Loving Jake (Almost Perfect #1)

Chapter 16

SIXTEEN

Jake paced the noisy emergency waiting room with tense, anxious strides. He was oblivious to the numerous people being shuffled in and out of the area, many on stretchers or in wheelchairs. He focused on the door to the examining room, the same door the paramedics had carried Kimberly through over an hour ago. He should have told the hospital personnel to call the father of the baby when they had asked him for his name and Kimberly’s, but he hadn’t been thinking clearly, and he wasn’t sure if he ever would again.

If anything happened to her... no, he wouldn’t allow his thoughts to take that dark and narrow path. He had never considered himself a religious man, but now he found himself praying for God’s assistance with each ticking of the clock on the emergency room wall.

“Jake. Jake,” cried a voice from behind him.

“Carly.” He practically crushed her in his embrace. He took in her tear stained cheeks, her normally immaculate facade shaken and disheveled, and he felt like crying himself, but seeing Carly release enough tears for both of them helped him to remain strong .

“Have you heard anything?” She pulled herself from his embrace to take a tissue from her purse.

“Not yet.” He motioned to a pair of empty seats, as he realized his own need to sit down. He had been pacing the waiting room for over an hour. He could do with a strong cup of coffee, but that would have to wait until later. There wasn’t a chance he was going to miss the doctor coming out of the door with news of Kimberly. He would sit here for days, if that was what it took.

“Jake what happened? I was at the movies with the girls and didn’t get your message until twenty minutes ago. I was so upset. I don’t think I understood any more than Kimberly and the name of the hospital.”

“I’m sorry about that. I was rather upset myself. Carly... it’s my fault that she was hit by a car. She called after to me to stop, and I didn’t listen. I just kept walking away from her.”

Confusion marred Carly’s tear stained face. “Jake, whatever are you talking about? I didn’t even know you were back in town, let alone you and Kimberly?—"

“I flew in this morning from Peru. I met this woman on a plane from Venezuela... a grandmother of twenty-seven children.” He caught the puzzled arch of Carly’s perfectly formed brow, and he paused. He was rambling, something he never did. He was definitely on the verge of losing it. He shook his head, as he tried to make sense of the last few days.

“Anyway, she made me see the light, as the saying goes. She and her husband couldn’t have children of their own, so they adopted. I got to thinking that maybe adoption could solve the problem, my problem, with Kimberly. The next thing I knew, I was on a plane back to San Francisco, even though I knew she didn’t want to see me again.” He exhaled a deep breath.

“And you came home to discover Kimberly pregnant. Very pregnant,” Carly interjected with a nod of understanding .

“It was stupid, I know. I didn’t even send her a text for over six months, and for some idiotic reason, I thought she would be waiting for me with open arms. I’m a fool.” Jake leaned over and rested his elbows on his knees. He braced his face with his hands and shook his head in tired defeat.

“I didn’t even realize she was pregnant when I first saw her. She had a large basket of clothes in her arms, for some damn bazaar or something. It looked heavy. I tried to take the basket from her. That’s when I saw...I found out she was pregnant. I practically stormed out of the place. She followed me and called after me, but I wouldn’t listen. I just needed to get out of there. She ran out into the street trying to reach me before I drove away, I guess. The car that hit her couldn’t have been going that fast. I never even heard it approaching us. If anything happens to her, Carly—.” Jake’s voice cracked. He buried his face deeper into his hands.

Carly reached over and tenderly placed a hand on his back. “Jake, it’s going to be all right. Kimberly needs us to be strong for her.”

Jake shook his head in surprise; their roles had quickly reversed. Carly was the strong one now. She comforted him while he fell apart. Choked full of pain, Jake began, “I know she didn’t want to?—"

“Mr. Taylor?”

Jake’s head darted up. A woman dressed in green scrubs stood in front of him. He swallowed deeply. “Yes?”

“I’m Doctor Holloway.” She smiled briefly at him. “You’ll be happy to know your wife is going to be all right. She suffered a mild concussion from the fall. Otherwise, there are no signs of additional injury. The trauma did cause her to go into premature labor, and we had some initial concerns, but we contacted her OB, and before we could do more then put on a pair of gloves, the baby came out kicking and screaming, probably thankful for his early release. He is a tiny guy, although doing well for entering this world almost eight weeks early. He’s going to be with us for a while, but his lungs are strong, and that’s always a good sign.” She smiled. “Nurse McEntire will take you up to the nursery,” she informed him with a nod to the woman dressed in brightly colored scrubs next to her. “We should be transferring your wife to the postpartum ward within the hour. She may be a little drowsy from the sedatives she received, but I think I can allow her to visit with her husband for a few minutes. Nurse McEntire will take you to see her after you’ve been to the nursery.”

“Thank you, Doctor.” Jake released his breath in a heated rush. He reached out and shook the doctor’s hand. “But I’m not Kimberly’s hus—" He was interrupted by a targeted elbow into his ribs. “Thank you, Doctor Holloway,” he amended and turned sharply to stare at Carly once the doctor walked away.

“Jake, please trust me on this and just go with it. It’s not my place to explain, but I promise you that it will all make sense soon.”

If the nurse overheard their exchange, she didn’t acknowledge it. “If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you up to the nursery.”

Jake and Carly followed the nurse through the pristine corridors in silence.

Kimberly would be all right. Jake felt like shouting his joy to the world. She and the baby were fine. The baby. The muscles in his back stiffened. He took a deep breath and tried to control the tension that flowed through him. Carly said to trust her and he would, at least until he had the chance to speak to Kimberly alone.

“He’s so small. ”

“He is, isn’t he?” Jake breathed in awe. He couldn’t remember seeing something so tiny, so beautiful, so perfect. He pressed his face closer to the glass separating visitors from the newborns.

A nurse noticed Jake and Carly admiring the latest addition to the nursery, and she walked over to where the baby laid curled on his side, his eyes pressed shut in slumber. The nurse wheeled the portable crib closer to the glass pane. She smiled and turned to say something to another nurse in the room, before she walked to the nursery door.

“Excuse me, Mr. Taylor?”

Jake hated to drag his eyes away from the baby. He hated even more knowing he had to clear up the misunderstanding of his relationship to Kimberly and the baby. “Yes?”

“He’s such a cutie, isn’t he? He’s doing great for a preemie. After we receive authorization from his pediatrician, we’ll arrange for you to hold him. In the meantime, I hate to bother you, but we have some forms that we need your signature on, including your son’s birth certificate form. It’s the top paper.”

The nurse pointed to an area down the hall. “There’s a table and chairs over there. Just bring the forms back to the nursery when you’re finished.” The nurse smiled warmly and handed him the clipboard. “Your wife is in room 205. Dr. Holloway left word that she can receive visitors from immediate family, but only for a few minutes at a time.”

“But you don’t understand?—"

“Take them, Jake.”

Jake swung his head toward Carly, and his eyebrows shot up toward his hairline. He searched Carly’s eyes, and she simply nodded.

Jake reached out and took the clipboard from the nurse. His hands trembled. His palms were damp with a layer of perspiration. What was going on? What in the hell was going on ?

He glanced down at the clipboard in his hands, and his knees immediately went weak. He blinked rapidly, positive his eyes played tricks on him.

Certificate of Live Birth , it read. Zachary Taylor Urbane. Mother: Kimberly Rose Urbane. Father: Jacob Samuel Taylor. Jake felt his heart stop. “I, ah, how?”

“Come on, Jake. I think we better sit down.” Carly placed her hand on his forearm and gently led him down the hall.

“I don’t understand,” Jake finally said once they were seated in a small alcove not far from the nursery. The clipboard of papers, the birth certificate form in particular, were the only things that kept him from believing he was caught in some bizarre dream.

“Jake, all I can tell you is what Kimberly told me when she first found out that she was pregnant, and that was that you are the baby’s father. I believed her, and I’ve never had any reason to question her again.”

“But—"

“Jake, anything else you want to know, you’ll have to ask Kimberly herself.” She paused and rose from her chair. “Now, that looks like a big stack of papers that need your signature. Why don’t you get started on them while I go get us each a cup of coffee?” Carly smiled reassuringly at him and then provided him with a sisterly pat on the shoulder before she walked away.

Jake nodded automatically, but not before he realized he had done that a lot today, been ordered around and then nodded in acceptance. He had definitely lost his grip on reality.

Unable to help himself, his eyes drifted to the baby’s birth certificate. Correction. His son’s birth certificate, if Carly was to be believed. And if that was the case, he decided with fierce determination, then a few things on his son’s birth certificate needed changing. Specifically, his name.

Kimberly had named their son after his grandfather, something that meant more to him than anything else she could have ever done for him. It was the baby’s middle and last name that Jake had a serious issue with, one he corrected immediately. He scrawled a line through his son’s name with quick precision, and with bold black letters, wrote Zachary Urbane Taylor. He would be damned if any child of his would not be a Taylor.

He spent several minutes staring at his son’s name before he continued through the pile of forms, signing his name and changing his son’s.

“Almost done?” Carly asked from behind him. She placed a large foam cup filled with coffee on the table for each of them.

“As a matter of fact, I’m signing the last one right...now.” Jake scrawled his signature on the last form. He lifted his head, and the strong coffee aroma filled his senses. “Thanks for the coffee. I definitely need it.” He took several large swallows of the hot drink before he placed his cup back down on the table.

“If you wouldn’t mind returning these papers to the nurse, I think I’ll visit Kimberly now.”

“Sure.”

Jake didn’t miss the apprehension in her voice. She was nervous for her sister, and although he had lot of questions for Kimberly, Carly had no cause for worry. He loved Kimberly, probably never realized how much until now.

He handed Carly the clipboard with the birth certificate on top. Inevitably, she would see the blatant changes he had made to it, but he didn’t care. Kimberly, and obviously everyone else, had decided that his child was not his concern. That was about to change. As of this moment, he silently vowed that he was in charge, of his son and Kimberly.

“I’ll meet you back at the nursery. And Carly,” he added before he walked away, “You don’t need to worry about Kimberly. I’m not going to harm her. I love her too much to ever hurt her again.” Jake walked away, and he realized for the first time in his life, he had rendered Carly Urbane speechless.

Jake knocked twice on the door before he opened it. His eyes immediately zeroed in on Kimberly.

Even though her eyes were closed, he could see the dark smudges beneath them. She had to be exhausted. She had been through so much over the last few hours.

Despite all she had been through, she looked beautiful lying against the stark white hospital sheets, her dark hair fanned against the pillow. He stared at her for several minutes, as an array of emotions soared through him.

One moment he wanted to rage at Kimberly, demanding to know why she had kept their child a secret from him, and then, a split second later he wanted to gather her into his embrace and never let her go.

He crossed the room and sat down in the chair next to her bed. His decision was made. Their hearts were going to win this time. He would make sure of it. Whatever her reasons were, and he was pretty sure he knew most of them, they no longer mattered. They were going to get through this, he silently vowed.

Jake took a deep breath. He ached to hold her hand in his own, to press a soft kiss on the inside of her wrist.

Kimberly’s eyes fluttered open, and just as quickly closed, as she fought off the exhaustion consuming her. She slowly turned her head. She winced, and he realized that she likely battled the headache of a lifetime and even the briefest of movements had sent a searing pain throughout her head.

“Jake,” she whispered to his bent head.

He was stooped over in the chair beside her bed, his head cradled in the palms of his hands, when he heard her voice call out his name, a soft caress against his skin.

He looked up at her. He was confused and uncertain, and his voice reflected it. “Kim.”

Her beautiful brown eyes stared longingly at him, all the love she held for him for most of her life reflected in her gaze. He swallowed, hard.

“Jake,” she began and winced at the pain that had to have come from hitting her head on the pavement.

“Kim, what is it? I’ll call for the doctor.” He started to stand when the soft command in her voice stopped him.

“No, it’s all right. I just have a terrible headache. The nurse was in a little while ago and gave me something for it. I guess it just hasn’t kicked in yet.”

Jake’s sigh of relief was audible. He reached out and brushed a strand of hair off of her forehead. She was in pain, and he was helpless to do anything but let her get some sleep. He should let her rest and come back later after she felt better. He told her as much, only to have her protest his suggestion.

“No, please, Jake. We need to talk about Zachary and… and everything,” she whispered in a soft plea.

“Kim, you’re in pain, you need to rest.”

“No, I need to do this more. Jake,” she began, only to stop when her tears began to cloud her eyes and clog her throat. “I’m sorry, … I should have told you. I know that now. But I knew you would feel obligated to come home and take care of us, and I, I didn’t want you to sacrifice yourself by being tied down to someone you didn’t love just for the sake of our child. I couldn’t do that to you, to any of us.”

Jake wiped the tears from her cheeks with the pad of his thumb. He felt like he had just been punched in the stomach. “Kim.” His eyes glistened with unshed tears. His foolish pride had brought them to this point, and he realized this hadn’t been the first time. He had called himself a thousand times a fool over the last six months, and in his mind, it was well deserved. How could he have told her that he didn’t love her, when he loved her more than life itself?

“Kim, please don’t say you’re sorry. You never were or will be just an obligation to me. I was wrong to leave you like I did.” He grasped her hand into his own and clutched onto it like a lifeline.

“Jake—"

“No, please let me finish,” he interrupted. “I need to tell you this, something I should have done six months ago.” He took a deep, shuddering breath, “My feelings for you terrified me, Kim. I knew I could never repeat the life I had with my ex-wife. I couldn’t survive that again. I wanted to believe you loved me as much as you said you did, but somewhere in my battered heart was a part of me that just refused to believe it. I refused to hope that we could have a future together.”

“Jake. I told you?—"

“Shh.” He brushed away a strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek and then pressed his fingertips to her soft lips. “I have to say this. It’s my fault you’re lying here now, bruised and hurting, when instead, this should be the happiest day of your life.”

He bent his head over their embraced hands and kissed her palm. “I love you.” He kissed the inside of each of her wrists. “I love you, so much.” His body shook with all the emotion he had finally allowed himself to release.

“Jake.” She removed her hands from his and wrapped them around the back of his neck. “I love you too.” She pulled him to her and hugged him tightly against her.

“I’ve been so afraid.” Her voice cracked, and the sound shot through him like a knife to his heart. He pressed his eyes closed .

“I thought you would hate me for not telling you about the baby. Please forgive me, Jake. I was so confused.”

“Kimberly.” He opened his eyes and pulled himself out of her embrace to lower her back down against the pillows. She stared up at him expectantly, and he grasped each of her hands. “First of all, I could never hate you. I’ll admit I was upset and more than a little confused when I left your house this afternoon. I still don’t understand any of it, but I could never hate you. I love you, and that will never change.” He bent over her and pressed a tender kiss to her lips, reluctant to pull away.

Kimberly’s chestnut eyes sparkled back at him, and a smile curved her generous lips. He searched her face. His gaze wandered over her high cheek bones and finely arched brows. God, how he loved this woman.

“I was a little more than confused myself when the doctor informed me that I was pregnant, and not, by any stretch of the imagination, sick from a bad case of the flu.” She looked up at him, and a pink stain colored her cheeks. “It was the last thing in the world I expected, but I suppose if I had known better, I would have recognized all the signs.”

“I don’t understand. The problems I had before, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe not, but according to the doctor, sometimes things just happen this way. He thought it was very likely that the mumps may have slowed things down a little, but not stopped them all together, if you know what I mean.” She laughed softly, and her eyes lit up. “Whatever went wrong with your ex may have been a combination of both of your problems, not just yours, plus the stress of the whole situation. He said seeing on how we conceived this baby so quickly, we probably wouldn’t have any problems in the future having more children.”

Jake laughed out loud. “I’d like to make it official between us before we talk about having any more children. What do you think of a small ceremony with just our family as soon as we can break you and the baby out of here?”

“Jake Taylor, are you asking me to marry you?”

If Jake could have been any happier at the moment, he certainly didn’t know how it could happen, and he hoped by the sheer joy that radiated from her that Kimberly felt the same way.

“You bet I am.” He took her hand into his and squeezed it. “Kim.” He sat up straighter and cleared his throat. “I’m asking you to marry me because I love you, no other reason. Only you. You know that, don’t you?”

“I know. You’re all I ever wanted, Jake. Every dream I’ve ever had has just come true. Having Zachary as part of that dream only makes it that more special. I love you.”

Jake bent his head, intent to place a kiss on her inviting lips when a cough from somewhere near the doorway interrupted him.

“Ah, excuse me. How would the two of you like to meet your son?”

Jake recognized the nurse from the nursery and returned her smile. He looked down at Kimberly with all the love he had in the world, he hoped, reflected in his eyes.

Kimberly returned his look with one equally brimming with love. “We’d like that.” She glowed with happiness. “We’d like that very much.”