Page 82 of The Best Friend Problem
She shook her head. “No, but thank you for them, too. You gave me love, Finn Jamison. Free and clear and so unconditional there was no way I could deny my own love for you. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I never knew I wanted to be an ‘us’ until you.”
“Glad I could be so helpful.” He kissed her once more before pulling back and nodding toward the door. “Now let’s go pretend to eat some of Ward’s hard-as-rock pasta and when I get off shift, I’ll take you home and make you anything you want.”
She grinned, eyes heating. “How about a delicious Finn and Pru sandwich?”
Damn, he loved this woman. “Whatever you want.”
And he meant it. He would do whatever he could to make Pru happy because without her, he couldn’t be whole.
Chapter Twenty
Six months later
“Okay, Ms. Carlson, your stitches look good. How’s your pain level?”
Pru smiled at Doctor Richardson. “It’s manageable.”
Anything from here on out would be manageable after fifteen hours of labor followed by an emergency C-section. Poor Simon was breech and blocking in his sister Sasha. As hard as she and the doctor tried, they couldn’t get the sweet little baby boy to turn. Finally, they’d decided to go in and get the babies, for the health and safety of everyone. Not quite the birth plan she had mapped out, but as life so beautifully taught her this past year, things often failed to go according to plan.
She couldn’t complain. Just look what her failed plans got her. Two perfect, adorable, healthy babies, a wonderful, sexy partner who would do anything to make her smile—and did, everyday—and as a bonus, she was now a proud pup mommy, too.
During month six of her pregnancy, when they realized she was practically living full-time at Finn’s, she did a much more thorough rental search than her initial “win Finn back” list. After clearing it with Lilly and Mo—who’d given her a farewell party complete with plenty of tears, cheesecake, and a suspicious lack of gravy or jelly-related foods—she and Finn found a surprisingly affordable two-bedroom townhouse in the Cap Hill area of Denver. They planned on buying a house soon, but with the babies arriving, they didn’t want to add that stress to their plate. For now, they had the much-needed space and, bonus, a yard for Bruiser to run her little doggie legs off.
“Good. I’m going to approve you for solid foods now, so feel free to place an order with the hospital kitchen, and they’ll send something up right away. But try to keep it light. Nothing too spicy for the time being.”
Yes, food! She hadn’t eaten anything since she’d arrived at the hospital last night. She was starving. And thirsty. Ice chips were a joke, and she hated their stupid, frozen uselessness.
“Thank you, doctor.”
Doctor Richardson smiled. “Congratulations again, Mommy.” With that, she turned and left the room.
The moment the doctor was gone, Pru reached for the binder on her bedside table containing all the hospital’s pertinent information, including the cafeteria menu. She winced as the movement caused the stitches in her abdomen to pull slightly.
Gentle movements.
She’d have to remember that for the next few weeks. Geesh, whoever said C-sections were the easy way out obviously never had one.
She flipped through the book until she found the page she was looking for. Everything sounded delicious. Her stomach grumbled with hunger, or maybe it was her organs shifting back into place after releasing two six-pound babies. Didn’t matter. She could eat solid foods, hallelujah!
After deciding on a turkey sandwich with a fruit bowl and chocolate chip cookies, she called in her order. The kind-sounding woman on the other end of the phone promised it would be up in the next fifteen minutes. Her mouth watered in anticipation. Had she ever been this hungry before? If so, she couldn’t remember.
“Knock, knock?”
She glanced up to the doorway to see two familiar and very welcome faces.
“Lilly, Mo! It’s so good to see you both.”
The women rushed inside, Lilly placing a vase with a lovely arrangement of flowers on her bedside table before reaching down to gently hug her. Mo, with two adorable stuffed puppies in her arms, her hair streaked with orange this month, glanced around the room.
“Where are the babies?”
“The nurse came to take them for their first bath. Finn went with.”
“Such a sweet daddy.” Mo placed the stuffed animals next to the flowers and nudged Lilly out of the way to get her own hug.
“So…” Lilly moved to her other side, placing a hand on her shoulder. “How are you feeling? Finn kept us updated on everything. An emergency c-section? That sounds scary.”
It had been, but everyone had pulled through okay, thanks to the wonderful hospital staff. And Finn, of course, who was by her side every pain-filled, terror-inducing second. He’d been her rock, just like always. How she ever could have denied loving that man was beyond her.
