Page 84 of The Inn Dilemma

“I hope you had a good birthday.”

She wraps her arms around me, hugging me tight. Nova tips her head back and rises to her toes to give me a kiss.

“This was the best birthday I’ve ever had.” Her arms go around my neck, and she plays with the hair at the base of my neck, sending goosebumps down my spine. She places a kiss at the base of my throat, and I tighten my hold on her. “Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome, baby. I can’t wait to spend the rest of them with you.”

“And I can’t wait to spoil you on your birthday.” She pulls back and playfully pokes me in the chest.

I take her hand and place a kiss on the pad of the finger she just poked me with, then drop my forehead against hers.

“I love you, Holt Graves. Thank you for loving me back.”

“You’re easy to love, Nova Price. Now go get some sleep.”

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Nova, A few weeks later…

Someone is gripping my hand tightly as I wake up. A rhythmic beeping fills my ears, mixing with the background noise of a television that’s somewhere in the room.

I can feel a presence beside me, but when I slowly turn my head, it’s not the profile of my ruggedly handsome boyfriend. It’s Dad. He notices me before I can say anything.

“Why did you do it?” His eyes are filled with tears.

“Do what?” I croak.

Dad hands me a glass of water and puts the straw to my lips.

“We could have lost you. We almost did.”

After drawing in several gulps of water, I answer, “We could have lost you. And after meeting with doctors and confirming I’d be a good and healthy fit, I knew God was calling me to do this.” Then Dad’s entire statement fully sinks in. “What do you mean you almost lost me?”

“I shouldn’t have said anything. Let’s wait to talk about that when you’re fully recovered.” Dad places a kisson my forehead. My heart warms at his affection. He sits back but keeps my hand firmly in his.

“Why aren’t you in bed?” I ask.

“It’s been two days since our surgeries. They wanted me to get up and walk around. So I came straight here.”

“Two days? Why am I just now waking up?”

“Focus on gaining your strength again, and I promise I’ll tell you everything.”

I press my lips together, but I acquiesce. “Where’s Holt?” I ask.

“I told him to go home and that I wanted to be the one in here when you woke up. He wasn’t happy about it, but he obliged.”

“Oh” is all I can say.

We sit in pensive silence for several minutes before Dad speaks up again. “I’ll never be able to earn your forgiveness for my failures or pay you back for the gift you’ve just given me.”

I smirk. “It’s a good thing we don’t need to earn either of those things. I told you already, I’ve forgiven you. And as for the kidney…” I lift a shoulder. “Well, I don’t want you to miss out on the life God has planned for you. It’s a little selfish of me, too, because I want to make up for lost time. I want to do things together we never did when I was a girl because you were too busy at work.”

He frowns and shakes his head. “That’s the thing. The only way we can make up for lost time is if we can go back to the past and I can do things right the second time around.”

“Dad.” I squeeze his hand. “I’m not telling you this because I want you to feel bad. I’m telling you this so we can plan for what the future holds for our family. I mean,you’re going to be a grandfather soon. I couldn’t let you miss out on time with your grandchild just so I could keep a silly kidney.”

Dad’s eyes widen. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying? Is Roxy?—”

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