Dr. Kincaid smiled. “It is good. I’m going to send a note to your doctor in Heart Falls. She’ll want to keep an eye on a couple things going forward, especially your blood pressure.”
“What if we ended up staying in the area?” Jesse asked.
Wow. Dare hadn’t expected that.
He wasn’t looking at her, instead focused on the doctor. “We’re not sure what we’re doing yet, but if we move into the area, can you take Dare as a full-time patient?”
Dr. Kincaid nodded immediately. “Of course. Not only do we already have a relationship because of this past weekend, I’m certainly not going to turn down the opportunity to deliver a Coleman baby.”
Dare listened to the rest of the doctor’s comments in a bit of a daze, pulling out her calendar to add his office number so she could set up an appointment in a month’s time.
Dr. Kincaid left a final prescription for a couple tests. As the door closed after him, she and Jesse stared at each other.
It was fast. Really fast. “Are we staying?” she asked.
Jesse dipped his head slowly. “Why not? We might have just come for a visit, but your point about having a good doctor makes this into a no-brainer for me. Rocky is the best place for you to have Buckaroo. I’m not messing with that, if you’re okay staying.”
Yes. Of course. Dare pulled her brain back into line. This was about Buckaroo. It always had been.
“So, what comes next?” she asked.
Jesse pointed to the paper Dr. Kincaid had left. “I’ll grab Tamara or whoever is on the nursing roster this morning and let them help you finish up that final test. While you’re busy, I’ll take care of the other details.”
Still buzzing from surprise and the emotion of the morning, Dare accepted Jesse’s quick kiss before he vanished. She moved in a happy daze, getting a few final bits of vital information along the way.
Jesse returned just as she’d finished dressing, packing her things into her bag.
“You ready for this?” he asked.
“Are you?”
He nodded. “I think staying in Rocky for now is a great idea.”
That sounded a lot more confident than not even an hour ago. Dare eyed him closely. “You sure? You’re not going to have troubles dealing with…anyone?”
He shook his head. “I’m a grownup, and you’re right—it’s my bullshit, not theirs. Time to keep my mouth shut and move on.”
Cautiously optimistic, Dare agreed. “This isn’t a commitment on either of our parts to stay for good, right? Just to be clear.”
“No, but we’ll stay for now. Until you have the baby for sure. We’ll take it from there, and see what’s best for Buckaroo.”
“You can work?”
Jesse offered a thumbs-up. “I got hold of Blake. He said no problem to putting me full-time on the schedule. I called Joel, and we’re welcome to stay at the trailer with him and Vicki until the rental is free. And before you ask again, it’s not going to be a problem for me. You might have to remind me every now and then to stop being an asshole, but I can do this.”
A strange sense of wonder slipped over Dare. “Okay. That sounds great.”
A familiar sound, one she hadn’t heard very much that day slipped from him. A soft chuckle, full of mischief and teasing. “I’m a little bit worried about putting you with Vicki, the way the two of you get along like a house on fire.”
“It’s good to have backup to counteract you and your brothers. As in, there’s an awful lot of testosterone around when the Six Pack clan gathers,” Dare pointed out.
He stepped toward her, slipping his arms around her. “I hope you don’t mind all of the testosterone.”
She slid her arms up his chest until she could link her fingers behind his neck. “By the way, I got to chat with Dr. Kincaid one more time while you were gone.”
His face folded into a frown. “Okaaaaay…”
“Just wanted to double-check that it was okay to enjoy some testosterone, if you know what I mean.”