Chapter 40
CHAPTER 40
Jackson was true to his word. It took a few days for both of us to relax and remember who we were, but somehow we managed to find our way back from that dark place.
Attentive and caring Jackson was back. He teased Chloe. Made dinners with me. We went for long walks.
We shopped for a new dining room table, and he helped me pick out bedding for Alien’s room.
He cuddled me when we watched TV. Things hadn’t been rekindled in the bedroom, but I was hopeful. Things were tentative, but I could see how much he tried. Now it was my turn to be patient. The man was working on his stuff, and I needed to let him figure it all out.
Jackson: Away baseball game tonight against a civilian team in Newport
Me: Oh. Do you need a cheerleader?
Jackson: Only if she is cute and pregnant
Me: That can be arrange d
Jackson: Eat dinner. I'll pick you up at 5 PM.
Jackson picked me up. We drove to a baseball diamond in Newport. I sat on the top of the bleachers. I was one of the few fans from the military that had shown up.
At the end of the seventh inning, I watched with disgust as Harper slowly picked her way up the bleachers towards me. From day one, this woman had done her best to try and steal my husband away from me. The texts she had sent Jackson alone were enough to make me sick.
She stood behind me, and her arms leaned back against the metal bars. I ignored her.
“So Emily, how are things?”
“Things are awesome.”
“You’re pretty feisty for a soon to be ex-wife.”
I looked over my shoulder. “You think you can get him back?”
She smiled down at me. “I know I can.”
“That’s not what he told me.”
She leaned forward and spoke in my ear. “I’m fucking your husband. I’m pretty sure he’s mine.”
I had enough. I stood up, picked up my water bottle and my purse.
She grabbed my arm. I turned and tried to yank my arm out of her grasp. “What are you doing?”
“You think you won because you’re pregnant and wearing that ring? Think again.”
“Let go of me.”
People around us looked back at us.
“He told me that he could barely stomach having sex with you. Why do you think he keeps coming back to me?”
At that moment, everything became crystal clear. This woman wasn’t sleeping with Jackson. She wasn’t a threat to me .
“That’s where you are wrong, Harper, because the sex is mind-blowing. Like out of this world. He loves my pregnant body. He can’t get enough. How do you think we got here in the first place?”
Her fingers dug into my arm. “You’re a fucking liar.”
I looked up at her face. I knew I had hit a nerve. “Ask him. He tells me that what we have is different than what he had with anyone else.”
Her fingers crushed my arm. I tried to shake her off. She shoved me at the same moment I yanked back. And then I fell backward. My arms flailed. Her face looked shocked, and I saw her reach forward and try to grab me, but she missed and then suddenly, I hit the hard ground with a resounding thud. Flat on my back, I stared at the sky. Thoroughly winded, I could not get oxygen into my lungs.
I heard her scream, “Jackson!”
My rib cage refused to respond. I sounded like a groaning boar, but no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get air into my lungs.
Jackson’s face loomed over me. “Emily, you’re winded.”
My panicked eyes focused on his face.
His hand was on my forehead. “You’re okay. Just relax. Just relax your rib cage.”
It took forever, but suddenly my rib cage moved, and I sucked in air. Beautiful oxygen filled my lungs. I lay there, stunned, taking in big gulps of air.
“There's an ambulance on the way,” someone said.
Jackson’s face hovered above me. “Don’t move.”
“I’m fine,” I wheezed. “I just got the wind knocked out of me.”
His eyes were wide. “You could have broken your neck or your back. I don’t want you to move a muscle.”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t move.”
I heard the approaching wail of the ambulance.
A spine board is probably one of the most uncomfortable things in the world. Especially when you're pregnant. They rushed me to an emergency, and a doctor assessed me.
My spine was fine. There were no broken bones. No fractures. I was completely okay.
Jackson stood beside my hospital bed in the emergency room. He still wore his baseball outfit. We waited for a technician to do an ultrasound on Alien.
Alien was doing flip-flops in my belly. I knew everything was fine, but no one listened to me.
“What happened?” Jackson's face was remote.
“Harper came up and was talking to me.”
“What was she talking about?”
“The same old stuff. How you were going to leave me for her. How you were sleeping with her.”
His eyebrows went up high. “She said that to you?”
“This isn’t the first time.”
He looked shocked. “Emily.”
“She grabbed my arm, and I yanked it back. And we were going back and forth. And then I fell backward. And the rest is history.”
A big hand covered his mouth. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Tell you what?”
“That she was harassing you.”
I stared at him in disbelief. What had I been doing all along? It had just fallen on deaf ears.
The technician whipped back the curtain. “Someone here needs an ultrasound?”
We watched as she wheeled the monitor beside the bed. My shirt came up, and then she applied a liberal amount of gel onto my belly.
“You had a fall?” she asked.
“Yes, but I’m fine.”
“What are you looking for?” Jackson asked, from the other side of the bed .
“Just making sure that baby and the placenta are doing okay. Did you fall forward or on your side?”
“Flat on my back.”
“Okay, let’s see what we have here.”
She pressed the wand onto my stomach. I looked up at Jackson. His eyes remained glued to the monitor. His big hand held mine.
“There’s your baby,” she said, pointing at the screen. “See, there is the head. And there is an arm.”
Alien was starting to look like a real baby. With a very baby-like face. A cute button nose. A mouth. Jackson’s hand was tight on mine. I looked up at his face. His expression was one of complete awe and wonder. His eyes stayed glued to the screen.
“Jesus,” he breathed.
I laughed. “There’s our baby.”
Our eyes met. He looked completely stunned.
The technician seemed oblivious to the fact that my husband was completely transformed by the sight of our child. “Everything looks good. Placenta looks good. Baby looks great. Everything looks healthy. I think you two got lucky.”
“Thank you.”
She handed me some tissues to wipe off my stomach. And then she wrote in my chart and wheeled her machine away.
I pulled my shirt down and looked up at Jackson. He stared at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
“We’re having a baby,” he sounded stunned.
“Yes. We are.”
He looked at my stomach. “I knew that but…Alien is a baby. Inside of you.”
His shock pleased me. “I know.”
He sat down on a chair beside me and took my hand in both of his. His eyes stared into mine. “I knew you were pregnant.”
“But shit just got real?”
He nodded slowly and then a huge smile broke out over his face. “I feel like an idiot. ”
“That was my exact reaction during my first ultrasound.”
“Complete disbelief?”
“Stunned shock.”
“Jesus. Why didn’t I get this until now? I mean, I understood we were having a kid, but Emily, we’re having a baby.”
Tears leaked out of my eyes. “Yeah. We are.”
He kissed my hands. “I’m sorry I didn’t protect you from Harper.”
“Jackson.”
“No,” he said emphatically and gave me a clear look. “You'll never be bothered by her again. You have my word on that.”
“Sorry I ruined your baseball game.”
He shook his head. “I got lucky. I’m so lucky you're okay.”
“Can you take me home?”
His smile was beautiful. “I can do that.”