Bliss Series Boxed Set: The Whole Damn Harem (23 page)

“What do you mean?” I ask, floored by what he just said.

“You’ve been rather quiet for the past few months, and you turned me down a few weeks ago. The Mac I know wouldn’t do that if she wasn’t being turned inside out by a man. And you deserve that, babe. You’re a catch, a hot little pocket rocket of awesome that deserves to be loved.” The smile on his face when he says that is indescribable. He looks happy for me, truly happy.

“I hope so,” I say forlornly.

“Hey now, why the long face? You should be glowing. Maybe a little bit girly, giggly even?”

I quirk an eyebrow at him questioningly. “Girly and giggly, Zan? Me?”

“If he makes you happy, then yeah, girly and giggly. That’s how my sisters act when they’re mooning over a boy.”

“I’m not a teenager Zan.”

“You know what I mean.”

“He does make me happy. Well, he did, but then I ran away. Twice. The last thing he said was not to come back until I know what and who I want.”

“Dude! What did you do?”

“Freaked out when he told me he loved me.”

“That’ll do it,” he mutters.

“Anyway, enough about me. What is going on between you and Kate?”

He chokes on his beer. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, why does she change the subject when I mention your name. You didn’t fuck her, did you? Cause that would be kinda gross in a ‘stirring the pot’ kind of way.”

“No, I didn’t sleep with her, and thanks for the visual, by the way. There was a situation at the bar, we dealt with it, and I dropped her home. End of.”

“End of? What happened? She won’t talk about it, or you.”

His face drops. “She doesn’t want to talk about me?”

“She just changes the subject back to me. Did you come on to her, and she rejected you?”

“Hell no!” he says vehemently. “Kate is a knock out. A real firecracker. I’d be a fool not to see that but no I didn’t, and she didn’t. Just leave it Mac, I’m sure she’s fine. She was really drunk, and she’s probably just embarrassed.”

“Okay, if you say so,” I retort skeptically.

“So, tell me about this man who has conquered the fortress known as Makenna Lewis’ heart.” And with a cheeky grin and a sparkle in his eye, Zander has just done the impossible. Render me speechless and make me smile at the same time.

“Change is Gonna Come”

7 a.m. starts suck ass. Or balls. Yeah, big hairy smelly balls, that is what 7 a.m. starts are like. Especially when you’re feeling sick. And that’s me this morning. I know I must be a sight to behold too. I dare not look in the mirror because I know I look just as bad, if not worse, than I feel.

My head is throbbing, my stomach feels like it has been turned inside out, and the smell of anything is making me dry retch. It’s been getting steadily worse over the past few days, and I’ve been burying my head in the sand and fight against the nagging thoughts in my head. It’s just not possible.

Not a chance in hell.

So I’m on my second bottle of water for the day already, and all it’s doing is making me pee constantly. All I do is sleep and pee and work. Occasionally, I’ll eat if I absolutely have to and the smell of the food I’m shoving in my mouth doesn’t make me gag, but I’m pretty much a sick shell of Mac. Kate’s worried about me and she’s already suggested I get checked out today during my shift, but I hit the ground running as soon as I arrived and haven’t had a chance to sit down, let alone see a doctor for a check-up.

After finally catching a break and spending a spare few minutes to catch up on my patient charts at the nurse’s station, I look up to see a grinning Noah staring down at me.

“Hey, stranger,” he says cheerfully before frowning. “Shit, you look like hell. Why are you still working?”

“Hi to you too!” I reply snarkily before sighing and resting my hand under my chin to stop my head crashing down onto the desk in front of me. “I’m sure I’m okay. Just tired and nauseous. I’ll be right after a few days off from this place.”

“How’s Daniel? I haven’t heard from him in over a month. He’s not answering calls or texts or anything. Keeping my boy busy I take it?”

Damn. He hasn’t told Noah that we broke up, or that we had a non-break up before I turned up and confessed my deepest secrets to him before running away, again.

“Ah yeah, something like that,” I say, dismissing him.

“Everything’s okay with you two, right? Seriously, Mac, I wouldn’t have believed it unless I’d seen it with my own eyes, but he’s happy, and it is all because of you. I never thought it would happen for either of you.”

God, that hurts to hear. Will I ever be ready to face the giant hole in my heart where Daniel Winters used to be? Where he should still be.

Scratch that.

Where he’s always going to fucking be.

“Don’t worry, WD. We’re all good.”

“Shit, we’re back to the WD thing, are we?” he says, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand just like Daniel does when he’s uncomfortable or nervous. Dammit, why can’t I stop thinking about the man? Day and night, everything reminds me of him. It’s likes water torture to my heart.

“Hey, we may not be sleeping together anymore, Taylor, but you’ll always be WD to me,” I add with a wink.

He chuckles. “Yeah, well I think we had a good run of it. But there was always gonna be a time when it didn’t suit one of us anymore.”

“Yep.”

“What about the others?” he asks inquisitively.

“There are no others, not anymore. There haven’t been since I met Superman, I mean, Daniel.” Damn slip of the tongue. Oh Superman’s tongue. Now there is something I do miss, not as much as the man himself, but a close second or third definitely. The things he can do when he….

“Mac?” Noah’s voice cuts through my errant thoughts, bringing me back to the now.

“It’s good to see you settling down. And I’m glad you’re with someone like Winters. He’ll treat you right. You know that, don’t you?”

Who would have thought The Walking Dildo could be so caring?

I look up at him, struck by the sincerity staring back at me. “Yeah, I do.”

“Good. Well, I better get back. I’m due in the OR in twenty minutes.”

Then it hits me. Like a giant wrecking ball to the gut.

“Shit!” I jump up, covering my mouth with my hand as I race past Noah and straight towards the nearest trash can I can find, emptying the entire contents of my stomach in the middle of the ICU.

“Mac, are you okay?” he asks, immediately rushing to my side and grabbing my hair while I continue to dry retch.

“I think you need to go home, hon.” He reaches around and feels my forehead. “No fever. Have you been feeling off for a while?”

“Probably the last week. Just really tired, and then feeling really shitty when I eat. And the smell of anything seems to put me off food completely.”

The man beside me chuckles. He has the audacity to laugh at my illness.

“What? Why the hell are you laughing? Does this look funny?” I say, pointing towards the vomit filled trash can.

“Mac, you need to go up to obstetrics and have a test.”

I gasp. What the hell? “No Noah, there is no way I’m pregnant. I have an IUD, remember? And I haven’t had sex in-”

“What?”

Oh, good one loud mouth McGee. Let the cat out of the bag why don’t you? “Ah, nothing. I’ll be fine. Thanks for helping, but I’ll go clean up and head home.”

“Mac” he growls. “You can’t ignore this. Go get tested. I’ll even take you up myself.”

“Noah I’m-”

“No. Don’t fight me on this. Go get tested, then I can breathe easy knowing that it’s nothing other than the start of morning sickness. Damn, I can’t wait to give Dan a ribbing for getting one past the goalie. “

“No, you can’t!” I shout, a bit louder than planned.

“What? He’ll be over the moon, Mac. He’s always wanted kids. And the way he looks at you, I can tell he’s already imagined having them with you. It’s written all over his face.” He explains.

“I’ll go get tested, just to shut you up. But you can’t say anything to Daniel. Not yet. I’ll wait to see if there is anything to tell him first. You have to promise me, Noah.” I’m pleading now. This whole situation has turned into a shit fight of epic proportions.

“Okay, but you let me know what they say because I’ll bet my ass that you’re pregnant, with a Winters’ child no less. The damn baby will be in Bears’ gear before it’s even born.” He chuckles before leaning over and kissing my temple. “Get checked and page me. I’ll only be in the OR for an hour or so. I’ll see you afterwards, okay?” he asks with a quirked brow. Noah is like a dog with a bone on this, and I know he won’t let it go until I tell him yes.

“Yes, I’ll page you. Now go. Be a doctor. Save a life and all that.” I shoo him away and walk towards the ladies room to freshen up.

∞∞∞

Two hours later I’m planted on the couch at home, staring at the blank television screen in shock.

Pregnant. I’m fucking pregnant. Again. Four and a half years after the guilt of losing my first baby consumed me, I’m facing the same predicament again.

Alone, pregnant, and scared shitless.

The difference this time is that there is no way I’m not having this baby. Daniel isn’t Beau. He is as far from Beau as anyone can be. Picture Mother Theresa and the Devil, that is the wide expanse that is the difference between Daniel Winters and Beau Gregory.

I know that whatever happens, or doesn’t happen between the two of us, Daniel will always be there for his child.

But I can’t tell him. Not yet.

He’ll want me back, but it will just be for the baby, and we both deserve more than that. Having paged Noah as promised after my appointment, we found a spare on call room, and he held me while I cried my eyes out. I didn’t tell him that I wasn’t with Daniel anymore. I just said I was in shock. Who would think that I would be in the 1% of people who actually get pregnant with an IUD on board.

Not me!

After peeing on the stick, the lines came up pretty much straight away, confirming that I was indeed very pregnant. Then the clinic nurse came in and drew some blood before the doctor instructed me to change into a gown and lay down on the bed. I put my feet into the stirrups on the bed and the doctor explained that she needed to perform an ultrasound to check on the position of my IUD to determine whether it was safe to remove it. When she located the IUD and the amniotic sac containing my baby, she safely removed the offending, and total failure of a contraception device from inside of me and instructed me to get dressed again. Once she’d given me instructions to get some prenatal vitamins and enough information pamphlets to inform a third world country, I was told to make an appointment in six weeks’ time for a scan at the end of my first trimester.

Me, Makenna Lewis. Age 24. From Chicago, Illinois.

Pregnant.

Again.

I left work after my appointment, somehow making it home on the L and walking the few blocks to our place before setting myself down on the couch and staring at the blank television. I’ve been sitting here for the past twenty minutes reevaluating the current state of my life.

This was the last thing I thought I’d have thrown at me. But what’s the saying, when life gives you lemons, mix with tequila and salt and have a fucking good time? Well since I can’t partake in my friend Jose for the next nine months, I might as well make lemonade.

And then there’s Daniel.

a.k.a. My Baby Daddy.

How am I supposed to tell him? I don’t want him to take me back because of some obligation to his child. It would always be at the back of my mind. I would always think that he is with me because I’m carrying his baby.

People successfully raise children apart all the time these days, it can be done, but I do want him back. Every step I’ve taken in the past three weeks has been towards making myself worthy for him, becoming the woman he deserves me to be. Not a scared hollow shell of a woman who holds men at length to protect herself.

It’s in that moment that I know what I have to do. I grab the phone and dial the number that I long ago committed to memory. It rings a few times in my ear before it’s picked up. My heart is beating out of my chest. This is like history repeating itself.

“Mom, I’m coming home.”

“Daughters”

I rent a car and start the two hour drive out to my parents’ house. It’s been a while since I’ve been out to see my folks, but we constantly call each other and since moving back from Ohio four years ago, things have been great.

They always accepted my relationship with Beau, but I knew they didn’t like it. They’ve always wanted me to be happy, and as Dad always told me, “as long as you’re happy, Kenny, we’re happy.”

And I thought I was happy. I truly did.

I’m a bundle of nerves now. Noah knows I’m pregnant, I know I’m pregnant, and soon Kate will know I’m pregnant too. I left Kate a note asking if she could come visit me this weekend. I’ll know when she reads the note because she’ll start blowing up my phone.

The last time I ran back home like this was when I left Beau. Kate picked me up from the airport and drove me straight out there. I stayed with my parents for two weeks while I tried to piece myself back together. Kate staged an intervention and kidnapped me after that, moving me into her townhouse and telling me I had to start living or else life would leave me behind. So that’s what I did. I went back to school, finished my training and got a job at Northwestern. And the rest, they say, is history.

Before I left, I called my boss and explained the situation. She wrote me off for the week, telling me to take care of myself and always make sure I had saltine crackers and ginger ale nearby to help combat the morning sickness.

Here’s the thing I’ve found with being pregnant. Everyone wants to give you advice. When I went to the pharmacy to get my prenatal vitamins, the middle-aged shop assistant took great pleasure in patting my non-existent baby bump and asking me all the important details.

How far along are you?

When are you due?

Is your husband over the moon?