Desperate

by Evans, A. K.

  “I would help you myself, but I know he’s not going to let me.”

  “Go, Kendall,” I demanded. “I’ve got her.”

  At that, Kendall walked out. I helped Ekko out of bed and to the bathroom. When she finished, I helped her back to the bed and plugged in her IV. She scooted to one side of the bed and said, “Climb in.”

  “I’m too big for the bed.”

  “I miss you, baby. Please?”

  Nope. I wasn’t going to win this battle. I shook my head, bent down to remove my shoes, and climbed into the bed next to her. Careful of her IV, I pulled her close to me. She settled right in and, for the first time in weeks, I finally felt at peace.

  If I hadn’t spent most of my life fighting for myself, I wasn’t sure I’d currently be in a hospital bed curled up in the arms of the man I was madly in love with.

  With the incessant bad luck and one negative blow after another, it would have been easy and understandable for me to just give up.

  But I didn’t.

  And now I was here.

  I was also realizing just how foolish I had been over the last few weeks. I never imagined nor expected that the moment I told Dom the truth behind why I pulled away from him that he’d prove to me that I was the only thing that mattered to him.

  But he did.

  And now we were together again.

  I ran down that mountain last night to save my life. When I saw Dom’s truck pull off the road and up the hill, I succumbed to the exhaustion. I don’t remember much of what happened once I collapsed on the ground other than telling myself that if I made it out of that situation alive, I’d never waste another precious moment. I vowed to myself that I’d live my life to the fullest, doing what made me happy, and I wouldn’t apologize for it.

  I had been in some pretty bad situations throughout my life, but none that made me fear for my life. Not until last night. And an experience like that makes you reconsider how you’ll live that life moving forward if you survive.

  I was no longer going to focus on the bad things in my life. Instead, last night taught me that I needed to be grateful for what I had and proud of what I’d achieved. Just because I didn’t reach some milestone that I believed I should have already accomplished by a certain point in my life didn’t mean that I was unworthy. It only meant that I had more obstacles to overcome to get there. For that, I was just going to be stronger in the end.

  There was a whole slew of questions that still needed answers, like what exactly was going to happen with John and George, but I didn’t want to focus on any of that today. Nope. I knew they had been taken into custody and that was enough for me for the time being. My goal for today was to celebrate the fact that I was alive and in love.

  Dom and I had both fallen asleep after Kendall left my room. I woke up a few minutes ago, but he hadn’t budged.

  “Dom?” I called gently.

  He slowly opened his eyes and took me in while I admired his dimples. Before we had an opportunity to say a word to each other, the door to my room swung open. Kendall and three other hospital personnel came in, with one of them pushing a cart with a piece of medical equipment on it.

  “What’s going on?” Dom asked as he sat up in the bed.

  “Your blood work came back, Ekko,” Kendall stated.

  Oh no. Here is where I’d get the bad news.

  “We should speak privately,” the doctor suggested, her eyes sliding to the side toward Dom.

  Shaking my head, I declined. “No. I want him here. Please just tell me what it is.”

  She nodded her understanding. “Please accept my apologies, Miss Rose. I hadn’t noticed on the report that came back after your first round of bloodwork, but I noticed it on this second round.”

  I swallowed hard and tried to prepare myself.

  “Your HCG levels were elevated on the original blood work we took when you came in and they’re even higher now.”

  I shook my head, not understanding. “I’m sorry. My what is high?”

  Kendall cut in. “Your HCG. It’s the pregnancy hormone!”

  I blinked in surprise. “I…what?”

  “It would seem, Miss Rose, that you’re pregnant.”

  My head snapped to Dom. He was in just as much shock as I was. “What? That’s not possible. I was at the gynecologist a couple weeks ago and she told me I had endometriosis.”

  The doctor shrugged her shoulders and explained, “That doesn’t mean you can’t get pregnant.”

  “Are you serious? Am I really pregnant?”

  Kendall and the doctor both nodded at me before she continued, “We’ve brought up the ultrasound machine. I’ve got an obstetrician on the way here, but we don’t want to delay in getting an ultrasound done considering what you went through last night.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Mild hypothermia didn’t kill me, but I was certain the shock of hearing the doctor tell me I was pregnant would.

  “Ekko?” Kendall interrupted my ridiculous thoughts.

  “Hm?”

  “The levels indicate you’d be early in this pregnancy. We’d be doing a transvaginal ultrasound as a result. It’s an internal exam. Are you alright with that?”

  “Three weeks,” I blurted.

  “What?”

  “Three weeks ago, today. That’s when it happened. Am I three weeks pregnant?”

  Kendall let out a laugh and answered, “That was really too much information for me considering my brother is standing in the room, but no, you wouldn’t be three weeks. If you’re saying you conceived three weeks ago, then you’d be five weeks pregnant now.”

  I sat up straighter. In a matter of seconds, my life had completely changed.

  “Ekko?”

  I looked up at Dom.

  “The ultrasound. Are you up for it?”

  I didn’t take my eyes off him as I nodded. The next few minutes passed with Kendall and the ultrasound technician positioning and preparing me for the ultrasound. As Dom held my hand, the wand was inserted, and a fuzzy black and white image popped up on the computer screen. The technician gently moved the wand until two black circles were showing.

  “Oh my god,” Kendall cried.

  “What?” I worried. “Is something wrong?”

  Her tear-filled eyes came to meet mine. She held them a moment before she looked to Dom.

  “Kendall, what’s wrong?” Dom demanded an answer.

  “You’re having twins,” she cried.

  I turned my head to the side and repeated Kendall’s words to Dom. “We’re having twins.”

  I couldn’t read the look on Dom’s face. It seemed like a whole bunch of emotions all rolled into one. Shock. Contentment. Worry. Bliss.

  “Do you see this?” the technician asked.

  Dom and I turned our attention back to the screen where the technician was pointing.

  “This fluttering you see here is your baby’s heartbeat.”

  Dom’s hand squeezed mine as the tears leaked from my eyes. I couldn’t find any words, but the man beside me did. His voice was filled with emotion when he asked, “Is the second baby okay?”

  A moment of silence passed before Kendall pointed at the fluttering and said, “There it is.”

  The grip Dom had on my hand grew tighter and he let out an audible breath. My feelings were all over the place.

  The technician printed out a few sonograms. She kept a few for the obstetrician but gave three of them to us.

  After she left, Kendall walked over to Dom and hugged him. “Congratulations.”

  He didn’t respond. His silence worried me.

  She leaned over the side of the bed to give me a hug and congratulate me next. Before she walked out the door, Dom called out to her.

  “Kendall?”

  She turned around and waited for him to speak.

  “Thanks for being here.”

  She smiled at him. “I wouldn’t have wanted to miss this for anything else in the world. I’m so happy for you.”
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  “I’m sure this goes without saying, but can you be discreet until Ekko and I have a chance to absorb this?”

  Kendall brought her thumb and forefinger up to her mouth, where she made a motion of zipping her lips, locking them, and throwing away the key before she walked out of the room.

  Once we were alone, I turned my attention to Dom.

  “Two babies,” he whispered.

  “Two babies,” I repeated.

  “How do you feel about this?” he asked.

  “I’m happy, Dom. I’m so happy about it and I really hope you feel the same.”

  Both of his hands were still holding one of mine. His lips were pressed against my knuckles as he looked at me. Finally, he spoke. “You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever known,” he began. “From the day I met you, you’ve proven to me just how strong you are. Working hard, going after what you want, you always find a way to persevere. The depth of your strength was made clear to me when you told me why you pulled away from me. You were willing to give me up so that I could have children. I’d like to think that there’s no greater sacrifice you could ever make than that, but I know I’m wrong. You fought for your life last night and you did it while keeping our babies safe inside you. I’m convinced there isn’t anything you can’t do.”

  “Baby,” I wept.

  Dom climbed back in the bed with me, carefully positioning himself next to me. He gently placed his hand on my belly. “I love you, Ekko. And I already love these two babies more than my whole life, so I hope that dispels any fears you have about whether I’m happy about this.”

  “I love you too, Dom,” I said softly.

  We stayed like that for a long time, the weight of our new situation settling around us.

  A few hours later, after the obstetrician came in to check me out, Dom questioned me about my shoulder, which ultimately ended in him demanding that it get check out. Lastly, the final results of my bloodwork proved that I was no longer in any danger from the hypothermia, so I was allowed to go home.

  Thankfully, the Cunningham Security team made sure Dom’s truck was brought to the hospital. Apparently, they’d also arranged to have my car picked up from the library, but the battery was dead again. Dom told them to have it taken to a shop owned by Lexi’s brother, Logan Townsend. At some point before we left the hospital, one of the guys dropped off my purse and keys so I’d be able to get into my apartment.

  When we left, Dom drove us straight to my place. The moment I stepped through the front door, I let out a sigh of relief. I could feel Dom’s body right behind mine, so I leaned back into him. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head.

  “I really want a shower,” I sighed.

  “I’m fine with waiting for you to do that, but if you can wait a little longer, you can take a shower back at our place.”

  “Our place?” I asked, tilting my head back to look up at him.

  He nodded. “Yes, our place. Formerly known as my place. I want you to move in with me, Ekko.”

  “What?”

  Dom turned me in his arms so we were standing front to front. “Do you want to be with me?”

  “Yes.”

  He smiled. “After everything we’ve been through the last few weeks, especially over the last twenty-four hours or so, I don’t want to be without you. And you’re pregnant with our babies right now. I don’t want to miss a moment of your pregnancy. I’d say we could stay here, but this place won’t be big enough come October.”

  When he put it like that, I knew there was no way I was going to turn down his invitation. Even still, I said, “I just moved into this place, Dom.”

  “I don’t care. If you want to hang on to it for a while just to be sure, you can do that. But I think it’s ridiculous to pay for a place where you’ll never be coming back to live.”

  “What if things don’t work out with us?” I worried.

  “Ekko.”

  He said nothing else, so I shot back, “Dom.”

  “Things are going to work out between us, sugar.”

  “Something bad could happen and they might not,” I retorted.

  He took in a deep breath and let it out before he pointed out, “You and I barely knew each other when I found you sleeping in your car at the library. I refused to let you live like that then. Do you really think I’d kick the mother of my children, whether while you’re pregnant or not, out on the street with no place to go?”

  The mother of my children.

  I grinned at him. “I’m going to be a mother.”

  “Yep.”

  “And you’re going to be a daddy.”

  Something changed in his face. He gave me a gentle squeeze as he pulled me closer to him. “Yeah, I am.”

  I gave him a minute to process those thoughts before I agreed, “Okay, we can pack some of my things up before we go to your house for a shower.”

  “Our house,” he corrected me.

  “Our house,” I repeated.

  The instant the words were out of my mouth, Dom moved us down the hall to my bedroom, where he insisted I sit down to relax while he took orders from me about what items I wanted to bring. I tried to do it myself, but he refused to let me help.

  Dom worked quickly and the next thing I knew, we were on our way to his place.

  Our place.

  I knew that was going to take some getting used to.

  When we arrived, he ordered me inside while he brought in all of my things. I immediately climbed the stairs and walked into the master bathroom to start the shower. Once the water had warmed up, I stripped out of the scrubs Kendall loaned me and got in.

  I hadn’t been in the shower more than two or three minutes when the bathroom door opened. Dom walked in with my toiletries.

  “I’ll head downstairs and make you something to eat,” he offered after setting my bag down on the sink.

  I looked out and reached for him. I held on to his forearm. “Stay with me,” I suggested.

  He wrestled with it for not more than a few seconds before he pulled his shirt off and dropped his pants. After he got in, I walked toward him, pressed my cheek to his chest, and wrapped my arms around his waist. I hadn’t felt his skin against mine in so long and I had truly missed the feel of him.

  Dom held me in his arms, one of his hands running through my hair.

  “I’m sorry for pushing you away,” I lamented.

  His hand moved to my neck and he ran his knuckles along my jaw. “It’s done now. We’ve moved on from that.”

  “I know, but it was wrong for me to not give you the chance to make a choice about what you wanted,” I pushed. “I just thought that if I told you about the endo, you’d stay with me out of obligation. I didn’t want to take away your chances of becoming a father to a large family.”

  The arm around my waist gave me a squeeze. “I understand why you did it, Ekko. It’s the most selfless thing anyone has ever done for me. Lucky for the both of us, your diagnosis didn’t hinder your ability to get pregnant. And if it does down the road when we’re ready for more, we’ll deal with it together.”

  I tilted my head back and looked up at him. “Kiss me, baby.”

  Dom gave me what I asked for. His kiss was soft and gentle as my hands ran up his abdomen and over his chest. His fingers were tickling the small of my back while his other hand had a solid grip on my hair. In between kisses, he whispered, “Missed you so much.”

  “Mmm,” I agreed as our tongues collided.

  Dom was hard between us and I couldn’t help but to wrap my hand around him and stroke him.

  He groaned in response. I loved hearing it.

  His hands moved to the sides of my head before he tore his mouth from mine.

  “Slow down, sugar,” he warned. “We’re not doing this in here.”

  I whimpered, and he chuckled against my mouth.

  “Let’s finish in here and get you fed. Then, we’ll have the rest of the night to do whatever you want. I promise.”
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  My shoulders slumped. I was in such disbelief that he had such restraint. “What’s for dinner?” I asked.

  He grinned. “We’ll do something quick and easy.”

  I immediately picked up the bottle of shampoo and got to work on finishing my shower. Dom did the same.

  Not quite an hour later, we’d finished eating our quick-and-easy dinner.

  Dom stayed true to his promise by carrying me upstairs immediately afterward and giving me what I wanted. It was unlike any other time we had been together. He was slow and gentle. He whispered sweet words against my lips and my belly. Somewhere in the middle of it, I realized he was taking his time and making love to me. And in the end, it was easily the greatest experience of my life.

  Afterward, I was lying there, curled into Dom’s side.

  “Do you feel alright?” he asked.

  “Perfect. Tired, but perfect.”

  It was the truth. To know that he was prepared to stand by my side when there was a chance that a pregnancy would be difficult to achieve was overwhelming. I knew he was a good man and I never expected he would have been cruel about it, but knowing that us not being together wasn’t an option for him solidified it.

  “Becoming a librarian is going to be difficult now,” I noted.

  “There’s no rush,” he started. “You’ll complete your undergraduate in a few months and can apply for the online classes for your master’s whenever you feel ready. I’ll support you all the way through.”

  “Two kids will be a lot of work, though. I don’t think I’ll have the time for work, school, and newborns. I think I’m going to wait until they’re a little older before I start my master’s.”

  “We’ll have help. Between Kendall, Jojo, and my mom, we’d be covered. You add Colton, Memphis, and my dad into the mix and we won’t have to worry about a thing. You could still take classes if you wanted.”

  I lifted my head and stressed, “No. I’m completely fine with your family showering these two babies with all the love in the world, but I want to raise them. My mother was never there for me and I won’t do that to them.”

  Dom gave me a soft smile. “They are already so lucky to have you.”

  “Are you alright with that?”

  “Am I alright with what?”