Shield My Heart (Heaven Hill Book 9) (24 page)

Charity waved her hand. “Nah, we don’t have a lot going on today anyway. When you leave, I think I’ll cut out for the day myself. What better way to spend a rainy afternoon than in bed?” She winked at her friend.

“Do not wink at me like that when I know you’re probably going home to my brother.” She shuddered.

Charity just grinned. “You know me too well, but yeah, I’m goin’ home.”

Mandy threw her napkin at her sister-in-law. “Again, I don’t want to hear about that!”

Charity laughed, picking the napkin up from where it had fallen in the floor. “Drew and I have talked about it, ya know?”

“Talked about what?” Suddenly it dawned on Mandy what they could have been discussing. “Kids?”

Charity’s cheeks turned a cute pink color. “Yeah. We’re still in the talking about it stage, there’s been no definite plans, and I’m not sure if there will be.”

“Oh, there will be.” Mandy grinned. “If he’s talking about it, then it’s something he wants.”

“That’s what I thought too, but you and I both know how things change sometimes. You think you want something, and then you don’t. I want us to be on the same page about it,” Charity explained, twirling a lock of hair between her fingers.

“You’ll get there, and I think the two of you would make awesome parents.”

“We’ll see.”

Mandy could hear the wistful tone in Charity’s voice. If it were up to her sister-in-law, it would definitely be happening, and Mandy couldn’t wait.

*

“How’s it going, Mandy?” Dr. Sparks asked as she helped Mandy sit up on the bed, after having checked her out.

“Things are good, just a little heartburn.” She grimaced.

“A little?” Dalton smirked from where he sat. “Try a lot. Like keeping us both up a lot.”

“Drink some milk,” Dr. Sparks advised. “Or ice cream, it’ll help coat the stomach and hopefully offer you some relief. You’ve only gained a total of fifteen pounds so far. I’m good with you using the extra calories if you need to.”

Mandy nodded. “Anything that’ll help. Sometimes I sleep propped up.”

“That’s okay. I know it’s a pain, but you’ve got less than ten weeks to go. It’s that time.”

Mandy felt her heart pound at the thought of less than ten weeks. “And we don’t even have a nursery for him yet.”

Dr. Sparks laughed. “Y’all better get to work.” She threw a pointed look at Dalton.

“I’m working on it,” he defended himself.

“Might be time to try and work a bit harder.”

*

They left the appointment holding hands and laughing at their incompetence at being able to get the nursery together.

“Do you have to go back to work?” Dalton asked as they made their way to her car.

She beamed. “Nope, Charity shut down for the day. Because it’s rainy, she’s going home to lounge in bed with my brother. I told her I needed no more details.”

“Me neither.” He wrinkled his nose up as he helped her into the car. “Good, I have a place for you to go.”

She had no idea what he had planned. “What did you do?”

Since they’d gotten back together, he’d made it a point for them to do something together once or twice a week. She appreciated it more than she could say, especially when he tended to pamper her more often than not.

“You’ll see.”

They drove across town, towards Scottsville Road, piquing her interest even more. When he pulled into a strip mall, she was lost.

“You said the other day you couldn’t reach your feet,” he reminded her. “I thought it’d be nice for you to get a pedicure.”

“Oh my god, Dalton. You’re gonna sit in there while I get a pedicure?”

“Sit in there?” he parked the car. “Baby, I’m gonna pay for it and wait in there while you get it.”

She threw her head back, giggling. If someone had asked her months ago where they would be right at this moment, she sure as hell wouldn’t have said the parking lot of a nail salon, but damn if she didn’t love it.

‡
Chapter Thirty-Two

“Y
ou tired?” Dalton asked later that night as they walked the mall. She’d needed to get a couple shirts, and he carried her bag in his hand, his other arm around her waist.

She yawned loudly. “Yeah.” She closed her eyes, putting her head on his shoulder for a second. “Sorry I’m no longer the life of the party.”

Mandy had never really been the life of the party, but he wasn’t one to split hairs. “Let’s get you home.”

By the time they pulled out of the mall parking lot, she was fast asleep in the passenger seat. Stopping at a red light, Dalton gazed over at her. Her features were soft in slumber, like most people’s were. His heart squeezed with the emotions he felt for her. Reaching over, he grazed her cheek with his knuckle. He would do whatever it took to keep her happy; there was no doubt about it now.

*

Mandy felt heavy and warm. Opening her eyes, she realized she was in her and Dalton’s dorm room, but she wasn’t sure how she’d gotten there. Dalton sat in the chair opposite the bed, writing notes in a notebook.

“How did I get here?” she asked, her voice deep with sleep, her eyes drowsy.

He put the notebook to the side, his look soft as his eyes traveled her body. “I carried you. You passed out on me in the car.”

“I’m so sorry.” She sat up with a little difficulty “You should have woken me up, made me help you.”

“Nah, you aren’t heavy, and if you’re falling asleep on the car ride home, then you were obviously exhausted. If you were that tired, you should have said something.”

She stretched, wiping the sleep from her eyes. “What time is it?” She’d slept hard, and it felt like it was three in the morning.

He glanced at his phone. “A little after ten.”

“What were you doing?” She nodded towards the notebook.

“It’s a checklist I have of things I want to accomplish before the baby’s born.”

She quirked her brow and pursed her lips. “You have one of those?”

“You do. Why wouldn’t I?” He got out of the chair and came over to lie beside her.

He had a point; she shouldn’t be so sexist. “What’s on yours?”

“Normal stuff,” he assured her. “Like learn how to change a diaper, child CPR, make sure he has a nursery.”

She giggled at that.

“And make sure his mom wears my patch, so that nobody wonders who she belongs to.”

Mandy had been relaxing against him, giggling at the nursery comment. When he mentioned the patch, she froze and forgot to breathe.

“Cat got your tongue?” he teased.

She couldn’t help the tears that flooded her eyes. She’d waited a long time for this moment.

“Are you asking me to?”

He reached over and picked up a box. “I’m definitely asking you to. I know this probably won’t fit perfectly until you have the baby.” He stopped her from opening it. “And I want you to know something. I bought this over a year ago. This isn’t something I decided on because we’re having a child together. I’ve always just needed to get my head on straight, babe, and thank you for giving me the time and space to do that.”

She opened the box with shaking fingers, seeing a leather jacket with Dalton’s property patch on it. Lifting it out, she couldn’t believe her eyes. This was what she’d wanted for such a long time, she couldn’t believe it was actually happening.

“Why didn’t you show this to me a year ago?” she asked, lifting it up to her nose and inhaling the leather scent. She remembered vividly when her mom had gotten hers; she’d looked at it longingly, wanting one of her own.

“I wasn’t ready,” he admitted. “And I don’t think you were either. Maybe we had to go through all this shit so we can appreciate where we are now.” He brushed her hair back from her forehead. “I love you.”

Three little words. They meant so much, and in the grand scheme of things she knew she’d taken them for granted and assumed actions and feelings were attached to them when perhaps they weren’t. If she’d learned anything though, it was she had to show the person she was with what she wanted. He couldn’t read her mind, he didn’t know where her head was, and he sure as fuck wasn’t going to do something without a cue from her.

Curling into his body, Mandy reached up, kissing him on the neck. “Thank you,” she whispered in his ear, letting her tongue caress the lobe.

“You tryin’ to give me a thank you for the patch?” His voice was deep as he settled more firmly against the pillows. “You don’t have to do that, baby; it was my pleasure. I wanted to do it.”

It took effort for her to get up, but once she did, she started getting rid of all her clothes, throwing her bra in his face.

He laughed, wadding it up and putting it on the floor. “Are you getting ready for bed, or am I about to get lucky?”

“Take your own clothes off and you’ll find out.”

He didn’t have to be told twice. It was almost comical the way he got rid of his clothing. He tried to crowd her, encouraging her to lie down.

“No.” She held her finger up. “You lay down.”

He raised an eyebrow and grinned. They hadn’t done it this way often since she’d gotten pregnant, but now her belly was kind of getting in the way, and he was intrigued. “Whatever you say.”

She liked the sound of that. Being in control sounded very good to her ears. He was slow in lying back down, so she shoved him with a hand to the sternum.