Joss
I couldn’t walk fifteen feet at TMC without someone stopping me to ask about delivering Amanda’s daughter in the elevator. When I returned later that evening, after sleeping all day, I was stopped in the parking lot, at the staff entrance, and in the stairwell.
Of course I took the stairs. I had no desire to set foot on that elevator again anytime soon, or any other elevator for that matter. The one Amanda and I had been trapped in had been repaired and cleaned and was back in service, but I wasn’t even ready to look at it yet.
Once I made it to the OB floor, it wasn’t as bad. My coworkers weren’t awed by the delivery of a baby, even in an elevator, because that’s what we did every day. Or in my case, night.
I was off tonight, but I’d come in to visit Amanda. When I knocked lightly on the half-open door to her room, I heard voices inside, and my stomach churned nervously.
If she told me to fuck off in front of other people, that might get a little bit weird.
“Come on in,” she said.
I took a deep breath and stepped inside the room. Amanda was nursing baby Genevieve, and a middle-aged man and woman were sitting in chairs next to her bed.
“Joss!” Amanda smiled at me, and I immediately relaxed.
“Hey, how are you?”
I set the vase of flowers I’d brought on a table and then walked over.
“Much better than the last time you saw me.” Amanda looked at the two people sitting next to her. “Joss, these are my parents, Tom and Angie. And guys, this is Joss.”
“Oh, Joss.” Angie stood up and opened her arms to me. “I don’t know how to thank you for what you did for our Amanda and Genevieve. You were our angel.”
She hugged me warmly. Like Amanda, she was petite. Her light brown-hair was chin length, and she wore jeans, a cream-colored blouse, and layered necklaces.
“It was my pleasure.”
“Joss, thank you.” Tom stood and extended his hand to me for a handshake.
“Amanda did all the hard work, truly.” I shook his hand.
“I couldn’t have done it without you,” Amanda said.
I looked down at the newborn contentedly nursing at her breast. She was so tiny and sweet. No matter how many babies I delivered, I thought of each one as a miracle.
“She really is gorgeous, Amanda. You must be over the moon.”
“I am. When my parents occasionally let me hold her, that is.” She rolled her eyes playfully.
“That’s our first grandbaby,” her mom quipped. “You can’t really blame us for loving on her so much.”
“I’m glad you guys are here,” Amanda said.
“Have you slept at all?” I asked her.
“Not really. But it’s okay.”
“Has Dean been here?”
She nodded. “He just left an hour ago. He’s coming to take us home tomorrow.”
“That’s good.”
“I don’t know that we’ll be together or anything, but . . .” She shrugged. “Gen is his daughter. I’d never deny him the chance to be part of this.”
“That’s very good of you.”
Genevieve unlatched from Amanda’s nipple and fussed. Amanda patiently helped her get situated again, and I felt a pang of longing to nurse my own babies one day. But this time, the pang was laced with joy rather than sadness.
“You’re doing so well, Amanda,” I said softly. “I’m really proud of you.”
“Thanks. And Joss . . . I want to apologize for every rotten thing I ever said to you.”
I waved a hand dismissively. “Water under the bridge, girl.”
“That’s nice of you. I guess I needed to get stuck in that elevator with you so I could see what an idiot I’d been. In terms of you and in terms of Dean.”
“I have to say I’m thrilled not to see you crying over him. You deserve the best, and . . . well, I don’t want to say anything bad about him, so I’ll say nothing.”
Joss’s father spoke up. “Oh, go right ahead. We’ve got plenty of bad things to say about him ourselves.”
We all laughed at that, but then Amanda said, “Let’s just leave it alone. If he and I are never anything but coparents, that’s still a pretty sacred thing.”
Angie patted the white knit blanket Amanda’s legs rested under. “That’s right, Mandy. Take the high road.”
“I’m gonna head out,” I said. “I just wanted to drop off the flowers and make sure you’re doing okay.”
“Thanks,” Amanda said. “For everything, Joss.”
“You’re more than welcome. Keep in touch, okay? If you need baby supplies dropped off or anything at all, Carson and I are always close by.”
She nodded and thanked me again, and I said goodbye to her parents and left. I went to the main OB desk out of habit, just to see if there was mail in my box. Looking through the papers inside reminded me of the grant I’d forgotten about in the excitement of delivering Genevieve.
Hattie turned to me from her seat at the desk and said, in a low tone, “I’d ask how nursing is going for her, but obviously, with those nipples, she ain’t havin’ any trouble, I’m sure.”
I couldn’t help smiling even as I gave her an admonishing look. “She’s doing very well, yes.”
“Girlfriend could nurse octuplets,” Hattie muttered.
“You’re awful.”
She grinned at me. “Guilty as charged. But seriously, I’m hella proud of you.”
I sat down in the chair next to her. “It was a textbook delivery. I got lucky.”
“Even so, you stayed cool.”
“Hey, I need to tell you thanks for that conversation last night about not giving up wanting kids for Carson.”
“Oh.” She knitted her brows together with concern. “Did you guys have a fight about it?”
“No, we actually had a really good conversation about it. Initiated by him.”
She smiled. “And?”
“Ask Magic Eight.”
She poked me playfully. “Hey, don’t play coy with me. What’d he say?”
“He said he wants kids with me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, Joss. I’ve never seen you look happier than you do right now.”
“I feel really happy.” I stood up and looked at my watch. “I have to go. Want to do brunch this weekend?”
“Yeah, I’m down for that. Where you going now?”
I smiled. “Home. Carson and I were in bed all day, but we were sleeping. I’m planning to spend the night in bed with him . . . not sleeping.”
“I’m so jealous.” Hattie rolled her eyes. “Get some for me.”
“What happened to Danny?”
She waved a hand and gave me a disgusted look. “We’re over.” She leaned closer and whispered, “He wanted me to call his dick Mr. Big.”
My mouth dropped open with surprise. “Wait a minute, whoa now. There’s only one Mr. Big.”
“I’m sayin’, and it’s not his dick, trust me. Plus, I just couldn’t do it with a straight face.”
“Oh my God.” I laughed. “You mean you actually tried to do it?”
“Well, when a girl wants to get some . . . you know, she’s not in her right frame of mind sometimes.”
“Oh, Hattie, I love you.”
“Mm-hmm. Have fun riding MacGyver till sunrise.”
“Oh, I will.”
I slipped my purse strap onto my shoulder and headed for the stairwell. Another fringe benefit of getting stuck in that elevator—I’d soon have calves of steel.