Ignoring the surprised gasps of their friends, Shaw blinked. “I’m sorry, what did you just say?” he asked huskily.
“I said that we expect that Mrs. Armstrong and your baby are going to be just fine. We’ll know more as soon as some of our test results come back. In the meantime, we’re monitoring both her and the baby closely. The most important thing is for Mrs. Armstrong to maintain full consciousness. She’s been in and out of it since they brought her in. She’s asking for you quite a bit though. I’m assuming you are Shaw, yes?”
“Yes, but…”
“Yes, sir?” the nurse questioned professionally.
“You keep saying my wife and the baby. Waverlee and I don’t have a baby,” he explained as a bead of sweat dripped down his temple.
The nurse’s eyes widened before he quickly looked down at the chart in his hand. “Sir, your wife is 14 weeks pregnant, give or take a few days. We initially saw the positive pregnancy result in her bloodwork and an ultrasound confirmed the timeline. You didn’t know?”
Shaw shook his head as he fought tears. Dear God, he could have lost not only Waverlee but their child as well? It was almost too much to take in. “Neither did she. She’s been on the shot,” he explained huskily. “Oh, my God! You’re sure both of them are okay? The wreck…you’re sure it didn’t injure our baby?”
“The baby looked good on ultrasound, sir. There was a good, strong heartbeat. The good news is that at this stage of pregnancy, babies are pretty resilient. The amniotic sac keeps the little one very well padded.”
Shaw had no idea what the fuck this guy was talking about, but the good news was that he seemed pretty sure of himself. It didn’t matter, though. He wanted Waverlee seen by an expert. Turning to look at Wyatt’s wife, Bailey, he asked, “Can you do me a favor and get me the name of your obstetrician. I want Waverlee checked over by him.”
Grateful for something productive to do, Bailey nodded eagerly. “On it,” she declared with a happy smile as she reached in her purse for her cell and took a few steps away from them.
Looking back to the nurse, Shaw smiled ruefully. “Sorry, man. I know you’re probably excellent at your job, but…”
Holding his hands up, the nurse grinned. “I get it. I have a wife and two sons. I’d be the same way in your situation.”
“Thanks for understanding. Is it possible that I can see her yet? As you probably can imagine, I’m going a little crazy here. I’ve been visualizing the worst since I got the phone call that she’d been hurt.”
“Absolutely,” Andy agreed readily before shooting Brad and Wyatt a regretful look. “But I can only take next of kin back with me. I’m sorry, gentlemen.”
“It’s fine,” Brad said with a weary grin. “Now that I know she’s okay and in good hands, I need to get back to the bar and help Wendy close it down for the night. I’ll call you tomorrow to check on her, Shaw.”
Nodding, Shaw quickly held out his hand to Brad. “Thanks, man. Thanks for being there until I could get to her,” he said with sincere appreciation. “It means a lot to both of us.”
“Shaw, she’s the baby sister I always wanted. I’d do pretty much anything I could for her. Just take care of her…hell, of them, okay?”
“Every day of my life,” Shaw vowed solemnly before turning to Wyatt and holding out his hand again. “And you….thank God Brad sent you to the house. I’d have never made it here in one piece if you hadn’t.”
“Hey, that’s what friends are for. Go be with your woman and give her a hug from me and the wife. I’ll tell Bailey to text you what she finds out from her OB.”
Nodding, Shaw squeezed Wyatt’s hand one last time before turning back to Waverlee’s nurse. “Please, lead the way, Andy.”
A few minutes later, Andy pulled back the curtain to one of the darkened cubicles and gestured for Wyatt to step inside. “We’re keeping the lights turned low because odds are your wife is going to have one heck of a headache. She hit that airbag pretty hard,” he explained as he gestured at where Waverlee lay in the bed.
Catching his breath as he got his first good look at the woman he loved, Shaw fought a moan as he saw her heavily bruised face. “Oh, Christ! Waverlee,” Shaw exclaimed, bolting toward her side. Carefully picking up the hand without an IV attached to it, he brought it to his lips, staring down into her injured face. With blood crusted around her nose and twin dark circles around her eyes, it looked like his sweet girl had gotten the hell beat out of her and once again, he wished he could kick his own ass for letting her get in her car this evening. He should have known when she’d had trouble starting the car again that it was a bad idea for her to drive it. He’d almost lost her. Forever! And in the process, he could have lost their precious child – a child neither of them had known existed. Hell, his Waverlee still didn’t know. “Fuck!” he hissed through his teeth as he fought the urge to howl.
Hearing his low curse, Andy tried to comfort him. “She really is going to be okay, sir. It looks a lot worse than it is.”
“Really? Because it looks like my angel just had the fight of her life.” He supposed she had, too…it just wasn’t a fist that she’d been battling. It had been a fucked up vehicle with an air bag that had packed one hell of a punch. “The blood?” he questioned raggedly, nodding toward her slightly swollen face. “Brad mentioned that there’d been a lot of blood, but I don’t really see a lot of cuts.”
“Her nose was bleeding fairly heavily when they brought her in. The punch from the airbag gave her one doozy of a nosebleed. It’s a fairly common injury in car accidents that, I promise, looks worse than it is.”
Nodding, Shaw tried to swallow around the lump in his throat as he tightened his fingers around hers. Hearing one of the monitors go off, he watched as Andy moved forward to adjust one of the machines.
“Would you like to hear your baby’s heartbeat?” Andy asked over his shoulder.
Eyes widening at the possibility, Shaw instantly nodded. “You can do that?”
Grinning, Andy nodded again, pointing to the straps that were hooked around Waverlee’s stomach. “We have these straps on so we can monitor the baby and make sure Waverlee’s not having any premature contractions. Don’t worry; she isn’t,” he quickly added when Shaw’s eyes began to dilate. “But we can also listen in on your little peanut’s heartbeat with the machine, too.”
Shaw watched as the nurse fiddled with a few controls before a sudden whoosh, whoosh, whoosh sound filled the room. “Is that….” He began, awed.
“It is. That is your little one’s heartbeat. He or she is finding a way to tell you hi.”
“Holy shit,” Shaw breathed, awed and amazed by what he was hearing. He hadn’t even seen his child yet and already he was in love with him or her. Moving his hand to rest on the small swell of Waverlee’s belly that he hadn’t noticed until now, he was unashamed of the tears that filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks. “I’m gonna be a daddy,” he said aloud, both stunned and thrilled by this new development. “We’re gonna be parents, angel,” he whispered as he bent at the waist to brush his lips against Waverlee’s unmarred forehead. “You’ve made me the happiest fucker on Earth and you don’t even know it yet, baby. You’ve gotta open those gorgeous silver eyes of yours and let me share the news of this miracle with you.”
“It’ll probably be a little while yet, sir. Between the bump to her head and the pain medicine we gave her, she’s more than likely going to sleep at least another hour or two.”
“The medication…is it safe for our child?” Shaw questioned worriedly, knowing if Waverlee was awake she’d be chastising him for harassing the helpful nurse with a thousand questions. But he couldn’t help it. If she’d thought him protective before, she hadn’t seen anything yet.
“Yes. It’s safe for expectant mothers up to twenty weeks. After that, we only like to use it in emergencies,” Andy reassured him.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Shaw wiped his cheeks with the back of his hand and nodded. “Good. That�
��s good.”
“Okay, I’m going to step out. I’ve got a couple of other patients to look in on, but if you need me, just press the nurse button on the side of the bed and someone will be here in a jiffy. Try to take a deep breath and relax. Both your wife and your baby are going to be just fine.”
“Thank you,” Shaw replied hoarsely, waiting until the nurse closed the curtain to bring Waverlee’s hand back to his lips. “God, sweet girl. You and our little one just took twenty years off my life. You’ve got to open your eyes, baby. I’m going crazy without you here to keep me grounded.” Watching her face carefully for any sign that she heard him, he reminded himself of everything the nurse had just told him. She was going to be okay; she was just sleeping.
He’d have his woman back in just a little while.
Then, he was never letting her out of his sight again.
Chapter Nine
Waverlee
Moaning as she opened her eyes, Waverlee squinted as the bright lights above her threatened to blind her. “Owwww,” she yelped as a wave of nausea threatened to suffocate her. Taking a deep breath through her nose as she tried to lift a hand to her mouth, she winced as the skin on her hand pulled painfully. Her eyes rounded as she glanced down and found her hand attached to an IV, the clear tubing tugging at the tape on her skin. “What the heck?” she muttered, trying to make sense out of her current surroundings. Catching her breath when her muscles protested any movement, she dropped her head back against the pillow. “I ..I feel like I got hit by a truck,” she murmured, as she attempted to lift her other hand to shield her eyes only to find it pinned down, too.
“Close. It was actually an SUV,” a familiar deep voice tiredly informed her.
Her eyes popped open, instantly alert, as she heard the voice of the man she loved. “Shaw, honey?” Waverlee called as she tried to sit up and twist her head around to locate the source of his voice, only to whimper when the world seemed to spin around her.
“Hey,” he chided, gently trying to ease her carefully back to her pillow. “Take it easy there, sweet girl. Your little body’s been through hell the last few hours,” he admonished as his tender hands held her down when she would have lunged toward him. “I’m right here with you, angel, and I’m not going anywhere. Ever.”
Catching her breath as Shaw stood beside her bed, his big body looming over hers, Waverlee’s eyes widened. From his bloodshot eyes to the tight lines bracketing his mouth, she could tell her man was on edge. “Hey,” she whispered as nervous tears filled her eyes. “What hap-…. oh crap, there was an accident. My car stalled in the middle of the road. Holy crap, what about the other driver…”
“You mean the one who was going way too fast, lost control of his vehicle and hit you? The one who could have taken you from me?” he questioned her through clenched teeth as he wove his fingers through hers. “Oh, that fucker is just fine. Well, except for the black eye I gave him after they released him from the ER,” Shaw informed her tersely, taking her hand in his as he perched on the edge of her bed.
“You didn’t!” she gasped, tightening her fingers around his as he smiled at her. Although, one look at the self-satisfied smirk on his face assured her that her caveman had.
“That bastard almost took your light from me, angel. A black eye was a small price for him to pay. I wanted to kill him.”
“Since I know arguing with you right now is going to be useless, I’ll drop it for now and won’t tell you that violence rarely solves anything. Instead, tell me, I’m okay, right? No lasting damage?” she asked as she tried to assess her own injuries. She was really sore, but she didn’t feel impaired. She could move both her arms and her legs – even though doing so made her want to moan. Other than the IV in her arm, she couldn’t see any other lasting effects from her wreck.
“You took the brunt of the impact when his SUV collided with your car, but all the doctors promise me that you’ll be okay. All your tests have come back clear, thank God. Both the CT scan and MRI show no more than a mild concussion.”
“That explains the headache and nausea,” she murmured with a rueful smile.
“At least partially,” he agreed with a mysterious smile, continuing before she could question him on that remark. “So, while you’re gonna be banged up and bruised for a few weeks, there’s no lasting damage. Well, unless you count the damage your stunt did on my heart.”
“Sorry.” She grimaced. “Maybe I should have let you talk me into that new car after all,” she admitted with a sigh as she rested her head back against the pillow. “I’ll miss my trusty little car, though.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t think your little car was all too trustworthy in the end since it left you stranded in the middle of the road to nearly be killed, but if you really feel strongly about it, I’ll try to have the junkyard crush it into a nice paperweight for you,” he grumbled.
“That seems a little harsh,” she huffed as she tried to shift in the narrow bed and find a more comfortable position.
“Oh, you haven’t seen harsh, sweet girl. I love you more than anything on Earth, and you scared the absolute shit out of me, woman, but all that stops today,” he vowed determinedly, digging in his pocket and pulling out a small box.
Struggling to try and keep up with what he was telling her, Waverlee watched him finally pull a tiny black box free of the confines of his pocket. “Crenshaw?” she whispered, staring at the box in his hand.
“Shhhh…I just want you to listen to me for now. I’ve got some things I need to say.”
“O-okay, but first, I need to tell you something,” she insisted, looking up at him with big eyes when he frowned. “Please. It’s important.”
Finally jerking his head up and down, he dropped the box between them and focused on her face. “Okay, sweet girl, you go first.”
Sniffling, Waverlee blinked back tears and concentrated on not losing her composure. What she wanted to tell him had been a long time coming, but that didn’t make it any easier to get the words out. “I was thinking about us and everything you said before I left the house on the drive into the bar…before the wreck…wait a sec, how long ago was that anyway?” she asked, glancing out the darkened window of the small, private hospital room.
Looking down at his wristwatch, Shaw murmured, “Well, it’s just after one in the morning now and your wreck happened about six forty-five, so you’ve been in the hospital just over six hours. They moved you into a private room about forty-five minutes ago. The plan is to let you go in the morning if you don’t experience any cramping or bleeding tonight.”
Confused, she tilted her head and lifted a hand to scratch her temple, hissing when the tape on her hand pulled at the skin again. “Why would I have any cramping or bleeding? I thought I was fine except for a mild concussion.”
Shaw froze for a moment before smiling tightly. “Just a precaution, babe. Tell me more about these thoughts you were having before the wreck,” he urged, squeezing her fingers gently as he stared down at her.
“Well, I realized some things. Kind of had an epiphany if I’m being honest about it. For months, I’ve refused to talk about our future together. I’ve been unwilling to think beyond one more night with you, and I know that’s hurt you. Believe it or not, it’s hurt me, too. There’s a lot of reasons for my hesitation, and honestly, you know most of them. And you’ve accepted the conditions I’ve put on our relationship not because you wanted to, but because you wanted me to have what I needed. That’s the kind of man you are…one who puts others first. All my life, I’ve dreamed of finding a man like that of my own, but never thought I could. I never thought I’d be enough to keep someone like that. How could I when I wasn’t enough to make my own parents stick around?” she questioned in a small voice, focusing her eyes on their joined hands. “For a long time, I wondered about it. Finally, I just assumed I was defective.”
“That’s bullshit,” he snapped, unable to remain silent any longer. “You are perfect, angel. Whatever issues there were f
or your sperm and egg donor, Waverlee, those were their problems. It was also their loss, baby. You are an amazing woman, and I know in my bones you were a precious daughter. It was their selfishness that made them walk away, not because you were anything less than wonderful, but because they were too wrapped up in themselves to see the miracle they’d made.”
“Thank you,” she whispered with a tremulous smile. “Maybe you’re right, but I’ve spent a very long time feeling the way I just described. I can’t change that overnight, but I’m trying. I’m trying because I realized tonight that I already have the kind of man in my life that I’d always dreamed of finding. I’ve had him all along, but instead of appreciating it, I’ve been too busy waiting to wake up. It’s why I’ve always wanted one more night, Shaw. One more night to dream the dream of you.”
“Baby, I’m no dream,” he returned huskily.
“I figured that out tonight, Shaw. See, all along these last four months, I’ve been living my dream…I was too asleep to realize it. And while I’ve said these next three words a thousand times in my mind and I’ve heard them from you every day for months, I’ve never said them out loud. Not to anyone. But you need to know, I’ve felt them. And now I wanna say them,” she continued, swallowing hard as she gathered her courage.
Lifting his hands to gently grip her pale cheeks, Shaw stared into Waverlee’s eyes. “You can do this, sweet girl. You’re strong enough. You’re brave enough. Just let it out,” he coached her with tender patience.
“I love you,” she breathed, smiling as his eyes lit up with pure masculine pride. “I love you so much, Crenshaw Aaron Jacobson. You have my heart.”
“And you have mine, angel. Now, always, and forever,” he replied steadily, each word a solemn vow that she knew he’d spend an eternity keeping. Kissing her carefully, he kept his touch light, but the embrace was no less profound. “You’ve been the center of my world since the moment I laid eyes on you, Waverlee. I don’t know how much I believe in fate, but I do believe in divine intervention, and I know a powerful and loving God meant for me to find you. I want to spend all my days and nights showing you how much I love you. One more was never going to be enough. I’ll want one more night with you when God calls me home, honey. I want to spend the rest of my life making sure you’re happy, safe and loved. That’s why you are going to marry me,” he explained, cracking the lid on the box between them and pulling out a sparkling diamond ring.
Sex, Vows & Babies: One More Night (Kindle Worlds Novella) Page 8
