Love in the Light (Hearts in Darkness, #2)(32)

And there was something so…almost…defeated in the gesture and his posture that Makenna immediately stopped what she was doing and went to him. “I don’t care if you’re sick. I’m hugging you.” She gently wrapped her arms around his waist and held him. And damn if he didn’t feel a little leaner, too. “Have you been getting sick a lot?”

Caden’s arms came around her on a long sigh. Like he’d been needing her. “Nothing I can’t handle,” he said in a low voice.

Which probably meant he’d been puking his brains out. Poor guy. “You don’t have to handle this on your own, you know. I would’ve come sooner. I would’ve slept over here to take care of you.”

“Didn’t want to be a burden.” He nuzzled his face against her hair.

Heart clenching, she pulled back to look him in the eye. “Caden, you could never be a burden to me. No matter what you needed, I would be there for you. Every time. You can always count on that. Do you hear me?” How did he not know this by now? The question had her wanting to lay all her feelings on the line. If he knew she loved him, he’d know all of this was true. But she definitely wasn’t doing that when he wasn’t feeling good.

He stared at her a long moment, almost like he was weighing her words. Finally, he simply said, “Yeah.” He kissed her forehead. “Thank you.”

“Don’t thank me. This is me officially taking care of you. Do you think you could eat something?”

“Probably,” he said.

Makenna kissed his cheek, and his stubble tickled her lips. “This is kinda cute,” she said, stroking her finger along the couple of days’ worth of growth.

“Oh yeah?” He lips almost quirked into a smile. “Good to know.”

“Yep,” she said, returning to the groceries. She had everything unpacked within a few minutes. “What would you like?”

His gaze roamed over the choices. “Soup and crackers would be great.” He stepped closer. “I can’t believe you brought all this. Ooh, M&Ms.” He picked up the bag.

Makenna laughed. “You might want to wait on those until you’re not getting sick anymore. It would be a shame to ruin M&Ms by knowing what they look like when you vomit them.”

“Nice,” he said with a smirk.

“Just saying. Okay, you go sit, and I’ll get everything ready,” she said, shooing him from the kitchen. “Oh, wait. One other thing.” She handed him the bag with the bear in it.

“What’s this?” he asked.

“A feel-better present,” she said, unable to hold back her grin. He was going to think this was so silly. And it was. In a good way.

Caden stuck his hand in and pulled out the stuffed animal. “You got me a teddy bear,” he said, his face finally breaking into a little smile. He rubbed his hand over the scar on the side of his head, something she’d seen him do so many times.

“Everybody needs a teddy when they’re sick,” she said. “That’s, like, totally common knowledge. He can keep you company when I’m not here.” Which wouldn’t be often, but still.

Nodding, Caden gave her the softest look. “Thanks, Red. I…I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

She smiled, so glad she’d come to see him. He needed this. They both did. “Well, don’t worry about that. Because you won’t ever have to find out.”





CHAPTER TWELVE



Makenna walked alone into her doctor’s office on Tuesday morning. After going back and forth, she’d decided the best approach was to gather all the information she could before telling Caden she was pregnant. Most importantly, she wanted to know that the baby was healthy. Assuming that was the case, she planned to tell him tonight after work. Tell him everything.

It was time. And she was bursting at the seams.

She checked in at the desk and took a seat. A number of other people were waiting, and two of the women were obviously pregnant. Excitement shivered through Makenna’s chest. That was going to be her in not too many months. At the side of one of the women, a man sat whispering into her ear, making her laugh. He rested his hand on her belly as they spoke.

And that…that would be Caden. Who hadn’t had a family in so very long. God, she hoped he was excited about having one now. Even if he was scared—hell, she was too—she hoped his excitement would outweigh it. Because at the end of all this, they were going to have a tiny product that was a part of them both. And that was amazing to Makenna.

The waiting room door opened. “Makenna James?” called a nurse wearing a set of pink scrubs.

She followed the woman to an exam room, her heart racing a little faster with each passing moment. Because she was about to see her child for the very first time.

Before too long, she was wearing a paper gown and her long-time gynecologist entered the room with a nurse. “Makenna, nice to see you again,” Dr. Lyons said.

“Nice to see you, too,” she said, smiling at the woman’s always upbeat personality.

“Are you here alone today?” the doctor asked as she scrubbed her hands.

Makenna nodded. “I wanted to make sure the pregnancy was okay before telling my boyfriend.”

“Okay,” Dr. Lyons said, “well, let’s get started then.” The doctor explained how the internal ultrasound worked and then Makenna was laying back on her back with her feet in the stirrups—which always felt incredibly awkward no matter how many times she’d had to do it in her life.