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“I think you had a pretty good excuse,” I soothe. Even in the midst of an emergency, she’s worried about me. I really don’t deserve her.
“I tried to call you, but you must have been on the field already.” She starts to cry.
I shush her. “It’s okay. It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that.” Her voice cracks.
I pull her into a tighter embrace. She’s right. I don’t know what’s going to happen.
“Whatever happens we’ll get through it.” I lean my forehead into hers and whisper. “Together.”
I don’t know how long we stand there like this when Matt breaks the silence. “So are we allowed to acknowledge that we all know about you two now, or is it still a secret?”
The whole room laughs. Millie and I separate, but I keep hold of her hand.
“How long did everyone know?”
Norah laughs. “I was suspicious at that first family dinner, but once you two were actively avoiding each other, I knew something had to be going on.”
“The twins told Maddy that you and Aunt Millie were acting funny around each other weeks ago.”
Story after story comes in on how everyone figured it out. It feels strange to be sitting in a hospital lobby laughing, but here we are. Everyone is laughing when Ben and Belinda arrive.
“What’s going on?” Ben looks around the room.
Norah gets up and walks over to give them each a hug. “We were just distracting ourselves with stories of Millie and Mark.”
There’s a flash of something in his eyes, but I can’t tell what.
Norah whispers something in his ear that Ben nods at. Then he straightens and leads Belinda to an open seat next to Ashleigh.
“Welcome to the pregnant corner.” Ashleigh pats the seat next to her. Belinda gives her a curt nod then pulls out her phone. Ashleigh rolls her eyes and goes back to the conversation she and Kiersten were having.
I walk over to say something to Ben when the doctor comes in. We look at each other and just nod. We still need to have a full conversation, but I don’t think he wants to kill me so at least there’s that.
I only hear the end of what the doctor says. “He’ll have to watch his diet and activity level, but his levels are looking good.”
“Can we see him?” Norah asks.
The doctor nods. “Yes, of course.” He looks around the room. “But maybe only a couple at a time. We don’t want to overwhelm him.”
Norah starts into planning mode, when Mom steps in. “Norah. Stop. We’ve got this. You go see Dan.”
“Are you sure?”
“Go see your husband.” She looks over at Maeley. “Why don’t you go with your mom?”
When it’s Millie’s turn, I suggest Jon go with her. He gives me a nod of appreciation. I hold back and wait until the end before I go in and see him. As I walk into the hall towards his room, the nurse tells me that visiting hours will be ending shortly and to be quick. I nod.
“Knock, knock.”
“Mark!” Dan looks tired and peaked in that hospital bed. He looks so… human.
“Dan the Man.” My voice gets caught in my throat. I don’t know what I would have done if things would have turned out differently. “Visiting hours are almost done, but I wanted to come say hi.” I try to hold back the emotion in my voice, but I’m failing miserably.
Dan gives me a smirk, “Guess I only have a few minutes to ask if you’ve thought about our conversation yesterday?”
I nod. “I’m working through it.”
