Bailey and the Professor(15)

“Why are you bothering?” Regina’s brow wrinkled the same way her son’s did, Bailey noticed.

“Well, I want to deliver babies.” Bailey’s margarita was gone but the waitress had set down another and she sipped it nervously.

Regina frowned. “You don’t need chemistry to deliver babies.”

“I know!” Bailey stuck her tongue out at Dom and his smirk over there across the table, like he was personally responsible for her nursing prerequisites. “Seems like a silly requirement to me too.”

“I’ve never taken chemistry in my life and I’ve delivered over two-hundred babies.”

Regina’s words sank in and Bailey looked at her, confused. She glanced over at Dom, meeting his eyes. They were bright, dancing.

“She’s a lay midwife,” Dom told her.

“A…what?” Bailey blinked. Her brain was working too slowly.

“I’ll have you know, I’m a Certified Professional Midwife.” Regina shook her finger at her son, but she was only mock-angry—she was smiling. “Now that the Midwives Alliance has made that possible.”

“After two hundred babies, you’d think a certification wouldn’t matter.” Dom glanced up as the waitress brought their dinner. “Wow, that was quick.”

“You looked hungry,” the waitress remarked with a flirty little smile. She served him first, bending low enough that Bailey knew her cleavage was very visible. And Dom was looking. Typical man.

Bailey turned her attention to Regina, ignoring the waitress when she put down her burger and fries and Regina’s salad.

“So, wait… there’s a way to become a midwife without becoming a nurse first?” Bailey chewed thoughtfully on one of her fries, the hair on the back of her neck prickling when the waitress practically purred at Dom, asking if he wanted another beer. He told her no and looked at Bailey like he knew exactly what she was thinking. But she ignored him too.

“Of course.” Regina put dressing on her salad. “And you start by becoming my apprentice. Dom knew I was looking and you happened along. Sounds like fate to me.”

Bailey sat back in her chair, the wind completely knocked out of her. She met Dom’s eyes. They weren’t dancing in fun anymore. They were soft, tender. Bailey felt like crying but she didn’t. She swallowed past the lump in her throat, blinking fast as she asked Regina her next, most important question.

“And there’s no… no chemistry involved? No math?” She couldn’t dare to hope. Was it really possible? She’d only ever considered nurse-midwifery because, as far as she knew, it was the only path to her goal. Apparently, a whole world of midwives existed she’d never even heard of.

“Anatomy, physiology,” Regina chewed her salad loudly, unselfconscious, a dab of raspberry vinaigrette at the corner of her mouth but she didn’t wipe it. “A lot of clinicals and hands-on learning. Don’t get me wrong—it isn’t easy. It’s damned hard work. But there’s no math. Unless you count all the bookkeeping!”

“That part I could handle,” Bailey said with a smile. Basic math she could do. But anything past fractions and she broke out in hives.

“So what do you think?” Regina asked, sipping the last bit of her second margarita. “Would you like to apprentice with me?”

“Are you kidding me?” Bailey didn’t even have to think. She didn’t ponder what she was going to tell her father, how she was going to get him to approve of her leaving the traditional graduate school path for this, she didn’t think at all. She jumped at the chance. “Hell yes!”

“You were right.” Regina laughed, looking over at her son. “I like her.”

“Told you so.” Dom smirked.

“He says that a lot,” Regina said, stage-whisper. “If you’re going to be with him, you’d better get used to it.”

Regina patted Bailey’s hand and she flushed—this time it definitely wasn’t the alcohol—wondering just what Dom had told his mother.

“Oh damnit.” Regina reached into her pocket, pulling out a smart phone. “I have to take this.”

She got up from the table, walking to the very back of the restaurant, using the restroom alcove to talk in private while Bailey continued to gape at Dom.

“What?” he finally asked, his mouth full of steak.

“What did you tell her?” she hissed.

“Nothing much.” Dom shrugged. “Just that you were fucking amazing and if I couldn’t find a way for you not to be my student anymore, I might explode.”

Bailey couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t just her face burning—her whole body burned.