While she was rubbing her eyes, she miscalculated as she walked around the edge of the bed and slammed her toes into the wooden bedpost leg of the bed.
“Aww, shoot. Oww, oww, oww.” She hopped around on one foot, holding her throbbing toes with her hand. Tears welled in her eyes.
“What happened?”
She glanced up as Derrick rushed out of the master bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist.
“What is it?” He rushed over and picked her up in his arms, sitting with her on his lap in the armchair.
“Nothing,” she gritted out between clenched teeth. “Just stubbed my toes.”
“Let me have a look.” He didn’t give her time to answer, just brushed away her hands to inspect her toes. “Can you wiggle them?”
“Yes, they’re fine. I’m sorry for making such a fuss,” she said, embarrassed that she’d brought him running over some sore toes.
“Does this hurt?” he said, pressing down on each of her toes.
She hissed.
“Sorry, baby,” he said immediately. “We’d better take you in for an x-ray.”
“What?” she gaped at him as he stood and carried her over to the bed, setting her down carefully.
“Just let me get dressed and I’ll run you into the emergency room.” Derrick turned away.
Jacey shook her head. “Derrick, I stubbed my toes. They’re fine. In five minutes I will have completely forgotten that I hurt them. I do not need an x-ray.”
He turned to stare at her for a long moment. “Better to be safe than sorry.”
“Derrick, no,” she told him firmly. “No x-ray. I can’t, remember.” She placed her hand over her stomach. They rarely talked about the baby and she couldn’t help but wonder if he wanted to completely ignore the situation. He had no problem talking to her about any other aspect of her health, sometimes to an embarrassing degree.
He looked at her, his eyes filled with chagrin. “God, I forgot. Of course you can’t. But the doctor can look you over.”
“Derrick, look, see they’re fine.” She wiggled her toes, doing her best to hide any pain. She had definitely whacked them hard. “No doctor, please.”
“If they’re still hurting later or show signs of swelling or bruising, I’m going to take you in to get them checked.”
Jacey nodded. She knew the art of compromise.
Derrick’s cell phone rang then and he picked it up, moving back into the bathroom. Jacey stood, moving over to the sofa by the fireplace. Derrick had installed a television above the fireplace to keep her entertained. He’d even brought up a small refrigerator and had it stocked with drinks and snacks so she didn’t have to go up and down the stairs.
He’d thought of everything.
And yet… there was something missing. He no longer seemed to be attracted to her. She’d become a patient, a project for him and it seemed he’d stopped seeing her as a woman.
“I have to go into the office, love, there have been some problems with one of our projects and I need to oversee some things personally.”
“Sure, no problem,” she said brightly, trying to ignore the fact that he never called her baby anymore. It was always love or Jacey.
“You going to watch a movie?” he asked.
“Maybe,” she said with a smile.
“Well, don’t walk around too much on those toes.” He glanced over at the bed. “Maybe I should change the bed for something with soft edges.”
“Don’t you dare,” she replied, looking at him in outrage. “I love that bed. I’m just clumsy, I’d probably smash my toes against an air mattress.”
He smiled at her. “We’ll see.”