Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Wilder
T he sight of Delilah in a hospital bed makes me sick to my stomach.
I want to rage, but at the same time, I want to curl up next to her and hold her.
And then never let her go.
They're pumping fluids and glucose in her while she sleeps off the benzodiazepines. She was so low on blood sugar, she passed out when she suffered from an acute panic attack.
Mattie mentioned she hadn't been eating because she wants to lose weight for the wedding, but I had no idea she was skipping meals.
"Wilder, hun..." Mrs. Fanning taps my arm. She and Harlow have been sitting in her room with me for the past few hours. "You should get some rest. Delilah will sleep through the night?—"
"I'm not leavin' her."
She sighs, patting my shoulder. "I figured you wouldn't. But if you change your mind, you can sleep in one of the on-call rooms. It's just down the hall."
"Thanks, but I'm fine in here," I tell her.
"Okay. I'll be back in the mornin'." She kisses the top of my head and then tells Harlow goodbye.
"Will you text me if she wakes up before I come back?" Harlow stands, stretching her arms above her head.
Waylon's in the waiting room since we couldn't have more than three people in here, and I know they probably don't want to sleep here.
"Of course. Thanks for sittin' with me."
She takes me by surprise when she leans down and hugs me. "Thanks for being here for her and lovin' her so hard. You're good for her, Wilder."
My lips curve into a half-smile, and I nod. “Appreciate that, Harlow.”
After she leaves, I scoot my chair closer and tighten my hand around her hers. Then I rest my head down on her arm, needing to feel her warmth.
"Sir? Mr. Hollis?"
"Mm?" My head pops up, and I'm greeted with a grating headache.
"Sorry to wake you, but the doctor ordered an ultrasound, so I just need to lift up her gown so I can access her stomach."
I lean back, giving her room, and then watch as she puts gel on a wand and rolls it around Deliliah's stomach.
"What are you checkin’ exactly?" I ask after a few minutes.
As far as I know, Delilah didn't suffer from any internal injuries.
She smiles, then increases the volume of the fluttering noise. "Just checkin' the baby's heart rate. Except..."
Her face twists and then her wand's moving again.
"Yep, just what I thought...there are two heartbeats."
"Wait. Back up. She's pregnant?" I stand, no longer able to sit still.
"Y'all didn't know?"
"Um, no? T-This is the first time I'm hearin' about it..."
I'm so flustered, I can hardly speak.
"Oh, I'm so sorry. They took her blood when she first arrived, which is how we knew her blood sugar was low, but her hCG levels were high so we tested for pregnancy."
"And?"
She glances at me, grinning. "And it was positive. It wasn’t in her file and we weren't sure how far along she was, so that's why I'm doin' the ultrasound. We wanted to make sure the baby, or rather babies, are okay. She's still in early pregnancy, so you can't see much, but there are two sacs."
She points to two dark round spots on the screen.
I stare at where her finger is, but I'm still stuck on the her being pregnant part.
"First time dad?" She smiles.
"Um yeah...first time husband, too."
She chuckles.
"How far along is she?"
"Without knowin' the first day of her last period, it's a bit hard to tell at this stage, but based on their measurements, probably six to seven weeks.
"We didn't have sex until our honeymoon..." I count the weeks in my head to when our honeymoon was. "Five weeks ago."
"Okay, so that's accurate then. Pregnancy's determined by the first day of her last period and since she would've ovulated in the middle of her cycle, about two weeks later, that'd line up with the conception timeframe."
"Huh?" I'm overwhelmed and have no idea what she just said.
"The babies’ fetal age is five weeks, but their gestational age is seven weeks."
"Oh." So she definitely got knocked up during our honeymoon.
She wipes off the wand and then cleans Delilah's stomach before lowering her gown. "I'll print out a few pictures for you."
I cover her back up with the blankets. "You're absolutely sure it's twins?"
"Yep, look here..." She holds up one of the images.
There's tiny text on it that reads BABY A and BABY B.
"Fraternal twins, two sacs."
"Oh my God." I blink at the photo. "Could that be why her blood sugar was low?"
"Possibly. A lot of women lose their appetite in the first trimester, so they forget to eat."
"Shouldn't there have been more signs or somethin'? She hasn't thrown up or said she was nauseous or anythin'."
"Not always. Some don't experience any symptoms, while others are sick the entire nine months."
Looking at the picture and then at my wife lying peacefully, I'm consumed with mixed feelings.
Rage— Wesley almost killed my pregnant wife and caused her added distress.
Anger— Jonah kidnapped my wife and even though I know why he did it, I'm still angry he did it.
Grateful— Delilah was found, mostly unharmed.
Scared— We talked about starting a family, but I didn't expect it to happen so quickly.
Happy— I'm going to be a dad and experience parenthood with the love of my life.
I just hope she's as excited as I am.
"Baby, can you hear me?"
Delilah's eyes flutter open, looking around the room and then at me.
"Where's Raven and the baby?" she whispers.
I sit on her bed, leaning as close to her as I'm able to without squishing her. "They're safe in the maternity ward. Bailey is six pounds, ten ounces and nineteen inches long. She's strong and healthy, thanks to you."
When I first learned why Delilah was brought there and what she'd done, I was in complete awe. I'm impressed by my wife on a normal day, but hearing what she had to do for Raven, I was blown away.
"Thank God," she mutters. "What about Jonah and Wesley?"
"Jonah will live. Concussion and some broken ribs, but he's been arrested on kidnappin' charges."
She winces.
"Wesley got tased in the back and then detained. He's gettin' a handful of charges for what he did."
"They tased him? Oh my God, I thought they shot him."
"Probably thought it was too risky with you in front of him."
"Wow..."
I explain the full story from when I got the call from Mattie to Sheriff Wagner sending a whole SWAT team to the old auto body building. Then she tells me what she found out about Wesley's grandfather. Regardless, he doesn't win any sympathy points from me.
"So wait, what happened to me? Why did they hospitalize me?"
"Low blood sugar mixed with a panic attack. You passed out and they gave you somethin' to calm your nerves," I explain, then add, "You can't be skippin' meals."
"I didn't on purpose, but nothin' sounded good to eat."
"Yeah, well..." I contemplate how to tell her, especially when she's still waking up. "That's probably due to the pregnancy hormones. Loss of appetite is a common symptom during the first trimester."
"Yeah, I know that...how do you know that? Wait?—"
She digs her hands down into the bed and pulls herself up higher. I help and adjust her pillows so she's comfortable.
"I'm pregnant ?"
Smiling, I trace a finger along her cheek before gently tucking loose strands behind her ear. "Yeah, darlin'. So much for waitin', huh?"
Her hands move to her stomach and she gasps. "I missed my appointment."
"Which one?"
"The one for my birth control shot I get every three months. I was due to get it the week we went to Vegas, and when I called to reschedule, they gave me an appointment for the following week. But then we went on our honeymoon, and I completely forgot to reschedule again."
"Baby, I'm not mad..." I tilt her chin. "And I should've asked if we needed protection for pregnancy. I only considered it for STI purposes."
"Ugh, I feel so dumb. It'd been so long since I was sexually active, it didn't even dawn on me that it would wear off not gettin' it renewed."
"It's not your fault, Delly. I was an active participant in the baby makin' process..." I remind her, grinning. "If you don't want?—"
"No, I do," she quickly answers. "I'm just in shock. But I'm happy. Are you?"
"More than I could've imagined, honestly. But there's somethin' else I should tell you..."
"What?"
"Um...they came and did an ultrasound when you were asleep, ya know, to make sure everythin' was okay and they found two heartbeats."
"You're kiddin'...no you're messin' with me, right? Mattie tell you to say that?"
I burst out laughing, shaking my head. "Glad I'm not the only one who freaked out at first."
"Wilder!" She playfully swats my chest. "We're really havin' twins?"
Leaning in, I cup her chin and bring my lips to hers. "That's right, Mama . Twins."
"Holy fuck." She blinks a few times. "This is definitely your fault."
I chuckle. "Nope, fraternal twins are linked to the mother's side. And yes, I looked it up."
"But you manifested this with your damn crystals and puttin’ your name in my phone as BABY DADDY," she reminds me, and I laugh at the memory.
“Might not be all my fault. I think Gramma Grace rubbed some potion on you and made it happen. She’s witchy like that.”
She rolls her eyes. “Maybe she knew already? That happened after the honeymoon, and I would’ve already been pregnant but didn’t know it.”
“Told you—she has a sixth sense for this shit.”
“I’m startin’ to believe it.” She shakes her head, rubbing her palm over her stomach.
"Guess we'll be buildin' that house sooner rather than later." I wink. "Gotta make sure we have room for our babies. Plus, we agreed to have three, so we'll need extra bedrooms."
"Okay, slow down. I agreed to three babies and three pregnancies. Now we're getting a twofer and that changes things."
My cheeks hurt from smiling so wide, but I can't help it. "Okay, what about one pregnancy, two babies, and three dogs?"
Now she's the one laughing. "You have yourself a deal, husband ."
"See now that—" I point at her. "—is how you got knocked up in the first place."
She wraps an arm around me the best she can, pulling me closer. "I love you. And I love our babies. The shock has somewhat wore off, and I'm sure fear will come next, but right now, I'm so happy we're startin' a family."
"I am too, wife ." He brings his mouth to mine, stealing a kiss. "I love you so much."
"And thank you for knockin' me up before I entered the high-risk danger zone."
"Jesus Christ," I chuckle. "Never in my life did I think I'd love hearin' those words directed at me."