“Emma?” She heard Jill’s panicked voice as her knees hit the ground and her vision tunneled. Then there was nothing.
* * *
“It’s time to get Devious!” Garrett yelled into the microphone and Holt pointed to the crowd. A cheer went up shaking the roof and Holt couldn’t help but grin. He loved his job, and loved being part of DEVIOUS, but there were days when his body ached and the last thing he wanted to do was get out of bed. The fans and their passion and loyalty were what kept him motivated. They were the reason he kept coming back for more.
Garrett handed him the microphone and Holt walked to the corner of the ring to hand it over and watched with some curiosity as one of the runners whispered something to Doctor Andrews who immediately bolted from his chair at ringside and raced toward the back. Holt frowned. I wonder what’s going on?
Despite his curiosity, he needed to focus on the match. Dwayne and Ken were tough competitors and would keep him on his toes. He didn’t need either himself or Garrett accidentally getting hurt because he was distracted.
Dismissing the doctor from his thoughts, Holt turned back to Garrett to wait for ‘Dwayne’s entrance. His music came on, but he didn’t appear.
Several seconds passed and Holt glanced at Garrett who gave a shrug in confusion. It wasn’t like Dwayne to miss a cue or Emma to let it happen. Just when he began to wonder what was up Dwayne appeared and the crowd went wild and Holt forgot everything except his impending match.
Twenty minutes later Holt, tired, sore and victorious walked back stage with Garrett on his heels. It was a good match and Dwayne had managed to land a couple of blows that were sure to leave him bruised tomorrow. Still, the crowd had eaten it up which at the end of the day was why they were all there.
Grinning he walked over to check in with Emma at the Coordinator’s station. His steps slowed as he scanned the area. Where is Emma? “Jill, where’s Emma?”
The younger girl spun on her heel to face Holt, her face a mask of fear.
Holt’s heart skipped a beat and he stopped in his tracks. “What happened?”
“S-she collapsed after you walked out for your match. Doctor Andrews has her in medical.”
Holt took off at a dead run. He’d had reservations about her going back to work so soon after being sick, but she’d insisted and seemed to be feeling better so he hadn’t pushed the issue. Now he wished he had.
He dodged staff and raced around equipment lining the hall. The slap of Garrett’s wrestling boots following close behind. “What in the hell could be wrong with her?” Garrett asked.
Holt’s thoughts raced with various scenarios all of which ended badly and his heart cracked a little. She’d become such a part of his life over the past six months, he couldn’t imagine existing without her. He’d be damned if he was going to let some medical condition or disease snatch her away without a fight. “I don’t know, but this time I’m taking her ass to the hospital.”
* * *
“Emma, can you hear me?”
Slowly Emma opened her eyes and looked up into the face of Doctor Andrews. “Oh man.” She lifted a hand to her head. “It’ happened again didn’t it?”
He nodded. “And we’re going to find out why.” She watched as he wrapped the blood pressure cuff around her arm and waited while he pumped it up. The look on his face slid from a neutral expression to a frown in a matter of seconds. “You’re BP is way down.”
“Is that bad?”
“That’s part of what caused you to faint, so yeah, it’s bad. Just lay back and relax while I examine you.” For the next ten minutes he proceeded to put her through all the standard tests and eventually leaned a hand on the padded table. “Your symptoms aren’t adding up. How long were you feeling bad before Holt called me to your room a few days ago?”
Emma considered his question. “My stomach started bugging me about three days prior to that.”
“What about before that? How were you feeling?”
She gave his question a shrug. “A little run down I guess with a few bouts of nausea here and there.”
“For how long do you think?”
“Since well before Derek left, but then you knew about that already.” She shook her head. “I just figured this was all stress related. With the way Derek and Holt were always fighting, it was hard not to get stressed out.”
“Yes, but if that was the case, it stands to reason you’d be feeling better because Derek is no longer here and the fighting has pretty much stopped.”
“I suppose,” Emma murmured.
“Remind me, when was your last period?”
“I guess about three weeks ago now.”
“Was there anything unusual about it?”
She furrowed her brow as she thought back. “It was a little shorter than normal. Why?”
He pushed off and walked over to a rolling cabinet and returned less than a minute later to hand her a box.
“What’s this?”
“A pregnancy test.”
She stared at the box. “You’re kidding?”
He arched a challenging brow. “Do I look like I’m kidding?”
“But I’m on birth control. I can’t be pregnant.” The idea of having a baby scared the hell out of her. There were too many variables in her life already. Adding a baby to the mix wasn’t wise.
He helped her sit up. “Birth control isn’t one hundred percent effective, Emma. Besides, I need to cover all our bases before I send you to the hospital for more tests.”
What would Derek and Bryan think? For that matter what would Holt think? They’d never even talked about having children. Would he be happy? With the way his career was going would he even want a baby? She looked down at the box. The test inside could either answer all her questions or create more. With a sigh she headed into the adjoining bathroom.
Three minutes later she sat on the padded table staring at two pink lines and not quite believing what she was seeing. At least they now knew why she’d been so sick.
“How do you feel about this?” Doctor Andrews asked.
Honestly, she wasn’t sure. A baby would complicate her already chaotic life, but knowing the child she carried was Holt’s made the idea much more exciting. Hopefully Holt would be happy because like it or not, they were having a baby and life would have to adapt. She gave his question a shrug. “I’m not sure. It’s a lot to take in.”
“I bet it is,” Doc agreed. “Just know if you want to stay working, I’ll talk to Gene about getting the necessary equipment so that I can properly take care of you while you’re on the road. You’ll need to pick an OB back in your hometown that I can be in contact with. That way when you go out on maternity leave he’ll be caught up and ready to deliver your baby.”
Knowing she wouldn’t have to leave work right away made the situation a bit easier to swallow. Of course deciding where to have the baby would be an issue. Would she go back to her hometown to be with Derek or head to Holt’s hometown and his family?
She barely finished that thought when the door swung open.
Chapter 8
The moment Holt set sight on Emma relief swamped him. She still looked ill, but she was sitting up and awake. “Baby, what happened? Are you okay?”
She gave a nod. “I’m fine.”
The need to protect her overwhelmed him and he stroked a hand through her hair as he leaned down and gently kissed her forehead. “Jill said you collapsed.”
“Technically she had a sinkable episode, but I think fainted would be a more accurate layman’s term,” Doctor Andrews corrected.
“That’s twice in less than a week,” Holt glanced between them. “Obviously something more is wrong than just the flu.” The idea of not knowing what that something was tore him up inside.
“Well, yes, we’ve determined that it’s not the flu,” Doctor Andrew’s replied.
“So why is she still here?” Holt’s anger began to rise. Doctor Andrews was excellent so why was he screwing around when it came
to Emma? “Why haven’t you sent her to the hospital for more tests?”
“At this point more tests are not necessary. Well, at least not immediately necessary.”
He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “What do you mean not necessary, Doc. People don’t just pass out for no reason.”
“You’re right they don’t.”
“Doctor Andrews figured out what’s been causing me all the problems.” Emma said and handed him a white stick.
Holt stared down at the narrow piece of plastic in his hand and his brow knit in confusion. “What’s this?”
“It’s a pregnancy test,” Garrett said from where he stood in the doorway.
Holt glanced over his shoulder at his friend. “How do you know that?”
Garrett shrugged. “Marissa took one a couple of weeks ago because she thought she might be pregnant. Turns out she wasn’t.”
“Well it turns out I am,” Emma added.
For several seconds Emma’s words hung in the air until Holt’s brain finally caught up. His attention darted from the test stick to her face. “You’re pregnant?”
She nibbled on her lip and gave him a nod. “It’s the changes from the pregnancy that’s causing my sickness.”
“You’re pregnant,” he repeated as he struggled to wrap his brain around those two little words. She was going to have his baby.
She nodded again and raised a shaky hand to touch his face. “How do you feel about that?”
In the matter of a heartbeat joy replaced anger and he broke into a huge smile. “How do I feel about that?” He cupped her face in his palms as he planted a soft kiss on her lips. “You’re having my baby. How do you think I feel?”
“But our life is already so chaotic and this just complicates things.”
He couldn’t stop grinning as he stared down at her. “Who cares? We’ll adjust as necessary. What’s important is we’re having a baby.”
* * *
Two hours later Holt crawled into bed and placed a kiss over Emma’s still flat belly and tried to picture his baby growing inside. It amazed him how much could change in a year and how deeply in love he could fall. “Hey mommy, how you feeling?”
She smiled. “Much better now.”
He pressed his lips to hers in a soft kiss and stroked a hand through her hair. “You have no idea how worried I’ve been about you.” His gaze was intense as he stared down at her. “You’re my world, Emma. Seeing you so sick and not knowing what was wrong scared the hell out of me. This is such a relief.”
She stared up at him her gaze searching his. “I was worried you’d be unhappy about the baby.”
His lips tipped into a small smile. Sometimes she worried so much. “How could I be unhappy about something that came from our love?”
“You’re doing so well with your wrestling and I love my job. This wasn’t part of our plans.”
She was right about that fact. Now that he was the reigning champion he and Garrett had decided to set their sights on the tag team championship too. They’d even presented the storyline to Gene.
Now becoming the tag team champions was the furthest thing from his mind. It simply didn’t matter anymore, not when he compared it to real life. He leaned forward took her lips in a soulful kiss that he hoped spoke volumes of his love for her. “Then we change our plans.”
“Yes, but a baby is a lot of work. It won’t be easy,” she warned.
“Nothing worth having comes easy, Em and nothing in the world matters more to me right now than you and our baby. As long as we’re together everything will be fine.”
* * *
“Well congratulations you two. I’m happy for you both.”
Emma sat across from her boss and glanced at Holt. “But?” she asked feeling as if Gene had more to say.
Gene shook his head. “No buts. However, I am thinking that this would work wonderfully as a story line.”
Emma rolled her eyes skyward and grinned. “Of course you do.”
Holt chuckled. “Is nothing off limits?”
“Not in this business,” Gene shot back. “Besides, the crowd already knows you guys are a couple because of all that business with Derek from before.” He leaned back in his chair and clasped his hands behind his head. “I was going to leave Emma out of the spotlight for a while, but considering the situation I think we capitalize on it.”
“What do you have in mind?” Emma eyed him warily.
“I’m thinking a love triangle that puts a question on whether the baby is actually Holt’s.”
Her eyes widened as she stared at him in shock. “You want to make it look like I’ve cheated on Holt?”
“That’s exactly what I want.”
“No.” Emma shook her head. “No way. The fans will hate me.”
Gene scoffed at her statement. “No they won’t. A lot of the fans are still pissed with Holt for taking the belt from Derek and then cheating Bryan out of his title shot. We capitalize on that by making it ‘appear’-” He air quoted the word. “to Holt that you’re cheating on him. He’ll think it’s because of what he did to Bryan, but in reality you’ll be planning his birthday party, which is the reason for all the secrecy.”
Holt’s brow winged up in surprise. “Actually that just might work. Who do you have in mind to play the part of the other guy?”
Gene’s face slid into one of his trademark evil grins. “Garrett.”
“What?” Emma and Holt echoed. “You want it to look like I’m cheating on Holt with his best friend?” She shook her head. “I don’t think I can do that.”
Gene let out an exasperated sigh. “Sure you can, Em. It’s not for real. Marissa would kill me and hide my body if I tried to hook you guys up for real.”
“It would make sense,” Holt added.
Emma cut her attention from Gene to Holt. “I can’t believe you’re even considering this.”
He gave a shrug. “Well, it’s not as if you’ll really be cheating on me and it does make sense that you’d be planning my party with my best friend.”
She studied Holt for a moment. He loved this company and would do anything Gene asked. How could she say no when he’d already climbed on board?
“Wait.” She held up a hand. “Doctor Andrews says I’m about six or seven weeks along. Even if we start this plot today, how are we going to work it so it’s believable?”
Gene’s grin returned. “Don’t you worry about that little issue. We’ll record some stuff with you and Garrett and back date the plot.”
Confused she glanced from Gene to Holt. “I don’t understand. How are you going to do that?”
“We’ll get a few others involved to help. Maybe I’ll even pull Marissa into it. Nothing like a woman scorned to add to the drama.” He clapped his hands together and rubbed like some evil villain. “Yeah, I’m liking this more and more. Maybe we get some of your co-workers to show Holt and Marissa video of the two of you together, kind of sneaking around if you will. They can say that they’ve been sitting on the video because they weren’t sure what it meant, but now that your pregnant, they thought he and Marissa needed to know. That will plant the seeds and then Holt will do the rest to make the story look believable.”
“I don’t know,” Emma let out a sigh. “I’ll still be getting vilified.”
“Not really.” Gene shook his head. “We’ll make sure to show the later video with the audio attached so the fans can hear you guys planning the party. That way all the heat ends up on Holt’s shoulders.” He grinned. “I can just see it now. He has the pressure of defending a championship that was in the fans eyes, ill-gotten and ill kept. Then on top of it he has to worry about whether his girlfriend is pregnant with some other man’s child. He’s on the verge of cracking and the fans know everything.”
“Come on, Em,” Holt urged. “It will be fun and will drive the ratings through the roof.”
She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. Derek would have been sticking up for her, instead Holt was so exci
ted about the idea, he couldn’t see how uncomfortable it made her. How could she possibly say no? God help her with what she was about to do. “Okay, I’ll go along but I want it made clear that I’m not happy about it.”
“Duly noted,” Gene replied. He clapped his hands. “This is going to be great.”
She only hoped her brothers would think so.
* * *
I’m pregnant. The words hung in the room like a thick fog as she looked between her brothers. “Please tell me this is some sick joke?” Bryan asked from where he sat perched on the arm of the chair.
“It’s no joke,” Emma replied. “That’s the reason I’ve been so sick. That was the reason I fell in the shower and busted my head open.”
Anger and frustration spread across Bryan’s face but he didn’t say anything more. With the way he’d been acting lately she’d expected such a reaction from him. He’d been edgy from the moment they walked in the door. She doubted it would take much for Bryan to snap and go after Holt.
Knowing she’d lost any support from Bryan, Emma looked from Derek to Holt and back. “Please say something.”
After their conversation with Gene, she’d asked for a few days off to fly home and tell her family. Now as she sat on the couch in her family’s home she wondered if telling them in person had been such a great idea, especially after Bryan’s reaction.
Derek’s brow knit and he rubbed a hand against his temple. “Let me get this straight. The reason you’ve been having dizzy spells and throwing up is because you’re pregnant.”
With what felt like a large lump stuck in her throat Emma nodded.
He glanced at Holt. “And you’re the father.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m guessing this wasn’t planned.”
“I’ve been on birth control, so of course it wasn’t planned.”
He pursed his lips together. “So what are you going to do about it?”
Shock filtered through her as her mind reeled with his question. Was he asking what she thought he was asking? “What do you mean?”
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