Chapter Sixteen
It was Wednesday night, Chase and Logan were asleep and he’d gotten Devy tucked into bed. She’d said she didn’t need him to do it, but he could also see how pleased she was when he did. No brainer. He’d tuck her into bed for the rest of his life if he had his way.
Hopefully in the not so distant future, he’d be climbing in next to her. For now, he’d sleep on the couch when the boys were home. He could’ve gone back to his house but he’d rather be here. It wasn’t a bad example to set for Chase and Logan that when you cared for a person and they weren’t well, you showed up. He was sure they’d get that message from their mother, but it shouldn’t be a mom thing, or a woman thing. It should be a human thing.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t been able to get her in to see the neurologist or the ob-gyn he’d called on—they were the best so of course they were busy and they’d been able to get Devy in for appointments next week. Still made him twitchy, the waiting. That was another shitty thing about medicine—all the waiting. Waiting for test results, waiting to see specialists, waiting to see if something would go away on its own or if it would need more treatment. He was a patient man but there were some times he hated the waiting as much as his patients did and this was one of those times. Waiting sucked when you wanted to take care of a person you loved.
He was about to settle in on the couch when his phone rang, which made him jump. It was set to silent except for a few particular numbers. Looking at the screen he was a little surprised but not shocked.
“Hey, man. Everything okay?”
Jethro huffed out a laugh. “Everything is fine if you don’t think it’s crazy we’re about to have four kids under two.”
And then he heard Sable in the background. “Everything isnotfine, I’m in labor for fuck’s sake. You try evicting two watermelon-sized parasites from inside your body through your dick and then we’ll talk.”
He had to laugh.
“Sable gets a little mouthy when she’s in labor,” Jethro said, resigned amusement in his voice but also a note of pride.
“Can’t blame her. Other than the obvious, everything okay? It’s a little early, but that’s normal for twins.”
“Thirty-six weeks. She went thirty-seven with Yasmin and Calla but apparently these girls are more impatient than their big sisters.”
Eric smiled thinking about his friends’ growing family. He didn’t think anyone would’ve pegged Sable as the profoundly maternal type, but she loved those girls fiercely and though they were sure going to have their hands full with four, he didn’t doubt they’d be able to handle it. With some help, of course.
“Alright, I’ll be on my way in a few.”
He hung up with Jethro, tugged his clothes on and packed up his things. He and Ian would be at the house with Yasmin and Calla and the dogs until the morning, and then there would be some combination of the regular nanny, Ian, Hudson, Ryker, and Cosima looking after the dogs and girls while the second set of Del Bosque twins arrived.
Right before he left, he snuck into Devaney’s room to find her curled up around Spaghetti. She was still having some cramps but they were far better than right before her period had started. Lord that woman was tough. He hated to wake her, but he also wasn’t going to leave without telling her what was up.
He stroked some hair off her forehead and she stirred, eyes blinking open to look up at him.
“Hey, pretty baby. Just got a call from my friend Jethro, the one who owns the garden center? His wife’s in labor so I have to go play Uncle Eric for their twins until I go into the office in the morning, probably have to head there again after work. Not sure how long I’ll be there, since you know babies don’t follow a schedule.”
“Okay.”
“I’m sorry I have to go, but you call me if you need something, alright? I’ll have my hands full but I’m never too busy for you.”
A corner of her mouth tipped up as she scrubbed at her eyes with her fists. Such a sleepy little girl. “You’re a good friend, Daddy. A good man. I’ll be fine, I have Spaghetti.”
Sweet, sweet girl. And hearing her say he was a good man—he’d put that on his damn CV, get it printed on a coffee mug, hell, have it engraved on a bigass trophy, it felt that good.
* * *
Two days and the arrival of Hyacinth and Briar Del Bosque later, Eric took a breather between patients to give Devy a call.
“Hi, Eric.”
“Hi yourself. How’s my Devy baby doing today?”
“Mmm, pretty good.”
He would’ve liked more detail than that but he didn’t blame her for not wanting to go into it over the phone. It was easier to coax information out of her in person.
“How are you? How are the Del Bosques?”
“I’m good—I’m talking to you, aren’t I? And everyone at Casa Del Bosque is fine even if it’s like a baby circus up in there. Yasmin and Calla are good sleepers so I got a couple decent nights’ rest, and everyone else came home today—Jethro looked harried but Sable and the girls are doing well. Hyacinth and Briar, they’re about six pounds each and feisty like their mother.”