Devotion - Chapter 37
Saturday
We waited as patiently as possible in James' room.
His doctor said he could probably be discharged from the hospital tonight.
While we were still at the hospital, we decided we should go ahead and get an ultrasound.
James was excited, but I was super nervous.
I just hoped the baby was healthy. I hoped I hadn't jeopardized anything.
I was absentmindedly tapping my heel against the leg of the chair waiting impatiently for the doctor to show up.
I almost jumped up when the door opened.
But it was James' father. He gave us a small smile and walked over to us. "How are you feeling today?" he asked James.
"Good. Better." James smiled. Their relationship was still strained. But at least they were talking, "Actually," James said, "the doctor is about to stop by. If you could give us a minute, we'll be right out."
"Well, there's one last thing we need to discuss with Detective Lee. I asked him to meet us in here and he mentioned that he was stopping by in just a minute anyway. He said he was ready to brief us on what they had found."
"What's this about?" James asked.
"Something I had told Officer Daugherty. I'd prefer if we waited for Detective Lee." He looked down at his hands. He seemed upset.
I was too jittery to focus right now. I was excited for the ultrasound. It was all I wanted to talk about. I nudged James with my elbow. "Let's tell him," I mouthed silently.
James smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
"Jon," I said.
He immediately looked up at me.
"We have some exciting news." I smiled up at James.
"Penny's pregnant," James said and squeezed my shoulder.
A smile spread across Jon's previously distressed features. "You're having a baby? Congratulations, James." He stood up and gave James a hug.
I was almost surprised by how long it lasted. James even awkwardly patted his back.
"And Penny," he said. "I knew you'd be giving me grandchildren in no time.
" He gave me a hug. "Wow." He exhaled slowly as he sat back down.
"I..." he laughed. "I don't even know what else to say.
Congratulations. I think we all needed some good news.
Penny, I know you're going to be an amazing mother.
I know it." His smile seemed to disappear again.
"Really, Dad, what's this about?" James said.
Jon shook his head. "Maybe I should just discuss this with Detective Lee in private. I shouldn't have..." but his voice trailed off as Detective Lee walked in.
"I heard you get to go home today?" he said with a smile and sat down next to Jon.
I think we're all ready to get out of here," James said with a smile.
"Right, right. Well I won't keep you longer than necessary.
But I have some great news. As soon as we arrested Officer Daugherty, everything started to fall into place.
I wasn't doing the questioning, but apparently he sung like a canary, trying to get himself a deal to walk away scot-free.
Don't worry, we won't let that happen. But it did let us round up everyone that was part of what happened to you the past few weeks.
Isabella had paid Officer Daugherty five million dollars to help her.
He had a gambling problem that he had kept hidden from the force and was in terrible debt.
He didn't need any more convincing than that.
"You already knew about Briggs. And he hadn't been lying about not being involved the whole time.
There was video footage of the nurse slipping something into his coffee to upset his stomach.
Her name is Linda Vega. She's the mother of Brian Vega, one of the guys on James' threat list. We were aware that James had gotten numerous death threats from him after Hunter Tech's advancements had tanked Vega's stock price.
But no one had put it together because Linda got the nursing job under a fake name.
She told Isabella what to do in order to make James' lung collapse again.
And she fed her information on his health status and injected James with that slow release sedative. "
I squeezed James' hand. His face looked a little pale. It was a lot to take in.
"Brian Vega was involved too," Detective Lee continued.
"He hacked into the bank transfer to make it seem like the money had been sent to an account owned by Tyler Stevens.
But it really went into an offshore account that your lawyer, John Litt owns.
Litt had a copy of the restraining order against Vega, which was how Isabella was able to find someone else who wanted James dead.
Apparently John Litt and Isabella had been sleeping together ever since James and her divorce hearing.
Litt will almost certainly be disbarred for accepting bribes, releasing personal information, and forging the DNR.
Or just for the scandal. He's already hired the best defense lawyer in the city, but don't worry, I'll make sure he sees jail time for this.
"We took your information about the threats against Briggs' family and have decided we agree that he acted upon duress. He was an unwilling accomplice. We are all set to drop the charges against him if that's what you're sure you want to do."
Without hesitation, James nodded.
"We have already dropped the charges against Melissa Monroe and Tyler Stevens. Is there anything you would like to add about Linda or Brian Vega?"
"No," James said.
Detective Lee nodded as if expecting that. "They've both plead guilty already. They'll be behind bars for a long time."
James exhaled slowly. I hadn't realized how much stress he was still holding on to. "Thank you," James said and stuck out his hand to Detective Lee.
"Just doing my job, sir." He cleared his throat awkwardly. "Jon," he said, turning to my father in law, "you said there was one more thing you'd like to discuss?"
"Yes, actually, I was hoping it would come up in the briefing.
But since Officer Daugherty was the only one I ever told, I feared it might not.
I had talked to him the other day, and I wasn't sure why nothing was being done about what we discussed," he said.
"I thought it was the proof that we needed.
And if I had known he was dirty...if I had talked to someone else.
..maybe none of this would have happened.
" He shook his head. "Penny, that's why Susan and I were fighting the other day in James' room.
I was confronting her about something. And she stormed off.
I had to go after her. I had to confirm my suspicions.
And I'm sorry I left. I'm sorry I left him alone.
" He shook his head again and looked back down at his hands.
"And what exactly did you tell Officer Daugherty?" Detective Lee asked.
I grabbed James' hand. I knew this was going to be bad. I knew this was going to hurt him.
"About all the texts between Susan and Isabella."
Shit. James' mother helped her?
"He didn't divulge that information during his questioning," Detective Lee said. "What texts?"
Jon looked at James for a second and then looked back at the detective.
"There are texts on Susan's phone encouraging Isabella to do whatever it took to stop the wedding from happening.
They never mentioned violence, and I'd like to think she didn't know what was going to happen.
But even after James was shot...she kept Isabella informed on what was happening in the hospital.
She fed her delusions. She encouraged her. She was a part of all of this."
Detective Lee looked up from his notes. "Do you want to press charges against your wife?"
I noticed Jon glance at my stomach.
"Yes," Jon said. "I want to press charges."
"Dad?" James said. "You don't have..."
"She encouraged Isabella even after she stole from you.
Even after she hurt you. I know that Susan didn't believe Isabella was behind that.
In part because Officer Daugherty insisted that Isabella wasn't. But, James, she knew.
Or she at least should have been concerned.
She put us all in danger." He glanced at my stomach again.
"We'll go talk to her now. If you're sure," Detective Lee said.
"I'm positive," Jon said.
The detective nodded. "I'll go tell her she needs to come in for questioning."
"And I'll get out of your way," Jon said and started to follow Detective Lee out.
"Dad." James got up and walked over to him. "Thank you." This time James hugged him.
Watching their exchange brought tears to my eyes. I could feel that this was the start of something better. Maybe Jon would start being a good father right before James became one. I put my hand on my stomach. Be okay. Please be okay.
It looked like they said something else to each other, but I couldn't make it out. James sat back down next to me with a smile on his face.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah." He put his hand on my thigh. "I'd like to say I was surprised by what my mom did. But I'm not. I'm okay, though. My dad was trying to protect me. I'm just going to focus on that instead."
"What did he whisper to you?"
"He told me to try to be better than him. For you. For the baby."
"I don't think you have to try."
"Maybe." He put his hand on my stomach. "When do you think you'll start showing?"
"I have no idea. I don't even know how far along I am."
"Who else knows already?"
"I told my mom, so my dad probably knows too. And you already know I told Rob who told Daphne. That's it."
James smiled. "I'm excited to tell people." He spread his fingers out, covering my whole stomach with his hand.
I put my hand on top of his. "You're really excited about this?"
"I think maybe this baby is everything I didn't know I wanted. I can't stop smiling. I promise that I'm excited." He kissed my cheek as the doctor walked in.
"You ready to get out of here now that all the excitement has calmed down?" she said.
"Yes." He said it more to me than to her. "I'm ready."
I hadn't expected James to be so accepting of this situation. But after everything that happened the past few weeks, maybe he was just counting his blessings too. He was embracing our future because we were lucky enough to have one together.
"You already know you have to come back in a few weeks to get your stitches removed and get a few more vaccines," she said as she looked up from her chart. "And more important than that, you need to get your stress under control. I can't emphasize that enough."
"I will." James rubbed his thumb against my stomach.
It reminded me of when he'd do that to my palm.
It was equally soothing. I had the feeling that he was doing it for the baby.
To show him that he was there for him. Him.
I wanted a little James running around. Apparently Rob's thoughts were rubbing off on me.
"So, now for the baby?"
"Yes." James stood up and grabbed my hand. He helped me onto the bed and squeezed my hand when I lay down.
His excitement was contagious. But I was still a little apprehensive. What if it wasn't okay?
"Normally we don't do ultrasounds until a few months in," the doctor said. "But this will give us an idea of how far along you are. If you could just lift your shirt for me?"
I pulled my tank top up so that my stomach was bare.
She put some weird jelly looking stuff on my stomach and ran the wand over my stomach. "And don't be alarmed if I can't find anything. It just means you're not that far along."
I nodded. But as the seconds passed, I started getting concerned.
"Wait," she said as her hand stopped. "There it is." She pointed to the monitor. "That tiny little oval."
It was the smallest little dot on the screen.
James squeezed my hand again. "It's so small." His voice was full of awe. I turned away from the monitor to look at him. His eyes were glistening. He smiled down at me and kissed my forehead. "Can you tell how far along she is?"
"Based on the size, she's probably just about four weeks. Which would put her due date in mid February. Probably right around Valentine's Day."
I found that completely fitting. I squeezed James' hand.
"Can you tell what sex it is?" James asked.
"I don't want to know," I quickly said.
"What? Why?" He was smiling down at me.
"I want it to be a surprise."
He nodded. "Okay."
"It's too soon to tell either way," the doctor said.
"We can verify that closer to halfway through the pregnancy.
If you change your minds and want to know, that is.
But everything looks good. You should make an appointment with your gynecologist in a month or so.
They'll be able to give you a more precise due date and make sure everything is progressing normally. Did you want a print out of this?"
"Yes," James said immediately.
She smiled and pressed a button on the keyboard.
"We're going to be parents," James whispered to me. He pressed his forehead against mine.
I put my fingers in his hair. "You're going to be a great dad."
He laughed and placed a soft kiss against my lips. "God I hope so."