by C. M. Owens
I am awake. I think… My eyes are closed… How did they close? When did they close?
“Just so you know,” comes a familiar voice, “Bella would want all those good people knowing. She’s just going to wake up and tell them.”
“Policy is policy, Berta. You know that.”
Something jostles, and then it starts to feel like I’m moving. Seconds turn into minutes, but I finally manage to open my eyes as the distinct ding of the elevator chimes.
Why the hell am I on an elevator?
Everything hurts as I sit up a little, watching as they move me down a familiar corridor. My eyesight adjusts to the glaring lights, allowing me to take in more of my surroundings.
Berta is beside me, holding my hand. It dawns on me that I’m in the hospital.
Hospital… No!
My baby!
Instinctively, I grab at my stomach, and Berta releases my hand, her eyes filling with relief as I move my hands lower, searching for the blood.
“My baby,” I croak, wincing at how dry my throat feels.
“Is just fine,” Berta says with a loud breath as we move into a room. “I’ll have to tell your boyfriend we had to change your room because the bed was broken on the other one. I just found out the baby was okay. You want to tell him or you want me to?”
“How?” I ask, then wince when pain shoots through my leg as I try to sit up and fail. “There was so much blood.”
“Yeah. You a fucking bleeder alright. Thought you nicked an artery when I found out that baby was just fine. Turns out you just needed some stitches in your leg. Don’t you ever scare me like that again.”
I pick the sheet up, and relief washes over me as I stare down at my freshly stitched leg. I remember a time when I bandaged Ethan’s same exact leg in the same exact spot.
The hospital gown is up high, and the guy pushing my bed down the hallway clears his throat, which lets me know he’s getting an eyeful. Where the hell are my underwear?
I’m too thankful to give a damn if I show the entire hospital everything under the gown right now.
My baby is okay.
Tears start pouring from my eyes, and Berta wipes at her own, sniffling as she turns away from me to hide the tears.
“That boy is tore up, so I’m gonna send him on to you. Okay?” she asks, and I nod, not bothering to tell her we’re not together anymore.
My baby is okay, and nothing else seems to matter at this moment. I thought I’d lost him or her. I thought I was being punished for not being excited right away. I thought my baby was being taken away because of how terribly I first reacted.
My hands clutch my stomach as they transfer me to the bed in the room, and my tears cease temporarily as too many other emotions overwhelm the relief.
“You’re sure everything’s okay?” I ask Berta again.
She turns and faces the guy who pushed me down here. “Go to the other room and send her friends to this one, please.”
He nods and backs out, and she turns to face me.
“That peanut is just fine. Don’t you worry. I made sure everything was good before I walked you up here. Those bastards wouldn’t tell me anything until then. They’re keeping you overnight for observation because of the blood loss and the baby. Apparently there was some kind of glass vase you broke when you landed at the bottom, and the glass cut your leg, which is how you ended up in here. I’ve lost all my damn fingernails over you and your free-bleeding ways. That’s not natural.”
A smile curves my lips, but she just twitches her finger at me. “I have to go grab a drink now. I’ll be back when I don’t feel like crying anymore. You handle that boy. He’s a mess.”
My smile fades when I think of Ethan. He’s probably worried about the baby too.
As soon as she leaves, the door bursts back open, and Ethan is walking in with wide, reddened eyes. Ethan Noles doesn’t cry, but it looks like he has been.
His footsteps pause for a beat, then he’s walking toward me again as relief fills him. When he crashes to the side of the bed and leans over me, I don’t know what to expect. But he carefully maneuvers around the numerous pads attached to me that are monitoring my vitals and my baby’s vitals, most likely.
Then he’s hugging me, pressing his lips to my forehead as his body shakes against me.
“I’m so sorry,” he says hoarsely.
“This wasn’t your fault,” I immediately point out, slipping my arms around his waist.
I’ve forgotten how good it feels to have him holding me, and that ache that’s been in my chest slowly starts to dull. When your world is rocked and tilted, you realize how instantaneously it can all be gone.
Nothing in the past seems to matter anymore, in this moment.
“I’m sorry for everything. I’m sorry I wasn’t there. I’m sorry I walked away the other night. I’m sorry I fucked everything up. I love you, and I’m sorry I didn’t say it sooner. Fuck, I’m so sorry about everything, Bella.”
My heart stills in my chest, and I replay his tortured words, wondering if I’ve heard him right.
“I’m so, so sorry about the baby,” he says in a pained whisper. “I swear I’m going to get you through this, and I won’t ever fuck anything up again. One day, if you want to, we can even try again.”
My brow furrows in confusion as he squeezes me tighter, kissing my forehead with such a soft graze.
“The baby?” I whisper.
His body shakes again, and I push him back. He relents, lifting off me promptly.
He turns his head away and wipes his face like he doesn’t want me seeing him. My heart breaks when I realize what he thinks.
“Ethan, no. No, shit. No. The baby is fine. Everything is fine.”
Why the hell didn’t they tell him already?
His head jerks to me, his brow crinkled with confusion.
“What? How? There was—”
I pull the sheet back, revealing my very exposed, freshly stitched leg. Ethan’s gaze darts to it, and I heave out a sad breath.
“We’ve come full circle. Broken glass. A jagged cut on my upper thigh. And a hospital. It’s even the same leg as yours. I needed stitches instead of bandages though.”
He swallows hard as his gaze flicks back to mine. “You’re okay though?”
I nod slowly.
“And our baby’s okay?”
I nod again, ignoring the tears pricking my eyes at hearing him say our baby.
His entire body visibly relaxes, and he drops to me, hugging me so tightly that it almost hurts. I’d hug him back, but he has my arms trapped right now.
“Fuck, Bella. I was so sure… I just… I didn’t realize how badly I wanted this baby until I thought he or she was gone.”
He eases his hold just enough for me to wrap my arms around his neck. After almost losing our baby, nothing else seems to matter. Everything toxic that was between us just disappears, and I cling to him, absorbing the way it feels.
“And you love me?” I whisper. “I thought you’d hate me once you realized you no longer had the future you envisioned.”
He tenses at that, and when he pulls back, he’s glaring at me. “Nothing is more important than you and our baby, Bella. Never would have been. I guess I suck at showing it, but everything else took a backseat the day I met you. I slowly shifted my priorities without even realizing it, and honestly, the fucking parties sucked after a while. It just gets old when there’s no one there that I care about, or anyone there who cares about me.”
My smile slowly crawls up, and he thumbs my chin. I don’t stop him when he bends down and kisses me, even though I’m annoyed with the fact it’s a soft brush of his lips, as though he’s afraid I’m made of glass.
When he pulls back, I cock an eyebrow.
“There’s an entire hallway full of people I need to go speak to. They all think—”
His words die, and he swallows audibly. I immediately feel guilt, and I nod as he walks out. They all think our baby was the cause of all the
blood, and I only had Allie listed as my family. Where the hell is she?
I know better than anyone how crazy they are about policy and procedure here.
Looking around, I spot my purse on the table. I guess Berta must have had it with her, because that’s where she was standing. I grab my phone from it, tossing it back on the table as I dial the girl in question.
Allie answers on the third ring.
“Holy shit, Bella, we’re coming back right now. We’re just a few hours away. I’m so, so, so sorry,” she says, sobbing. “I just found out. We didn’t have any signal, and—”
“I’m fine,” I interrupt. “And so is the baby.”
Her sobs get louder, and I grimace in pain when I try to sit up. Damn those stitches are tight.
“You are?” she asks.
“Yes. So don’t bother coming back. I just had some stitches. Everything is fine, and everyone else is here. Turns out it’s not just you and me anymore, kiddo.”
She laughs and cries at the same time, and I smile when the door opens.
“Love you, Bella,” she says softly.
“Love you, Allie. Gotta go. I have some adoring fans who wish to pat my tummy.”
She snorts, and I feel better just knowing she’s no longer panicking.
Brin walks in as I hang up, and she looks as relieved as I felt moments ago. Ruby comes in with her, and before I know it, both of them are crying and hugging me, and I’m hugging them back the best I can.
By the time they lean up, we’re all three blubbering messes, both of them apologizing to me like it’s their fault, and me apologizing to them for scaring everyone so badly. It takes me a minute to realize my room is absolutely full of people.
“Ethan had to deal with the police, but he’ll be right back,” Rye says, clearing his throat as he moves into the room.
“The police?” I ask, confused.
“Yeah. Long story. He was a little upset when he thought you’d… It’ll be fine. They’re being understanding, and he’s paying for the damage.”
Before I can question that, Arlene is walking in, drying her eyes on a tissue. She’s careful not to tackle me, but she holds me close, shaking as she sobs with relief. James Noles just silently observes us, but I swear it seems like he’s been crying. When Arlene withdraws, she wipes her eyes and has me promise to call her the second I leave.
I do promise her that.
It’s several minutes later when Ethan finally slips back in silently.
He quietly takes a seat in the corner, his eyes training themselves on me like he’s worried to look away, as each person here takes their turn at hugging me. Even Maverick’s eyes look a little watery when he comes and ruffles my hair like I’m a kid or something.
I guess emotion is a little awkward for him.
“Never again,” he says, pointing a finger at me. “You can’t scare us like that ever again.”
To know everyone was worried to death over nothing makes me feel all the guiltier.
Dale steps closer, and he looks as tired as I feel, as though this day has wrecked him. “I think you owe us all a drink, and since you can’t drink, you can be the designated driver.”
He forces a smile as I laugh lightly, but I nod as he moves on, going to speak with Ethan. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but Ethan’s eyes keep flicking to me.
Rain and Tria start talking to me, but I can’t hear the words they’re saying, because all of my attention is on Ethan. He said he loved me… That was when he thought we’d lost the baby.
At the risk of sounding overly analytical, I hope the horror of the thought losing the baby caused him didn’t force him to confess something he didn’t mean. Intense situations always bring about confessions not meant to be heard and emotions that aren’t truly there.
Within a couple of hours, it’s just Ethan and me, and he pulls a chair up next to my bed.
“You don’t have to stay,” I tell him as he flicks through the channels.
He doesn’t respond. Instead, he simply gets a little more comfortable by propping his feet up on the bed next to mine. I notice his shoes are missing, so apparently he plans to stay no matter what I say.
“Are you going to talk to me?” I ask him softly.
He shakes his head and clears his throat. “Can’t right now,” he says hoarsely.
Then I understand.
Instead of making it harder on him, I reach over and thread my fingers with his. He immediately clutches my hand, and we silently sit there, watching some random show, never even acknowledging the nurses as they come and go. When I close my eyes, the gentlest brush of soft lips finds my forehead, and that’s it.
Chapter 70
ETHAN
Mom and all the girls are working on the nursery today, so I guess I’ll be taking Bella to her house instead of mine.
Berta is waiting with her in the wheelchair when I get my car pulled around. Dale Sterling saw it about to be towed last night and moved it for me. I wouldn’t have cared about it until Bella had to be carried home and I had no ride to do it with.
It was hard as hell to leave her long enough to pull the car around.
When I reach her, she smiles a brittle smile, and I climb out just as she tries to stand up. I have her in my arms before she can fully straighten, and a surprised breath leaves her in a gasp.
“I can walk,” she says, but I don’t put her down until I have her in the front seat and even go so far as to buckle her up.
We ride in silence to her house, because I’m still struggling to speak. I was relieved and still terrified at the same time when she told me she hadn’t lost the baby. She didn’t lose our baby, but she could have. The call was too close, and now I’m fighting the urge to lock her away with bubble-wrap all over her.
Those stairs… She could have broken her neck or something. I don’t even want to think about what I would have done if she’d died.
A shudder wracks my body just as we pull up. I feel her eyes on me, but there are too many things going on in my head to try and talk to her right now.
Somehow I have to convince her to quit her damn job so I can have my eyes on her all the time. Fortunately, the hospital told her to take a couple of paid weeks off, so I have some time. I assume that has something to do with the phone call Corbin’s dad put in, raising hell that his son was treated like he had no authority when it mattered.
I guess Corbin was wrong about his father not still having his back too.
Bella doesn’t protest this time when I scoop her up, and I hold her against me, inhaling her scent.
Allie opens the door for us when we reach it, and her eyes burst into tears. She couldn’t get to the hospital before Bella fell asleep last night, and I wouldn’t let her wake her up. I really didn’t want her here today, but I knew Bella would, so I ceded this much.
Allie follows us into the living room, and I gently put Bella down so that the two can hug and gush and talk about how sickeningly close that came to being a hell of a lot worse than stitches.
What if the glass had stabbed her artery? What if the glass had stabbed her spine? What if she’d been paralyzed? What if? What if?
I’ve already gone through all those terrifying ‘what if’ scenarios and can’t handle hearing them all again.
No more stairs for Bella. Ever.
Fortunately, my house doesn’t have stairs. It’s a big home, but it’s not a beast like Tag’s or Maverick’s. I never saw the need in something that massive.
As Allie and Bella talk late into the day, I start growing increasingly agitated. That obsession has kicked up a notch higher since I damn near lost her and our child. All I want is to curl around her and hold her. Can’t do that when her best friend is talking to her about stupid things nonstop.
Plus, I’m not sure how Bella is going to feel about me just suddenly picking up right where we left off. Brin stops by and feeds us with some pizza she picked up, which only keeps Allie here longer.
Snatching my
phone, I head outside, and I pull the piece of paper out of my pocket that has a number on it. I never planned to use this number, it was just in case anything went wrong with Bella in the hospital, but I’ve changed my mind.
Seeing the bond between Allie and Bella reminds me how it was forged. It pisses me off, but at the same time… No, it just pisses me off. But I’m not being selfish anymore, and this has nothing to do with me.
It has to do with Bella.
I’ve seen the way she watches my parents, and even though my mother is annoying as hell, I love her, and I see the envy Bella has.
A man answers gruffly on the third ring.
“Pierson residence.”
“Mr. Pierson, this is Ethan Noles. I just wanted to let you know your daughter was in the hospital, and she didn’t even feel like you should know.”
His breath catches, and a pained sound escapes him. “Is she okay?” he asks, sounding truly upset.
That’s the incentive I need to continue.
“She’s fine now, but it could have been bad. She also could have lost the baby. By the way, she’s pregnant with my baby, and we’re not married. But if you ever want to meet your grandchild, I suggest you find a medium ground between your values and the family you lost for them.”
Another pained sound comes out, and then something akin to sobbing is muffled in the background.
Now I feel like an ass. I expected him to be colder than this.
“She’s pregnant?” he whispers.
“Yes,” I answer warily. I was doing this for Bella, but now I feel like I’ve crossed a line, because he doesn’t sound like the icy bastard I thought he’d be.
“I’m having a grandchild?”
“Out of wedlock,” I point out. Marriage is a discussion we’ll have to have, but I doubt either of us want to get married for the wrong reasons.
Though I’m not sure how wrong the reasons would be… Bella’s mine, and I’ll never want anything else. Yesterday cemented how lost I’d be if I didn’t have her.
He makes more hoarse sobbing noises on the other end, and I really start regretting this phone call. I wanted to tell him off, listen to him cower when I lost my temper. Tears… I didn’t expect tears.
