I shake my head. “Dominic is more than healthy. It’s me. It’s not likely I’ll be able to have a baby without help. The doctor says there’s always a chance, but I don’t want to wait for a chance. I want a family now. And I’ve always wanted girls. Dominic is letting me decide everything since I’m the one who has to go through it all.”
“I’m sorry, honey.”
“It happens. I feel bad it’s my fault, but things happen.”
“How much was it on sale for?” Dominic asks Chloe.
Chloe looks from him to me. “Two nine, it looks like it’s selling for two seven.”
“Offer them three five. She wants the house. She gets the house.”
“Thank you.” I catch his hand in mine as he comes closer.
Shaking his head, he sighs. “Anything you want, it’s yours.”
I pull him down to me. Dominic moves, sitting down and settling me into his lap. With my arms around his neck, I whisper into his ear. “I shouldn’t say this because I do want this house, but I already have everything I want. Just you—everything else is extra.”
***
Regina
I come awake to Dominic watching me from the chair beside the hospital bed. Without thinking, I reach for him. His hand swallows mine in a grip so tight I wince.
“How are you feeling?”
“Not bad, really. I don’t understand why I had a reaction to this sedation and not when they did the surgery to remove the fibroids. It’s egg retrieval, hardly the stuff of medical emergencies.”
Running a hand through his hair, he shrugs. “They used a different kind, they made a note for in the future. Fuck, Regina, that was the scariest fucking thing ever.” He leans down and presses a kiss to my mouth, gentle as if he’s afraid to hurt me. “I’m sorry. All this is my fault.”
“No, don’t. We promised we wouldn’t do that. No blame. Please don’t, then I’ll start feeling guilty and we’ll just go around and around.”
He sighs as he nods.
“Did they tell you how many good eggs they were able to retrieve? Any number on embryos yet?”
“Yeah, they got fourteen eggs, of that there are eleven embryos. The testing isn’t done yet, though. I mean it, we make sure they are healthy before we move further. From there, they know to destroy the boys and just tell how many girls we end up with.”
I sigh. We agreed.
“Are you sure about destroying the boys—”
Vehemently I nod. “Absolutely sure. Do not feel guilty. I get it. I’m going to admit a part of me worried I would change my mind. There is no guarantee any single one of those would become something more. This was a part of all those hard decisions you warned me about from the beginning. It’s okay. Right now, I just need you to hold me. Please.”
Without hesitation he puts down the arm of the hospital bed, sits down and pulls me into his arms. His hold is so tight it almost hurts. It’s a good hurt, though.
***
Dominic
Pop is waiting with a glass of scotch, thank fuck. I take the glass with a nod and throw it back.
“That bad?”
“It didn’t take, again.” I shake my head. “I don’t know how much more of this she can take. We only have five embryos left. Two damn implantations, two months of this and I
don’t know how she doesn’t hate me yet. At the doctor’s office today the bitch doctor says there are some drugs she can give at the next try she hadn’t before because the odds of it working were so high. Why the fuck didn’t she do it after the first time? They are only allowing one embryo per implantation. If it were two or three and they were worried about multiples I get it, but not giving her everything they can for one embryo to take?”
I’m still pissed they weren’t willing to do two embryos the way Regina wanted. It would only be a twin pregnancy, not an octomom situation, for fuck’s sake.