“And what about wedding bells? Any of those ringing?”

Dakota shook her head to the empty car. “There are a lot of Hollywood movie stars who shack up, have families, and don’t get married for years.”

“You’re not that woman.”

“Yes, I am.”

Desi offered a short laugh. “No! You’re not.”

Arguing with her agent was a waste of time. “I’ve gotta go. Tell Loretta I’m sorry and that I’ll send the manuscript tomorrow.”

“I’ll tell her. You take care of yourself. Make sure that doctor of yours takes care of you, too.”

Dakota bundled against the cold and walked into the hospital. She ran into Walt as he was walking out of the ICU.

He looked tired, a full day’s growth of stubble on his face, his hair looked like he’d combed it with his fingers for hours. “Oh, Doc.”

He pulled her into his arms and damn near collapsed.

She just held him for several seconds. “Is it that bad?”

He shook his head, talked into the side of her neck. “He’s irritable and ready to yell at anyone who walks in the room.”

“So he’s feeling better.”

Walt nodded, pulled away, and captured her face in his hands. “You look good, smell even better.”

“I bet you say that to all the women carrying your babies.”

He kissed her gently. Dakota folded into him and smiled somewhere deep inside. Yes, they were in a hospital in a crappy situation, but they had each other.

Dakota ended their kiss when the door to the ICU opened to let someone out.

“My dad wanted to see you,” he told her. “Then I’d like to get out of here.”

“Are we leaving your mom?”

He nodded. “Larry said he’d drive her home after visiting hours. Stanley is enforcing visiting hours between now and his surgery.”

“So your dad agreed?”

“Yeah. He’s on the schedule for Wednesday morning.”

Dakota laid a hand alongside his face. “Then we should try and catch some sleep while we can.”

They walked into the ICU together.

Dakota had been in her share of hospitals over the years, but never in an intensive care unit, where the sick teetered on the edge of life and death. It was hard not searching out the conditions of the patients as she passed by the glass-enclosed rooms. The scent unique to hospitals was stronger here. She’d have to ask Walt later what she was smelling. Right now, she didn’t want to know. Her stomach wasn’t too happy with the odiferous department.

Walt walked her into his father’s room.

Unlike the other rooms she’d passed, this one had a couple of people inside. Walter Eddy I sat beside JoAnne. The patient was sitting up in his bed, his gaze went to them as they stepped in. “There you are,” Walt’s dad said.

“Hello, Dr. Eddy.”

Walt’s dad was so much more welcoming than his mother. “Well c’mere and give an old man a hug.”

She obliged, careful not to upset all the wires and tubes he was hooked up to. “You’re not old,” she told him.

“Feel like I’m a hundred today.”

She smiled and left the comment about how he only looked ninety inside her mouth.

“So where’s that grandchild of mine?” he asked.

Dakota stood next to Walt and patted her stomach. “Right where Stud Muffin put him,” she said with a wink.

JoAnne scoffed and Walt’s grandfather laughed.

“As soon as I’m well enough to knock some sense into my son, I’m going to ask about those wedding plans.”

“So, by the weekend, then?” Dakota asked, showing her optimism.

Walt’s dad winked. “I’ll give you until next week. Consider yourselves warned.”

Walt’s grandfather chimed in. “Well, I don’t have to wait.”

JoAnne turned to her father-in-law. “Not now, Dad.”

He grumbled.

“Well, son. I don’t have to tell you why you need to get your girl out of here. We don’t need her getting sick.”

Walt placed a hand to the small of her back. “We’re leaving.” He turned to his mother. “Larry will bring you home.”

“I don’t have to go home.”

“Yes, you do. Dad needs his rest, and so do you.”

JoAnne pinched her lips even closer together. It was amazing the woman could still breathe.

“I’ll see you in the morning, Dad.”

Dakota went ahead and placed a hand on his leg through the blankets. “Don’t pinch any nurses’ butts. Be professional.”

He chuckled and the sound grew like the first flower in spring.

They turned to leave.

“Walt?”

“Yeah, Dad?”

“Thanks for being here.”

Walt smiled as they left the room.

For two days, Walt juggled his father’s care, his mother’s snotty disposition, Stanley, and the nursing staff on the unit.

Dakota managed meals, not that she cooked much of them, but she found a caterer that packaged premade lunches and dinners so all they had to do was heat them up when they returned to the house. Dakota sent meals, and not just pizza, to the ICU staff during both shifts. She made notes of who took care of his dad and started sending boxed bottles of wine to each one of them. She even made sure Dr. Altman’s staff in his office didn’t miss out.