Matt motioned for the designer to follow him outside to give us privacy.
I stared at Mom, and for the first time, I didn’t know what to say. I’d come all the way here because I needed her, but now I didn’t know where to begin.
Her hands grabbed onto my arms, and she squeezed me, looking into my gaze with a frightened look. “Honey, you’re scaring me. What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m okay. Just…scared.”
“Talk to me, honey.” She rubbed my arms, more relieved now that she knew I was okay. “You aren’t scared of anything.”
“Well…I’m pregnant.”
She inhaled a deep breath, her fingers losing their grip on my arms for a moment. Joy was instant. Not a shred of disappointment. “Daisy…that’s wonderful.”
I nodded, eyes watering. “It is, but…”
“But what?”
“Atlas told me babies he fathers can only end in miscarriages, so…” I closed my eyes, and the tears fell.
Mom wrapped her arms around me and smothered me close, letting me cry, letting me be weak. She engulfed me with her love, did her best to shield me from pain.
I’d looked at that test result in the bathroom at CVS just a few hours ago, and I was riding the roller coaster of emotions, full of tension. There was excitement because having a family was something I wanted. Maybe not right this second, but that was fine. I could make it work. But then it was swept away when I was afraid I might lose it.
I couldn’t lose it.
The maternal instincts already kicked in. A biological phenomenon. An evolutionary impulse to protect the life inside me.
“I don’t know what to do.”
Mom pulled away, her eyes wet. “What does your father always say?”
I gave a slight nod. “Medicine only goes so far…until there’s God.”
“Exactly.”
“I don’t want to tell Atlas… He’ll get so upset.”
“Because he assumes…” She couldn’t even say it.
I nodded.
She released a heavy sigh. “You have to tell him, Daisy. And if you don’t, he’ll figure it out anyway. That’s one drawback to being with a doctor. I tried to hide Dex from your father, but he knew.”
“Yeah…you’re right.”
“I know I’m not scientific like the rest of you, so I can’t say that this will work out with any credibility, but I believe there’s hope. I believe that anything is possible. So, I say we get to a good doctor right away and get to work on making sure this little person becomes a member of our family in a couple months.”
I nodded, tears flowing down my face. That was why I came to my mom.
Because she always knew what to say to make me feel better.
17
Atlas
I’d put it off long enough.
I had to tell him.
Daisy was getting anxious, and then when it didn’t happen, she turned quiet.
Really quiet.
When I’d asked her to marry me, I meant it. I wasn’t dragging my feet or having a change of heart. When I spoke to Dr. Hamilton, I wasn’t just asking for his blessing to be with his daughter. I was asking to be a member of his family.
That was hard for me.
Because a part of me was afraid he would say no. That it happened too fast. That we didn’t know each other well enough. That she just moved in. A million objective reasons that were all valid.
He came into the lab in the late afternoon and immediately got to work, heading to the microscopes on the other side of the room so he could check the samples that I compiled. He went through all of them before he went to the other parts of the lab, getting up to speed without asking a single question.
I watched him, ignoring my work in front of me.
He crossed the room and sat across from me, in a gray hoodie and with a shadow on his jawline. He looked tired today, but we’d been working longer hours than usual, spending our time here at the facility and at the hospital in the city.
“Everything alright?” I asked.
He nodded. “Just a lot to keep track of…”
“Yeah.”
“I’ve never worked this much before, except prior to my marriage. Cleo doesn’t complain because she knows how important this is to me, but I do feel guilty for not spending more time with her. We have dinner every night, but that’s it.”
“I understand.” I’d been busy too, busier than Daisy.
He dropped his chin and looked at his notebook.
Here goes nothing. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“I’m all ears.” He continued to scribble in his notebook. When I didn’t speak, he looked up.
“I’d like your blessing to marry Daisy.”
His fingers continued to grip the pen as he stared at me, still like a predator that had its gaze fixed on prey. He was brilliant and followed things quickly, but this still took a moment for him to process.
“I know it’s quick, but…I just know.”