Scarred: Hudson & Callie (Oak Springs Book 2)

by Lucy Rinaldi

  They’ve been so well-behaved. After their social worker dropped them off this morning, Paige kept them company until the wedding service, that’s when Paige’s mother took care of them for me. People have been fitting in and out of the room Enzo had me put the kids in all night. Just to make sure they’re safe and content.

  Martha, their social worker, checked over the house last night while Callie was with her sisters. She slept over with Della and Lora ready for today, which gave me plenty of opportunity to get everything ready.

  Enzo, Tommy, Chase, Jesse, and a couple other guys worked their magic when it came to the kids new bedrooms, and Martha was thrilled. She was happy to place the kids with us, and she told me there should be no problems with the adoption. It will just take a little time to be official.

  The kids know they now have a new mommy and daddy and they’ve been waiting patiently to get to Callie all day. They look adorable. Robyn is dressed in a little lilac princess dress with her dark hair in a bun with lilac ribbons wrapped around. While Todd is in a miniature gray suit. Aimee did well.

  I take both their hands and lead them out of the room. Everyone who didn’t know about them, like, Callie’s parents, brothers, sisters, and most of the damn town gasp. I lead them up the few steps and Todd spots Callie first. “Cawie!”

  He yanks his hand from my grasp just as Callie pulls Paige’s hands away from her eyes. Her mouth is open in shock as Todd runs right to her. She falls to her knees and catches him, pulling him tightly into her arms. Robyn follows her brother and jumps into Callie’s arms.

  “You are our new mommy!” Robyn squeals happily. And I don’t think Callie can believe her eyes.

  I watch them for a few moments before making my way over to them. I get to my knees beside my beautiful wife-to-be and stroke the back of her head. “Surprise.”

  “Hudson! How did you do this? Why did you do this? I didn’t think…”

  “Don’t question this, Callie. I did this for us. For these babies. They need us, I made it happen.”

  “Oh, Hudson.” I kiss her forehead and help her to her feet. The kids hold Callie’s hands as she makes her way to the mic.

  I’ll let her have this moment, she deserves this. She deserves everything good in life. And I’m going to make sure she gets it.

  “I’m a little in shock right now.” Everyone is listening to her, not a sound can be heard. “Not only am I getting married, but my amazing fiancé has also…” She coughs and I know she won’t be able to carry on.

  I take the mic in my hand. “What my fianceé is trying to say is that we’d like to introduce Todd and Robyn Ryker. So please would you welcome our children into your hearts.”

  “No way!” I don’t know who yelled that, but there’s so much laughter and so many people rushing the stage to hug Callie, to meet our children. And as I stand back and watch all of this unfold, I know that this is where I am always meant to be. What happened in the past can stay there. Nothing in the world means more to me that Callie and our children.

  *

  “I’m still in shock, Hudson.”

  “I’m glad I can still shock you.” I chuckle while kissing her neck. The kids are sleeping soundly, excited for Santa Claus.

  I never thought coming home would end like this, engaged, a father. But I couldn’t think of a better turn my life could have taken.

  “Hudson, don’t tease me. Fuck me, please.” I let out a low growl as I enter her tight body. My eyes roll, it’s always the same each time I enter her, it’s like taking her sucks the very air out right of my lungs.

  We move in time with each other, hips crashing together, lips fused, kissing like we’ll die if we don’t. I know I shouldn’t take her too roughly, her body can’t take it, but I sometimes forget. But I’m not heartless, that’s why I slow down as she drags her nails down my back and into my ass cheeks, forcing me deeper into her.

  She bites my shoulder, and I’m so close I don’t know that I can last much longer. I lift onto my knees, pushing her legs a little higher, sliding deeper inside.

  She smirks while sliding her hand over her clit and rubbing herself off. Damn, that is so fucking hot!

  “Hudson, I need to come…”

  I slam into her harder, faster, deeper. I let out a howl when she comes hard around my aching cock, so hard it sends me right over the edge with her.

  I hold her thigh in my hand as I shoot everything I have to give her deep inside her beautiful body. It takes me long moments before I let go of her, pull out of her body and flop down beside her.

  She strokes my sweat soaked hair back from my face and kisses my forehead. I smile. “I love you so much, Hudson. I can’t thank you enough for what you’ve done for me.”

  “What I’ve done for you?” I narrow my eyes slightly. “Baby, it should be me thanking you.”

  “For what?”

  “For giving me another chance to prove to you how much I love you.”

  She smiles.

  “I know how much you love me. We’re going to spend a wonderful Christmas with our children.” Just seeing that smile on her face made all of this worth it. “Everything is going to be perfect now, Hudson. You wait and see.”

  I smile as she closes her eyes to sleep. I know she’s right, and I know she doesn’t need me to confirm my love for her anymore. Life is going to be amazing.

  Or so I hope.

  Twenty-Three

  Callie

  Four months later.

  I’m terrified. I am literally terrified of what the doctor is going to tell me. My appointment is at 10 am. Hudson and I dropped the kids off with my mother at 9 am and came straight here. We’re in the waiting room of Dr. Carver’s office. Hudson’s holding my shaking hand tightly in his. I feel sick to my stomach and I’m not sure I won’t vomit any moment.

  I’ve been so scared about coming here today that I almost didn’t. Whatever is wrong with me could wait one more day. All I wanted to do was spend the day alone with my husband and children. But Hudson was having none of it and forced me to come here. He wants the truth more than I do.

  Hudson and I were married on New Years Eve, and everything has been perfect. Well, until I began to get sick a few weeks ago. I’ve been weak, lightheaded, sleeping a lot.

  I can’t seem to stay awake for more than three hours, and I’m always tired. It’s driving me nuts. It wasn’t until I passed out and hit my head that Hudson had enough and forced me to see my doctor for tests.

  Waiting for the results has been terrifying. I don’t know what to think because I hadn’t been able to get out of bed for three days. I honestly felt like I was dying because of how much pain I was in.

  This has been really hard on Hudson as well, I heard him last night, as much as he tried to hide it, I heard him in the bathroom crying when he thought I was asleep. I went to him, of course I did. I couldn’t bear to hear him sobbing so heart-wrenchingly. He’s just as scared as I am.

  The door wasn’t locked so I walked in. There he was sitting with his back against the wall next to our bathtub, knees up, head in his hands. I sat next to him and pulled him against me.

  He clung to me as he cried, and I let him because he needed to let it out. Once he stopped crying, he looked at me and I saw it all in his eyes. He’s scared for me, scared of losing me. It cut me up to hear him like that because I know in my heart that there is something very wrong with me. And I’m scared to death that I’m dying.

  Isn’t it the norm for people to think the worst?

  But all this pain I’ve been in for the past few weeks isn’t normal. I thought after having the corrective surgery on my abdomen – which I had on the fifth of January – it meant I’d finally be okay, that I could get my life back on track. I’m finally married to the man I have loved my whole life, we have two beautiful children, my relationship with my parents is perfect again. My bakery is thriving even more, and I’m even taking more classes.

  I’m a good person, why on earth does God keep test
ing me like this? It’s just not fair, dammit!

  “It’s gonna be okay, baby,” I nod because I can’t speak. I’m scared that if I open my mouth I’ll throw up.

  “Callie Ryker?” The charge nurse calls my name.

  “That’s us.” Hudson answers.

  She nods with a smile and tells us to follow her.

  Hudson takes my hand and gets to his feet but I can’t move, I’m literally frozen to the spot. I’m too fucking scared to move. If I go in that room he’ll tell me I’m dying, that there’s nothing they can do for me, that the corrective surgery went wrong somehow and it’s left me losing my life. I won’t see my kids grow up. I’ll miss every milestone they reach in their lives.

  Oh god, they’ll lose another mother. Robyn is barely moving forward from the death of Jill and Mike. How will she handle this? She’s just a baby, she doesn’t deserve this.

  My little Todd doesn’t seem as effected as Robyn, he’s moving forward, seems to be forgetting what happened. He loves his new mommy and daddy. But I don’t want him to go through this again as much as I don’t want Robyn to. My poor innocent babies.

  Hudson gets to his hunches in front of me, taking both my hands in his.

  “I can’t go in there, Hudson. Please don’t make me.”

  “I know you’re scared,” That’s an understatement. “But we need to know once and for all. Whatever the outcome, I love you. I’m gonna be here for you no matter what.”

  Tears fall from my eyes. He’ll never know how much it means to me having his support. I know I won’t get through whatever is about to happen without him.

  “What if it’s bad news, Hudson? What if I’m…”

  “Don’t say it,” He cuts me off with his words. “You are not dying, Callie.”

  “But I could be, and I’m not ready to hear it yet.”

  “We have to know, baby. Neither of us can keep on pretending anymore.” He’s right. I know he is. That’s why I nod and take his hand. He gets to his feet and I follow.

  The nurse smiles kindly. She’s been watching and waiting patiently for us. I guess she sees this kind of thing everyday. She leads us to Dr. Carver’s office and shows us in. He’s sitting behind his desk. He’s a chubby man in his fifties, has gray hair, wears glasses and a kind smile. He’s married, I see the wedding band on his finger. His office is large and looks more like a shrinks office.

  “Please take a seat.” He tells us in his unusually deep voice for a man so small.

  Both Hudson and I take a seat in front of his desk, still hand in hand. I don’t want him to let go of me. I need him to keep me grounded right now, because in all honesty, I don’t feel like I’m all here right now.

  “As I told you when I called this morning,” Dr Carver is looking right at us, his eyes tell me something is wrong. It has to be. Why else would he call me into his office? If nothing was wrong he would have told me over the phone that my blood works were fine. But he didn’t and here I am. “Your results are back. I asked you to come in, Callie, because they indeed showed something.”

  I knew it. I just knew it!

  I’m starting to panic. I don’t think I can breathe. It’s so hot in here!

  “Callie, please calm down.” He tells me. That’s easy for him to say. “I didn’t ask you here to give you bad news.” He smiles and Hudson squeezes my hand. And I’ve suddenly got a headache. All the tension in my head has instantly eased causing it to ache.

  “You didn’t?” I ask quietly.

  “No,” He tells me kindly. He leans his arms on his desk and leans forward. “Your results showed something that I along with my colleagues believed impossible. That’s why I sought a second and third opinion. I even had your blood retested to make extra sure no mistake had been made.”

  “Doctor, please tell us what it is you found, my wife and I can’t take this suspense.” I’m glad Hudson said that because I really can’t. If it’s nothing bad, then what the hell is wrong with me?

  “You’re pregnant, Callie.”

  What the fuck did he just say?

  He’s fucking with me. Why the hell would he do that?!

  “I can see that this has come as a shock to you. Believe me, it came as one to me too.”

  He can say that again!

  I can’t speak because I can’t even believe what he’s telling me. I think I’m in literal shock. They told me I could never have children. That when Dalton carved me up he destroyed my tubes. They removed the left one but left the right one inside of me. They said it was beyond repair but wouldn’t cause me any trouble in the future. They then told me my chances of conceiving a child naturally or artificially where nonexistent. I came to terms with that. I don’t understand what’s going on!

  “Are you absolutely sure?”

  “Hudson. There is no way I would bring you both in here and tell you this if I wasn’t. I’ve had one of the top doctors in the country look at these results. There is no doubt. Callie is pregnant.”

  I feel Hudson squeeze my hand. I force myself to look at him through dazed eyes. “Baby,” He says excitedly. “You’re pregnant.”

  I don’t say anything. I don’t even feel anything right now. How is that normal? I’ve been dreaming of this moment for so long, wishing for it. But I never believed it could happen. I never believed wishes came true.

  Hudson strokes my face and I realize he’s wiping the tears I didn’t know where falling from my eyes. “This isn’t real.” I manage to force out of my mouth.

  “This is very real, Callie.”

  I turn to look at Dr. Carver and ask, “But how? I just don’t understand. How can I go from not being able to have a child to being pregnant? It doesn’t make sense. You must have made a mistake!” I’m becoming hysterical, but I feel like he’s playing a trick on me, and I don’t like it. Not one little bit. God, I want my mom!

  “I can call her if you’d like?”

  “What?” I scrunch my eyes at Hudson. What the hell is he talking about?

  “You just said you wanted your mom.” I said that out loud? How pathetic am I? “Do you want her here for this?”

  “For what?”

  “Dr. Carver just told us that he’d like to give you an ultrasound.” He did? I didn’t hear him over the voices in my head screaming that this is all a trick. I guess if he scans me I’ll know for sure if there really is a baby inside of me right now.

  “I just need you with me.” I tell him.

  Dr. Carver has me strip off my bottoms and panties and lie down on the bed with a sheet over my lower half to cover me. Hudson is holding my hand tightly and I’m looking at the ceiling, too scared to look at the monitor. Not that I can see anything, Dr. Carver has it turned away from me.

  He tells me that I’ll feel a little discomfort as he inserts a condom covered probe into my vagina. My heart is pounding so hard I can feel it in my throat. I’m scared, nervous, a little excited. What if I am pregnant? I don’t want to get my hopes up just to have them crushed if they have this wrong.

  “I’d like for you both to see something.”

  I close my eyes and take a deep breath. Somehow, I know that he hasn’t got this wrong, and I know I’m going to see my baby. The baby I never thought I’d ever have.

  I open my eyes and both Hudson and I look at the monitor the second Dr. Carver turns it in our direction. “As you can see, you are pregnant, Callie.”

  Yes I am. There it is right there on the screen in front of me, my baby. My baby!

  I press my fingers to the screen as if I’m touching my baby, and the tears of utter joy are falling around my temples. This is my reward from God for being a good person. He recognized my sacrifices, he’s proud of me, and now he’s giving me an angel, a gift for being who he knows I am.

  “Hudson. We’re having a baby.”

  “Yes, we are.” I sense the smile in his voice.

  Neither of us expected this when we walked in this room today. I was expecting a death sentence. But what I’ve been give
n is a whole knew life. A husband, two beautiful children, and a baby born from my mangled body. I am the luckiest woman on earth. There is nothing I could want more, and never will I ask for anything more than this.

  Twenty-Four

  Hudson

  “There could be complications. Your body has been through so very much, Callie. You’re also still recovering from major surgery. Luckily, you’re newly pregnant so your abdomen has time to heal.”

  Then came the mountain of appointments Callie will have to attend throughout this pregnancy. Tons of paperwork, pamphlets and advice. There’s a lot we have to do in order for this pregnancy to go well. Callie is considered very high risk.

  We left that office with a mixture of both shock and excitement. Also our baby’s very first photograph. I can’t even believe this is happening. Callie believed it even less at first.

  What the doctor told us just before we left swims through my mind. “We don’t always understand how or why miracles happen. But I do know that they do happen. I see them every day.” Dr. Carver said as he leaned closer. “And if there’s anyone in this town that deserves a miracle it’s you, Callie Ryker.”

  “Thank you,” She cried, but not sad tears. I held her close, kissed her head and then led her out of there.

  We’ve just pulled up outside her mothers house so we can pick the kids up. She’s been quiet on the drive from the hospital. I’ve seen her out the corner of my eye every now and again looking at the picture of our baby, a beautiful, grateful smile on her beautiful face.

  “Ready to go in?” I ask.

  She turns to look at me. “Hudson. This is really happening, isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” I smile and cup her face with my left hand. “This is really happening, Callie. There’s really a baby inside of you.” I touch her stomach gently. I don’t want to hurt her, she’s still healing from her operation.

  She places her hand on top of mine. “Thank you,”

  “No, baby. Thank you.” I lean in a kiss her tenderly. This beautiful woman who owns every part of me.

  “Would it be okay if I told my mom? I mean, it’s okay if you’d rather tell your brother first, or get everyone together…”