Maid for Him.

Chapter Seventeen

Tess had been in the hospital for four weeks. Originally, they'd thought the baby was fine and it was expected she could leave the next morning but as the day progressed there'd been some issues with his lungs and with stabilizing his body temperature. The complications of having a baby early were scary and Tess couldn't deny having Cole around was comforting. The issues with the baby's health had taken precedent over everything else.

Tess heard a thud at the door of her hospital room and glanced up. Cole was dragging a giant blue teddy bear through the door by the ear, only stopping to wedge its bottom through the doorway.

"What is that?" Tess asked.

"What does it look like? It's a bear." Cole smiled.

It was unusual to see him looking so happy. He'd been acting weird around her ever since their little chat when Freddy was firstborn. He would come in and visit his son, be polite and then leave again. She'd spent the last four weeks watching them together. He would be so animated when he talked to Freddy, so elated. Then he would turn to her and his face would fall blank and his eyes would grow dark. Almost as if he had pulled a shutter down over them.

"I know it's a bear but why's it here? We get to go home today." She'd neglected to tell him this earlier. She wanted to surprise him and hoped it would break him out of the mood he'd been in.

He stared at her over his shoulder. "You better not be messing with me lady," he said, his voice playful.

"I'm not. The doctor said we could go home today. We've been waiting for you. You're later than usual." She observed.

"Yeah, I had some business to take care of and then I went for lunch with..." He let his voice runoff. "Anyway, doesn't matter. Let's get you guys packed."

"You had lunch with who Cole?" Not that it was any of her business but when a man acts suss around a woman, it's like a moth to a flame. She had to know, even at her possible detriment.

"Huh? What's that? Lunch. Oh, just an old friend."

Cole made his way to the crib and scooped Freddy up into his arms. The baby arched his back and made a real show of stretching his arms up above his head.

"How old exactly?" She couldn't let it go.

Cole stopped and regarded her through narrowed eyes. "My entire life, type of old."

"I see." She said, her voice clipped. She stormed across the room and flung open the closet. She removed the items and threw them down on the bed before grabbing the case Cole had packed on her first day in the hospital, and placed it on the bed and began slinging the clothes into it.

"What a big boy. It's your birthday Freddy. One-month-old today." He kissed the top of his son's head.

There was a tapping on the door before the Doctor walked in. "All ready to escape this place?"

"We sure are. Can't wait to get this little guy home." Cole said without taking his eyes off his son.

"Alright, well he's a good size now, his lungs are working on their own and we've been able to stabilize his temperature for more than 24 hours, so we'll give mom a quick check-up and then I'll sign them out." The doctor said.

After a quick check of Tess and Freddy, the doctor smiled. "Well here's the sign out slip. I'll just fill it out and be on my way."

Cole handed Freddy to Tess and dragged the case down off the bed. "We might need to do a couple of trips to the car." He laughed.

"There are carts out in the hall." The doctor said.

The second Cole stepped out of the room, Tess leaned forward. "Doctor. When you were doing all those tests, you didn't happen to see something wrong with me did you?"

The Doctor frowned at her. "Tess, you had very low iron. But you've had a good course of iron infusions and now you should be okay to go home. As long as you keep up the medication and eat lots of leafy green vegetables and red meat."

"Not with my iron, I meant with my head." She looked at the floor. Now she had the doctor looking concerned.

"I don't know what you mean. We didn't really check your head, Tess. Are you feeling depressed?"

"No, it's nothing like that. Before I had the baby I had some issues with my memory."

"What sort of issues? You know what year it is and you remember your name?" The doctor scribbled notes on a little notepad he took from his top pocket.

"Yes of course. Little things like misplaced coffee mugs."

He smiled and flipped the pad closed. "Oh, a touch of baby brain hey?"

"So it is a real thing."

"Well, some people think so. It's more about being distracted and preoccupied with more exciting things, like babies. You'll be fine, don't be so hard on yourself."

The bang of the cartwheels hitting the base of the door alerted them to Cole's return. "I got the biggest one." He said. The room grew silent and he looked from the doctor to Tess and back again. "Did I interrupt something?"

"Oh no, Tess here was just a tad worried ab— " The doctor began before Tess jumped in.

"Just worried about fitting everything in the cart. Why you had to bring a bear the size of a baby elephant I have no idea." Tess said. The last thing she needed was Cole thinking she'd lost her marbles. It was bad enough that she was thinking it.

The doctor gave her a conspiratorial wink. "Well, you can leave anytime." With that, he left the room. Tess didn't talk until the sound of his soft-soled shoes padded away down the hall.