Alex (9 page)

“Something wrong?” she asked.
“Yeah, maybe you should get out of that sexy nurse’s uniform.”

****

Alex was going to be the best dad
in the world when his time came for fatherhood.
An image of
her and him standing shoulder to shoulder looking through the glass at a
hospital nursery admiring
their
newborn
shot into her head.

She
hadn’t
felt this maternal ever before.
Sure
she loved kids
but they were for other people because a career in medicine was her chosen
baby. However, seeing Alex sitting by the bed holding Sasha’s hand, its size
overpowering the little girl’s tiny digits, made her heart melt.
Made her womb ache to carry a child of her own.
Alex’s baby.
This man was dangerous because he was bringing
out feelings and desires she never thought she possessed. She was
a career girl
, plain and simple.

“I want my daddy,” sobbed Sasha.

“Oh honey.” Julie leaned over and
kissed Sasha.

“I’m here in his place,” said
Alex. “Your daddy told me to take good care of you and that’s what I’m going to
do.”

“But I want him.”

“Sasha, you want me to go see if
I can find some ice cream?” asked Eva, hoping that might help the situation.

She shook her head. “I want my
daddy.”

Sasha cried and a tear began
rolling down Alex’s face too.

“Alex, Eva, would you go and
leave her with me for a bit,” said Julie. She winked at them.

Eva put out her hand and Alex
slipped his into her palm as they walked outside.

“I just don’t know what I can
do,” said Alex, hanging his head down.

Eva flicked away the tear from
his cheek.

“She’s going to be okay isn’t
she?” he asked.

Eva nodded. “She just needed some
antibiotics, rest, and plenty of fluids. Being in the hospital is the best
place for her.”

“Thank you for giving her such
TLC.”

“It was my pleasure because she’s
a sweet little girl.”

“It breaks my heart that she
wants her daddy.”

“I know how she feels. When I was
sick I wanted my dad to be with me to read me a story and put on our usual
puppet show.”

“Puppet show?”

“Yep, I had a box of them and
each night my dad would put on a puppet show before I went to sleep.”

“Maybe that’s what I can do.”

“Alex, it’s almost midnight.”

“I’m going to round up anything
that can be made into a puppet.
Anything to help her deal
with not having her dad with her.”

****

Eva was the sort of woman he
wanted to have around forever. Wow, first time
he’d
ever thought that about a member of the opposite sex.
They’d
found some teddy bears, some dolls, and combined with her sewing skills learned
in stitching up patients, Eva had helped him dress them up and add some
strings.

Julie was asleep when they first
crept back into Sasha’s room. She looked up when she saw them.

“Why don’t you go get something
to drink and have a nap in the family lounge,” Eva told her.

“Okay, but I won’t be long.”

“What’s that?” asked Sasha
pointing to the largest teddy bear.

“They’ve come to make sure you’re
okay and do as the doctor tells you so you can get better,” he said.

Sasha pulled the blanket up and
sucked her thumb as Alex sat on the bed and danced the teddy back and forth. He
smiled as what looked like the corners of her mouth curling up began to spring
forth on her face.

“He’s funny. Let me hold him.”

She reached out and Sasha took
him and put him under the blanket beside her.

“Who’s she?” asked Sasha pointing
to the doll.

“This is Lucy. Can you say hi?”
asked Alex.

“Hi,” said Sasha.

“She’s got the flu and needs to
rest, so can she sleep with you tonight?” asked Eva.

She looked at the doll and then Alex.
“Does she have a daddy?”
Alex shook his head. “That’s why we thought you could help her out.”

Sasha nodded and held out her
hand for the doll. She grabbed it and put it next to the teddy. Her eyelids
fluttered and Eva tapped him on the shoulder.

“I think we should go and let her
sleep,” she mouthed.

“Nighty, night Sasha, I’ll be
back in the morning to see you,” said Alex leaning over and kissing her forehead.

****

Eva
couldn’t
stop yawning the following morning.
She’d
had to
apologize to two patients and then explain the reason for her sleepiness. She
hadn’t
realized she’d fallen asleep as soon as she’d gotten
home that evening until her cell phone woke her.

“Hello.”

“Hi, Eva.”

It was Alex and he sounded
hoarse.

“You okay?”
“I think I’m coming down with that flu.”

He’d
no doubt caught
it from Sasha who she’d heard was well enough to go home.

“You want me to come over and
check you out?”

“Doesn’t that sound
tempting.
”

She smiled. “I’m a doctor.”

“I thought you couldn’t be
mine
anymore.”

“We won’t tell anyone.”

“Sure, and could you bring me
some ice cream? I’ll leave the door open because I’m heading to bed and I might
be napping by the time you get here.”

“Okay. I’ll pick up something for
supper too, that is if you’ll feel up to eating?”

“Sounds great.”

Eva pressed the end call button.
He sounded like he was going to lose his voice any second.
She’d
pick up soup, soda, some pudding, and everything else that as a doctor she
usually advised patients to drink or eat. She was sort of looking forward to
babying the big tough
guy
.

****

Alex
hadn’t
heard Eva come into the room until he opened his eyes and saw her standing
there. He felt hot, like his face and chest were burning, his body ached, and
he wanted to sleep.

Eva sat on the bed. “I won’t ask
how you’re feeling because I can tell by looking at you.”

“Yeah, I’ve felt a lot better.”

“Have you taken your
temperature?”

He shook his head. “You have a
thermometer because if not I have one in my bag in my car.”

“There’s one on the shelf in the
bathroom.”

Eva got
up and
left the room
and then walked back in putting the plastic cover over the
tip.

“Open wide.”

Even doing that hurt the muscles in
his jaw.

She placed it under his tongue.
That hurt too. He wanted to speak, but the thing was taking forever until
finally he heard a beep.

Eva removed it and looked at it.
“Ninety-nine degrees.”

“I feel hotter than that and only
an hour ago I was shivering.”

“Yeah, that would be a thing
called the flu.”

“You think you should stick
around here just in case…okay, I know what you’re going to say,—you’re a
doctor.”

“Anything I can do for you?”

“You’ve opened yourself up for
that one.”

“So you’re not that sick.”

“Believe me; I ache all over,
including my cock.”

 
“Maybe the rest will be good for it. After
all, it has been used a lot this last week or so.”

“But by the time it’s working
again, you might be gone.”

“Denver’s not that far away, you
could some see me on weekends.”

Suddenly that
didn’t
sound like an option. He wanted her here 24/7.

“I forgot I’m supposed to be
babysitting Sasha. My mom’s out of town and
Julie’s
taking classes at the community college. Did I tell you she’s going to be a
teacher?”

“That’s great. How about I stand
in for you?”

“I couldn’t ask you to do that.”

“It’s no problem. I wasn’t doing
anything else tonight.”

****

“You are a wonderful person,”
said Julie slipping on her jacket. “I thought I might have to skip tonight’s
class.”

“Just glad I can help.”

“How’s Alex feeling?”

“Crappy.”

“I feel bad that he most likely
picked up the bug from Sasha.”

“At least everyone will have some
immunity when winter flu season rolls around.”

Julie grabbed up her bag and
books. “You do know he’s fallen for you big time, don’t you?”

She had a feeling, but Julie had
just confirmed it. Truth was
she’d
fallen for him, his
family, and the town. In fact, she could see why her brother and sister-in-law
had chosen to settle down there.

“He’s a special guy,” said Eva.

“He’s like his brother and those
types of guys are very hard to find, so maybe you should think about that
before you head to Denver next week.” She winked at Eva and left.

“Auntie Eva,” called Sasha from
her bedroom.

“I’ll be right there.”

Her brother’s two kids called her
Eva and now she
sort of
liked the Auntie moniker.

Sasha sat up in bed, looking one
hundred percent better than she had forty-eight hours ago.

“Are you going to read me a
story?”

“Of course,” said Eva walking
over to the bookshelf. “Which story would you like to hear?”

“I like the fairy one.”

Eva skimmed the titles and pulled
out one that said Fairy Magic.

“Okay, you have to snuggle down
while I read.”

“I want Uncle Alex to read to me
too.”

“He’s resting, but he’ll be back
on story reading duty very soon.”

“I love Uncle Alex. Are you going
to be my real auntie?”

Eva
didn’t
know the answer to that.
She’d
made her plans to go to
Denver, but each second she was with Alex, with his family, she wasn’t sure if
she could leave.

“I don’t know.”

Eva quickly started to read
before Sasha asked any more questions about her and Alex. It
wasn’t
that she didn’t want to answer them, more like she didn’t know how to respond.

Chapter Seven

Alex woke up missing Eva. First night
they’d
not spent together. It was past midnight and he
didn’t
want to wake her but he had to be selfish just
this once because he needed to hear her voice.

He flicked on the light and
squinted as he reached for his phone. He knew her number by heart now.

“Hello.”

“I know it’s late, but I missed
you,” he said.

“I missed you too.”

“Sasha okay?”

“Yes, we read three books and
then she fell asleep. I’m her Auntie Eva who’s going to accompany her to the
daycare graduating into kindergarten party in October.”

He loved the sound of that.
Eva sticking around or maybe coming back to town.

“Eva, I know it’s a lot to ask
you but tell them you don’t want the job in Denver.”

“Alex, I can’t. Jobs like that one
don’t come along twice in a lifetime.”

She was right. What had
he’d
been thinking? Must be the meds
he’d
taken.

“I’m sorry, that was wrong of me
to ask you.”

“It’s okay Alex, and I promise
you I’ll be back to see you and my brother. When I leave next week it won’t be
goodbye forever.”

He squeezed his eyes shut. The
thought of that made his gut wrench. The thought of never seeing her ever again
would break his heart in two.

“
You getting
lots of rest?”

“Sure, Doctor. I suppose I should
let you get back to sleep too.”

“Yep, tomorrow’s my last day at
the office.”

****

Alex
wasn’t
sure if it was some of the lasting effects of the flu or if his down mood was
due to Eva leaving.
He’d
opted not to say goodbye to
her in person and she’d strangely, quickly, accepted it without putting up any
protest. Should he read anything into it? Maybe she was having second thoughts
about
leaving?
He only hoped that was the case.