by Maya Banks
At two in the morning, she was lying in bed, in the dark, staring toward the window at the full moon spilling through the panes. She’d just closed her eyes and considered that she might finally fall asleep when sharp pain lanced through her side, stealing her breath with its intensity.
She drew her knees up in automatic defense, and another tearing pain ripped through her abdomen. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t even process what she needed to do.
When the agony let up, she rolled toward the edge of the bed. Fear was as strong as the pain now. Fear for her child. Was she losing her baby?
Tears blurred her vision as she groped for a handhold. Her feet dangled above the floor when pain assaulted her again. She fell the rest of the way, landing with a thump on her side. She lay there, gasping for air, tears rolling down her cheeks as wave upon wave of pain shredded her insides.
Piers, she had to get to Piers.
She pushed her palm down on the surface of the floor, trying to lever herself up. The pain was unrelenting now. Nausea rolled through her stomach, swelling in her throat until she gagged.
She clamped her mouth shut and took deep breaths through her nose.
“Piers!”
It sounded weak, and her door was closed.
“Piers!” she said louder, and collapsed again when pain slashed through her side again.
Oh God, he wasn’t coming. He probably couldn’t hear her, and she couldn’t get up.
Tears slipped faster down her cheeks, and she moaned helplessly as the tearing sensation overwhelmed her.
Then she heard the door fly open. The light flipped on, and footsteps thumped across the floor.
“Jewel! What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”
Piers knelt beside her, his hands flying across her body and her stomach. He started to turn her, and she cried out in pain.
“Tell me what’s wrong, yineka mou. Tell me how to help you,” he said desperately.
“Hurt,” she gasped out. “I hurt so much.”
“Where?”
“My side, my stomach. Low—around my pelvis. God, I don’t know. It hurts everywhere.”
“Shhh, I’ll take care of you,” he said soothingly. “It’ll be all right. I promise.”
He gathered her in his arms and lifted her up.
“Will you be all right if I lay you on the bed for a moment? I need to get dressed, and then I’ll drive you to the hospital.”
She nodded against his chest, unable to form even a simple word.
He strode into his bedroom and settled her on the same bed they’d made love in the night before. His scent surrounded her, and oddly, offered her comfort.
It seemed to take him forever to dress, but finally he was back, pulling her to him. He hurried down the stairs and outside into the chilly night.
“I’m going to put you in the backseat so you can lie down,” he murmured. “I’ll have you at the hospital quickly. Try to hold on, yineka mou.”
She curled into a ball as soon as he put her down and clenched her fingers into tight fists to combat the urge to scream.
Not the baby. Please don’t let it be the baby.
She barely registered the car stopping or Piers picking her up again. There were voices around her, a prick in her arm, the cold sheets of a bed, bright lights and then a strange man peering down into her eyes.
“Mrs. Anetakis, can you hear me?”
She nodded and tried to speak. Piers squeezed her hand—how long had he been there holding it?
“The cyst on your ovary has caused your tube to torque. I’ve called in your obstetrician. He wants us to prep you for surgery.”
A low whimper erupted from her throat. Piers moved closer to her, smoothing his free hand through her hair in a comforting gesture.
“It will be all right, yineka mou. The doctor has assured me that you will receive the best care. Our baby will be just fine.”
Our baby, she thought drowsily. Had he said our baby or was she imagining it? She couldn’t quite get her thoughts together. The pain had diminished and she felt like she was floating on a light cloud.
“What did you do to me?” she asked.
She heard a light chuckle from the nurse at her head.
“Just something to make you more comfortable. We’ll be wheeling you in to surgery in just a moment.”
“Piers?”
“I’m here, yineka mou.” Again his hand stroked her hair, and she turned into his palm, her eyes fighting to stay open.
“You said our baby. You believe she’s yours?”
There was a hesitation, and she blinked harder to keep him in focus. There were worry lines crowding his forehead. Was he concerned for the baby?
“Yes, she is mine,” he said huskily. “She’s our daughter, and you’ll take good care of her during the surgery, I’m sure. Rest now and don’t try to speak. Let the medicine take the pain away.”
She gripped his hand tightly, afraid that if she let go, he’d leave. The bed going into motion startled her, and she pulled his hand closer.
“Don’t go.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” he said soothingly.
His lips brushed across her forehead, and she relaxed, closing her eyes and allowing the pain to leave her.
The voices dimmed around her. Then Piers kissed her again and told her softly that he would be waiting for her. Why? Where was he going? She wanted to ask but couldn’t muster the energy to do anything more than lie there.
The bed rolled again and suddenly she was in a frigid room. She was lifted and transferred to a much harder surface, and it was cold. A cheerful voice sounded in her ear and asked her to count backward from ten.
She opened her mouth to comply but nothing came out. She even managed to open her eyes, but by the time she mentally made it to eight, everything went black.
* * *
Piers paced the confines of the surgery waiting room like a caged lion, edgy and impatient. He checked his watch again only to find that three minutes had passed since the last time he’d checked it. Damn it, how long would it take? Why weren’t they telling him anything?
“Piers, how is she?”
Piers looked up to see Theron striding into the waiting room, his hair rumpled as if he’d rolled out of bed and onto the plane. But then he had. Piers felt guilty for dragging his brother out of bed in the middle of the night, but he was grateful to have him here.
Piers briefly embraced his brother and the two sat down.
“I don’t know yet. They took her in a few hours ago, but I haven’t heard anything since.”
“What happened? Is the baby all right?”
“The cyst on her ovary caused a tubal torsion. She was in unspeakable pain so they took her to surgery to remove the cyst and probably the tube as well. She was scheduled for surgery in a week’s time anyway so this just moved up the timeline.”
“And the baby?”
“There are…risks, but they’ve assured me they’ll do everything they can to prevent anything from happening to the baby.”
“How long has she been in surgery?”
“Four hours,” Piers said bleakly. “What could be taking so long?”
“You’ll hear something soon,” Theron said comfortingly. “Have you called Chrysander?”
Piers shook his head. “There was no need. It would take him too long to get off the island and come here. By the time he did, it would all be over with.”
“Still, you should call him. He’d want to know, he and Marley both.”
“I’ll call them when I know how she is.”
The two brothers sat in the waiting room. After a while Theron left and returned with coffee for the both of them. Piers sipped the lukewarm brew, not really tasting it.
“You’re different, you know.”
Piers looked up in surprise. “What are you talking about?”
“You seem more settled…more content even. I noticed it in your eyes when we were here for the wedding.”
>
“As opposed to what?” he asked mockingly.
“As opposed to the way you’ve existed ever since Joanna screwed you over and left with Eric.”
Piers flinched. No one ever mentioned Eric to his face. He was sure his family probably said a lot behind his back, but never when he was around. The pain was still too fresh.
“Don’t ruin your chance at happiness, Piers. This is your chance to have it all.”
“Or lose it all again. Maybe I already have.”
“What do you mean?”
Piers took another gulp of the coffee and put the cup aside.
“She was going to leave me in the morning. Her bags were already packed when I found her on the floor in terrible pain.”
“Want to talk about it?” Theron asked carefully. “I’ve been accused of being dense once or twice by a certain woman in my life.”
“You seem so sure it’s me who is the problem,” Piers said dryly.
“You’re a man, and men are always in the wrong. Haven’t you learned anything yet?”
The corner of Piers’s mouth lifted in a smile. Then he sobered. “I was an ass.”
“Yes, well, it won’t be the last time. It seems an inherent part of our genetic makeup.”
“A male friend of hers showed up yesterday to come to her rescue. I didn’t take it very well.”
“No one can blame you for that. It’s part of being territorial.”
Piers snorted. “Next you’ll be telling me that we’re all cavemen stomping around and marking our territory like dogs.”
“Quite an image you’ve conjured there, little brother. I imagine that’s precisely what we do, just not in the literal sense.”
Theron glanced sideways at Piers.
“So she was going to leave you because you didn’t appreciate her male friend showing up?”
“I might have accused him of fathering her child and the two of them of running a scam to extort money from me.”
Theron winced. “Damn, when you decide to pull off the gloves, you go for the full monty.”
“As I said, I was an ass. I was angry. I told her that I wouldn’t grant her a divorce, and she told me to take my settlement and go to hell.”
“Doesn’t sound much like a woman after your money, does it?”
He’d thought the same thing himself.
“I want to trust her, Theron.”
“And that frightens you.”
And there it was in a nutshell. Funny how his brother cut so quickly to the heart of the matter. Yes, he wanted to trust her, but he was afraid, and it infuriated him.
“I don’t want to ever allow a woman that much power over me again.”
Theron sighed and put his hand on Piers’s shoulder. “I understand, really I do. But you can’t shut yourself away from the world for the rest of your life just because you got hurt once.”
“Hurt?” Piers made a derisive sound. “I wish it was only hurt. She took from me what I loved most in the world. Somehow that goes beyond simple hurt.”
“Still, as cliché as it sounds, life goes on. I want you to be happy, Piers. Chrysander and I worry about you. You can’t go on traveling from one hotel to another your entire life. At some point you need to settle down and start a family. Jewel has given you that opportunity. Perhaps you should make the most of it. Give her a chance.”
“Mr. Anetakis.”
Both men yanked their heads up as a nurse appeared in the waiting room.
“Mrs. Anetakis is out of surgery. You can visit her in recovery for a moment if you like.”
Piers shot up and hurried over to the nurse. “Is she all right? The baby?”
The nurse smiled. “Mother and baby are fine. The surgery went well. The doctor will stop in to talk to you in recovery before she’s taken to a room. She’s going to be very groggy, but you can talk to her for a moment if you like.”
“I’ll wait here,” Theron said. “You go ahead.”
“Thank you,” Piers said sincerely. Then he turned to follow the nurse to see Jewel.
CHAPTER 13
Her pain was different. It wasn’t as agonizingly sharp as before. Instead it had settled to a dull ache, not as deep as it had been, but on the surface. Jewel tried to shift and gasped when it felt as though her belly had been ripped in two.
“Careful, yineka mou. You mustn’t try to move. Tell me what it is you need, and I will help you.”
Piers. She opened her eyes, squinting as the light speared her eyeballs. She quickly shut them again and cautiously opened them a slit as she tried to bring him into focus.
And then she remembered.
“The baby,” she whispered. She reached her hands out in panic, feeling for her belly then gasping as more pain crashed through her system.
Piers took her hands and pulled them gently away from her belly.
“The baby is fine, as are you. See?” He carefully levered one of her hands to the swell of her belly but wouldn’t allow her to exert any pressure.
She looked down at the unfamiliar feel of bulky bandages, but the swell was still evident. Tears flooded her eyes as her insides caved in relief.
“I was so afraid. I can’t lose her, Piers. She’s everything to me.”
He cupped her cheek and rubbed his thumb over the damp trail underneath her eye. “Your surgery was a success. The doctor says the baby is doing well. They’ve been monitoring you for contractions.” He gestured toward a machine at the side of her bed. “See? You can see and hear her heartbeat.”
She turned her head and tuned into the soft whop whop whop sound that echoed in the still room.
“It’s really her?”
Piers smiled. “Yes, our daughter is making her presence known.”
She caught her breath as suddenly she remembered the scene just before they’d taken her to surgery. At first she thought surely she’d imagined it, but no, here again he was staking his claim. Why had he changed his mind?
“Thank you for getting me here so quickly,” she said in a low voice. “I was so afraid I wouldn’t be able to get to you.”
He sobered as he gazed intently at her, his dark eyes seeming to absorb her. “You wouldn’t have suffered for as long as you did if I had been there with you. From now on, you’ll sleep in my room in my bed so if anything like this happens again, I’ll know immediately. I don’t like to think what could have happened if I hadn’t heard you call out.”
She processed his statement, blinking the cloudiness from her mind. Everything was so fuzzy, and he confused her more than ever. It was as if their argument had never happened, as though he hadn’t accused her of trying to pawn off another man’s child on him.
“There will be plenty of time to talk later,” he chided gently. “You’re worn out and in pain. You need rest. I’ll be here when you wake up. You can ask the questions I see burning in your eyes then.”
She shook her head and winced when the movement caused a ripple of pain through her belly. “No, I have to know now. You said—implied—some terrible things, Piers. I won’t stay with a man who thinks so little of me, not even for my daughter. Kirk is willing to help me get back on my feet. I should have called him in the first place.”
“But you didn’t,” he said mildly. “You called me, as you should have. I think it best if we leave Kirk out of the equation.”
She started to protest but he held a finger over her lips.
“Shhh, don’t upset yourself. I owe you an apology, yineka mou. I’m sure it won’t be the last I ever have to offer you. I would appreciate your patience with me. I’m not an easy man. I realize this. I should not have implied what I did. From this day forward, we go on as a family. You’re having my child. We owe it to her to be a solid parental unit, not one where I continually upset you and cause you such stress. If you’ll give me another chance, I’ll prove to you that our marriage will work.”
She stared at him in absolute stupefaction. His sincerity was etched on his face. His eyes burned with it. There
was no arrogance to his voice, just simple regret.
Something inside her chest, perilously close to her heart, unfurled and loosened. Forgotten for a brief moment was the pain that throbbed in her abdomen and the fuzziness caused by the pain medication. Warmth, blessed and sweet, hummed through her veins. Hope. It had been so long since she’d felt such a thing that she hadn’t identified it at first. For the first time, she had hope.
He drew her hand to his mouth and pressed a soft kiss inside her palm. “Do you forgive me? Will you give me another chance to make things right?”
“Yes, of course,” she whispered, her voice so shaky that her words came out in barely a croak.
“And you’ll stay? There’ll be no more talk of leaving?”
She shook her head, too choked to say anything more.
“You won’t regret it, yineka mou,” he said gravely. “We can make this work. We can do this.”
She smiled and then grimaced as pain radiated from the center of her body. Piers leaned forward, directing her attention to the small device lying beside her on the bed. He picked it up and pressed it into her palm.
“This is for pain. You press the button here, and it injects a small amount of medication into your IV. You can press it every ten minutes if you have the need.”
He depressed the button himself, and a split second later, she felt the slight burn as it entered her vein. The relief was almost instantaneous.
“Thank you.”
“I will take care of you and our baby,” he said solemnly. “I don’t want you to worry about a thing except to get better.”
She smiled up at him, her eyelids fluttering sleepily.
“Tired,” she said in a half murmur.
“Then sleep. I’ll be right here.”
She turned toward his voice, and when he started to move his hand from hers, she curled her fingers around his, keeping them laced. He relaxed and tightened his grip on her hand.
“When am I getting outta here?” she mumbled as she fought the veil of sleep.
He chuckled lightly. “There’s no hurry. You’ll leave when the doctor feels it’s safe for you to do so. In the meantime enjoy everyone fussing over you.”
“Just you,” she muttered just before she surrendered to the dark.
