Riding with Haley made Lucas feel sixteen again, except that his problems weren't those of a sixteen-year-old. "You were right about Brooke," he said. "She's not sure if she wants to stay with me."
"You can see why she'd be cautious. She'd trying to protect her heart. Luke."
"I'm not going to hurt her."
"How is she supposed to know that?"
He picked a spot in the distance to focus on while he contemplated this.
"I have a suggestions, if you want to hear it?"
"Sure."
"Take her out to dinner tonight. Somewhere fancy."
"That's a great suggestion. Hey you missed the turn."
"No I didn't"
"What do you mean? You know I have lived on the same street my entire life."
"I know, I'm taking you to Tree Hill Memorial."
"Haley, if you're worried about my HCM, it's fine."
"This isn't about that. I'm taking you to see my friend Tess who's a nurse there in the maternity ward."
"What for?"
"You're all worked up about what could go wrong so I plan to give you a dose of reality. I can't have you scaring Brooke with all those questions."
Lucas sighed. "Haley, you don't need to do this."
"Humor me."
"You're wasting your time."
"I don't think so. Listen, Lucas, if there is one thing I know about Brooke Davis, she wears a damn good mask. She is scared out of her mind. And you being scared is okay. Nothing wrong with that. But you can't add to her fear."
"I…"
"I know you don't mean to. But she is creating a life that will be her responsibility. And on top of that she is worried that at any second you might just leave them both in the dust to run off with Peyton again."
"Haley. I love her. I won't hurt her again."
"I've heard that before Lucas, so I'm sure she has. If you really mean that, and I'm sure you do. You need to show her."
He knew she was right.
Twenty minutes later he walked into the hospital with Haley.
"So you're gonna be a daddy!" Tess said it as if he's just won the Powerball."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Haley said you had some questions."
Lucas glanced at Haley. "You called in advance?"
"Of course. Tess is a busy lady. I wanted to make sure she'd have time to fit us in."
"Did you tell her I was paranoid?"
Tess' laugh was even bigger than her smile. "She did. I don't blame you, Lucas. First time fathers usually go into this experience knowing very little. The process seems mysterious and intimidating, so it's easy to focus on a worst case scenario." She gave him her bright smile again. "Wish I could show you one of the birthing rooms but they're all occupied."
"That's okay. I really hate to take up your time."
"Nonsense. I'm more than happy to talk with you. Where's your list?"
He fished it out of his pocket and handed it to her.
"Let's take a look." She moved her finger down the items. "This I've never seen. This has only happened once in my twenty years here and mother and baby made it through. This sometimes happens but it's an easy fix. Never seen this. Not this, either. This one's very rare and we have lots of advanced warning."
Lucas' fears eased as she covered the entire list without confirming a single thing as a common issue.
Finally she gave it back. "I'm not saying none of these could ever happen, but the odds are good we won't encounter any of them."
"She's not having the baby here."
"She wants a home birth?"
"I don't know, but she lives in New York, so her doctor's there."
"She'll be fine in New York. Some excellent medical facilities there. Haley tells me she's a smart young lady in good health and she's taking care of herself. I think you can relax, Dad. Now let's go peek through the glass and look at babies."
Lucas followed her down the hall to a large window and there they were. Such tiny hands and feet. Their wispy hair reminded him of feathers on a baby bird. Some slept and others were awake and staring at their surroundings. He could just make out their noises, which sounded like a series of hiccups.
"Cute, huh?" Tess said.
"Amazing." Lucas stood without moving, mesmerized by the newborns.
"All healthy with strong vital signs. This is the norm. A couple of years ago Jamie was in this nursery. A good set of lungs on that one."
"I wish Henley could be born here, too."
"I'm sure she will be fine in New York. You could go visit their maternity ward. That might help."
"It will. I'll do that." Lucas forced himself to leave the window because Tess must have other things to do besides escort him. If he was fascinated by babies he didn't know, how would he react when the newborn was his? He had a hunch he'd make a pest of himself so he wouldn't miss a single thing.
Before he and Haley left, he thanked Tess and shook her hand. Not surprisingly, she had a firm grip. Then on the way out to the car he thanked Haley, who had known what she was doing all along. But then, she usually did.
They rode in silence for a few miles. He'd always been able to do that with Haley. She respected someone's silence.
But she did speak up as they neared the turnoff for his street. "Just so you know, I wish she'd have Henley here, too"
"With Tess on duty."
Haley laughed. "Definitely. Anyway, if Brooke's family was in New York, I'd say she needed to stay there, but they don't and she isn't very close with her mom and dad, neither emotionally or geographically. I'm sure Rachel and her friends are great, but Henley deserves to have family around."
"I plan to be there."
"I'm glad to hear it. I would like to be there for her as well."
"I know she'd like that, Hale. You like a sister to her."
Haley smiled. "I know, I feel that way, too. I love Brooke, she's family."
He allowed that to sink in as tires hummed along the road. "How do you stand it, Haley?"
"Stand what?"
"You love so many people… Nathan and Jaime. Then there's you mom and dad and your siblings. Your friends, Me, Brooke and now a niece is being added to the mix. Anything can happen to anyone. How do you deal with that?"
She pulled up at the front of the house. "I accept the risk in exchange for joy."
As he absorbed her short but powerful answer, he met her gaze. "I don't know if I can keep making that bargain."
"I know it's hard. But I promise you it's worth it. Now let's go in. I want to see the window."
He grabbed his phone as Haley headed inside.
"Hey Luke." She sounded wary.
He understood. He'd left the ball in her court and she might think he was becoming a pest. "Sorry to bother you, but Haley had a suggestion and I wanted to run it past you." He's considered calming the idea as his own but at the last minute he'd decided attaching Haley's name to it might be better.
"All right."
"There's this bar in town called Fancy's. They serve dinner and the have live music and a dance floor. Would you like to go tonight?"
"I would." She sounded happy, too. "That's a great idea. Thank you and thank Haley. I haven't been dancing since…well, since you came to New York."
"Nether have I. So how about I pick you up at six? And if you've decided to stay with me. I can take your suitcase then."
Dead silence.
"I see that last suggestion went over like a lead balloon."
"Was that part of Haley's idea, that you could scoop up my bags at the same time you picked me up for dinner and dancing?"
"No. that was my addition to the plan. So scratch that. I'll pick you up at six."
"Or I can meet you there."
Just like that, the wheels were coming off his romantic evening. But he'd take what he could get. "If you want to."
"I am still thinking about whether to stay there for the next couple of days."
"Understood. See you tonight." After he disconnected, his first through was about the road. Some roadworks were going on over Molina bridge and now she's be driving that tiny car of hers over here and back.
He'd been pacing the front yard during his call to Brooke, but now he sat on the porch steps to think. He'd made love to her on these steps. Making love to Brooke gave him joy. He'd never felt closer to another human being than when he was intimately connected with her.
Even better, he could tell the feeling was mutual. Taking pleasure in the experience was fun, but giving it each other turned sexual satisfaction into something much better, something joyful. He'd never broken it down like that before.