Chapter 7 #2
Tossing the empty bottle into the recycling bin, he surged to his feet and went to look out the window.
The storm had not spared the hospital grounds.
Trees were uprooted and flower bushes strewn over the cobbled driveway like discarded weeds.
Ironically, now that the storm had come and gone, the sky was a brilliant velvet midnight blue with stars twinkling.
Raking a hand through the side of his hair, he turned expectantly, his heart hammering as the doctor came into the room.
"Well?" he demanded harshly, the suspense unbearable.
"We managed to stop the bleeding." Dr. Hawthorne was the head of the OBGYN department and was very good at his job.
He had been asleep in his bed after being at the hospital for forty-eight hours straight, but when he got the call from Bryson McNab, he had not hesitated to leave his wife and head back to the hospital.
When a McNab called, people jumped. The family made it possible for them to have a hospital, and their clinics and research were on par with the big hospitals in the US.
"She was having a miscarriage, but we've managed to save the fetus."
Bryson leaned back against the window and closed his eyes, his breath whooshing out.
"And Julianne? How's she?"
"Sleeping right now. Her blood pressure was a little high, which is expected under the circumstances.
But she's sleeping peacefully now." The doctor tugged off his skullcap in a gesture of weariness and wiped at the balding spot at the front of his head.
"We're going to recommend keeping her for at least a week and afterwards, she will be on bed rest for the next couple of months. "
"Bed rest?" Hope sprang inside his chest and had Bryson straightening. "Which means she cannot travel? Is that what you're saying?"
The man nodded. "We're going to be doing everything we can to save the baby. So, no. No traveling."
"Thank you, Michael."
"You're welcome. If you want to sit with her-"
"Oh, absolutely."
She had been assigned a private room, of course, and the minute he walked in, he stood there staring at her slight form on the bed.
She wasn't hooked up to anything much, which was a relief to him.
Crossing the room, he pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed.
She had intended to leave this morning, but fate or whatever had intervened.
Last night he had been so angry and filled with despair that he had harbored a hell of a lot of vengeful thoughts towards her.
He had vowed to call his lawyers and demand they find something to work in his favor.
But now, sitting here with her, seeing her as he had earlier, with blood on the sheets and her face twisted in pain, he just wanted to hold her and never let her go.
Everything that had transpired between them in the past was minuscule.
He knew her, knew that as soon as she was awake and received the news about her confinement, she was going to rebel.
The woman he loved was not one to sit still for even a second.
He was going to have a difficult time convincing her that it was for her own good.
Knowing her as he did, she was going to fight him tooth and nail, especially when he told her that she would be staying at the ranch.
Taking her hand, he lifted it and pressed a kiss to the palm, savoring the soft flesh.
"I have some very strong ropes in the barns and if I have to tie you to my bed, then that's what I'm going to do," he whispered.
"You're not going anywhere. I love you and it's time you stopped running.
We're going to be a family. We've been given another chance and I'm taking it.
" He slid his fingers over her palm and linked their fingers together.
Even wearing a hospital gown did not diminish her beauty.
They had brushed her thick dark curls and twisted them on top of her head.
Already, strands were escaping down her cheeks.
Her lips were slightly parted and she was snoring.
Just hearing it made him smile. Everything about her made him smile, apart from when she was making him so mad, he wanted to strangle her.
"You're stuck with me, baby," he continued, placing their joined hands against his hair-roughened cheek. "I refuse to let you go. You're just going to have to live with that."
"How's Ms. Merrywood?" Barbara had spent the hours since he left contemplating what it all meant. The Lord had not seen fit to answer her prayers. Apparently the fetus was still alive.
Bryson lifted a brow at the informal address of a woman his mother had known for more than a year now.
"She's hopping mad about staying in bed.
" Strolling over to the sidebar, he poured himself a cup of coffee and realized from the emptiness in his stomach that he had not eaten anything.
He had been at the hospital for the past six hours and was feeling the lack of sleep.
"Don't you think it's a tad ridiculous for you to be calling her by her surname considering? "
Lifting her cup of tea to mask the furious expression on her face, she took a sip. "I really don't know her that well."
Bryson sent her a quizzical glance before selecting bacon and eggs from the warming trays. Taking them with him to the table, he sat across from her. "You will get a chance to remedy that. Julianne will be moving to the ranch as soon as she's released from the hospital."
Barbara jolted and had to make a concentrated effort to put her cup down, but even so, it rattled hard enough to spill some of the liquid into the saucer.
"You did not discuss that with me. I-"
"What's there to discuss?" He gave her a hard stare.
"Mother, I'm warning you now that if you start anything, make it difficult for her to be here, you will answer to me.
You drove her away before and I stood by and allowed it to happen.
I never fought for her. Now it's different.
She's the woman I'm in love with and more than that, she's the woman carrying my baby.
She's in a delicate state and I want her to want to stay. Am I clear?"
He watched as she lifted her chin, eyes bright. "She might not want to stay, has that occurred to you? She left of her own volition-"
"Did she?" he asked softly. Scooping up some eggs, he ate and chewed, his eyes trained on her.
"I've been looking back on what happened in the past and remembering some things Julianne said to me.
You objected to her from the very start and I never paid that any attention.
I figured you would come around because I'm your son and you always said how much you wanted me to be happy.
But I'm beginning to think that what happened with dad is still uppermost on your mind. "
Pushing away the plate, he leaned his elbows on the table and stared at her intently.
"I'm not him. Julianne is not the woman who was involved with him.
I love her. Yes, Mother. I'm completely head over heels in love with her.
She's the only woman I want, the only one for me, and if you cannot accept that.
Well-" He shoved away from the table, determination stamped on his handsome face. "Please don't let me choose."
She sat there, her hands trembling as she watched him stride from the room, her heart breaking into pieces.
"You think you've won."
"Won?" he asked mildly as he took his position on the chair at the side of the bed.
He had left to go back to the ranch with the instructions that he was to be apprised of any changes to her condition.
But he was grateful to see her propped up on the pillows and wearing the pink and green robe he had had sent to the hospital among other things.
"I wasn't aware there was a competition.
" Leaning over, he aimed for her lips, settling for her cheek when she turned her head to the side.
"I'm not staying in bed."
"Of course you are." There was a steely, determined glint in his eyes as he stared at her. "You're going to do everything the very talented and caring doctors tell you to do, and I'll be on hand to ensure that you obey their orders."
He lifted his thick brows as she glared at him.
"I'm not living at the ranch. I will be staying at the cottage-"
"I have already returned the keys. Your last day would have been this morning. I had your things moved into my suite at the ranch." He looked unconcerned at her malevolent stare.
"You think you can control me?" she hissed.
"I think I'm the father of that baby growing inside you. I'm also the man who had to run tearing from my bed to come and be a witness to you bleeding out, the blood soaking through your clothing and the sheets." His own eyes glittered with the awful memory.
"I was the guy who had to endure seeing your face twisted in pain and had to drive and try and concentrate on the road, streets littered with the aftereffects of a bloody furious storm to get you here on time.
So, yes, if that's what you want to call controlling you, then so be it.
I don't give a damn. All I know is that you're not going anywhere. You're staying put."
If she hadn't seen the aching look of pain on his handsome face, she would have reacted more, but it occurred to her that he must have been scared out of his wits, and he was here with her.
He had left for a few minutes and was back.
She had also heard talk about the damage done by the storm and knew he had a tremendous amount of work to do, but he was here with her.
"You don't have to stay," she said grudgingly.
"And miss the gleam of your smile that highlights my life? Not a chance." Grinning at the dirty look she gave him, he climbed into bed with her.