Nursing in Northlake (At the Altar Book 9) (11 page)

He kissed her softly after putting the bags on the counter. “Sounds like a fair division of labor to me.”

Heidi browned the ground beef while she was putting things away. She wanted to put the sauce into the crock pot to keep the house from getting too hot. She always hated to cook in the summer. She was glad August was almost over, and it would start to get cool before too terribly long.

Slade carried everything in and looked over her shoulder. “What are you making?”

“I’m just starting something for supper. Putting it in the crock-pot so we can laze around all day.”

“Laze around with our phones at the ready to deal with emergencies.”

Heidi grinned, turning to kiss him. “We’re ready to take on all the world’s challenges!”

He laughed. “Or all the pregnant women and all the elderly at least!”

“Go wait for me by the pool, and I’ll be out in twenty minutes.”

He nodded, wandering off into the bedroom to change into his swim trunks. A day by the pool was exactly what he needed.

Their day was uneventful, much to Heidi’s surprise. No one called in, and he didn’t have any deliveries. He called to check on his patient, but there was no need for him to go up to the hospital.

Heidi fixed the exact meal his mother had suggested, leaving him to lounge by the pool while she got it on the table. When he came in and smelled the sauce, he smiled. “That’s my favorite!”

Heidi grinned. “I know. I called your mom and asked her.”

He blinked at her a couple of times. “What a good wife you are.”

“No, but I plan to be a better wife in the future.”

“How could you?”

She just smiled at him, taking her seat at the table.

She waited until they were done eating, and she’d cleared the mess, refusing to let him help at all before she had the conversation she’d been wanting to have with him. She went into the living room and sat beside him on the couch, curling up with her head against his shoulder.

“Thanks for making me my favorite for supper tonight. I really appreciate it.”

“I won’t say anytime because I probably won’t do it really often. But I wanted to do it tonight to let you know how much I care.” She turned, looking at him. “I love you, Slade Henderson. I don’t care if you’re a doctor or a garbage collector. You are a good person, and that’s all I wanted to make sure I got in a husband.”

“You don’t think I’m an egotistical jerk anymore?”

She frowned. “I never really thought you were. I thought
most
doctors were. I didn’t bother to get to know you before jumping to those conclusions about you, which was really unfair of me.”

“I’ve worked with many of the doctors that you’re talking about, and I understood from the first day we met why you felt the way you did.”

“You did?”

He nodded. “That was why I thought it was so funny when you told me that you hated doctors. It made sense to me, especially when I found out you were a nurse. Thank you for changing your mind about me.”

“I didn’t change my mind, though.”

“You didn’t?”

“No,
you
did. You showed me who you really are. I never dreamed I’d end up with a man half as wonderful as you are. Thanks for being patient with me while I got to know you.”

He smiled at that. “Well, it’s not like I could leave. There was this little thing we signed…”

She made a face. “And that’s the only reason you stuck around?”

“Of course not. I saw you walking down the aisle toward me, and I knew you would be the perfect woman for me. Somehow, I just felt like we connected the instant our eyes met.”

“I did too. Until you admitted you were a doctor, of course.”

“You made your feelings clear, but you never treated me badly because I was a doctor. You were an amazing wife from the first moment.”

Heidi sighed. “So you forgive me for waiting so long to tell you I love you?”

Slade cupped her face in his hands, kissing her sweetly. “Of course I forgive you. I love you.”

“Forever.”

Epilogue

Heidi put her feet up on Slade’s lap, sighing when he immediately started rubbing them. “I needed that.”

“Only one more month. Do you think you’ll be able to keep working the whole time?” he asked.

She nodded. “I promised Vicki I’d at least try. And Dr. Slocum is pleased with me so far. I’m not having any complications.”

“I just worry because twins come early.”

“I know they do, doctor, but ours don’t seem to be doing so.”

He grinned. “Mom is going to be here in another month. She’s excited to help out after the babies are born.”

“And if she’s not here right on time, my mom will be right there helping. Even Miss Molly has offered to help with the babies.”

“Oh, please not Miss Molly! She’d try to race with them in her lap!”

Heidi laughed softly. “She won the motorized cart race at the Olympics last month. I still think she found someone to soup up her engine, but she swears she didn’t.”

“When are you going to start interviewing nannies?”

Heidi shrugged. “Probably when the babies are three weeks old. I’m going to take a full six weeks off work if it kills all of us. And it might.”

Slade smiled. “I hope you can handle it. I give you a week before you start worrying about everyone at work and feel like you need to go in and help out.”

“I think the twins will keep me busy enough at home that I’ll be able to resist.” She wiggled her toes. “That feels so good.”

“I can’t believe we’re having twin girls,” he said grumpily. “I wanted boys.”

She shrugged. “Not my fault. I’m just carrying them. You determine the sex.”

“I know how it works. I’m an obstetrician, you know.”

“I know. Just don’t pass out during delivery.”

He laughed. “No way. I’ll be the calmest doctor that hospital has ever seen.”

*****

Heidi held her small pink-wrapped babies and smiled at the nurse who had helped deliver them. “Thank you so much.”

The nurse, Tanya, shook her head with a laugh. “I still can’t believe Dr. Henderson turned green and passed out on the floor of the delivery room. He’s delivered so many babies.” She looked over at Slade who was slumped in his chair from utter exhaustion. “He’s the calmest doctor around in an emergency.”

“None of those deliveries were his daughters or his wife.” Heidi sighed contentedly. “He loves me, you know.”

“You’d never know it by the way he talks to you…and about you.”

Heidi laughed. “I’ll tell him you said so if he ever wakes up.”

“Are you sure you want to have them room in with you? We can take them to the nursery just for tonight.”

Heidi shook her head. “No, I want them with me. Slade will wake up if I need him.”

“Push the button if you need us.”

“I will. Thank you!”

After Tanya left, she looked over at Slade, who had opened his eyes as soon as the door closed. “I’m never going to be able to look the nurses in the eyes again.”

Heidi laughed. “They all understood. They know it’s just that you love us.”

He walked over and sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the two beautiful babies in her arms. “Are we still going with Samantha and Sara?”

“Yup. It seems fitting to give them both S names like you and Seth.”

“It does.”

Heidi looked over at the table as her phone beeped, letting her know there was a message. “That’s the eighth text I’ve gotten in the last half hour. Would you check to see who it’s from?”

Slade picked up her phone and glanced at the messages, laughing softly. He held the phone up. “Say cheese!” He snapped a picture before Heidi had even a moment to worry about her hair.

“What was that all about?”

“Dr. Lachele
needed
immediate pictures of her new munchkins before she
died
of anticipation.”

Heidi laughed. “Of course, she did. That woman has serious issues.”

“Isn’t that what we love about her?”

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