CHAPTER 7 #2
For one horrifying moment, she thought she’d empty the entire contents of her stomach right there on the pristine white tablecloth.
“Jannie?”
She held up a hand.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
Nick rose and moved to stand beside her, lightly gripping her elbow. “You’re white as a sheet.”
Searing pain suddenly sliced through her middle like a red-hot blade.
She doubled over, and the cramp soon eased, but another intense, rolling spasm quickly followed, and Jannie gasped, pain shooting down her legs that suddenly felt like rubber.
Her knees buckled.
Strong hands kept her upright.
Suppressing a cry of agony, she blindly clung to Nick’s solid body.
Consciousness faded. She sank into a fog as something hot and thick gushed, soaking her underwear.
The babies … the babies …
The world tipped, and suddenly she was swept up and swiftly carried in Nick’s arms.
This isn’t real … This isn’t happening …
She squeezed her eyes shut tight, and a whimper escaped her even as she tried to hold it back.
“Hold on to me,” he murmured. “I’ve got you.”
She clutched his shirt. Through the high-pitched whining in her ears, she heard him boom, “Someone call an ambulance! Now!”
·
Nick
She looked like a sleeping goddess in that bed.
Nick closed the door softly behind him, keeping his footsteps light as he approached. Not that he needed to be quiet; she was still out and would be for a while if things continued as they had so far.
Her blonde hair looked like a spun gold cloud. He pressed his lips together. This was not the scene he’d pictured when he imagined that hair fanned across the pillow in a bed.
She stirred a little. Still out cold. Just as well. He dreaded what she’d have to face when she awakened from the anesthesia.
“When do you think she’ll wake up?” he asked the young nurse who was writing something in Jannie’s chart. He noted that her name tag read Erin.
“Not for a while. We gave her morphine for the pain. That will make her sleep.”
Nick’s gaze roamed over Jannie’s alabaster face, which was naturally pale to begin with but now was even more so. His chest tightened as he realized she looked waxen. That small nose, those sweet lips he’d tasted only hours ago … the way she’d responded, melting in his arms.
Throat suddenly feeling raw, he moved to sit by her bed but only managed to settle into the chair before his watch went off. Nick glanced at it, feeling his gut clench as he read the screen.
Myla, the sub he was currently playing with.
This was her fourth call, and he couldn’t ignore this one or she’d keep calling until she got an answer.
Swiftly, he surged to his feet and exited the room, still keeping an eye on Jannie through the door’s narrow window. He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Yeah.”
“Hi.”
“What is it, Myla?”
“You sound tense.”
“Uh-huh.” He rolled his shoulders.
“I can relax you.”
Her attempt to sound seductive only annoyed him more. Nick was silent for a moment, trying to control his irritation.
“I bought a new toy,” she cooed.
“OK.”
“Don’t you want to see what it is?”
Nick unclenched his teeth. “We already discussed this earlier. I can’t play tonight. Why are you calling me again?”
“You’ve changed your mind before.”
“Not happening this time.”
He heard her huff a frustrated breath.
“Then I’ll just have to find someone else to play with.”
He pressed two fingers to the bridge of his nose. “Do what you need to do. I have to go.”
He ended the call and was about to enter Jannie’s room when another nurse approached.
“Hello, I’m Mary. I’ll be taking over from Erin.”
He smiled at the older woman. She was one of those nurses who instantly put patients at ease just by walking into the room.
“Are you her husband?”
Nick hesitated just a second before he nodded somberly and opened the door for her. “After you.”
He followed Mary inside and was relieved to see Jannie had regained a touch of color. He retook his seat, trying to hear what Erin was telling Mary about Jannie’s condition, but caught only fragments.
“… low B … lost a lot of blood … hypovolemic shock … transfusions.”
He ran a hand over his face. It was almost midnight; he’d barely slept the night before, and the fatigue he had been holding back made itself known, slowly sinking into his bones.
“I upped the morphine per Dr. Bradley’s orders,” he heard Erin say.
Mary nodded.
He didn’t catch the rest of what they said. With one last glance at Jannie, Erin turned and exited the room.
Mary replaced Jannie’s chart and gave Nick a sympathetic smile. “I would suggest you go get some rest and come back in the morning, but …”
“Not a chance.”
She smiled. “I didn’t think so. That is a fold-out chair, but I can have them bring you a cot if you’d like to be more comfortable.”
“Thank you.”
“Not a problem. I’ll dim the lights.”
Nick settled into the chair. For what seemed to be a very long time, he watched Jannie sleep. Just his luck: he had found her again, only for this to happen. The thought that he might lose her made him sick, and he pushed it away.
Fate couldn’t be that cruel. Could it?
An attendant finally arrived with a wheeled cot, and never had a small, lumpy bed on rollers looked more appealing. With a heavy sigh, Nick slipped off his shoes, then stretched out on the flimsy mattress, punched the pillow, and closed his eyes.
“Mom. Mom!”
She half-sat, slumped against the refrigerator, her face as chalky and white as the cabinets. His throat closed, and his chest felt like ice while his stomach felt like fire.
“Mom!”
Blood. She sat in a pool of it—deep, dark red. God, so much of it, spreading even as he watched, his eyes widening in horror.
“Mom!” he yelled.
Her lashes slowly lifted, and she fixed him with wide eyes that still conveyed all the adoration in the world, as they always did whenever she looked at him.
“Stay there,” he said, immediately realizing he sounded idiotic. With great effort, he stood, trying to ignore the pain ripping through his battered torso. Stumbling, he managed to reach the phone and call an ambulance, amazed at the calm that descended on him as he rattled off the address.