Delores Fossen - Texas-Sized Trouble

“Lawsuits aside,” Eve said, getting out of the bed, “I’m seeing my baby.”

Eve wasn’t in any shape to fight off even a senior citizen–honeydew-stealing nurse, but she would somehow manage it. She’d already spent too much time away from her little boy.

“I’m telling the doctor,” Mildred declared, and she scurried out—taking another melon chunk with her. The woman no longer sounded like a relic from the past but rather like a tattling schoolgirl.

Eve figured this was going to earn her a good chewing out from assorted medical personnel, but it would be so worth it. Using the wall for support, she groped her way across the room while she tried to pinch the back of her open gown together so her butt would be covered. The adult diaper they’d given her to wear was completely sheer except for the strip down the middle, and she didn’t want to flash anyone on her way to the nursery.

She’d worked up a sweat by the time she got to the door. Eve opened it, stepped into the hall.

And came face-to-face with a circus.

There were balloons, someone dancing in a bear suit and people. Lots of people. Some of them snapped pictures of her while calling out her name to look their way. They pushed forward toward her, causing her to stagger back. The shock and temporary blindness almost caused her to miss the man in the center of this unholy hoopla.

Kellan.

She didn’t quite manage to contain the glare before it made it to her face. A glare that would almost certainly be on a tabloid cover come tomorrow.

“Baby-Cakes,” Kellan purred.

Eve hated the nickname and hated the kiss that Kellan dropped on her mouth. It was possible the kiss bruised him a little since her lips were pinched and tight.

“Sorry that we caught you without your makeup,” Kellan added, giving her a quick once-over. The once-over ended with him frowning at her hair. “Don’t they give out combs in this place?”

Eve hadn’t thought her mouth could get any tighter, but she’d been wrong. She was about to muster up something polite about everyone needing to leave so Kellan and she could have some privacy, but she didn’t get the chance.

“Y’all gotta leave,” someone called out. Nurse Mildred. “Right now.” The tattling schoolgirl was gone. This was a mean middle-school teacher’s voice, and Eve was thankful for it.

Mildred wagged her index finger at the paparazzi and then used that same finger to point to the nearest exit. Even her pointing gestures were mean. There were some protests, more pictures flashed, but Mildred managed to start them moving.

“You get out of here, too,” Mildred added to the dancing bear. “And take those stupid balloons with you. Latex allergy is a real thing, people.” She grumbled something else under her breath that Eve didn’t catch. “In my mama’s day, she would have busted a tushy or two for causing a commotion like this.”

Mildred turned her chilly gaze on Kellan next. Normally, most women softened or even melted when they got an up-close look at Kellan’s pretty face and bedroom blue eyes, but his looks had no effect whatsoever on the woman. She kept up the chilliness and the scowl.

“Are your ears plugged up from all those earrings you’re wearing?” Mildred snapped. “Because I’m pretty sure I said you had to leave.”

Kellan didn’t seem fazed by that. He upped his usually charming smile a notch. “But I’m the father of Eve’s baby. I want to see her and my son.”

Mildred gave him the squinty eye as if trying to figure out if that was true. She was still squinting when Eve sighed and nodded. “Yes, he’s the father.”

Eve hadn’t intended for “father” to have the same tone as “yeast infection,” but Kellan was not on her happy list. The only thing on that list right now was the baby and Tessie, and Tessie’s name had an asterisk next to it since at the moment she was causing Eve more worry than happiness.

Mildred finally gave a nod of her own, which was her okay for Kellan to stay. “But no more bears, photographers or balloons.”

“The bear and balloons were for the baby,” Kellan said to Eve.

Not exactly normal offerings for a newborn, but no one had ever accused Kellan of being normal. “And the paparazzi?” she questioned.

He smiled. “Free publicity, Baby-Cakes. You know how it is.”

Yes, she did, and it caused Eve to sigh again. She was too old for publicity. Too old to be having one-night stands with Kellan. And too old not to have used multiple means of birth control instead of relying solely on a condom. But she’d been in a really bad place that night, and besides, she didn’t regret having her baby.

“I’ll see about getting you that wheelchair,” Mildred grumbled, and she marched off as if that might actually happen.

Eve wouldn’t wait for her though. Catching onto the wall again, she started for the nursery.

“Uh, shouldn’t you be in bed or something?” Kellan asked, trotting after her. “Or maybe looking for a hairbrush?”

“I’m seeing my son.”

“Our son,” he corrected her. He smiled again. “Remember, I was there for his creation. That was one hot night, Baby-Cakes.”

Hot? Not really. She hadn’t even had an orgasm. And Kellan hadn’t noticed.

“Say, are you down or something?” Kellan blathered on. “Is this about Tessie, because you’re still on the outs with her?”

In part, but it was also because she was having to put up with Kellan while slogging her way up the hall.

“Well, if that’s all it is,” Kellan continued, “then you’ve got nothing to be down about. Tessie’s just being a teenager. You remember what it was like.”

Not really. Well, except for the memories that involved Lawson. Those had stayed with her despite the plastic veneer that had been smeared over the real memories that she’d had after she left him and Wrangler’s Creek.

“Hey, I recognize that ass,” someone called out from behind them.

Eve didn’t have to look back to know who’d said that. Cassidy Vale, her friend and human BS meter. Eve adjusted the grip she had on the back of her gown to make sure she was covered up.

“Not that ass,” Cassidy said. She tipped her head to Kellan. “That one.”

“Hardy-har-har,” Kellan said sarcastically. “What are you doing here, Acidy?”

“Helping a friend.” Cassidy ignored the nickname dig and hurried to Eve.

Despite her Hollywood roots, Cassidy was definitely no fashionista. She was wearing her usual yoga pants, flip-flops and T-shirt, and she’d scooped up her auburn hair in a sloppy ponytail. Cassidy looped her arm around Eve’s waist and even helped her hold her gown together.

“Thanks.” Eve leaned against her. “How’d you get here so fast?”

“She put a booster jet on her broomstick,” Kellan grumbled.

Cassidy didn’t miss a step. She just glanced at Kellan’s hair and made a face. “That wind really got to you, didn’t it? Hope there’s no photographer around to see you this messed up. Is that some hair-gel flecks I see, or is it dandruff? Maybe it’s head lice. I’ve heard nits are easy to pick up around hospitals.”

Kellan made a face, too, as if he knew she was just giving him flak, but when he spotted the men’s room ahead, he hurried and ducked inside it.

“Thought he’d never leave,” Cassidy said. She hugged Eve closer to her. “I was already on my way here when I heard about the baby. Is it true? Did Hot Cowboy really deliver him?”

Eve nodded. No clarification was needed on Hot Cowboy’s identity. Cassidy knew all about Lawson. In fact, Cassidy knew everything about Eve.

Everything.

That’s because Cassidy and she had been friends since the day Eve had arrived in Hollywood eighteen years ago. She’d started out as Eve’s rival on Demon High but had been killed off at the end of the first season. When Cassidy hadn’t been able to land any other acting jobs, Eve had hired her as a personal assistant. Then later on she’d become Tessie’s nanny. These days, Cassidy was also an artist who did illustrations for children’s books.