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THE BEEPING. WON’T somebody stop the beeping?
I try to reach for my phone even though I don’t think it’s my alarm. I can’t quite get my arm to move or my brain to think. Am I napping? What is even...?
“Relax, Hillary.”
I try to open my eyes, but it takes a lot of effort. “Mac?”
I don’t think my voice worked when I said that, nothing seemed to come out, but he starts talking again. “Relax. You’re fine. The baby is fine. You’re in the hospital. You had surgery, so you need to take it easy. Don’t try to talk. I’ll get a nurse, and we can get you a drink of water.”
The baby?
Bits and pieces start occurring to me. The labor, the ambulance ride. Then...it all feels too much, too overwhelming. I want to say that I want to see the baby, but I feel the fog of sleep coming back. I fight it. But it’s easier to sink back down than swim against the current.
When I blink my eyes open again, the light in the room has changed. I must have slept awhile. Mac is sleeping in the chair next to my bed. On his chest, also sleeping, is the most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen. Her little nose, oh my God. Nobody told me her little nose would be so perfect.
I hear another noise and turn my head toward a nurse fiddling with the bag attached to me. “You’re awake.” She smiles. “Your husband is going to be so happy. He hasn’t left this hospital in two days.”
My husband?
Maybe I woke up in an alternate reality. It wouldn’t be so bad. To be married to Mac. Be a real family.
My thoughts begin to unjumble as I take in more of my surroundings. I hear a muted television laugh track nearby, maybe the room next door. My mouth is dry and tastes like I’ve been chewing on chalk. There’s a soft drip near me, probably the bag of fluids I’m hooked up to. The nurse’s fingers are cold as she counts my pulse. She helps me sit up some, and Mac comes fully awake.
“Hey,” I say. He looks so tired and so beautiful. His new growth beard is dark. It’s a good look for him. The red eyes don’t even take away from how handsome he is.
“Hey yourself.”
The nurse tsks. “I’m going to see if the doctor is still doing rounds. I know he’d like to see you. An ice chip or two only until I get orders for clear liquids.”
Mac brings Kenzie closer so I can touch her. Smell her. “Thank you for being here. The nurse said you’ve been here the whole time?”
“Where else would I be?”
“She called you my husband.”
He grins. The Grinch is grinning. “Yeah. About that—”
“Congratulations.” We both look at the door where a well-dressed woman about ten years older than I am is holding a bouquet of balloons that look garishly cheerful next to her icy expression. Surely she’s not a hospital volunteer. She enters the room, setting the balloons on a chair that mauve color that dominated the ‘80s. “My name is Melinda Foster. I believe you are acquainted with my husband.”
“I don’t—” Then I remember Ashton Foster, my boss in Chicago. “Oh.”
“Yes, oh.” She peers at the baby like she’s a bauble in the window at Tiffany’s. “The baby is very pretty.”
Mac is quiet, but his presence is loud. Stable. Is she going to confront me here? Now? Why would she bring balloons? How did she even—
“I’m sure you have questions, so I’ll just get right to the point. While I’m not happy my husband chooses to seduce his interns every year, he was a bit hasty in sending you away. You see, I can’t have children.”
“I’m very sorry.” I don’t know what else to say. I am sorry she can’t have kids. I’m sorry that I almost had sex with her husband before I knew he was married.
“I know he paid you. That’s how I found out about you. I’m offering to pay you more.”
“Look, I’m not coming after him if that’s what you’re worried about.”
“You misunderstand, Miss Bloom. I’m offering to double what he paid you. I want the baby.”
––––––––
“EXCUSE ME?” HILLARY winces when she tries to sit up too fast.
“We can give your daughter the kind of life you can’t. Think about it, Hillary. She’ll never want for anything. What can you give her? How are you even going to be able to afford her? I know he didn’t give you much. Certainly most of it will go to your hospital bill now.”
She’s ice-cold. All that’s missing is a shock of white hair and a coat made from Dalmatians. “I think you better go, Mrs. Foster.”
Hillary hasn’t said anything, but she’s blending in with her bedsheets in a bad way.
The puppy stealer turns her icy eyes to me. “And who are you?”
“Our daughter is not for sale. You need to go before I call security.”
“Your daughter.” She huffs. “Well played, Hillary. So you snagged yourself a good-looking man to trick into fatherhood. Just think, now you can let him off the hook. Unless of course, you want to keep him. In which case, I probably threw a wrench in your little plan. So sorry.”
She’s anything but sorry. “If you continue to harass my family, I will make sure you are very, very sorry indeed.”
Her face cracks. “Who are you exactly?”
“Well. I’m a cop, exactly. One who can arrest you for about four things since you got to town, including whatever lie you told at the nurses station to get access to my wife’s room. Maybe you should try to legally adopt a child instead of purchase a cop’s baby.”
The woman is shrewd and knows she won’t get any further here. She doesn’t even say goodbye, just turns and leaves.
Hillary hasn’t regained her color. I take her hand. “I’m sorry she got in here. You need to rest. That wasn’t good for your recovery.”
“What if she’s right?”
My stomach pitches uncomfortably. “What?”
“Kenzie could have a princess life. I might not even be good at this. Maybe she would be better off—”
“Don’t finish that. She belongs with you. Nobody will ever love this little girl more than you can. Nobody.”
I tuck the baby in under Hillary’s arm and the tension breaks as she looks down at her baby. “Oh, she’s so lovely.”
I grab a tissue and dab her eyes. “She takes after her momma.”
“So what is going on with this getting married bit? How long was I sleeping, exactly?”
“The hospital thinks we’re married, and I didn’t correct them so I could stay with you. I’ve just been taking things on the fly as we go.”
“On the fly, huh? Something you learned how to do from your ‘perps,’ I bet.”
“Just thinking on my feet.” I pull the chair up. “There’s something else you should know. I’m listed on Kenzie’s birth certificate.”
Hillary just blinks at me.
Shit.
“They brought me the form while you were still in a coma, thinking we were married. I was afraid what would happen to Kenzie if you... didn’t wake up. I shouldn’t have put my name on it without talking to you, but you weren’t answering me. So, I made sure Kenzie was taken care of.”
What happened to my oath of not getting close to anyone? I’m now on the hot seat with Hillary, and the legal father of a newborn.
“I didn’t think you could top the macaroni and cheese dinner, but you really are a hero, aren’t you?”
Breath expels from my lungs in a rush. “I lied. To a lot of people. I’m not sure that makes me a hero.”
Hillary reaches out for my hand. “You took care of my baby when I couldn’t. I don’t think I can ever repay you for making sure she wouldn’t be alone, with nobody fighting for her.”
I knew in my head I was going too far, but in my heart if felt like the right thing to do. And my heart is totally fucked up right now. “Just get better, Hillary. That’s how you can repay me.”