Chapter 44
44
AMELIA
A week had passed since I’d been confined to bed rest at Jared’s house.
I was officially losing my mind.
It felt like three years.
I was going to chew through a wall soon.
The bedroom was luxurious, sure—spacious, with floor-to-ceiling windows that overlooked the ocean, and a bed so comfortable it felt like sleeping on a cloud.
But no amount of luxury could make up for the fact that I was essentially a prisoner in this room.
Jared had been… attentive, to say the least. He brought me meals, made sure I had everything I needed, and hovered over me like a nervous parent.
But it wasn’t enough.
I needed more than his careful, calculated care.
I needed him to drop the stone-cold doctor act and talk to me about us .
About our future. About the baby.
About anything real.
My biggest excursion the last week had been moving upstairs to a guest suite.
It was twice as big as the room below.
And it was comfortable, but I was bored.
Claire had been visiting every day, which helped.
She updated me on the lab, and together we divvied up responsibilities to keep things running smoothly in my absence.
But once she left, I was alone with my thoughts, and that was dangerous territory.
I couldn’t stop thinking about Jared—about how he’d been so distant, so guarded, even as he took care of me.
I blamed Gemma for a lot of it.
She’d done a number on him, that much was clear.
But there had to be more to it.
Something deeper, something he wasn’t telling me.
That woman didn’t deserve him.
I wished I could give her a piece of my mind and let her know exactly what I thought about her careless choice to hurt a good man.
And I believed he was a good man under all those cocky layers.
I propped my phone up on the pillow beside me, adjusting the angle so Clair’s face was centered on the screen.
Her dark hair was pulled into a messy bun, and she was sitting at her desk in the lab, a mountain of papers and a half-empty coffee cup in front of her.
“I swear, Amelia,” she said, leaning back in her chair.
“If I have to listen to Shawn one more time today, I’m going to lose it. He keeps lurking around my workstation, pretending to ‘check on the pH levels’ or some nonsense. Just ask me out already, you absolute walnut.”
I laughed.
“Clair, you could always just, you know, ask him out yourself. It’s the twenty-first century. Women are allowed to make the first move.”
She groaned dramatically, tossing her head back.
“Ugh, no. I can’t. It’s too embarrassing. He’s so clueless, Amelia. Like, painfully clueless. The other day, he asked me if I liked sushi, and when I said yes, he just nodded and walked away. What kind of response is that? Who does that?”
“A man who’s terrified of you,” I said with a grin.
“Honestly, Clair, he’s probably just nervous. You’re intimidating, you know.”
She smirked, raising an eyebrow.
“Good. He should be.”
I shifted slightly in bed, trying to find a more comfortable position.
My back was starting to ache, and I was pretty sure my legs were going to forget how to walk if I didn’t get out of this bed soon.
“Clair, I need you to do me a favor,” I said.
“Anything. What’s up?”
“Can you bring me some real food? Like, not whatever gourmet nonsense Jared’s chef has been sending up. I’m craving fish and chips from that little place down by the marina. The one with the cheesy nautical decor and the battered haddock that’s actually decent. You know the one, don’t you?”
“Yes, I know it. Their chips are criminally good. Alright, consider it done. Fish and chips incoming.” She paused, then grinned mischievously.
“But you know Jared’s going to have a fit if he finds out you’re eating greasy takeout instead of his meticulously balanced meals.”
“Let him,” I said with a shrug.
“I’m not his patient—well, technically, I suppose I am, but I’m also me, and right now, me wants fish and chips. He can deal with it.”
Clair laughed.
“Spoken like a true rebel. Alright, I’ll grab some on my way over later this afternoon. Anything else? Pudding? A side of mushy peas?”
“You’re an angel,” I said, grinning.
“Just bring me all of it.”
We chatted for a few more minutes before Clair had to get back to work.
I set my phone down with a sigh, staring out at the ocean through the massive windows.
The view was stunning—turquoise water stretching endlessly under a cloudless sky—but it did nothing to ease the restlessness clawing at me.
I wanted to be out there, feeling the sun on my skin.
I wanted to walk and smell the ocean breeze.
And that’s what I was going to do.
I was going to go out on the deck for just a minute.
Then I would plant my ass on the couch.
I didn’t see any difference between me sitting on the couch or sitting in this bed.
I would still be sitting.
I needed a change of scenery, even if it was just a different room in the same house.
I made my way downstairs, my hand resting on my growing bump.
I was halfway down when I heard male voices.
There were people in the house.
The voices were loud enough to be heard over the sound of tools.
It sounded like a construction zone.
My brow furrowed as I followed the noise, my eyes landing on a stack of boxes lining the hallway.
They were filled with my things—books, clothes, even my favorite mug from the condo.
My heart skipped a beat.
What was going on?
I heard Jared’s voice then, coming from a room down the hall—a room I’d never been in.
I crept closer, peeking through the doorway, and what I saw stopped me in my tracks.
Jared was standing in the middle of the room with his face all scrunched up.
He was staring at an instruction manual in his hands.
With the look on his face, I suspected it was written in a foreign language.
But it wasn’t him that caught my attention.
The room itself was…
breathtaking. Soft baby blue walls, a crib in the corner, a rocking chair by the window.
It was a nursery. A nursery .
And it was beautiful.
The construction workers were packing up their tools, nodding at Jared as they filed out of the room.
They passed me in the hallway, but Jared hadn’t noticed me yet.
He was too focused on the manual, muttering under his breath about “stupid instructions” and “why is this so complicated?”
I stepped into the room, my hand covering my mouth as I took it all in.
“Jared,” I said softly, my voice trembling.
He looked up, his eyes widening when he saw me.
“Amelia,” he said, his voice a mix of surprise and concern.
“You’re supposed to be in bed.”
“I couldn’t stay up there any longer,” I said, my eyes scanning the room.
“What is this?”
He set the manual down and walked over to me with a smile.
“It’s a nursery,” he said, as if it weren’t obvious.
“I wanted it to be a surprise.”
“It’s… it’s a huge surprise,” I said.
Before I knew it, tears were streaming down my cheeks.
I didn’t know why I was crying, but I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over.
“Jared, this is… it’s beautiful.”
He reached out, brushing a tear from my cheek.
“I hope you don’t mind that I went on a bit of a shopping spree. You can still pick out the decor and stuff.”
He thought I was crying because I didn’t decorate the nursery.
The silly man.
“Jared, why is there a nursery in your house?” I asked.
“For our baby.”
“The baby,” I murmured.
“I want you here, Amelia,” he said.
“I want you . I know I have a weird way of showing it, but you did something to me. You got through to me in a way no one else has. And I want you in my life. If you’ll have me. I wanted to show you I was ready for you and the baby.”
I stood there, my hand still on my bump, staring at him as the words settled over me like a warm, unexpected blanket.
Jared, the man who struggled to string together more than two sentences about emotions, was now standing in front of me, laying it all out.
I could see the tension in his shoulders, the look of fear in his eyes.
It was a side of him I’d never seen before.
“I’ve made mistakes,” he began.
“A lot of them. I’ve been blunt, inconsiderate, maybe even a little selfish. I know that. I’m not great at this—this whole relationship thing. I’ve spent most of my life focused on my work, on my research, and on the next big breakthrough. And I thought that was enough. I thought that was all I needed.”
He paused, his eyes searching mine like he was trying to gauge my reaction.
I didn’t say anything.
I couldn’t. My heart was beating so fast I thought it might burst out of my chest.
“But then you came along,” he continued.
“And I don’t know how you did it, but you got under my skin. In a good way. You made me see things differently. You made me feel things differently. And I realized I don’t want to just focus on work anymore. I want to focus on you. On us. On this baby.”
“Jared,” I whispered, my voice shaking.
“I don’t know what to say.”
“Say yes,” he said, his eyes searching mine.
“We can at least try, can’t we?”
I nodded, tears streaming down my face.
“Yes,” I said, my voice barely above a whisper.
“Yes, we can try.”
He pulled me into his arms, holding me tightly, and for the first time in weeks, I felt like I could breathe.
This was a start. A real start.
“I don’t want you to feel like you have to give up your career,” Jared said suddenly, breaking the silence.
“You’ll always have a home and a job here. We can raise our son here, together. I want you to feel free to do whatever you want. We can hire the best nanny on the planet. Or you work a couple of days a week. Whatever you want to do.”
Thank you,” I said softly.
“That means a lot to me.”
“I know I haven’t been the best at showing it, but I care about you, Amelia. More than I’ve ever cared about anyone. And I want to do this right. For you. For our son.”
“We’ll figure it out,” I said.
“Together.”
He smiled, a real, genuine smile that made my heart skip a beat.
“Together,” he repeated.
I felt like we were on the same page.
Like we were finally moving forward, together.
I looked around the nursery, at the half-built crib and the rocking chair and the soft blue walls, I felt a sense of peace settle over me.
Things were going to be alright.
“Come on,” he said. “To the couch. Or bed. You have to get off your feet.”
“I was hoping to sit outside for just a few minutes.”
“Let’s go,” he said.
“I need to check on our dinner.”
“Uh, about that…I asked Clair to smuggle in some fish and chips. I didn’t know you were home.”
He frowned but then laughed.
“I’ll tell her to make it enough for both of us.”