One Hot Doctor by Sarah J. Brooks

Chapter 37

Thomas

“Hurry up, man,” I tell the Uber guy as he drives me from the airport to the hospital. “My wife gave birth last night.”

“The baby is not going anywhere. In fact, I can tell you as a father of four that you’ll often wish the baby would go somewhere overnight just so you can get a good night’s sleep.” He laughs at his own joke.

I don’t find it particularly funny. All I want is to meet my baby girl and see for myself that Cora is fine. I’ve spoken to Martin countless times since last night, and he has assured me that both Cora and my daughter were unscathed by the experience.

Everyone in mine and Cora’s family has seen the baby except me. Last night I drove myself crazy worrying about all the things that could go wrong from a home birth of a preemie. Dr. Phillips says they probably got the dates mixed up because she was full-term. That was good to hear.

Finally, I see the signs for the hospital, and as soon as the Uber comes to a stop, I pay the driver and hop out. I already have the room number and floor. The elevator takes too long, and I sprint to the stairs and take two at a time.

I stop outside Cora’s room to catch my breath and then push the door open softly. Cora is fast asleep, and the baby is in a raised crib next to the bed. I walk softly to the crib and stare down at the baby.

She’s not asleep, and she stares back at me with intelligent eyes as if she knows that I’m her dad. She has dark eyes like me, but her tiny features are Cora’s. The shape of her lips, her tiny nose, and the shape of her face. She’s beautiful.

As I study her, the most incredible thing happens. Love seeps into my heart and forces it to expand to painful proportions. This is my child. She has come from my body. Emotion overwhelms me, and my eyes fill with tears.

I love this tiny human with all of my being and I don’t even know her name.

“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?”

I lift my head to find Cora awake and staring at me. I go to her and cup her face. “You’re both gorgeous.” I kiss her on the mouth and draw back to stare into her eyes. “You’re my hero.”

She laughs. “I think it’s karma for the way I used to speak about home births. It was quite comfortable, actually.”

I take her hand as she recounts what happened. Cora is one of the few women whose labor is short and intense, even with a first baby. “You were very brave.”

“I didn’t feel very brave then. I was just so glad to see that she’s all right.” She glances at the crib. “You should hold her. It’s the most incredible feeling.”

“Okay.” I pop into the bathroom to wash my hands, come back into the room, and gently lift her up.

I carry her to the visitors’ chair and sit down, staring at her. My heart almost bursts with love. Cora is right. Holding her little warm body against me like this makes me want to never let go of her. I make a silent vow. I’ll always take care of her and provide for her everything that she needs. She’ll never lack for anything, whether it be my time, my love, or material stuff.

“She looks just like you, “ I tell Cora.

“Except for her hair and hands. That’s purely you.”

“What will we name her? We can’t keep calling her, her,” Cora says.

“You have a point there. Any ideas?” I ask her. I know she’s given it a lot of thought and was just waiting for me before telling everyone else in our families.

“I thought of Taylor Clarkson,” Cora says softly.

“Taylor. I like it.” I glance down at my daughter. “Hey there, Taylor.” Her little mouth moves. “I think she’s smiling.”

Cora props herself on one hand. “I think she is.”

In the space of hours, Cora, Taylor, and I have become a real family. Cora gives me a list of last-minute things that she needs for the baby. She’ll most likely be discharged tomorrow, so I’ll have to shop nice and early and then come to the hospital to pick them up.

I spend the rest of the evening in her room until the nurses kick me out.

I’m too pumped to go home, and it’s still early. I grab an Uber to The Caroline.

There seems to be some sort of celebration going on.

“And there he is, the father of the baby!” Caroline shouts.

Cheers and claps follow Caroline’s words. People raise their glasses, and congratulations ring out. It seems that everyone got a free drink to celebrate the birth of Caroline’s grandchild.

At the bar, Tom reaches across the counter to shake my hand. “Drinks are on the house for you tonight.”

“Thank you,” I say. I ask for a beer, and while Tom gets it, I slip my phone out of my pocket.

There’s a missed call from Martin, and I call him right back. I can barely hear what he’s saying from the buzz in the bar.

“Where are you?” he says.

“I’m at The Caroline,” I yell into my phone.

“I’m on my way,” he says.

Tom returns with my beer, and after serving me, he asks after Cora and the baby. All the servers who see me stop by to say congratulations and ask after Cora and the baby.

Martin comes when I’m on my second beer. He’s in a suit and looks as if he’s come straight from work. “How does it feel to be the newest daddy on the block?” He slides onto a barstool and asks for a cold beer.

“It feels good.” I grin and then sober up. “I fell in love with Taylor as soon as I laid eyes on her. She’s beautiful.”

“It’s frightening to think that a little human depends on you a hundred percent for survival,” Martin says.

“I thought I’d be cool because of my job,” I tell him. “But as soon as I saw her, I was gone even before I knew her name. Her name’s Taylor, by the way.”

“Taylor, huh?” Martin smiles. “That’s a beautiful name.”

“Cora chose it.”

Tom brings his beer, and Martin takes a long swig. Then he contemplates me. “Are you two still planning on going through with that crazy scheme?”

I told Martin about the agreement that Cora and I made about parting ways after three weeks, and of course, he thought it was crazy. “Yeah. The plan was to have a baby together and then go our separate ways.”

He shakes his head. “Is that what you want?”

“It doesn’t matter what I want. What matters is what Cora wants, and she was adamant that she wants to move out after three weeks.”

“That’s the stupidest thing I ever heard. I don’t understand why you can’t give a real relationship a shot.”

I shrug. “I guess we just want different things in life. Not everyone wants the whole ‘til death do us part,’ thing.”

He takes another swig of his drink and then changes the topic.

I muse over what he said, and a part of me wishes that it were possible, but one thing I know is that Cora can’t wait to go back to her place. She wanted a baby, and now she has a baby. The loser in this whole business is going to be me. How am I going to stay away from my daughter? The more I think about her, the more I want to be in her life permanently. I want to see her and Cora every day.

Yes, I know it’s a stupid dream and one that’s not going to happen.

Five beers later, and we’re both more than a little tipsy. I ask Martin how the first couple of weeks with Willow were, and his face takes on a soft look.

“It was magical, exhilarating. I kept waking up to go and check on her, see if she’s real. But it was also exhausting, and Fran and I were perpetually tired,” he says with a smile.

I’m glad that Cora is staying for a few weeks. We need to be there for one another as Taylor adjusts to life outside her mother’s womb. When I think of Taylor’s future, I get both fearful and excited.

“There’s so much I want for Taylor,” I tell Martin. Beer is making my tongue loser than normal, and the day’s emotions have left me feeling defenseless. “I want her to grow up to be whatever she wants to be, but I have a feeling that she’ll be a doctor.”

Martin laughs. “I’m glad I’m not the only one with a feeling about this. I was telling Fran that our Willow would go into medicine, and she looked at me as if I were crazy.”

I shake my head. “Makes perfect sense to me. In fact, I plan on starting Taylor off early. Tomorrow while grabbing some things that Cora needs, I’ll get some toy doctor play stuff. A pretend doctor’s kit.”

“Hey,” Tom says leaning across the counter. “Too early for all that. Get the kid home first from the hospital, okay? All she needs now are warm blankets, sleep, and milk. That’s all.” He glares at us and then goes to the other end of the bar to serve another customer.

Martin and I look at each other sheepishly. “I guess we got a bit carried away.”

“We might have.”

We have one more beer each and then call it a night. As we’re standing outside the bar, Martin says, “Fran is going to kill me. I told you we were only going to have a couple of drinks.” He doesn’t sound too worried, though.

 

 

***

 

I wish that my biggest problem was that Cora would be upset that I stayed out longer than I said I would. I envy Martin and his stable home life. I wish that Cora and I were in a regular relationship and that we hadn’t made that agreement to co-parent our child.

We were doomed from the start. She wanted a baby and had decided on the sperm donor route. Then coincidentally, she came to the clinic, and there I was. We had sex, she got pregnant, and I found myself as a reluctant expectant parent.

Yep, our relationship started off unconventionally. We both wanted different things, and as for now, I don’t even know what I want, but I do know that I don’t want to lose Cora or Taylor.