It was the least she could do, because Gloria had always put her first.
Gloria dashed tears from her cheeks with both hands. “When your father left me, I tried my best not to let you see how devastated I was. I didn’t want you to witness that and think all relationships were bad. I worried about you for so long. You’d be so wrapped up in school, and I wondered if you’d ever actually let yourself start to live. I wanted that for you so badly. I wanted you to be able to be free, because I wasn’t.”
Love found herself wiping her own eyes, as her mother continued, “To see you happy, and in love, makes me feel like I didn’t fail you.”
“Mom, please.” Love leaned forward and embraced her. “You did not fail me. You’ve been there for me through everything. I don’t know what I would have done without you.” She held her gently as she cried into her shoulder. Love wasn’t sure what was going on, but it frightened her.
“Lovely, I won’t be around forever. It does my heart good to know that you will be well taken care of when I’m not here.”
“Stop talking like that, Mom. I’m going to do whatever I have to do to make this okay, even if that means moving you to Michigan so that I can take care of you.”
Gloria laughed. “Yeah, right. You’d hate living in the same house with me.”
Love let out a shaky laugh of her own, grateful that her mother found anything funny. “I would, but I love you more than I love my solitude.”
“Solitude? You have none of that now. Drake is there.”
Love paused. Her mother was holding on to her marriage for dear life, it seemed. “True. It’s been an adjustment.”
“Don’t be too hard on him.”
Love smirked. She remembered when she’d refused to let Drake stay with her years ago when he’d been looking for a place to live. Now, he was living with her, sleeping with her. He had a toothbrush in her bathroom, underwear in her drawers.
What a difference a wedding and good sex made.
“I have a confession to make,” Gloria whispered.
Curious, Love pulled back and met her gaze. “What is it?”
“When I first found out you and Drake were married, I thought you were up to something. I couldn’t believe it. I even considered a drunken night might be the reason.”
Love laughed. Loudly. “Wow, Mom. That’s…something.”
“I know. But watching you two together made me realize that you really do care for each other. You’re in love.”
Love thought about that for a moment. She did love Drake—really loved him. Not just because he was Drake but because he was her Drake. Her husband. And she wanted it to stay that way.
* * *
It was hours later when Love got back to work. She opened the door to exam room three and stepped in to see her favorite patient. “Hi, Sydney.”
Sydney Smith, her friend Jared’s twin sister, looked up from a magazine and smiled. “Dr. Love.”
They hugged. Normally, Love wouldn’t do that with a patient, but Sydney had become a friend. The two had clicked immediately when Love had had the pleasure of delivering baby Brynn.
There was nothing more rewarding than being in the delivery room. Love enjoyed helping mothers bring babies into the world. Early on, she’d vowed to help women with conception problems and little or no access to health care realize the dream of having a child. It was her passion, and her ultimate goal was to open a specialist clinic devoted to women’s health.
“What brings you in, Syd?” Love asked, taking a seat on the stool. She quickly docked her tablet and signed in to the system.
Syd sighed, her hazel eyes flashing. “I think Brynn is going to have a little brother or sister.”
Love gasped. “What? So soon?”
Syd’s little one was only two years old, and it had been a rough pregnancy. She’d ended up on bed rest for two months leading up to the harrowing birth of her daughter.
“Is Morgan ecstatic?”
Morgan and Sydney had an adorable, devoted relationship. There was no hiding the love they had for each other. Love had been honored to attend the wedding, right there in the hospital chapel. Love recalled the despair in Syd’s eyes the day they’d brought him in with a life threatening gunshot wound, after an attempted robbery. It had been touch and go, but Morgan eventually pulled through and popped the question a few minutes after he’d regained consciousness.
Ironically, Drake had been a first year surgical resident in the OR during Morgan’s surgery. The two men had become cool after that, often meeting for basketball at the gym during the week.
Syd crossed her legs, her wedding band sparkling under the lights. “Girl, you know he is, but I’m not so sure I’m ready to go through another pregnancy. It was hard, and I was miserable.”