I close my eyes as the door slams shut behind him.
“If we need to remove him, just say the word.”
“No, h-he just found out about the baby,” I whisper.
“Ahhh.” She busies herself checking my stats. “Well, he or she is a fighter. Vitals are good. The doctor will be in to speak with you shortly, once I let him know you’re awake.”
“How long will I be here?”
“That all depends on the doctor.”
The door opens. The sight of Wizard standing in the doorway with a large pink cup makes me snicker.
The nurse pats my hand. “I’ll let the doctor know you’re awake now. Make sure you sip the drink slowly. Your belly is pretty empty.” She walks away.
Wizard takes her place, offering up the drink.
I take a sip from the white straw, and hum my pleasure.
“Looks like we swapped places,” he says.
“Yeah, I guess we did. Fuse?”
“Won’t be bothering anyone anymore.”
“Thank God.” I close my eyes. One problem down—a million more to go.
“You really think I’d fuck our kid over?” he asks.
“I wasn’t willing to take the chance. I’m still not. You don’t want to be with me. That’s fine. But if you decide to be in the baby’s life, you need to stay there. The shit that abandonment does to a person, I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.”
Wizard sighs. “I wouldn’t. I don’t want to fuck this up, Nevada. Not for you or him.”
“Her.”
His eyes widen. “You know the baby’s sex?”
“No, just pointing out, it could be a girl.”
“Jesus, I hope God’s not that cruel. If she looks anything like you, I’d be running out of places to hide the bodies of motherfuckers who dare look at her.”
I snicker and wince when I move my leg.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, leg hurts.”
“It will for a while.” His solemn face speaks of first-hand knowledge.
“I’ll live.”
“While you were gone, I started remembering things.”
I turn my head to stare at him. “Yeah?”
He nods. “Just bits and flashes, impressions of feelings. I—I missed you, but I didn’t want to dick with what you had here. You had a shot at a clean break. I figured it would be best to let you enjoy that. This may be all I ever have and I didn’t know if it’d be enough.”
I breathe deeply and grip the blankets tight as I wait for him to continue.