Chapter Twenty-One
The hospital is busy today with us being short staffed and I am working a double shift. Thank god I quit my online job as a teacher this week, because that was making life harder. I walk to the nurses' station to grab a chart for a patient being discharged when I notice a teddy bear with chocolate sitting in a chair with my name on it. Valentine's day is not for another few weeks and it is definitely not my birthday for another few months. The other nurses are looking at me with big smiles on their faces. My face heats up as I grab the card attached to the bear to see it is from Paul just for the fun of it. I laugh a little when I read his little message about my wonderful body being in his bed, for loving him, giving him a beautiful daughter and for a few other things. I put the bear in a corner of the desk to get later after my shift and turn to see my coworker, Steven, standing behind me.
"Secret admirer?" Steven asks. Only a small few know that I am married because I do not wear my ring to work often so it does not get caught in things. Paul knows, but he does not know how times I am hit on everyday I am at work. Steven has a small crush on me, despite the fact I told him I am not interested.
"Kind of," I say with a big smile. I grab the chart to get the papers ready for the patient, but Steven blocks the way out of the office.
"Why do you keep avoiding me and keep turning me down to go out for dinner some time?" Steven asks. I bulldoze right through him to get back to work and feel his eyes watching me while I go down the hallway. Damn hormonal men wanting to get into the bed of every girl they see. I manage to survive the next two hours without running into Steven and I am excited to be spending dinner at the hospital with Lina and Paul. As I going through the charts for the doctors for rounds tomorrow, I hear the soft giggle and babble of a little girl that I know very well. The other nurses awe when Lina waddles around the counter with a white rose in her hand with her stuffed wolf and a big goofy grin on her face. I scoop my little girl up into my arms to kiss her face a few times and she lays her head on my shoulder. My eyes look around for Paul, but I do not see him yet. Instead, my eyes fall onto Steven and he is smiling at me.
"Mama," Lina says.
"Hi baby, where is daddy?" I ask softly. Lina remains quiet for a moment when Steven walks over.
"Who is this little angel?" Steven asks.
"This is my daughter, Paulina," I say. Lina waves slowly and looks up at me with a smile. "That was a good job, baby. You ready to go eat with mommy?"
"Yum," Lina says for eat and claps her hands. Paul comes around the corner with Lina's bag from school in his hands and his phone is in his hands. We share a sweet kiss for the first time since early this morning and he caresses my face.
"I got your little gift," I whisper.
"I figured you would need something to cuddle with during your long day at work," Paul chuckles. Steven is standing stiffly as he watches me with Paul suddenly. Paul turns to him with a smile and moves to extend his hand out. "Hey man, I am Paul Lahote."
"Nice to meet you," Steven says. He ignores Paul's hand to rest his dark eyes on me. I play with Lina softly and she giggles happily. Paul leads us to the cafeteria to eat with his arm around my waist.
"That guy earlier seemed on edge," Paul whispers. I smile while adjusting Lina on my hip as we walk into the cafeteria.
"He has a small crush on me," I say.
"Ah, well, you are mine and I plan to keep you forever. Right, Lina? We are going to keep mommy forever," Paul says happily. Lina claps her hands and she coos in agreement with Paul.
"He is not going to do any harm to me," I giggle. Paul gathers our food on our trays as we walk through the line and I pick out some of the foods Lina has been trying to eat at home to see how she does with the real thing. So far she has been very much like Paul when it comes to eating everything and she is willing to try any new foods we give her. I swipe my foo card while the cashier admires Lina with a big smile and gives her an air kiss. I let Lina sit in my lap, after she makes her new friend, when Paul locates a table for us.
"How has work been so far today?" Paul asks. I take my water from the tray and take a sip quickly when Lina's little hand comes up to bring it down to her. "Paulina, that cup is mommy's."
"Work has been busy since we are short staffed today," I say. Lina gives Paul her wolf and the rose to clap her hands while I tie her hair back up for her to eat. She looks at Paul as he rips a piece of bread for her to eat and she bounces in my lap with excitement. "How was class today?"
"Boring as usual, but we are getting ready to take our first test of the semester and a few people are worried about the midterm already because the professor has hard exams," Paul says.
"Ah yes, he is a stickler for making sure you know the material for his history class," I giggle. Lina makes the sign for more once she is done with her piece of bread and I give her a soft carrot. Paul eats his beef stroganoff quietly for a minute.
"How are you feeling today?" Paul asks. I wince a little in hopes I was going undetected by hiding I was not feeling well as of late, but it would seem I did not do so well.
"I am feeling fine, just a little stressed out," I say softly.
"I am just making sure because you have not been yourself as of late," Paul says. I poke my finger into my cup to flick the water at him. He pretends to be upset at me, but I laugh at him.
"You do not have to worry too much about me, Paul Lahote. I am capable of taking care of myself thank you," I giggle. Paul leans over to give me a deep kiss with a soft groan, sending shivers down my spine. Lina interrupts us like always to get some more food and I watch Paul shift gears quickly to satisfy our little girl. I cannot believe his quick tempered man is my husband and father to my child. He is a blessing sent from Taha Aki right now.
"Bella called earlier," Paul says, waking me from my loving daze.
"What did she say?" I ask.
"I told her we would take Nessie in for however long they want her to stay with us and she has all the papers for her to attend school here. She sounded upset that she has to do this," Paul says.
"I can imagine, having to leave your daughter behind because it is possibly too dangerous is a hard decision," I say.
"I know and I promised to love her just as much as Lina because she is my family after all. Bella will call later on when they want to bring her down and iron all the details," Paul says. I nod my head while wiping Lina's face from the crumbs there. Bella knows that I understand the pain she is going through of having to leave her daughter behind, but she knows Nessie will be safe with us always.