Chapter 22 #2
“Are you serious?” Drake asked. The kid sounded pissed. “Violet freaking cried her heart out for months, especially after the divorce went through and you told him not to contact her?”
My heart plummeted about five thousand feet in a second. I thought I was doing as Violet requested. It didn’t seem as though that was the case.
“She told us at the baby shower that he hadn’t called, texted, or talked to her at all since the night of the party and you sat back and looked shocked. All the while, you told him not to contact her?” Mark asked. He seemed completely gutted by the news, and I had to say, I felt the same.
“It was for her own good. How was she supposed to get over him and move on? We all know she would have caved and gone back to him.”
“She should have caved and gone back to him,” Mark yelled. “It’s what she wanted all along, she just had to work through how to trust him again.”
“Once trust is broken, you can’t get it back,” Wendy argued.
“I want you to remember those words, Wen. They’re about to bite you in the ass.”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Do you think our daughter will thank you for interfering the way you did? She’s been going through an entire pregnancy on her own when Ridge could have been by her side every step of the way.”
“He didn’t deserve to be there. He took that hussy to Australia with him.”
“And you know why he did that,” Mark added. He looked ready to throttle his wife.
“Mom?” Drake called out.
“Yes, honey?” she asked. Wendy moved closer to his bed, which put her nearer to where I sat in the chair. I didn’t want to be near the woman, but I would have to deal with her because no matter what she was Violet’s mom and our baby’s grandmother.
“Get out of my room and don’t come back,” Drake shocked us all as he made the demand.
“Drake! You don’t mean that.”
“I do. My sister is in the hospital, in surgery because you meddled in her business. I’m here because you couldn’t be bothered to pick me up and sent your pregnant daughter to do it instead.
I hope your hair looks real good when you’re talking to yourself in front of the mirror because no one else is going to care. ”
“Drake, I see that you’re mad, but this is not okay.”
“No, what wasn’t okay was keeping Ridge from Violet. She needed him. He needed her. You had no right.”
“Well, you are a minor and I’m your mother, so I have every right to be here.”
“No, you don’t. Dad can be here, but I don’t want you in my room.”
Mark turned on his wife then. “You need to go home. I’ll call if there are any updates.”
“Mark, you can’t be serious.” Wendy’s face turned red. “Drake is my son. Violet is my daughter.”
“And they’re both old enough to choose if you’re allowed in their lives.
Violet can make that choice later, but your son made his right now.
I’m going to see that it is respected while he’s healing.
When we are all back home, we need to work on things.
I suggest looking for a good family therapist.”
Wendy stammered on for a bit but finally relented and left when everyone in the room ignored her.
After she left, I turned back to my brother-in-law and father-in-law.
Legally, they no longer held those titles, but they always would in my heart and hopefully again in the eyes of the law one day, too.
“I have people looking for Fiona. She’s been off the radar for a few months now.
The time Moreland saw her on St. Patrick’s Day and then when she attacked you yesterday were the only times she’s been seen.
My lawyer has already gotten in touch with the police.
Charges are being filed for the,” I hesitated to say it.
“The incident on my birthday. Also, from what my lawyer sent to me when I was on the way here, it looks like they have enough proof from different cameras that were running to prove that she was the one who caused the accident. She was also wielding a knife next to the vehicle on the driver’s side, which is why Drake was loaded into an ambulance before his sister. ”
“What the hell?” Why hasn’t she been caught?
“No clue, but I won’t rest until she is.”
Dr. Carson came into the room a few minutes later to talk to the Duponts about Violet. The minute he saw me, the man clammed right up. I figured they would all tell me to leave, but Mark surprised me when he asked Dr. Carson to continue with the full update.
“Okay, the team had to drill a small hole in Violet’s cranium on her left side just up and back a little from her temple to relieve some of the pressure that was caused by a bleed. There shouldn’t be any complications. Violet will be out of it for a bit longer.”
“What about the baby?” I asked. Dr. Carson looked to Mark for an answer about whether he should provide that information and Vi’s father gave him a nod.
“I monitored the baby throughout the procedure. Everything looks great. I’ll be honest, though, I don’t think this pregnancy will go to full term at this point.
We’re almost there, and close enough that if the baby was born today there should be relatively few health concerns.
Naturally, we want the baby to continue to grow inside its mother for as long as possible, but she was already dilated to two centimeters before the accident.
That number was bumped to three before the bleed was detected.
I am going to check on her once again after she wakes up. Be prepared.”
“She just had surgery and you drilled into her skull, how dangerous would it be for her to give birth after that? I imagine there’s a lot of pressure with the pushing and…”
“You’re not wrong Ridge. If she goes into labor, we may have to make a very quick decision about whether to perform a c-section.”
“Do whatever you have to, to make sure they are both safe,” I told him.
Dr. Carson eyed me thoughtfully but refused to agree until Mark spoke up. “You heard the man. That’s his baby and his wife.”
“Ex-wife?” Doc framed it as a question, but I had no doubt it was meant to correct Mark.
“Semantics. They had a rough patch. As Violet’s father and her medical proxy, I’m telling you that any decision Ridge would make for her and their child is fine by me as well.”
“That will be noted in the file until Violet can speak for herself.”
After Dr. Carson left, I turned to the two men who were most important to my woman in this world.
“I need to go to my office and grab a change of clothes. I didn’t bring anything with me, and I don’t want to see Violet and potentially hold our baby while wearing shit that I’ve been stewing in on a flight for nearly a full day.
Please, call me if anything changes and I will come right back. ”
“I promise you that I will. You might want to hurry, though. Dr. Carson seemed fairly concerned about her going into labor early.”
“I will.”