Page 343 of Under Her Skin

Her cell rings, startling us both and the squirrel, who must’ve heard it too, as he bolts back up the tree. With his antics over, I start moving forward again. We haven’t even gotten out of the driveway yet. We’ll never get anywhere at thispace.

“Merry Christmas, Mom,” she says, then crosses her fingers. “Did you guys make adecision?”

She presses the speaker button so I can hear, too, and I find my stomach clenched as I have no idea if I’ll like what she’s going to say. So far, this day has been fantastic.I’d hate for it to get messed upalready!

“I talked to your father and we’d like to come today. If that’s stillokay.”

“It is,” Delaney says, then lets out a sigh. “I have so much to tell you. Your lives are on the edge of complete change, Mom. I can’t think of a better present you will ever get after today. Blaine will get on the phone and make the arrangements to get you two here. Thank you, Mom. I loveyou.”

She holds out her hand and looks at her ring, and I can tell she’s fighting herself not to tell her mother over the phone about our engagement. Reaching over, I take her hand and give her a nod, then whisper, “You can tell them when they gethere.”

“Okay. I assume you’ll let us know when to expect the driver?” her motherasks.

“We will. I’ll call you here in just a little while to let you know. Blaine’s driving right now, but when we park at the hospital, he’ll make the calls he needs to make. Byenow.”

Her smile makes it more than evident she is one happy chick. “They’re coming around, aren’tthey?”

“And after you give them the news about the house and the settlement amount, I think we will have no problems out of them at all. Add in the fact that we’re getting married and will soon give them a grandchild to spoil, and we’re pretty muchgolden.”

Things are falling into place the way I’d hoped they would. Delaney has agreed to become my wife. She’s on board with the baby idea. And now her parents are coming to our home and will soon be on board with our decisions too.Ihope!

“You should let your brother and sister know we have to push back lunch. I say let’s push it back to two or so,” she tellsme.

Handing her my phone, I say, “Give them each a text. I doubt either of them is awake yet. Those office parties can get pretty out of hand. The later lunch may be more of a present to them than you think itis.”

With a laugh, she takes my phone, taps out the message, and sends it to them. “I wonder if they’ll bring dates today. I’d love to see Kate get a man. She’s so pretty and sweet. She’d make some man veryhappy.”

“You know any single doctors?” I ask as I pull onto the highway that’s been cleared of any snow and salted down to prevent any of the falling flakes fromsticking.

“I know plenty of them. I don’t recommend getting into a relationship with one unless you don’t mind spending a ton of time alone, though. They are some busy people. Most have practices they see to all day. They make early morning rounds at the hospital, some as early as five in the morning. Most come back to check on their patients on their lunch hour, grabbing a bite to eat in the cafeteria before going back to their offices. And even after their offices close, they come back and usually stay until nine or so, checking on their patientsagain,”

“That does sound like something that would make a relationship tough. Yeah, don’t tell any of them about my little sister. I’d like her to have a man who has time for her. And speaking of time, I’d like you to make sure you’re not put on any more double shifts. As a matter of fact, I’d like it if you told your boss that you can work the morning shift only. That way you and I can spend our eveningstogether.”

The way she looks at me has me a little worried as I wait to see why in the world she’d argue about this. “And if my boss tells me she can’t dothat?”

“Then tell her you don’t even need the job. That should make her see things your way,” I say and take the exit to get to the hospital. I’m pleased to see these streets have been cleared of snow aswell.

“I suppose I could play that hand,” she says as she seems to be thinking about it all. “But what if that backfires on me and she tells me she can’t do that and if I need to quit, then let herknow?”

“I doubt it will turn out that way. There is a shortage of nurses as it is. Why let you go just because you want a certain shift? You’re not asking for a lot. And let her know about our plans to have a baby. Because once a baby comes, then I think you’ll need to go to part-time or maybe stop working all together.” I glance at her as I pull into the hospital’s parkinggarage.

She’s wearing a frown and that can’t be good. “I think you need to understand this is important work to me. I might go to part-time while our child is young, but when they start school, I’ll go back to full-time. And here’s another thing you need to consider. You, too, can work part time or do some of your work from home and you can also care for our child. It’s not all up to me. We can share the workload of taking care of ourchildren.”

And just like that, she’s told me how our parenting is going to be, and I have to admit, I love her take-charge attitude. Who knew I’d like a woman who made some of the rules?Notme!

Chapter3

DELANEY

As we walk into the main lobby of the hospital, I see the lady behind the desk looking at me with laser-focused eyes, and she hurries to come to me, waving her hand at me as she calls out, “Nurse Richards, I have something to tellyou.”

Blaine’s hand squeezes mine and he whispers, “Please don’t let it be badnews.”

I nod in agreement. “Yes, Mrs. Packie? What isit?”

She looks into my eyes, and I can see she’s excited as she says, “The little Sandersgirl.”

Blaine interrupts her. “Please stop right there. I don’t want to hearthis.”