Though Ethan resented his grandfather’s interference, he knew the older man was right. If he didn’t give it everything he had, he could very well lose Piper forever.
Pushing from his chair, Ethan rounded his desk, gripped his grandfather’s shoulders, and pulled him into a quick, tight hug. “Thank you.”
“Don’t take no for an answer,” Wallace called out as Ethan released him and rushed from the room.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Piper sat in the waiting room of her first OB-GYN appointment with Rhonda fidgeting beside her.
Rhonda had woken up the following morning with more questions than Piper could lie about.
Piper had broken down and told Rhonda everything, including the part about Isaac’s and Eric’s deaths.
After many hysterics and several oh my God’s, Rhonda had calmed enough to listen to Piper’s unbelievable story. And for that, Piper was relieved.
The door across the hall opened, and a couple stepped out, holding hands and giddy with the news they’d obviously just received.
Piper’s heart ached. She’d had that closeness with Ethan at one time.
“Ethan really should be here,” Rhonda whispered for the hundredth time. “I mean, he is the father.”
The man holding the expecting mother’s hand leaned down and brushed his lips across her cheek.
Tears gathered in Piper’s eyes the longer she watched them.
She missed Ethan something terrible. So what if he was different, it didn’t change her feelings for him. She loved him, wolf and all.
Pulling her cell phone from her pocket, her hands shook as she sent him a message. Doctor Segert’s office. 2:45 appt. Come if you can.
“I’m so proud of you,” Rhonda gushed. “You’re doing the right thing.”
And Piper believed her. Why had it taken her so long to realize how much she loved him?
“Miss Hollister?” the nurse called from the open doorway.
Piper stood, glancing nervously at Rhonda. “They’re calling me back early. And Ethan hasn’t answered my text.”
“It’s okay,” Rhonda soothed, taking hold of Piper’s hand. “I’ll go with you.”
Blinking back the damnable tears that seem to spring up at the drop of a hat lately, Piper pasted on a smile she didn’t feel and followed the nurse to a small room in the back.
The pretty little nurse handed her a gown. “Put this on and hop up on the table. The doctor will be with you momentarily.”
Piper accepted the gown, stripped out of her clothes, and donned the gown.
Climbing up onto the cushioned table, she watched as Rhonda secured her clothes to a hook on the back of the door.
After a couple of taps on the door, an elderly woman wearing a white coat stepped into the room. She shook Piper’s hand. “I’m Doctor Segert. How are you feeling today?”
“I’m a little emotional, but other than that, I can’t seem to get enough to eat.”
The doctor sent Piper a smile. “Both are normal in your condition. Just be mindful of what you eat. Be sure you take in lots of nutritional foods for the baby.”
Pulling on a pair of rubber gloves, the doctor squeezed some lubricant onto her fingers and motioned for Piper to slide down on the table. “Put your feet in the stirrups for me. That’s right. Now, relax and open your knees.”
Piper stared up at the ceiling as the doctor inserted a couple of fingers inside her while pressing down on her abdomen with the other.
The exam went by without any problems, with the doctor speaking in a smooth, calming tone.
But Piper could barely concentrate. She suddenly wanted Ethan, no, she needed him. Because of her, he would miss the sonogram of his first child. A tear slipped from the corner of her eye.
The doctor had Piper remove her feet from the stirrups. She draped a sheet over Piper’s legs and girly parts before moving around to the side and picking up a small round wand.
“I’m sorry, Doctor,” the nurse announced opening the door and stepping aside. “He was very adamant about coming in.”
Ethan stepped into the room.
Piper’s heart jumped at the sight of him. He’d lost weight, and his eyes appeared tired. But he was still Ethan and still the most beautiful man she’d ever beheld.
“Are you all right with him being in here?” The doctor asked, her gaze glued to Piper.
Piper nodded through her tears. “Yes. He’s the father.”
Ethan’s hand closed around hers, telling her without words what she needed to hear.
Rhonda backed toward the door. “I’ll just wait out in the lobby.”
The doctor waited for the door to close behind Rhonda before she began. “This is going to be cold.”
She squirted some cool, clear gel onto Piper’s skin, turned the monitor toward them, and placed the sonogram wand onto Piper’s abdomen.
The sound of a fetal heartbeat immediately filled the room.
Ethan squeezed Piper’s hand in a near painful hold. “Is that…?”
“The heartbeat, yes,” the doctor confirmed, dragging the wand up a little higher. “See that?”
Piper stared in awe at the tiny heart pumping on the screen. She glanced up at Ethan to see tears sparkling in his eyes.
He moved in closer, still holding her hand in a death grip.
The doctor spoke again. “And here’s your baby’s face.”
The sight of the tiny profile on the screen filled Piper’s heart with so much love she couldn’t contain it any longer.
“He’s beautiful,” she whispered, tears sliding down her cheeks.
The doctor smiled, before turning her attention back to the job at hand. “It’s too soon to tell the sex of the baby, but I can tell you that I see ten fingers and toes, and a strong heartbeat. Your baby looks great.”
Moving to stand, the doctor printed off a couple pictures of the baby and handed them to Piper. “I’ll give you a minute to get dressed. Be sure to stop at the front desk on the way out to schedule your next appointment.”
Piper waited for the doctor to leave the room before sitting up and throwing her legs over the table to face Ethan. “You came. I wasn’t sure of you would.”
“Are you kidding?” he whispered, dropping to his knees before her.
He reverently kissed her stomach and then turned his face to the side to nuzzle her. “I love you, Piper. Nothing could have kept me away.”
Piper’s hands went to his hair. She found it difficult to speak through her tears. “I love you, Ethan Seaborn. I’m so sorry for how I’ve acted. I’ll never leave you again.”
Rising to his feet, Ethan cupped her face in his hands. “That’s good to hear because I won’t let you leave me again.”
“Let’s go home,” Piper whispered, anxious to be alone with him.
“My place or yours?”
“Yours.”
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Ethan decided he genuinely liked Piper’s friend. Rhonda apparently knew everything about Ethan, and yet she still supported his role in Piper’s life.
Rhonda had agreed to drive Piper’s car home so that Piper could go back to the penthouse with Ethan.
Stepping off the elevator, Ethan picked Piper up and carried her up the stairs to his bedroom.
He gently set her on her feet, moved around the room, and lit the candles on his nightstand and then slid open the drawer.
Plucking the black velvet box from its depths, he returned to Piper and knelt before her.
The warm, golden glow of the candles only enhanced Piper’s exotic beauty. “You are the most incredibly beautiful creature I have ever beheld.”
Opening the box, he tugged the diamond ring free and took hold of Piper’s trembling hand. “Piper Hollister, would you do me the honor of being my wife and my mate?”
The tears sparkling on her lashes reminded him of the diamond nesting in the ring he held. “Please say yes…”
“Yes,” she whispered, staring down at him thr
ough her tears. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Ethan Seaborn.”
Ethan slipped the ring onto her left hand and rose to his feet. “You just made me the happiest man alive.”
“I’m glad,” Piper breathed, going up on her tiptoes. “Because I never want to be without you again.”
“And you never will.” Ethan covered her beautiful mouth with his, loving the taste of her tears on his tongue.
Piper’s hands came up between them to the buttons on his shirt.
Ethan broke off the kiss. “Can we?”
“I’m pregnant, not broken. I need you inside me.”
His cock hardened at her words.
Backing up a step, Ethan ripped his shirt off, toed off his shoes, and stepped out of his pants. All the while watching Piper as she undressed in front of him.
He divested himself of his boxer briefs, scooped her up into his arms, and deposited her in the center of his bed. “Foreplay will have to wait for round two. I need you now.”
Ethan crawled up over Piper’s body and nudged her thighs apart with his knee. “I love you, Piper. With everything that I am, I love you.” Gripping his fully erect shaft, he slowly penetrated her.
Piper moaned, wrapping her legs around him in a tight hold. She was so wet and warm, Ethan nearly came.
He dropped his face against her neck, licking his tongue over the pad of her shoulder. He would mark her before the night was over, leaving no doubt to the world who she belonged to.
“Say it,” Ethan growled, slowly pulling back and sinking into her depths once more.
“I’m yours…”
Epilogue
“Push,” Doctor Segert commanded from her perch between Piper’s raised knees.
Ethan held Piper up with one arm, while his other arm tightened behind her leg. “One more push, baby.”
Sweat dotted her forehead, and her lips felt as if they would split at any moment.
“The head is out,” the doctor informed them, working furiously to free the baby from the birth canal.
Piper bore down, pushing with the last bit of strength she possessed.
Relief poured through her the instant the baby slipped from her body.
A cry rent the air, and Piper’s heart exploded with joy.
“My baby,” she cried through her own tears.
The doctor nodded to Ethan. “Would you like to cut the cord?”
Ethan removed his arm from behind Piper’s head and let go of her leg. He accepted the surgical scissors the doctor handed him and cut through the umbilical cord. “Oh Piper, she’s perfect...”
“She?” Piper gasped, holding out her arms.
Ethan carefully took the baby from the doctor’s arms and gently laid her on Piper’s chest. “Our daughter.”
Piper had never felt as much love for another person as she did in that moment. She laughed, cried, and cried some more.
In a voice weak from exhaustion, Piper raised her watery gaze to her husband. “Ruth. Her name is Ruth…”
~The End~
Read Below for a Sneak Peek into the Pages of Ruby and the Beast – A Beauty and the Beast Tale.
This book contains Adult Scenes. Must be 18 or older to read.
Chapter One
Ruby Atwood stepped off the plane at the Louis Armstrong International Airport in Kenner Louisiana a little before noon.
She glanced around at the familiar scenery with a heavy heart. Though Louisiana would always be her home, it would never be the same after today.
Trailing off toward baggage claim, Ruby fought the tears that had been threatening since landing. She’d been notified by the New Orleans Criminal Investigative Division that a man resembling Charles Atwood had arrived in the morgue after a shooting at Barone’s Gentlemen’s Club the night before.
As her father’s only living relative besides her nine-year-old brother, Cameron, it was left up to Ruby to identify the body. And she had little doubt that it was her father lying in that morgue. She’d been frantically calling him all night and morning to no avail.
Poor Cam, Ruby thought, grabbing her bag and heading toward the front to hail a cab. He must be terrified.
Cameron’s mother, Lucy Peters, a known prostitute and heroin addict, had left only days after Cameron’s birth, leaving Ruby and her father alone to raise him.
The fact that Cameron hadn’t suffered any obvious adverse effects from the drugs his mother had taken during her pregnancy was a miracle in itself.
“Excuse me,” a woman murmured, pulling Ruby out of her reflecting. “Do you have change for a dollar?”
Ruby shook her head. Growing up in New Orleans, she knew just about every scam that could be run. And this woman was definitely a con. “I’m sorry, but I don’t carry cash.”
Without bothering with a thank you, the woman scurried off in search of her next victim.
The hot Louisiana sun baked the sidewalk with its scorching rays as Ruby made her way outside in search of a cab.
Keeping her fingers wrapped tightly around the handle of her bag, she brought her hand up and flagged a taxi that sat along the curb.
The cab driver quickly pulled forward and rolled down the window. “Where to?”
“Southside Medical Center on Canal Street,” Ruby returned, climbing into the backseat.
The cab took off with a jolt, darting in and out of the airport traffic like a seasoned NASCAR driver. “Here for a visit or heading home?”
Ruby met the cabbie’s gaze in the rearview mirror. “That all depends on what I find when I arrive.”
But she knew. Somewhere deep in her heart, she knew that her father would be lying on a cold slab in the basement of that hospital.
Obviously sensing that she didn’t feel up to chatting, the cabbie shifted his attention back to the road and the manic drivers in his path.
Ruby turned to stare out the window, a feeling of dread settling in her gut. What was she supposed to do without her father? Moreover, what would Cameron do?
Twenty minutes later, the cab slowed to a stop in front of Southside Medical Center. “That’ll be forty-five dollars.”
Ruby dug two twenties and a ten out of the pocket of her jeans and handed it over the seat.
“Would you like for me to wait?” the driver murmured, looking over his shoulder.
Hesitating, she glanced at the hospital’s entrance before gripping the door handle, grabbing her bag, and stepping out. “No, thank you. I don’t know how long I’ll be.” She closed the door behind her.
The hospital loomed in front of her, an overwhelming presence of death and gloom. Though most would see it as a beacon of hope, Ruby only saw finality and despair.
A homeless man sat propped against the wall, unwashed and obviously hungry, if the size of his wrists were any indication.
Ruby wondered if he had family somewhere who missed him, or if he was alone in the world with nowhere to go and no one who cared.
She fished out another twenty-dollar bill from her pocket and handed it to him. “Get yourself a hot meal.”
His faded brown gaze lifted to meet her own. “God bless you.”
Ruby managed a weak smile, activated the sliding doors, and stepped inside.
“May I help you?” an elderly woman asked from behind a small brown desk.
Ruby noticed she wore a volunteer’s vest. “I’m looking for the morgue.”
The older woman’s eyes flickered with compassion. She stood and half turned her frail body toward the hall. “Do you see the elevators?”
At Ruby’s nod, she continued, “They will take you to the basement. Once you get off the elevator, take a left, and the morgue will be down on your right.”
“Thank you,” Ruby murmured, trailing off in the direction of the elevators.
She pressed the Down arrow, waited for the doors to open, and then stepped inside, switching her bag to the other hand.
The elevator lurched downward with a quickness that rolled Ruby’s stomach before jerking to a stop in t
he basement.
Ruby steadied herself while waiting for the doors to open, then stepped into the hall and took a left.
Passing several doors along the way, she finally came to the one that read Morgue.
Her hand shook as she lifted it to knock.
It opened a few moments later, and a balding man wearing a white coat stood in the entrance. “What can I do for you?”
Ruby stared at the mask hanging askew around his neck. “I’m Ruby Atwood. I’m here to identify my— One of your…”
“Yes, of course, Miss Atwood,” he interjected, saving her from speaking the words aloud. “Right this way.”
Stepping inside, Ruby waited for the door to close before allowing her gaze to scan her surroundings.
Two stainless steel tables sat in the center of the room. A set of matching sinks was perched nearby, and large shiny drawers lined the opposite wall.
“I’m Doctor Crowder,” the man announced, waving a hand toward the rows of drawers. “You will be doing this alone, then?”
Ruby pinched the bridge of her nose. “There is no one else.”
“Very well.”
Following him across the room, Ruby stood back as he gripped the handle to one of the drawers and slowly tugged it open. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
At Ruby’s nod, he gently pulled the sheet down to the man’s chest and took a step back.
Fear of what she would see damn near took Ruby to her knees. She inched forward until the dead man’s face came into view.
“Oh God,” she moaned, her hand going to her mouth. Tears sprang to her eyes, instantly spilling over to track down her cheeks. “Daddy…”
Chapter Two
The Beast prowled the halls of his riverside mansion, inconsolable and furious beyond comprehension.
Heroes Among Us: A Paranormal Romance Collection Page 33
