Man of My Dreams(39)
Declan looks at the both of us for a clue. “What? What did I do now?”
Cara jumps on his lap and scratches her bitty nails against her daddy’s overgrown stubble. “Daddy, you’re an ass.”
Declan’s eyes burst wide open and then dart to me.
I shrug my shoulders, stifling a laugh. “Came straight from the horse’s mouth.”
“Cara, baby, you’re right. Anyone who could stay away from you three gorgeous, wonderful girls this long is a big, ugly...butt!”
Cara wrinkles her nose, leaning back to squint at Declan. “A butt is the same as a ass?” Great, she’s absorbed the new knowledge. She jumps down and runs over to a preoccupied Charlie, who has now taken over Cara’s favorite seat. “Charlie, get your ass off that chair it’s mine.”
Wonderful...life is back to normal.
My dad is awake when we get to the hospital. Declan wouldn’t hear of me handling this alone. And it was his idea to stop at the store on the way for a few of the daily newspapers and a couple of sports magazines. My mom must have grabbed some of his things from home because he’s wearing his dingy old Yankees cap that’s older than Derek Jeter. I sigh in relief at the sight of him. What a difference a day makes—his color is back and he looks much better.
“Hi, Daddy.” I choke out, gulping back tears. As good as he looks, my father doesn’t belong in a hospital bed. He’s always been invincible to me. Seeing him here is the equivalent to witnessing kryptonite doing its evil magic on Superman.
“Hey, sweet pea. I’m so happy to see you. Both of you.” My dad sends a wink in Declan’s direction. He truly is the son he never had. And even during the separation, my dad remained one of Declan’s biggest fans. Sure he wanted to rip his head off for hurting his little girl, but I guess they shared some kind of guy code thing. Maybe he understood what Declan was going through too and wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt. I don’t know. But I’m glad he didn’t decide to beat the crap out of him the way he had offered when he first found out. It was inevitable that we would find our way back to each other and an altercation between the two most important men in my life would have made things awkward going forward.
“Hey, Dad. How you feeling today?” I still loved hearing Declan him call him that. My dad insisted on it on our wedding day. “No more of this Mr. P. crap. I’m Dad from now on, son.”
My mom jumps in to give us the itinerary. Being in charge is how she handles these things. “The doctors say he’s doing much better than they had expected. They still have to do the carotid artery surgery. But they’re hopeful that can be done in a few more days. Until then all he can do is rest and it’s already killing him to sit put. The man’s going to put me in an early grave.”
Dad may look almost back to himself, but Mom has seen better days. She has dark circles under her usually flawlessly, made-up eyes. She’s in a velour sweat suit and sneakers. She never leaves the house in sneakers unless it’s to go to the gym.
Declan must notice the atypical appearance of my mother too. “Ma, why don’t you take a break? Get some rest. We can babysit for a while.”
I get my stubbornness from my mother. There is no way she’s taking him up on the offer. But it was cute of Declan to try.
“Nonsense. Sleep is for the weak. Besides, he won’t admit it but he needs me here. He’s a big baby, the nurses know it too.” She tucks my father’s blanket in now, coddling him the way she always has. Dad’s lips jerk up in a content smile. He does love this. These two are notorious for making their little jabs at each other, but you couldn’t find a couple more in love.
When she leans over to kiss him on one of his dimples, dad frames her face with his rough, aging hands. “Lucy, I love you, but you look like hell. Let the kids take a shift. I’ll be okay without you for a little while.”
She perks up like a soldier at attention looking a little miffed. “I do not look like hell and I’m not leaving this hospital! I’ll just go in the visitors’ lounge for a bit, make a few calls. Declan, your mom and dad called late last night but the nurses were taking his vitals. I’m sure you’ve spoken to them, but I’ll call back now. So sweet of them to worry.”
Declan hands my mom her phone from the bedside table. “When this guy’s feeling better the four of you should make plans for dinner. Mom’s been meaning to mention it. I think she’s just been too busy obsessing over Connor’s new girlfriend. He thinks he loves her but mom’s nervous she won’t measure up to Mia. I told her she was crazy to think anyone could.”