Montgomery Billionaire Series

by Michelle Love

  Peyton

  Pink flushes my cheeks as the doctor wags her long, thin finger at Kip and I as we lie in our hospital beds in the room that is now both of ours. I have officially been admitted into the hospital on complete bedrest as my water is leaking slowly.

  I thought it was sex that messed up my pregnancy but it wasn’t. The leak was caused by an infection I must’ve contracted from the sheets of the motel I stayed at when I first got to L.A. In a way it still was having sex that did it. That is where Kip and I made up and got back together. If I had just went to his place the way he wanted me to then I would never have gotten the infection.

  Either way, you look at it, I am to blame. The doctor is reading us the riot act on how we must follow all the rules our doctors lay down. Our beds are close enough if we both reach out we can hold hands.

  Kip reaches out for me, I take his hand and the doctor gives us a frown. “Why can’t you two keep your hands off each other?” She shakes her head and looks at me. “I will have you moved to another room if I have to Peyton.”

  My mouth drops open. “For holding hands? Damn, Doctor Love. You certainly don’t stand up to your last name.”

  Kip snickers and she turns her narrowed eyes on him. “This is not funny. Your child is in a dire situation. If he’s born right now, his lungs are not fully developed. Peyton needs to keep that baby inside her for at least another week. Even then the baby could still have major health problems for the rest of his life. Thanks in no small part to you two having to ‘feel’ each other as you so eloquently phrased it.”

  Kip lets my hand go and looks down. It pisses me off how she’s trying to make him feel guilty about this. It brings up my ire and I snap, “He’s not the one to blame, it’s my fault. All of this is my fault. I seduced him and that’s why his stitches broke. I have this damn infection because I refused to leave the dirty motel and go home with Kip. Everything is my fault, so leave him alone.”

  Dr. Love levels her eyes on me. “Don’t put all the blame on your shoulders, Peyton. Allow Kip to carry half the burden here.”

  I shake my head. “No! This is my fault and my burden to bear, not his.”

  Kip looks at me and frowns. “Peyton, stop that. I am to blame as well. I should’ve had more sense than to go against the doctor’s orders. And the thing about the baby is just a complication and no one’s fault. The damn, dirty motel is what needs blamed for the current condition of our baby. I’m going to have that place shut down.”

  Kip’s mother sweeps into the small hospital room, carrying a teddy bear in her arms. “Good morning, Dr. Love. It’s beautiful out this morning.” She places the bear on the top of the dresser that’s in front of the beds.

  Dr. Love smiles at Chloe. “I’ve been inside the hospital since before dawn. I have no idea if the morning is a nice one or not.”

  Chloe taps the bear on top of the head. “I brought in a spy to help us keep an eye on these love birds. A nanny cam is inside the bear and the nurses’ station has the monitor.”

  Dr. Love claps her hands and turns to us with a broad smile. “Fantastic! That should keep you two in check.”

  Kip shakes his head. “That is not necessary. How could you do that, Mum?”

  Chloe moves fluidly to Kip’s side and runs her long and elegant hand over his cheek. “I could do that to be sure my babies are all taken care of and doing what they’re supposed to be doing. Your only agenda is to be still and get better. Nothing else.”

  It’s official, I truly hate that so many people are up in our sex life!

  Kip’s agitated voice draws my attention. “I think I may just move this little party back to my place. I could have a private nurse there to see to us and then everyone can leave us the hell alone!”

  Dr. Love changes her tactic quickly. “Now, Kip,” she says with a soothing tone to her voice. “You and Peyton and your baby are much safer here in the hospital. I’ll make sure you’re left alone as much as possible and will let the other doctors know you’re tired of being lectured. But for the baby, if no one else, please stay here.”

  Kip reaches back out for my hand and I take it. “Okay then, as long as everyone stops acting as if we are incapable of acting like the responsible adults we both are, we’ll stay. But it stops now! The talking down to us like a couple of stupid teenagers is done!”

  Inwardly I’m smiling, but I don’t let it show on my face. Dr. Love looks properly chastised and offers an apologetic wave as she leaves, turning back to say just before she leaves, “If you have anything you need don’t hesitate to ask.”

  Chloe watches the doctor go then turns back to Kip. “Little harsh, son. Don’t you think?”

  Kip shakes his head. “No! It was necessary, Mum. You have no idea what we’ve endured. It started with Nurse Ratchet, she gave us what for and I was rather pissed about that as she felt she needed to bitch at us as Peyton stood with water trickling out of her and should’ve been taken care of.”

  I take up his rant. “Then the doctor from the emergency room came in to stitch Kip back up and the nurse told on us to him and he told us a bunch of horrifying medical facts about the condition of Kip’s insides. He made us feel like crap. Then Kip’s doctor made a visit, and we got another long lecture and he had visual aids to show us.”

  Kip squeezes my hand and adds, “Then that obstetrician, Dr. Love, was assigned to Peyton and she let us have it again. I’m very tired of hearing about it. And you can take that bear and toss it in the rubbish bin. I’m about to go crawl in bed with Peyton and take a nap. Not ravage her, just hold her and sleep.”

  “Aw.” I squeeze his hand. “You still want to cuddle with me even though I have on an adult diaper and we both are constricted by our IVs?”

  His deep blue eyes go soft as he looks at me. “Yes.”

  Chloe drops one side of his bed and helps him to stand up. She lets him hold onto her as he takes the two steps it takes to get to my bed. I pull the blanket back and he slips into my bed.

  His mother moves his IV stand and mine so they’re on the same side. I turn on my side and he does too as he spoons me from behind. His presence has me feeling calmer immediately.

  I’ve been upset and nervous since the doctor told me I could lose the baby or that he might be born with problems that could last the rest of his life. Now that Kip has me in his arms, I feel like nothing bad can happen.

  “I’ll leave you two alone so you can rest. I’ll stop by your place and let Peyton’s family know you’d like to be left alone until, maybe this evening?” she asks.

  “This evening will be fine, Mum. Thank you.” Kip’s hand strokes my stomach.

  Chloe turns the light off and closes the door behind her. Kip’s lips touch my neck as he whispers, “Sleep, love. When we wake up things will look a little bit brighter.”

  How I wish that was true!

  Kip

  The delightful aroma of fresh coffee wakes me up and I’m happy to find Peyton still nestled in my arms. My pain killer has worn off as it seems we’ve slept all day. Darkness is all I see through the small slats of the mini-blind that covers the window.

  “Evening, son,” my father’s voice says softly. “You about ready to wake up?”

  I yawn and lift my arm to stretch but am constricted by the lead on my IV. How sick and tired I am of having this damn thing on. How sick and tired I am of being in this damn little hospital room. I turn over and rub my eyes.

  Mum and Pop stand just inside the doorway with smiles on their faces. Peyton stirs and groans a little. “I hate this bed.”

  I help her turn over. “We slept all day, love. If you can believe that.”

  “Barely, this bed is making me crazy,” she says.

  “Pop, help me get out of her bed so she can stretch out.”

  My father comes, but instead of helping me out, he unlocks the wheels on the bed and rolls us as Mum takes our IV stands and rolls them along with us.

  “Wanna tell me where you could possibly be taking u
s?” I ask as we go out the door and down the hallway.

  It’s dimly lit as many of the other guests of this fine facility are sleeping. The nurses’ station we pass and one young nurse is standing with a coffee pot in her hand. “Good evening, Kip and Peyton. I’ll be in with a coffee for you, Kip and a tea for you, Peyton.” She smiles sweetly at us as we cruise down the hallway.

  “What is happening?” Peyton asks.

  Mum answers, “It’s a surprise.”

  A golden glow is flowing out of one of the doors ahead and remarkably Pop turns us into the room. It’s bathed in the gold light as a bunch of candles are lit in the room. A large bed with a deep blue comforter stands in the middle of the room.

  Flowers are everywhere and elements of home are all over. As we’re rolled to the bed I can see in the bathroom and fluffy blue towels hang on the towel rack.

  My very first acoustic guitar sits on a stand near the bed and on the other side a laptop computer sits on a nightstand. Mum maneuvers our IV stands around the bed and says, “I heard you loud and clear this morning, son. We had this queen size hospital bed brought in for you two and some things from home.”

  Two nurses come in and help me out of the little hospital bed first. “How about a shower?” One asks me with a smile.

  “Oh, hell no!” Peyton nearly shouts.

  They laugh. “He can take one by himself, don’t worry, Peyton,” the nurse adds.

  She removes the lead from my IV, freeing me up and I am more than thankful. “There you go,” the nurse tells me. “You are free to go take a shower. There’s a bottle of a reddish orange solution in the shower and you need to clean your stitches with that. It seems you have a small infection in the incision they made to take out your appendix. We’ll have to keep those extra clean and an antibiotic will be added to your IV when we get you back out here.”

  The other nurse goes to the end of the bed, near Peyton’s feet. “We’ll clean her up while you shower. There’s also a set of pajamas in there for you to put on, Kip. I bet you’re ready to get out of the hospital gowns you’ve been stuck in.”

  “I am sick to death of them,” I say and hug my mother. “Thank you, Mum.” I kiss her cheek.

  “You’re welcome. We’ll be going now. See you two in the morning,” she says then takes my father’s arm and they slip out the door.

  Before I go into the bathroom, I drop a kiss on Peyton’s forehead. “Be easy with my girl,” I tell the nurses.

  “We will,” the shorter one assures me. “You go take a nice long shower.”

  Peyton gives me a smile. “I’ll be here.” She waves at me as I close the door.

  Finally, some sense of normalcy.

  Peyton

  The new room and the larger bed has made Kip and I so much more comfortable. Two days have passed since we moved and I’ve managed to keep the baby where he belongs.

  Kip and I have been mulling over names for him and I’m afraid that this poor kid is going to have some weird name as Kip is determined for the name to be something the kid has to grow into.

  “I like Napoleon,” Kip says and I roll my eyes. “We can call him Nappy. That’s cute, don’t you think?”

  I run my hand over my face and open the laptop his parents got me. “You know what, Kip. I’m naming this one. You can maybe name the next one.”

  He shakes his head and picks up his guitar and strums it a bit. “No way! How about I get to pick the first name and you can pick the middle name?”

  “Hell, no!” I google baby names. “Look, here are the most popular names.”

  “I don’t want to name him a popular name, Peyton.” He strums out a little chord and sings, “Nappy, oh Nappy. Nah, I don’t like that one either. We’ll have to keep thinking on it.”

  “Thank God!” I search unpopular names and remarkably something comes up. “Never in a million years did I think I would be searching unpopular baby boy names for my kid. The things you have me doing, Kip!”

  He looks over my shoulder and points. “Oh, look at that one, Paxton. I like it.” He strums his guitar and hums a little. “Yeah, I like Pax, Peyton. What do you say? Paxton Reed-Dixon. I like it, don’t you?”

  “I do kind of. Are you sure about the hyphenated last name?” I ask as he doesn’t seem the type to like that sort of thing.

  “Of course our children will have the hyphenated last name. You’re going to be a best-selling author someday. I’m sure your parents will love to see their surname on the cover of a best-selling novel. The kids will love having their mother’s name as well. Plus, it’s like really cool, you know?”

  “So, his middle name is all that’s left to figure out.” I continue to look down the list.

  Kip wraps his arm around me. “Let’s use your father’s name as this one’s middle name and the next can have my father’s name as the middle name.”

  “The next one?” I ask with sarcasm. “You having that one, Kip?”

  “Of course not, don’t be silly. And what do you mean? Are you saying you don’t want any more kids? Because we are definitely having more kids so you’ll just have to get over that.” His arm tightens around my shoulders and he kisses my cheek.

  “There’s the bossy man I fell in love with.” I laugh and the door opens and in walks Kips entire band and his manager, Silas.

  “Well, hello there, blokes,” Kip says with a smile. “Finally decided to visit, huh?”

  Bobby nods. “I was here the first day then went to San Francisco to visit my parents. But we’re all back in town and decided to come see you. That’s a pretty cozy set-up you have there.” He gestures to the large bed. “Can’t say I’ve seen a hospital bed that big before.”

  “Mum found it.” Kip lets me go and sets his guitar back on the stand.

  Silas steps forward. “So, Kip, when are you going to be able to get back to work? Not that I’m rushing you, but I would like an idea.”

  Kip looks down and takes in a deep breath then looks up. “Silas, I’m not renewing my contract. I’m done. I may do a solo thing, but then I may not. I’m going to focus on my family for now.”

  Silas looks shocked and Bobby looks pissed. His face goes red as he shouts, “What the fuck, Kip?”

  Silas takes Bobby by the arm. “No reason to get loud, Bobby. Now, Kip, you can do both, be in the band and take care of your family as well.”

  “I don’t want to though. It was fun, but I want to go in a different direction with my life. The fast pace I want to slow down. I want to make the kind of music I like for a change.” He shifts his weight and I can feel the tension in his body.

  “And what about us, mate?” Troy asks. “The band can’t go on without you.”

  “Well, just find another singer, or better yet, let Bobby sing. He’s great,” Kip offers.

  “And what are we to call ourselves, Kip?” James asks.

  “Come up with something,” Kip says and runs his arm back around my shoulders. I lean into him and feel his heart pounding in his chest. He obviously has been dreading telling them his decision.

  Bobby points right at me. “Yoko, are you behind this?”

  “Don’t,” Kip says as he levels his eyes on Bobby’s. “I hadn’t even told her I was quitting. She had nothing to do with my decision.”

  Bobby frowns. “Sure she didn’t. You know ever since you met this chic you’ve been off. I mean look at you. Shit, you have to be next to her all the damn time. You’re too dependent on her.”

  “Bobby, you just don’t get it, I love her. She and I are having a baby. Of course I’m dependent on her and she is on me as well. It’s what happens when two people fall in love.” Kip kisses my cheek and I blush.

  “Kip, you don’t have to quit the band,” I say and look him in the eye. “If you’re doing it for me or the baby, please don’t.”

  “I’m doing it because that’s what I want to do. It is true that the main reasons are you and the baby, but it’s also because I want to make the music I want to. I’m tired
of singing someone else’s songs.” He looks at Silas. “So, I’m out.”

  Silas throws his arms up. “Well then I have to move on too.” He looks at the rest of the band. “I won’t be renewing any of your contracts then. I can’t waste my time trying to get gigs for a band that’s missing the lead man.”

  Bobby goes a deeper red. “Look what you’re doing, Kip! You’re cutting our throats! All over, Yoko.”

  “Stop!” Kip shouts. “Don’t say another word, Bobby. It’s not my purpose in life to keep you three employed. You can go start your own thing. It’s not like you don’t have the same connections I do.”

  “We’re out a manager now, thanks to you,” Bobby shouts. “We’ll have to start completely over. Do you know how hard it is for a band to start over without the lead man? Your name is what draws the crowds.”

  “Sorry,” Kips says, quietly. “I’ll do what I can to help you guys, but I have to do this.”

  Bobby takes three quick steps and is in my face before I know it. His finger in my face, he says, “This is all your fault.”

  I know it is. No matter what Kip says. If it wasn’t for me, he would not be quitting the band. “I’m sorry,” I whisper.

  A pain starts in my back and radiates around my sides and then my entire stomach feels tight. Kip pushes Bobby’s shoulder. “Leave now!”

  Bobby turns and walks towards the door, the others follow him. Every one of them mad and not one tells Kip anything.

  I am just like Yoko Ono, I’ve broken them up. They will never forgive Kip for doing this to them. This is all my fault. I should have left Kip alone to be the rock star he was. He could still be if I left him. Lots of people raise their kid with no father, I could do that. I should do that, so Kip can have his life back.

  I hold my stomach as another pain hits me hard. “Kip, hit the button to call the nurse. Something’s wrong.”

  His eyes go wide and he pushes the button. “What is it, Peyton?”

  “My back is where it starts and moves around to my stomach. It feels like I’m being squeezed,” I tell him.

  The nurse comes in, her smile fades as she looks at me. “Peyton, you’re very pale.” She comes to the side of the bed and puts the blood pressure cuff on me. “Are you in pain?”