Page 52 of Doctor Daddies

“She should, she’s a protégé of one of the most respected experts in the state,” Ross tells me. “You want to see her again? I could get you another appointment with her, if you like.”

“You know, I think I would,” I reply. It’s not that I don’t appreciate the help that all the others have given me over the years, but Mathilda was easy to talk to in a way I often found lacking with the doctors I met with before. So many of them, I felt like they were looking down their noses at me, judging me for being a single mom having to cope with something like this on my own, but she met me exactly where I was, asking sensible questions and dealing with the symptoms before she got down to the core issue.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Ross replies, and he glances over to the kitchen. “That looks like dinner, if you want to go to the table…”

I help Lewis to his feet and the two of us make our way to the dining table, where James and Cole are already laying out the food they’ve spent the evening making us. It looks amazing, a steaming plate of risotto studded with bright green peas and drizzled with pesto waiting for me by the time I sit down.

“Wow,” I murmur, as I grab my fork. “This looks great.”

“Tastes even better,” James replies, flashing me a slightly cocky grin.

I can’t help but return it, my mind drifting to everything he told me in the hospital. About the way his life will change when he has these babies, about how alone he has been for so long.

Of course, I knew that there had been other women, but the way he looked at me when he told me that not one of them would compare to me…I know that’s not the kind of thing he could fake, even if he wanted to. And I can see no good reason why he would.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” I retort playfully, as I take a bite of the risotto. I cock an eyebrow, as though making sure that my discerning palate is entirely satisfied before I offer my take on it.

“Hmm, not bad,” I concede. “You got lucky this time.”

We tuck in together, the five of us around the table, and the guys pepper me with questions about everything that happened at the hospital. I fill them in as best I can, though my mind is a little scrambled from the intensity of the last day or so. Truthfully, I’m just glad to be home, but even more glad to have found it full of warmth and comfort and food by the time we got here.

This…this is the kind of thing I could get used to, if I let myself.

If I let my mind stray in that direction, I could convince myself that this is exactly what I want. Exactly what I have been waiting for all this time, back when I felt so alone, back when it felt like I might be the only struggling single mom in the world. And here they are, walking into my life like it’s the most natural thing in the world, making themselves a part of my home and my family.

And the family I’ve had for so long has felt so small, as important as they are to me. My chest tightens when I think of Matt, but right now, even the chaos going on with him feels distant to everything taking place right here. It’s been just Matt and Lewis for so long, the only people I can call my family, since I lost my parents, and I didn’t realize until this moment just how much I had been missing the feel of being surrounded by people, people who care about me, people who seem willing to do anything in their power to make sure I have everything I need.

“I guess I’m on washing-up duty, huh?” Ross remarks, once we’re all done, our plates cleared. “Since I didn’t help with the cooking.”

“My thoughts exactly,” James agrees, winking in my direction as he rises to his feet.

“Maybe we could watch a movie or something,” I suggest, surprising myself before I can even think about what I’m saying.

I just don’t want them to leave yet. I’m exhausted, and I know I should really be getting some sleep, but for the time being, there’s nothing I want more that to keep them in my apartment a while longer, to find an excuse to draw this night out just a few more hours.

“You sure?” Cole replies. “You don’t want to rest?”

“I’m fine,” I promise him. “Hey, Lewis, why don’t you go pick out something for us to watch on the TV? You always have the best picks.”

“Sure!” Lewis replies, clearly excited at the prospect of getting a whole unexpected movie night, especially with our extra guests.

Cole grins after him as Ross begins to collect the plates, and he reaches across the table to give my hand a squeeze. “You want anything?” he asks, and I shake my head.

“No,” I promise him. “I think I have everything I need right here.”

And as I listen to Ross begin to wash up in the next room while Lewis shows James some of his favorite movies on the TV apps, I find that I mean it. There’s nothing I would rather have, nowhere I would rather be, and even if I had to spend a night at the hospital to make it happen—I know now that I can trust these men with anything.

And that they will never let me down.

25

COLE

“What the hellare we doing here, man?” James asks, as he leans back from the desk and looks up at me expectantly. Beside him, Ross seems to be just as confused, and shit, I can’t say I blame them.

But there’s something I need to get off my chest. Something I know I won’t be able to disguise any longer. And if there’s anyone who deserves to hear about it first, it’s these guys.

I push a hand through my hair, standing there for a second, and glance to make sure the door is shut before I come out with it.