“Okay then,” I capitulated, out of options. “Make sure you drink plenty of fluids. Lie down if you need to. I’ll check on you as soon as I can.”
“Thank you,” she sighed. “You’re the best.”
“I try,” I teased, hanging up the phone.
For the rest of the day, I was swamped with one patient after another. Even though I only spent a few minutes with each individual, there were still charts to sign off on and medications to monitor. I was lucky to get out of there when I did, and I fully intended to swing by Flynn’s mansion to check on Bre.
But then my mother called with an emergency. “There’s water everywhere!”
“What happened?” I sat in the parking lot, trying to make out my mother’s panicked words.
“I think a pipe burst!” she screamed.
“Do you know where the valve is to shut the water off to the house?” I asked, trying to calm her down.
“No!”
“Okay, I’m coming.” I responded, turning the car on.
“What should I do?”
“Get some buckets,” I said. “Try to catch the water. I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
“Okay,” she exhaled, relieved that help was on the way.
When I arrived in my parents’ neighborhood, everything looked fine from the outside. Running up to the door, I could hear the pipes leaking even before I stepped inside. The kitchen was a mess. Water was raining down from the ceiling, collecting into a dozen buckets that my mom had set up throughout the room.
I went immediately to the back of the house where the water shut-off valve was located. Flipping the switch, I forestalled any more damage. Walking upstairs, I found the problem. The water heater had burst. The designer of the home had stupidly installed it in the attic, probably so that it wouldn’t be visible to potential home buyers. Whatever the rationalization, it had caused massive flooding and likely damage to the floors and the walls.
I called a plumber and helped my mother empty the water from her buckets. We set up fans to dry the wood. By the time the situation was under control, four hours had passed. I decided to spend the night. My mother was rattled, and it was a comfort for both of us to eat together.
I didn’t fill her in on anything that was going on with my love life. Eventually, I would have to explain the nontraditional emotional relationship we had going on, but it was not the time or the place. She put me up in my old room where I’d spent many happy nights as a kid.
It wasn’t until I was half asleep, on top of a mattress that had seen better days, that I remembered my conversation with Bre. In the half light of the moon, on the second floor of my childhood home, I considered her words. She had been complaining of a low-level headache and morning sickness. Add that to a phantom low back pain she’d mentioned only in passing, and I was sure I had the answer.
Bre was pregnant. It was the only diagnosis that fit all the clues. Was I the father? Was Connor? Or was it Flynn, Bre’s employer, now her lover? It could be any of us, and it didn’t really matter. I set my mental clock to wake up early, giving me enough time to call Connor and go see Bre. I was sure I had a home test kit in my car, a hospital brand that was every bit as reliable as what was used in the office.
After all the excitement of the faulty water heater, I had a realization that my mother would be incredibly interested in. I was going to be a father.
CHAPTERTWENTY-NINE
BREANNA
I forgot all about my conversation with Dex the afternoon before. The next morning, Flynn’s parents arrived to visit with Seanan. I had to play the part of the nanny, not giving any hints to the grandparents that their son and I were engaged in a polyamorous relationship.
I fetched the little girl as requested and stood awkwardly in the foyer as Seanan leapt into her grandmother’s arms. Flynn found me there and rescued me with a quiet grin. He had spent the night in his own room. It had been days since we were intimate, and my body cried out for his caresses.
With his parents in the home, there was nothing I could do to scratch that itch. My stomach still felt queasy, and I hadn’t eaten anything yet. Flynn reached an innocuous hand out to stroke my little finger. I gazed up at him in contentment. I didn’t doubt that someday we would clue his parents in to our arrangement. But I didn’t need to rush it.
“She looks fine,” Flynn’s mother said, coming back to find us near the door.
“It didn’t take her long to recover. She’s a trooper,” I reported.
“That’s my granddaughter,” the woman cheered. “Come sit with us, Flynn.”
“You can take the day off,” Flynn said to me. “Ma’s got it handled, right, Ma?”
“You bet.” Flynn’s mother evaluated me as if just noticing there was someone else in the room. “Why don’t you take a day for yourself? Or take two. Da and I are staying overnight.”