Destiny's Wish by Marissa Dobson

you had a doctor with you, that might help. Wonder where you can find one of those?”
    She gave him a light slap on his arm. “Being a smart ass never suited you very well.”
    “I’m being serious. You should have a doctor with you for Destiny’s sake, after all, anything could happen. Give me a minute and I’ll think of something.” His eyes twinkled with amusement.
    “Okay, so I wasn’t thinking and I’m being an overprotective mother. What do you want from me?”
    He took hold of her hand and pulled her against him. “You’re not overdoing it, you’re just being a good mother. I’ll be there, and if anything changes in her condition we’ll come back straight away. I think you need this break as much as she does, so what do you say?”
    She nodded. “Okay, but what about Greta? She asked Destiny to help her bake cookies tomorrow.”
    “Don’t worry about Greta, she’s not going to let us slip out of here without her. She loves going to the cabin and there’s plenty of room there for all of us. My parents added on to the old cabin a few years ago expecting it would be somewhere we could all gather, with grandbabies running around.”
    “Do you go a lot?”
    “Not as much as any of us would like. With our schedules, it’s hard for us to get away. Three of us gone from the hospital at the same time and everything.”
    “Three?” She leaned back out of his embrace to look up at him.
    “I believe I told you that Jason is a pediatric surgeon and Elizabeth is a grief counselor at the hospital, so they both have active careers. They also adopted a beautiful little girl, Faith, and she’s about to turn a year old on Valentine’s Day. My parents’ first grandbaby, and boy do they spoil her rotten already.”
    “As her uncle, are you saying you don’t have anything to do with that?” She smirked. “The first child born into a family is one everyone dotes on. I’ve seen how you are with Destiny. I have no doubt you’re guilty of spoiling Faith.”
    “Never.” He tried to hide a smile but failed miserably. “I’m a doctor, I know how disastrous it can be to spoil a child. I would have no part in making my niece a brat.”
    “Not all spoiled children are brats. Look at Destiny, I do my best to spoil her, to make up for what she doesn’t have, and what she’s gone through. She’s not a brat, or at least I hope others don’t think she is.”
    He rubbed small circles along her back. “She’s a great kid, with manners, and respect. Though I’ll say she acts older than she is, but that’s because of all she’s been through. She needs this break as much as you do. Let her be a kid again. We can eat popcorn, watch movies, do all the things she loves to do. Whatever that is.”
    “It doesn’t sound like much fun for you,” she reasoned, as she toyed with the button on his dress shirt.
    “It will be because I’ll be with you and Destiny. What do you say?”
    “Let’s do it.” She gave in to the temptation to get away and give her daughter some normalcy. “We can leave after lunch and Destiny can take her nap in the car. Since she’s been sick she’s been sleeping a lot more. Afternoon naps are a must.”
    “We can wait until she wakes up.”
    “No, it’s fine, she sleeps during car rides anyway. We don’t want her to get two naps in, one before we leave and another one in the car, otherwise I’ll have problems getting her to sleep at bedtime.” She let her fingers move toward the edge of his shirt, where it opened up to his skin. “After all, grown-ups need time to themselves, too.”
    “That they do.” He brought his hands down to rest on her hips. “Come sit.”
    “Something wrong?”
    “No.” He kept his arm around her waist and directed her toward the small sofa in his office. “It’s been years since we’ve seen each other, I thought maybe we could catch up. Six years is too long.”
    “There’s not much to catch up on. Being a single mother, my life has revolved