Chapter Seventeen
I open my eyes.
This takes some effort. They close again and I drift for a while. I try to wiggle my fingers. One of my arms feels heavy.
I try again to open my eyes.
The light is bright.
I blink a few times.
I’m in a bed.
I’m in a hospital room.
“Good morning.” A woman dressed in scrubs is adjusting a tube that’s attached to my arm. “You’re awake.”
“Where is he?” My voice is rasped from sleep and lack of use.
“He’s right here,” she says, gesturing to the other side of my bed. “He refuses to leave.”
Kade is asleep, sprawled in a reclining chair. His hair is a mess and there’s some blood on his jeans. The sleeves of his shirt are rolled up and I can see there’s a small bandage on the inside of his arm. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine. Stubborn as a mule, but fine. He’s a universal donor.”
“A ... what?”
“You lost a lot of blood and he gave you some of his. You’re A positive. So it was a match. We were a bit low so he insisted, even though it was more than we’d usually take from one donor.”
The sound of voices wakes him. Kade’s eyes open.
He sees that I’m awake and he climbs out of his chair. He comes to me, leaning over me with so much love in his eyes, it brings tears to mine. “Hey, little unicorn girl.”
“You’re here.”
“You scared me.” He smooths a strand of my hair. “You just can’t do that to me, baby.” Gently, he kisses me. “I need you too much.”
The nurse tsks. “Easy now, cowboy. You both need rest.”
Neither of us answers her. We’re too busy staring into each other’s eyes.
It doesn’t surprise me that he’s literally given me his lifeblood. I can feel him coursing through my veins and in the beat of my heart.
“Now,” the nurse says, consulting her clipboard. “I have the results of some of your tests here that I’d like to discuss with you, Stella. If you don’t mind giving us some privacy, Mr. Tucker, you can wait outside.”
“I told you to call me Kade, Nurse Jenkins.”
She titters like a teenager. “And I told you to call me Marla. You’re a devil, that’s what you are, Kade Tucker.” Like the two of them are best friends. It’s easy to see she’s charmed by the big, blue-eyed rock star in her charge. She taps her pen on her clipboard, feigning impatience, waiting for him to leave. “Out you go.”
“Kade can stay,” I tell her.
The nurse eyes me, then Kade. “I think you might prefer to hear these test results in private.”
“It’s okay,” I assure her. Because I know what she’s going to say. “He’s the father.”
Kade stares down at me sharply. There’s shock in his expression, and a deep, layered concern as his gaze drops to the I.V. in one of my arms and the bandage on the other. But then I can see in his expression a subdued happiness. And a cautious, whole-souled hope. “What are you trying to tell me, darlin’?”
“I can confirm,” says the nurse, enjoying his reaction. “Stella, you lost a lot of blood but thanks to Mr. O over here, all your vital signs have returned to normal. You’ve suffered a minor concussion. The wound on your wrist was a nasty one but it’s been taped and is healing nicely. And you’re pregnant.”
When she confirms it—loudly like that—I would never have expected to feel so much ... relief.
Kade sits on the side of my bed and holds my face in his warm hands and leans his forehead against mine, staring into my eyes. “You’re going to have my baby ? Stella Juliet Bell. My girl. My beautiful girl.”
We’re immersed in this bubble of gravity, love and the magnitude of this news.
And how it feels remarkably like it’s meant to be.
I’m only twenty-one. My life was on a completely different trajectory only a month ago, and one that never quite felt like a perfect fit.
This one fits. It absolutely, completely fits.
The nurse tells us she’ll give us some time to adjust to our new status as parents-to-be and she leaves us to it. We barely notice.
“I didn’t mean for it to happen,” I tell him. “That first week we met, I forgot to take a few of my pills.”
“I think I can take some of that blame too. At least half. Maybe more than half.”
“You’re happy?” I hope he’s happy. I don’t know why I’m so happy.
“Of course I’m happy, baby girl. I’m over the moon.”
“All that pushing yourself back inside,” I whisper.
There’s a dazzling, cocky glint in his blue eyes. “I was trying to knock you up.”
This makes me smile, despite everything, because ... well, maybe he was. Thinking back on it now, it sort of seems like he might have been. He definitely didn’t hold back. “You were very thorough about it.”
“I was, wasn’t I?”
“You really were.”
His tone becomes more serious. “You’re my life , Stella. When I lost you, I thought—” His words catch in his throat, like he’s overcome with emotion.
“I’m okay, Kade. We’re together now.”
“I’m never letting you out of my sight again.”
“I guess you’re stuck with me.”
“Stella, marry me. Please marry me. Fuck, I love you so much, baby.”
I’m so happy it hurts. “I guess I’ll have to now.”
“I guess you will.” His smile is tender and staunch and alpha as all hell. He’s my dream man, my star-crossed lover and my hero, all rolled into one sexy, beautiful package. I can’t believe I get to spend the rest of my life with him. “We’re going to have the best life together, sweetheart. We’re going to do everything we always wanted. With our babies and your books and we’ll travel the world and we’ll never be apart.”
I kiss his perfect lips. “I love you, Kade Tucker.”
“Is that a yes?” With a thread of hopefulness, like he’s still not entirely sure I’ll say yes to him.
“Yes, Kade.” I smile and kiss him again. “Yes.”