“You bet you do. She is scheduled for her first bath during the next scheduled round.”
“I can’t wait to help with the bath,” I said with a grin
“Sorry, Dad, it’s time for Aurora to head back to bed,” Kacy said, taking Aurora from Trevor and placing her back in her incubator with practiced ease. Trevor yawned and ran his hands over his face.
“Why don’t you head to the condo and get some sleep. I’ll stay here.”
“Scarlett, you had major surgery. You can’t be hanging out in here. You need to rest.”
“I’m fine. I don’t want to leave her.”
Kacy was busy writing something in Aurora’s chart, not paying attention to us bickering. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time, and it most assuredly wouldn’t be the last that she’d hear parents having this same argument.
“Why don’t you both head over and take a good nap. Her next scheduled time is in four hours. Go rest, you need to take care of yourselves. Let us do what we do best here, and that’s take care of Aurora.”
She reached for the beaded bracelet and tied it onto the incubator. “When Aurora leaves the NICU she’s going to have a beautiful necklace to wear at home.”
I pushed my arms through the incubator’s opening and stroked Aurora gently.
“Mommy and Daddy will be back, princess. I promise. Sleep good for Kacy and the other nurses. I love you.”
Trevor did the same thing. I could see the anguish on his face as we walked away.
When we got outside to Trevor’s truck, I broke down.
Trevor quickly had me in his arms, holding me gently.
“We should have her with us, Trevor! We should be pulling out of here with our baby in the car seat and heading back to Oak Springs. Not to a rented condo in San Antonio without our baby!”
He stroked my head softly. “Shhh, I know. I know. But this is the card we were dealt, and we’re going to make the best of it. That means going to the condo, resting, eating a good dinner, and then heading back in time to help with Aurora.”
My face was buried in his chest. I wanted to rip off his shirt and touch him where Aurora had been sleeping against him. Anything to feel closer to her. Instead, I stepped back, wiped my tears away and nodded.
“Right. I’m sorry. It just hit me that we were leaving, and she wasn’t coming with us.”
Trevor nodded. “Don’t be sorry. It hit me yesterday when I left to sign the paperwork for the condo. We’re going to get through this, Scarlett. You, me, and our little fighter in there, because trust me when I say, our daughter is a true fighter.”
The corners of my mouth rose slightly. “That’s because she’s a Parker.”
“Hell yes, she is,” Trevor replied, then kissed me gently on the lips.
After helping me into the truck, Trevor asked if I needed to stop and get any medicine.
“Nope, my folks picked up the prescriptions the doctor wrote. I’m going to start taking Motrin for the pain just in case they tell me they’re ready for the breast milk.”
“I hate that you have to pump and we are throwing it out.”
“I know. We can’t donate it, though, because of the pain meds.”
“Still sucks, though.”
We were at our condo four minutes later. Thank goodness it was on the first floor. I could walk upstairs, but the less I had to move, the better.
“Shower?” Trevor asked, wiggling his eyebrows.
“My parents are here, Trevor.”
“No, they’re not. I texted and said we were coming home and your mom said they ran to Oak Springs and would be back in a couple of hours. She wanted to get some indoor grill.”
I groaned. “Oh Lord. The George Foreman grill?”
Trevor shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t remember. All I know is, I’ve got a few hours alone with you, and I want you to sleep for most of it. So come on. Let me take you to the shower and clean you.”
Letting him guide me through the condo, I glanced around as we walked through the rooms. It was beautiful and had to be costing Trevor a small fortune.
The moment we walked into the master bathroom, I gasped. It was like a spa. Trevor carefully pulled my shirt over my head. He reached behind me and unclasped my bra. I let it fall from my arms to the floor.
He dropped down and looked at the incision on my stomach. He frowned.
“It’s a beautiful battle wound. It’s okay, Trevor, I promise.”
When his beautiful blue eyes looked up at me, I noticed how tired he looked. He’d been rotating between staying with me and being with Aurora. I would go down to the NICU as often as I could, but my nurses were keeping me on my own damn schedule.
“I’m sorry this happened,” he said. “I’m so sorry.”