“Princess Lucy, you’re quite the natural. Are there perhaps children of your own on the horizon?” a voice called from the crowd.
I kept my eyes on baby Silas in my arms, not wanting to give anything away with my facial expressions. “Perhaps one day.” I kept my tone light, my answer vague.
“How many do you imagine having?”
My body tensed, and I was moments away from a verbal strike at whatever reporter dared to ask such a personal question when my brain caught up enough to realize the question came directly from my right, by a voice I knew almost as well as my own.
Turning my head, I locked eyes with Preston, who was now on one knee beside me. For just a moment, I thought I saw compassion in those hazel depths as he dropped his gaze to Silas. His question had been uttered so softly, and if the circumstances were different, I might have thought he genuinely wanted to know. But reality crashed down on me hard. We weren’t a real couple; he didn’t want to have children with me. This was just a trick to throw me off, having figured out I brought him here to make him uncomfortable.
Clearing my mind, I plastered a fake smile on my face, answering flippantly, “At least half a dozen. I’m not getting any younger, so we’ll really have to bang them out.”
I was taking a page out of his book, trying to spook him by suggesting I wanted a gaggle of kids born in rapid succession, but to my bewilderment, he simply nodded his head thoughtfully. “Seems like a tall task, but I could be convinced. I always thought more along the lines of three or four, but I find myself leaning toward four. Three, and there’s always someone left out, but with four, everyone has a buddy. Growing up, it wasonly me and Max, and while I love my brother, it would have been nice to have a buffer sometimes. A larger family always held an appeal to me.”
Was he fucking with me? He was supposed to be running out that door like his hair was on fire at the prospect of a house full of children. There were too many reasons not to believe he meant what he said.
One, he was Preston—he was never genuine with me.
Two, his job was his life—how would he carve out time to raise one child, let alone four or more?
And three, I saw him surrounded by Natalie’s kids, and he never once chose to interact with them, electing to watch from the sidelines while the rest of us loved on them the way they deserved.
He had to be fucking with me. There was no other explanation.
Shaking my head slightly as if to clear it, my eyes searched for Nurse Cindy. When I located her, I asked, “Where are Silas’s parents?”
Nurse Cindy gave a rueful smile. “His family resides in one of the more rural communities outside the city. They have older children and a farm to run. When he was transferred here shortly after birth, they could not come with him. His mother visits when she can, usually once a week if she’s lucky. We send them regular updates and pictures via text.”
My heart broke in two, not just for the little boy I held but for his family, whose circumstances did not allow them to be by his side. No one should have to choose between their livelihood and their devotion to their child requiring medical care. That’s when my brain began working overtime, thinking of new ways to direct funding to benefit families like Silas’s. If anyone could help me come up with ideas and how to implement them, it would be Amy. I’d have to sit down with her when she and Liam returned home from America.
“How many other babies are here without family nearby, unable to visit frequently?” Preston asked. It was like he could see what was on my mind.
That’s not unsettling at all.
“Five at present,” Nurse Cindy replied.
“All from rural communities?” he questioned.
“Not all. Some just live too far and have nowhere to stay for as long as their child needs care.”
“Hmm,” he mused. “Can you take me to one of them?”
“Certainly.” She led him to the incubator across from where I sat. “This is Eliana.”
Nodding, Preston asked, “May I hold her?”
Beaming up at him, Nurse Cindy enthusiastically replied, “Of course!”
The shock of Preston asking to hold a premature baby had barely worn off when I noticed him shedding his suit jacket before loosening his tie and undoing the top buttons of his dress shirt. Eyes wide, I asked in alarm, “What are you doing?”
Taking a seat in the chair opposite mine, his shirt half undone, Preston didn’t falter. “My brother, Maxwell, is soon-to-be a father, and I’ve been helping him prepare for the arrival of my niece or nephew. I read that skin-to-skin contact has many benefits for premature babies. As Eliana’s family is absent, I am happy to step in and provide that for her.”
Thank God I was sitting down because you could have knocked me over with a feather.
Who was this man? Were we being invaded by aliens, and they’d already taken his body as a host? That was the only explanation I could think of because this wasn’t the Preston I knew.
What if—what if he had meant what he said about wanting children? Four, to be exact. I could barely breathe as I watched Nurse Cindy place the diaper-clad baby girl against his barechest before covering them with a blanket. Any other man, and this would have been endearing, heartwarming even, but as I stared at him, my world was turned upside down.
Time seemingly stood still as we rocked our respective babies, and I was unable to tear my eyes away from the scene before me, even when Nurse Cindy whispered in my ear, “You picked a good one, Lucky.”
