Not Quite Forever (Not Quite #4)(60)
Author: Catherine Bybee

“Little Horance isn’t giving you trouble, is he?” They’d started saying the most ridiculous names in an effort to spark the right one.

“Philomena is fine. Not one headache. I started moving stuff out of the guest room.”

“Wait until I get home. I don’t want you lifting anything heavy.”

She sighed, snuggled into the three pillows she had behind her. “When are you coming home?”

“I moved my flight up two whole days. I’ll e-mail you the confirmation.”

“You mean you didn’t use Fairchild again?”

“He offered, I said no. Oh, guess who I heard from?”

She liked this, the day-to-day anything and everything about a committed relationship. This she could get used to, even if Walt had to be away once in a while. “Who?”

“The FDA. Looks like the Eddy nasal foreign-object extractor has made it through their system. I’ve already had two competing companies asking for a contract.”

Walt was following his father’s example in some ways. No, it wasn’t with a cardiac clamp helpful for a cardiologist, but something every ER doctor came across in his or her career. Kids were notorious for shoving crap up their noses. Walt had used every device available at work. Some were successful, but his own modified paperclip device worked the best.

“That’s awesome. I’m so excited for you.”

“I’m pretty stoked myself. After four long years, it looks like I might have use for my dad’s lawyers after all. I don’t have the first clue about how to negotiate this kind of deal.”

“Have you talked to him about it?”

“No. I thought maybe if we visited over Christmas I could bring it up then.”

They’d talked about the holidays but hadn’t made any commitments. “Let’s get through Thanksgiving first.” And discuss Christmas and his mother later.

“OK.” He yawned.

“You need to go to bed, Doc.”

“I do.”

“I miss you.”

“Call me crazy, but I like knowing you do. I miss you and little Sebastian.”

Sebastian . . . good Lord, that was not going to happen. “Beatrice is right here when you get back.”

“Sleep well, Mama.”

“We will, Daddy.”

After hanging up the phone, she placed a hand over her belly. “We’ll find the right name for you, don’t worry.”

She picked up her laptop, placed it back on her legs. That’s when she felt it. A flutter deep inside her womb. She’d heard of butterflies in her stomach, but this was low and deep. “Oh, baby.” Dakota sat up and waited, when it happened again, she knew. Her child, their child, was saying hello for the first time. The desire to pick up the phone and call Walt passed and she grinned. “This is just you and me right now.” And that was perfectly fine. Walt wouldn’t be able to feel anything anyway, even if he were there.

Putting aside her work for the night, Dakota sat in the dark waiting for another flutter, another wave. Even though she was alone, she wasn’t. There was someone an entire country away thinking of her, and one much closer depending on her.

Life wasn’t so bad.

Thanksgiving plans changed the minute Walt realized how awful his mother had been with Dakota while he was in Florida. Neither one of them wanted to endure the drama of family, and luckily, they had friends who embraced them.

Walt helped Dakota and Mary with their luggage for the weeklong stay on the East Coast. Monica and Trent were doing the traditional turkey along with ball games. When they sent a plane to pick them up, Dakota jumped at the idea.

“Besides,” she’d told him after Monica offered, “my publisher scheduled a couple of interviews and New York is only a two-hour drive from Monica’s.”

“And we can go shopping,” Mary chimed in. “I love it when we go to New York without a conference. And then there’s ice skating . . .”

“I think I’ll take a rain check on the ice skating this year,” Dakota said.

The plans were sealed after that. Thanksgiving, New York, and shopping . . . the girls were happy and Walt could spend some of his time working out contract details with the Fairchilds when it came to Borderless Doctors. The job was paperwork heavy, lots of recruiting would happen after the holidays, lots of international travel. The good news was, Dakota was willing to travel with him, before and after the baby was born, so long as his destinations didn’t involve contagious disease outbreaks. As she said, she could write anywhere.

Now they were parked in an auxiliary lot and shuffling luggage from his car.

Like every time Walt had flown with Fairchild Charters, a man stood holding a sign with his name.

Mary giggled like a schoolgirl as they were valeted through security and led straight to the tarmac.

“Are you our pilot?” Dakota asked as they walked through the hoards of holiday travelers.

“I’m the copilot, Miss Laurens. The pilot is still on board.”

Both Walt and Dakota spotted the plane the moment they stepped onto the pavement. The familiar Fairchild name was written over the wing of the airplane, but unlike the others they’d been on, this one was massive. “Holy cow,” Dakota whispered.

“Is that it?” Mary asked, her eyes wide.

“Yes, ma’am,” the copilot offered. “Nothing but the best for the Fairchilds’ personal friends.”

Walt stood back and let the ladies walk up the steps and into the jet. He heard their reaction long before he saw what they gasped at.

Then he saw it.

“Holy shit.”

Dakota turned, her grin tried to fall but failed. “This is too much. We can’t accept this.”

It was beyond too much. Unlike the other charter planes he’d been on, this one had sofas and a huge big screen, a bar, and if he wasn’t mistaken, an entire bedroom suite through a door in the back.

“Trump called and wants his plane back,” Mary mumbled.

Dakota laughed and moved deeper into the luxury jet. “See, this . . . this is why I write. Who knows, maybe someday we can own something like this.”

Walt watched as joy stretched over her face and she sat on the lush leather sofa and placed a hand over their child.

We, she said we. Those words were fuel to his soul.

“Keep writing, babe. Who knows.”

A woman emerged from the back of the jet. “Welcome aboard,” she said. “I’m Mai and I’ll be taking care of you.” The tiny woman offered a full-toothed smile.