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Chapter Twenty-Two
The positive aboutLucy still being in the hospital on their wedding day was that he had nothing scheduled for the day. The negative was that he had to call both his exes to tell them that the wedding was on hold and why.
Stacy just laughed and said he wasn’t in love with the woman, that he had just gotten her knocked up. She also said she might not drop the girls off at his house at 11:00 a.m. but wasn’t sure, which meant he had to have Aubrey or Alexis at the house to make sure the younger two weren’t left alone.
Kelly, on the other hand, was concerned about Lucy and was genuinely happy for Leo to have another kid. He didn’t correct her that there’d be more than one.
“You do know, though, that your kids will be twenty years apart.” Kelly chuckled.
“I do. I was just thinking I was done with the baby thing, but I’m excited to try again,” he admitted. Almost losing them had made him realize how excited he was for them to come, just not early.
“You like the baby stage, Leo. Or at least you did with Aubrey; you were there with her all the time. Alexis, not as much since you were working for your dad then,” Kelly reminded him. “I suggest you cut back your hours and enjoy this one, Leo. Spend as much time with it as possible. You might not get another one.”
“What are you saying, Kelly?”
“That you shouldn’t keep having kids forever, and if you love this woman, you should enjoy what that love created,” Kelly replied, going all philosophical to him.
He grinned. “Thanks, Kelly. You should stitch that into a pillow.”
“Oh, I might, now that I have time before the wedding.” She chuckled and hung up on him. He really wouldn’t put it past her.
Back in Lucy’s room, he found her watching some old reruns. He didn’t know if she was watching it or just lost in her mind, because she didn’t turn to him when he came in.
He hadn’t left Lucy overnight, and though he’d slept little, she seemed well-rested. But she was up by 5:00 a.m. and hadn’t slept again in the last six hours. At this point, they were three hours from their wedding, a wedding they would not be making it to. But right now, he wanted to be her husband more than anything. All night he was the father, not the husband. He didn’t want that to happen again.
“Are they letting you go yet?” he asked her. She was bored. Her tapping was constant and with both hands this morning. Sometimes her toes would go as well.
“Once the doctor comes through again. They took out the meds but said I couldn’t wander the hallways.” She rolled her eyes at him.
He sat down next to her. “How are you doing?”
“The babies are fine,” she answered, looking at the TV again.
“And Lucy? How is she?” he rephrased the question.
“She’s slowly dying. She is no good like this,” she admitted, shutting her eyes.
Her expression of pain made him laugh. “I have a present for the soon-to-be dearly departed.”
Opening one eye, she looked at him closely. “What?”
Digging in his pocket, he pulled out the item he purchased in the gift shop between calls to his exes. He handed her the little metal item and said, “It’s a fidget spinner. Thought you could use it.”
Lucy opened both eyes and looked at the item. He had picked the blue one for her, in honor of the boys. She took it gently from his hands and asked, “Why?”
“Cliff said you enjoy them.” He didn’t want to say Cliff told him her secret.
“You didn’t have to, Leo,” she said, still just looking at it in her hand. Like she had never seen one before.
“How about we say I wanted to, that I saw it and thought of you going stir-crazy in this bed?” He lifted her chin and kissed her lips. When she didn’t pull away, his fingers slid into her hair. He’d been wanting to kiss her this way since seeing her on stage with her sisters.
A voice came from the doorway behind him. “Hey, some old dude is making out with my sister.”
Pulling his lips from hers, he looked at the visitor, the redhead. She was almost full-on laughing at them. From her arms dangled a suitcase full of Lucy’s clothes, and she was wearing Lucy’s sweatshirt that said “O hi.”
“Take off my shirt, Buzz!”
Bea wrapped her arms around the shirt. “Finders keepers, Luce.”
