pain had hit me in the gut. I went in search of Jason to distract my thoughts.

“Jason.”

“Oh, hi Dr. Bryant, is it?”

“Yeah. You were very supportive of Brooke. Have you known her long?”

“Not really. She rotated into events about a week ago.”

“So, you just stepped in because she needed help?”

“I don’t know. I mean, yeah, sure. Somebody needed to do it.”

I clapped him on the shoulder and thanked him for all of his help. I needed to get to my room. I desperately needed a shower, and to get out of these clothes.

The desk clerk gasped when she saw the state of my clothes. Birth can be rather messy, and I didn’t have any kind of covering while I had been helping Brooke.

She let out a little sob. “Is everything okay? Did she?”

I looked down at the front of my shirt. It was pretty gruesome for the uninformed.

“Everything went very well. I never did get my room key. And could I get my bags, they’re behind your desk.”

“Oh, right, absolutely Dr. Bryant.”

As soon as I had my room key and my suitcase, I ignored the looks of horror and concern at my clothes and crossed the lobby to the elevators. Once in my room, I pulled off my ruined clothes and tossed them into a pile. I would have to see if a dry cleaner could help with the trousers. There was no hope for the shirt. I stuffed it into the trash.

The shower had one of those pulsing shower heads. I twisted it and let the hot water massage my neck and shoulders. My neck ached for having to crouch down so low the entire time. I knew I wasn’t nearly as sore and tired as Brooke had to be.

---