He dragged a hand across his face. “Her fever broke an hour ago, I took her temperature myself.”
“Good.” She breathed out a sigh of relief. “I don’t wanna get up from here.”
“Then don’t.” He pushed her up, situated them, and pulled the blanket they kept on the back of the couch down, placing it over top of them. “Let’s get some sleep,” he whispered, reaching up to turn the light out on the table that sat next to their couch.
That sounded like the best idea she’d ever heard in her life.
Sometime in the wee early morning hours, Meredith knew she was in trouble. Her stomach clenched and then unclenched, saliva pooled in her mouth, and her head swam. Fighting to leap up off the couch, afraid that she was going to puke all over Tyler, she tried to break his hold on her.
“Let me go,” she yelled at him, as she struggled to stand and run to the bathroom.
Tyler came in after her, holding her hair back as she lost everything in her stomach.
“Shit.” She leaned her head against the porcelain finish, glad for the coolness against her face. When Tyler nudged her, holding out a wash cloth, she gratefully accepted it.
“You okay?” he asked as he rubbed her back.
She shook her head as she again tossed her cookies. This was going to be a very long morning.
“Yeah, I’m really worried about her.”
Meredith could hear Tyler’s voice, but it sounded like it came from a million miles away. She’d tried to move further than ten feet from the bathroom, but it hadn’t worked out for her. For hours, she’d puked. Her stomach was sore, her throat was burning, and she knew from looking in the mirror at some point that her eyes were bloodshot. She had no idea what Tyler was doing, and at this point, she absolutely didn’t give a shit.
“Since B’s been in the school system and had this a week ago, I figured she’d be okay to watch Addie,” Tyler’s voice trailed off as she tried to focus on what he was saying.
Addie, she’d forgotten Addie. She needed to go check on her, but she couldn’t make herself get up from the cool linoleum floor. It felt so good against her hot skin, but she shivered too, moaning her appreciation when she felt a thin blanket put over her. She pulled it up around her neck and tried to drift off to sleep.
“We’re gonna get you some help, baby,” she heard Tyler again. “Just hang in there for a little while longer.”
It seemed like forever until he heard the soft knock at their front door. Getting up from the bathroom floor, he quickly made his way to the front of the house and opened it, letting B and Jagger in.
“Thank you so much for coming,” he told them.
“Not a problem,” B told him. She had gotten out of bed, put on some sweats, her hair into a ponytail, and rushed over here, Jagger driving her Mustang, because he loved to drive it fast. “Why don’t you let Jagger drive you to the ER? You look beat,” she told the big man.
“I think I’ll be fine,” he argued.
“No.” Jagger put his hand on Tyler’s arm. “She’s right, you look tired as hell. No reason you should get into a wreck trying to get her there. It’s not that big of a deal. I don’t care to drive you and stick around.”
“I’ll be here, disinfecting,” B told him, holding up a bag of cleaning products. “This is not a pretty virus, and if you’re not puking yet, you’re lucky.”
“Okay.” He nodded. It wasn’t normal for him to let other people take charge, but right now he just wanted to get Meredith help. He knew she was getting dehydrated; he’d never seen anyone puke as much as she had, had never seen anyone that sick in his life. “Let me go get her.”
“Wait.” B stopped him, a hand on his shoulder. “When was the last time you took Addie’s temp?”
He fought to remember. It had been before they fell asleep, and then he had been consumed with Meredith since he’d woken up. He hadn’t even thought to check on his daughter. “Hours,” he admitted, swallowing roughly. “I didn’t even think to check on her.” He ran a hand through his hair and then let it drop to his side.
“I’m sure she’s fine, Ty,” B told him, encouragement strong in her voice. “I’m just gonna go check on her.”
He watched her walk towards Addie’s room and then turned towards the bathroom. “We’ll take the SUV in case Meredith gets sick again. I’d hate to mess up the Mustang.”
Within minutes, he’d roused her, and B had checked on Addie and confirmed she was sleeping peacefully. Before they walked out of the house, Bianca shoved a trash bag in their hands. “Just in case. A car ride might not be the best thing in the world for her right now.”
Tyler took the trash bag, thanking her, before he made his way out to the SUV that Jagger had pulled to the front of the house. Bianca watched as they left, hoping that they could give Meredith something to settle her stomach; she hadn’t looked good, at all. Sighing, she grabbed her bag of cleaning supplies and went about disinfecting the house. At least that was something she could do while she waited.
Chapter Eighteen
Usually Tyler Blackfoot was a very patient man. He’d been known to wait for hours, sometimes days or weeks, for the person he was watching to slip up. They always hung themselves, and he was always there to catch them. That patience had left him the minute Ashley met them at the doors to the emergency room and leveled him with a stare. She could tell he wasn’t going to let them do what they needed to, so she told him to wait outside. It had taken Jagger talking softly in his ear to calm him down. He’d reminded him that Meredith needed help and it would be best if they could work on her without him hovering.
That had been two hours ago. “Shouldn’t we know something by now?”
Jagger thought they should, but he also though that for his own good, he shouldn’t mention that. “You want me to go see if I can find anything out?”
Tyler knew that his height and his looks intimidated most people. Pretty boy Jagger could get away with anything, he could make people talk. “Please, I just need to know that she’s okay. You understand that.”
They both knew Jagger did understand that. One time they had waited at this hospital to make sure that Bianca was going to be alright after she’d had a run-in with a stalker principal. Trying to think back to the last time he’d been here, Tyler closed his eyes. They’d been here when Tatum had been born. That was also the day Jessica had come to live with them. So much of his life was connected with the club—in reality he knew it, but it wasn’t until he sat down and thought about it that he realized it. What would he do if Meredith was no longer a part of that? He shook his head; now he was reaching. She’d been puking. It wasn’t like she was going to die.
Jagger ran over to him. “Hey, I ran into Ashley, she said we can go back.”
They made their way to the doors that lead to the rooms, and Tyler punched the metal disc that opened them, squeezing through before they opened fully.
“Over here.” Ashley waved them over. “I’m warning you now, don’t talk over me, ’cause I haven’t told Meredith anything yet either. I wanted to make sure I was right before I did.” She pointed a finger at Tyler, her gaze serious.
What the fuck did that mean? He wanted to ask and he wanted to know the answer before he walked into the room, but Ashley was notoriously tight-lipped. Jagger stood outside the room. “I’ll wait on ya, make sure nobody interrupts.”
Steeling himself against whatever news this could be, Tyler drew in a large breath, letting it fill his lungs, and forced himself to relax before he entered the room.
“How are you doin?” he asked Meredith as he hurried over to her bedside. She looked a lot better than she had a few hours ago, but he quickly took stock of the needle in her hand, the IV situated to the side, and the machine that was also in the room.
“Been better.” She licked her dry lips. “But I’m starting to feel more human. I just wanna know what the hell is going on.”
“Makes two of us.” He leaned down and kissed her on the forehead, smo
othing back her bangs.
“I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to get to the two of you, and I’m sorry I had to poke and prod you, Meredith, but I wanted to be absolutely sure about this before I said anything.”
Meredith reached up, grabbing Tyler’s hand tightly in hers. This was going to be awful news. They were going to tell her she was sick, or even worse, she was dying. She wasn’t sure she could take it. Her heart pounded in her chest, and she felt for sure that she was going to get sick again.
“Just tell us. I can’t take the waiting anymore,” Tyler told her.
Ashley smiled slowly at the two of them. “Meredith has a virus. It’s the stomach virus that’s been going around.”
“Well I could have told you that,” Tyler breathed out, looking at her like she’d lost her mind.
“Remember I told you to shut the fuck up and let me tell you what I had to tell you?”
Those weren’t the exact words she’d used, but they did the trick, and Tyler didn’t utter another word.
“Now.” She had a seat on the rolling chair. “The way we diagnose virally is to take a blood sample. We generally run many tests when we take those blood samples. I specifically did with you, because to be honest, I was a little worried about appendicitis. Thankfully, that’s not what we’re dealing with here, but I want the two of you to listen to me closely and know that I’m telling you the truth.”
For years, even though she and Meredith had started off on the wrong foot, Ashley had been one of the people who Meredith had come to—usually to voice her fears about not getting pregnant. It was Ashley who had set up all the appointments to get them tested, it was Ashley who had told them they were both perfectly fine and they had no need to worry, and it was Ashley who had waited monthly for an excited text that never came.
“Okay, I understand,” Meredith told her, but the fear was there, it was apparent in her eyes.
“The reason this virus hit you so hard? You’re pregnant, Mer. From the last menstrual cycle you gave me, I’m guessing you’re twelve weeks. I’m thinking it’s a Fourth of July baby, or around that week.” Ashley’s smile was so wide, it almost broke her face.
“Are you sure?” Meredith didn’t look happy at all. “I’m not regular, not since everything I did to try and have a baby before. It’s not unusual for me to go months with no cycle. It’s not unusual for me to feel awful somewhere in between there. Are you sure?” she asked again.
Tyler sat beside his wife, a look of complete wonderment on his face.
“I figured you’d say that,” Ashley told her as she fired up the machine that sat next to her. “We’re going to do a vaginal ultrasound, so that I can show you. Okay? We wanna make sure this baby is doing fine after all the puking you’ve done. This will also tell us a little more about how far along you are.”
Meredith nodded, her mind spinning. Another doctor had come into the room and stood beside Ashley.
“This is Dr. Metcalfe. He’s an ob/gyn. You know I can do most everything, but delivering babies is not my specialty. It’s his. He’s a highly recommended doctor and a personal friend; I wanted you to have the best.” Ashley grinned over at them, tears in her eyes as she stood and allowed him her spot. She went to stand on the other side of Meredith, putting a hand on the arm that Tyler wasn’t holding for dear life.
“It’s a pleasure to meet the both of you, and Ashley has told me about your history. Let’s get you checked out,” he said as took a seat and flipped the lights, getting into position.
“I figured I’d gained a little weight,” she whispered as she looked down at her stomach. It was fuller than it had been, but not overly so.
“You probably have,” Ashley patiently explained. “But that’s good, we want you to.”
As Tyler opened his mouth to ask a question, a loud thumping filled the room, and on the machine, they could clearly make out a dark mass.
“Here we go,” Dr. Metcalfe said, moving the wand around. “We have a good, steady heartbeat. Doesn’t look like the baby is in distress at all. Do you two want to know about how far along you are?”
“Ashley said she thought Fourth of July,” Tyler whispered, looking at the screen in awe.
“I’d say she’s about right, you look to be twelve weeks. Everything looks perfect. I’ll give you some prenatal vitamins before you leave here, and I’ll give you the number to my office to set up your first appointment. Congratulations, mom and dad, you’ve almost made it through the first trimester.”
Neither one of them could believe this.
“I’m never pregnant,” Meredith sobbed, finally uttering words, tears streaming unchecked down her face.
Ashley leaned down, tears of her own trailing on her cheeks. “You are now, honey. You are having a baby.”
Meredith lifted her head up so she could see Tyler. “This is real, right?” she questioned him, needing his reassurance.
He leaned down, so their cheeks rested together. “This is as real as it gets. Addie’s about to be a big sister.”
Those were the sweetest words she’d ever heard.
Chapter Nineteen
Both Meredith and Tyler were dazed as they left the hospital. She held a prescription bag with pre-natal vitamins and Zofran in her hand as she got into the back of the SUV. Neither she nor Tyler had said a word for a while; both were lost in their own thoughts. It was early morning, the sun had already risen, and people were starting to go about their day.
“Do you think you could handle some breakfast? Do you want me to stop and grab something?” Jagger asked softly from his spot behind the steering wheel in the driver’s seat.
“Yes.” Meredith nodded. “I think I could handle some food, and I’m really thirsty.”
“What about you big man?” He looked over at Tyler.
“I could eat.”
Jagger shook his head. He’d never seen the two of them so out of it. If he hadn’t known how badly the two of them wanted a child, he would have thought they weren’t happy about the situation. The truth of the matter was, though, he did know how much they’d wanted a child; he could appreciate that they were shell-shocked. Didn’t mean it wasn’t kind of eerie for him to be sitting there with them and neither one talking. Pulling the car through the drive-through of a fast food place, he at least got them to say if they wanted sausage, ham, bacon, or chicken.
They were quiet again as they ate their food and Jagger drove them back towards their house.
“Are you two okay?” he asked, unable to stand the silence any longer.
From the back seat, Meredith answered. “I’m honestly not sure. It’s not that I’m unhappy,” she tried to explain. “I’m in shock.”
“Same here,” Tyler agreed.
Jagger could understand that and knew, at some point, it would sink in and they would be the happiest people on the planet. He pulled into the driveway and parked. As they got out and walked into the house, B turned to face him, Addie on her hip. It hit him like a square punch in the gut. Maybe it was time for them to talk about things, but he knew now wasn’t the time to bring it up.
“Are you okay?” she asked Meredith as she glimpsed the hospital bracelet still on her wrist, the bag of pills on her arm.
Falling onto the couch, she glanced up at her friend, a small smile playing on her face. “I’m pregnant.”
“What?” B squealed, her smile bright. “Addie, you’re gonna be a big sister.” She bounced the baby up in the air.
Jagger could tell that the other couple was still trying to process the news they’d been given. “B, they’ve had a long night. Why don’t we take Addie to the clubhouse and let them get some sleep? Give them some time to come to grips with what they’ve been told.”
Meredith could have kissed him. “Could you keep our news between the two of you?”
“Sure, whenever you’re ready, just give us a call, and we’ll bring Addie back,” B told her, leaning down to hug her.
“We’re taking your car though; we
can’t get a damn car seat in the back of that Mustang,” Jagger said as they walked out the front door. He held it open, waiting for Bianca to grab Addie’s stuff. “We’ll be back later on this evening. You two relax and be happy, things are gonna be good.”
They had sat there for almost an hour in silence before Meredith had the courage to speak. “Is he right, are things going to be good?”
Her strong husband grunted, scrubbing a hand across his face. “I don’t know, and maybe that’s what scares me the most.”
She got up and started pacing behind the couch. “My biggest fear is if I allow myself to be happy about this, it’s going to go away. I’m going to miscarry, and then we’ve gotten excited for nothing. I’ve never been able to get pregnant before, what if I can’t carry the baby?” she questioned, tears in her eyes.
“Don’t even go there.”
“That’s the first place I went.” She threw her hands up in the air. “Do you know what would happen to me if I lost this baby?”
“You’d make it through, just like you make it through everything. You’re tough as hell, Mer. I wouldn’t have married you if you weren’t. You’re a hell of a woman.”
“That’s it, Tyler.” She walked around the couch and had a seat, the mask she wore to protect her feelings gone. “I know myself. This will break me if it doesn’t happen. Not even with Addie will I be able to come back from it.”
Frustration made him pull a hand through his hair. “You think that way, and the ‘damage’,” he made air quotes with his fingers, “is done. We haven’t ever used protection since we got married; we just figured we couldn’t have kids. Well, guess what. It happened, our dream came true. Now are you going to appreciate it, or are you going to be fucking miserable about it?”
She recoiled from his tone. “Don’t yell at me, Blackfoot.”
“Then stop being a brat.” He blew out a deep breath. “I understand that you don’t want to count on this, I understand that you’re confused about how this happened. I am too, even though all the doctors told us we were fine. It’s not something I ever let myself get excited about. Guess what, now it’s happened and we have six more months—we can’t drive ourselves crazy with it. I’ve never been scared of anything in my life, and I’m not gonna start now. We’re going to enjoy this.”
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