by Hope Ford
I take a deep breath. “I was on my way to Whiskey Run to tell you, but I had to make a stop at the hospital first... I didn’t want you to find out like this.”
He grips the railing on the bed. “If I had to guess, you didn’t want me to know at all. What? Did the guilt get to you... leaving me like you did?”
It guts me to know how much I hurt him. “There are things you don’t know. I was coming to tell you... I need you.”
He leans toward me. His voice is deep and steady. “I needed you these last nine months, Gracie. I’ve been lost without you... You wrote me a damn note to tell me I wasn’t good enough for you.”
I can feel the pull in my lower belly as another contraction starts. It’s too soon. Didn’t the other one just finish? I grip my belly and try to tell him. “I had to, Aiden. I didn’t have a choice.”
His face tightens, and he’s so mad he spits the words out. “There’s always a choice, Gracie.”
“Ohhhhhh!” I scream, holding my belly. “Oh God!” I say as the contraction hits harder. Aiden grabs my hand, and I squeeze fighting through the pain.
“Breathe, Gracie. Keep breathing.”
He no sooner gets the words out than the door swings open. The doctor that checked me earlier walks in the room with Tate and Lakelyn following behind. “Well, it seems they are getting closer and more intense.”
I nod, grunting through the pain.
Lakelyn presses a cold wet towel to my head, which is surprisingly soothing.
I keep grunting, doing my best to work and breathe through the pain. All eyes are on me, and I try to take deep breaths until finally it subsides, and I fall back onto the bed.
The doctor is watching a monitor. “That one was a doozy. Let me check your dilation.”
Instantly, Tate and Lakelyn step back outside the room as the doctor sits down on a stool between my legs. Aiden is still holding my hand, and even though I know he probably hates me right now, I can’t let him leave me. Our daughter and I need him more than ever.
The doctor’s head raises, and instantly I see the crease of his forehead. “You’re still at three centimeters. We’re going to have to do a C-section, Gracie. I know you didn’t want an epidural, and it’s too late for that, but we will have to use an anesthetic for the surgery. Someone will be in shortly to get you prepped.”
“But I wanted to do this naturally.”
The doctor comes up and stands next to my head. “I know you did, but that monitor there is letting us know how the baby is doing. She’s starting to get a little distressed, and she is ready to come out. The safest way for you and baby is to do it this way.”
Everything is so confusing. I’m exhausted and trying to piece it all together. “And I have to be out?”
He smiles. “Yes, and trust me, you’ll want to be for this.”
I nod, and the doctor grips my shoulder. “I’ve done thousands of these. You and your baby girl are going to be fine.” He raises his head. “Are you the father?”
I cringe, waiting for Aiden’s response.
“Yes, I’m the father.”
“Okay, I’m assuming you want to be in there.”
Aiden gulps. “Yes.”
“Great, the nurses will instruct you on what you need to do.”
He nods, and I watch as the doctor leaves.
It hits me then that there’s not much time, and there’s so much to say. “Aiden, I know that you probably hate me. I know we have a lot to talk about, but I need you to make me a promise.”
He is still holding my hand, and there’s no trust in his eyes as he stares back at me. “What is it?”
“Well, I didn’t want to be out. I needed to have a clear head and be able to take care of our daughter, but if they’re putting me out, I can’t. I need you to take care of her.”
“Gracie, I don’t know how to take care of a baby, but I promise I will make sure she’s fed and taken care of. You’ll be back with her soon enough. You can teach me and show me what I need to do.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I say in frustration. “I’m telling you, do not let her out of your sight. If my father shows up, don’t let him near her.”
The nurse comes in and starts moving the IV poles, disconnecting and reconnecting tubes. “My father will sell her, Aiden. Promise me that you will protect her while I can’t. Promise me,” I ask in urgency as the nurse asks if I’m ready.
Aiden was mad when he walked in, but now he looks downright lethal. He leans down and puts his hand softly to my face. “From this point on, I will protect you and our daughter, Gracie. Nothing is going to happen to either of you. He won’t come near either of you ever again.”
The way he’s looking at me, like I’m his whole life, makes me believe what he’s saying.
The monitor starts to buzz, and the nurse cuts in. “We have to move.” She tosses a scrub to Aiden. “Put this on and follow us.”
10
Aiden
Gracie is back... and I’m a father.
I stayed right with her through the whole delivery. They tried to get me out once the baby was born, and I had to make the hardest decision of my life. I had to leave Gracie to be with our daughter while they weighed her and took care of her. The nurse assured me Gracie would be fine, and so I did what I promised Gracie I would do. I stayed with our daughter.
Gracie has been in recovery for a little over an hour, and my daughter and I are already back in the room. The nurse has been teaching me things, how to change her, how to wrap her in a blanket, and basically how to care for her. I have my shirt off with the baby held to my chest. The nurse said that this brings babies comfort until their mothers are able to hold them, so I didn’t hesitate. I just met her, but I’d do anything for our baby.
The nurse pulls out a small bottle and tries to hand it to me, but with my arms full of my daughter, I shake my head. I didn’t have time to talk to Gracie about this, but I’m almost positive she would want to breast feed her.
“Should I give her that? I think Gracie would want to breastfeed her.”
The nurse shrugs like it’s not a big deal. “It will be fine, she still can if she wants to.”
Fuck, I don’t know anything about this, but for some reason it doesn’t feel right. “Since she’s sleeping,” I say, nodding my head at the baby in my arms, “can we wait until she wakes up? Maybe Gracie will be here by then and she can decide.”
The nurse harumphs at me, obviously not liking the fact that I’m bucking her but finally agrees. “Fine, I’ll be right out in the hall if you need anything.”
I nod, but all my attention is focused on my daughter. She’s sleeping so peacefully, nothing like a squalling baby that I somehow had pictured a newborn to be. I stroke my finger softly across her cheek and she twitches, and I swear it looks like she’s smiling in her sleep.
“Oh baby girl, how could I just find out about you and already love you this much? Your mommy took good care of you; they said you are a perfectly healthy baby. Now it’s my turn, now I’m going to take care of you and your momma.”
I sniff and wipe at the tear in my eye. I don’t know what’s going on, but I know without a shadow of a doubt that Gracie leaving me had something to do with her father. I’m still mad... I can’t believe she just left the way she did, but I can’t deal with that now. There are more important things at hand.
The door opens, and a nurse wheels in a groggy Gracie. As soon as the wheels on her bed get locked in, I stand up and walk over to the side of it.
The nurse grabs the clipboard off the end of the bed and holds it to her chest. “She’s groggy, but you can wake her up. Don’t let her up without one of us or you to help her.”
I nod, never taking my eyes off Gracie. She’s exhausted, and I can’t even begin to imagine how she did all this on her own. “Gracie, baby. There’s someone here wanting to meet you.”
“Aiden?” she asks, forcing her eyelids open.
“Yeah, I’m right here, and I have o
ur baby. Do you want to hold her?”
Her eyes pop open, and her bright blue eyes are staring at me. She looks at the baby against my chest and starts to cry. “Oh my, she’s perfect. She’s just perfect, Aiden.”
I nod and sniff, feeling every emotion she is. “She is perfect. Do you want to hold her?”
She wipes at her eyes. “I do, I really do. But look at me.” She holds her hand out, and it’s shaking so bad.
“What’s wrong? Do you want me to get the nurse?”
She shakes her head. “No, it’s the aftereffects of the anesthesia. But I don’t want to drop her.”
She wants to hold her so bad I can see it. “I’m going to help you. I’ll stay right here, and I won’t let anything happen to her, Gracie. I promise.”
Our eyes meet, and finally she nods, holding her hands out to me. I nod at the gown she has on. “Do you want to pull your gown down a little? The nurse said the heat and our heartbeat helps soothe them.”
She pulls the sleeves down, and I do my best to ignore the large rounded breast she flashes me as she pulls it down and then uses the gown to cover her breast again. When she’s situated, I lay our baby on her chest and she seems to take a deep breath, sigh, and then go right on sleeping.
I give Gracie time with her. I stand next to the bed, but I let Gracie count her fingers and toes, touch her hair and cheek. Everything I did when I first met our little miracle.
Gracie looks up at me. “Did I traumatize Lakelyn and Tate?”
I laugh. “Tate definitely looked uneasy about it all, but I’m pretty sure Lakelyn was fine. I thanked them for taking care of you until I got here. They said they’ll stop in and see you when they come see Violet.”
The silence builds as we look at one another. She blinks up at me, tearfully. “I’m sorry for what I did and how I left. I didn’t want to, but I really didn’t have a choice.”
I take a deep breath. I didn’t want to do this now. I wanted her to recover before we get into all of it, but obviously she wants to get it off her chest. “You always have a choice, Gracie.” She rears back suddenly, and the baby starts to cry.
Gracie’s eyes go big, and I know the medicine in her body is still making her groggy and not altogether with it. “She’s probably hungry.”
The screams get louder just as the nurse comes in. “Well, it looks like our little lady is hungry. Do you want the bottle now?”
Gracie instantly shakes her head. “No, I’d like to try and feed her myself.” Her cheeks turn pink.
Gracie lowers the gown and moves our baby to her breast. She instantly starts to root and suck at her. I’m in awe, and I can’t take my eyes off them. I don’t know how long I stand there before Gracie nudges me. “Will you put a shirt on?”
I had forgotten that I was still without my shirt. I look at her questioningly, and she grimaces and nods at the nurse. I look at the nurse and instead of watching mom and baby, she’s watching me. I walk back over to the chair and pull my shirt on. “I think we’re good, right, Gracie? You need anything, baby?”
I can tell she appreciates the endearment. “No, I think I have everything I need.”
I nod, and the nurse leaves in a huff.
I lean down on the bed to watch them. “Have you picked out a name?”
She shakes her head and shrugs. “I had a few but wasn’t dead set on any of them. Now that you’re here, I think we should pick it together.”
I brush the hair off her face and smile at her. “I think that’s a great idea.” I reach for the paperwork they left with me earlier and hold it up for her to see. “I filled out all the information I know.”
“You remembered my birth date?”
“Yeah, I met you on your eighteenth birthday.”
She scans the paperwork. “You put your address in Whiskey Run as my address.”
“I sure did. Because that’s where you and baby Savage are going after here. I know it’s not much.”
“Aiden, don’t say that. I want to stay with you, but there are things you don’t know. Things that may change your mind about me and our baby.”
I pull the chair up to the bed. “Okay, name. We can’t keep calling her baby. Let’s do that first.”
She nods. “What are you thinking?
“How about Jessica?” I ask.
She gasps. “That’s my mother’s name.”
I stroke my hand up and down her arm. “I know. When you left, I did everything to find out everything I could about you and your family. I know you were close to her. But if it’s going to be a bad reminder—"
“No! I love it, thank you Aiden.”
I use my other hand to stroke along Jessica’s back. “So Jessica it is.”
Gracie nods and lifts Jessica higher to softly tap on her back to burp her. I try not to stare at Gracie’s uncovered breast. “Okay, so that’s settled. So I know that you have some kind of secret or something that you think is going to change how I feel about you.”
She nods, but before she can say anything, I hold my hand up. “I’m going to let you tell me what this is so we can take care of it. But I want you to know right now, there’s nothing that you can say that will change how I feel about you. You are mine, Gracie. You were mine nine months. I’m going to take you and Jessica home with me, and I’m going to give you the best life. We are going to buy a house, get married and probably have more babies if you’re up to it.”
11
Gracie
Oh my God, he’s saying all the right things. But how can I do this to him? Possibly destroy his whole life just so I can be with him.
I shake my head about to tell him to forget it when Jessica sighs against my neck.
But he’s already shaking his head. “That’s how, Gracie. It’s not just about you anymore. You have to think about your daughter.” So in one rush I lay it all out for him.
“My father found out about you and me. He sent me away and told me if I came near you that he would destroy your business and run you out of Whiskey Run.”
The more I say the angrier he gets. He’s gripping the rail of the bed like it’s a lifeline. Each word he says is deeply enunciated, and his face is red like he’s barely keeping it together. “If you believe I would just walk out on you . . . that I would leave—”
I shake my head. I’m completely screwing this up. “No, that’s not it at all. It’s the opposite. I knew you wouldn’t walk away, and I couldn’t do that to you. You would have lost everything because of me. But now I have Jessica . . . and it gets worse, Aiden.” Tears spring to my eyes. “He found out I was pregnant, and my aunt told me that he planned...” I take a deep breath, finding it hard to even say it out loud. “He planned to take the baby and sell it.”
“Over my fuckin’ dead body.”
I start to cry for real. “Oh Aiden, don’t say that.”
He grabs on to my hand and threads his fingers with mine. “Gracie, what do you know about me and my family?”
I can feel heat on my cheeks. “I don’t know . . . We mostly talked about art. And even then we didn’t do a lot of talking.”
He laughs. “You’re right about that.” He strokes his thumb across my wrist. The baby is making little cooing noises, and I pull her in even closer.
“So, my uncle—my mom’s brother—is Jax Walker.”
My mouth drops. “Jax Walker?”
He nods. “Yeah, he owns the Whiskey Run Distillery. He actually owns most of Whiskey Run.”
“I know Jax Walker. He’s the one guy that my father has made sure to steer clear of.”
“Well, that was pretty smart at least. But let me tell you, Gracie. With or without my uncle’s protection, no one is going to hurt you or Jessica.”
Aiden
I put my hand around her neck and force her to look at me. “Do you trust me?”
It’s the same question I asked her the day we met.
She doesn’t hesitate. “I do, Aiden. But I also don’t want anything to happen to you.”
<
br /> “Nothing’s going to happen to me. I have too much to live for now, Gracie.”
She puts her hand on my chest and bunches the shirt in her fingers. “Will you ever forgive me, Aiden?”
I cover her hand with mind and hold it. My heart is racing in my chest because when she left me nine months ago, I never dreamed I would get her back. I had wished and prayed on my knees every day for it, but I was so close to giving up hope.
“I’ve already forgiven you, Gracie. But you can’t ever leave me again.” I squeeze her hand tighter. “Promise me. Promise you’ll never leave me again.”
“I promise.”
Before she even gets the words out, I press my lips to hers. With Jessica between us, I’m holding my whole life in my arms. Nothing else matters.
12
Gracie
They say you should sleep when the baby sleeps, and that’s no lie. Besides being exhausted, I’m happy for the first time in a long time.
The doctors came in and said Jessica and I are both doing great, but they are keeping me until tomorrow. Tate and Lakelyn both stopped by when they came to see Violet and Josh Jr. earlier.
I also talked to my Aunt Bethany, and she was so excited about the baby and the fact that Aiden is here with me. Well, he’s not with me now.
Now, I’m sitting here in bed with two men staring at me. Aiden had to go take care of some baby plans for the apartment. I assured him I’d be fine by myself, but he wasn’t having it.
So, I have the one and only Jax Walker sitting in the corner of my hospital room holding his great niece on his chest.
In the other chair is a brooding friend of Aiden’s, Treyton Cree. He’s a tattoo artist too.
