55. DELE
Chapter 55
DELE
I sit for a moment. Today has been nonstop at the ER. I’m tired. My nipples are tender, which I can’t understand. I’ve adjusted my bra a few times today. The text from my brother doesn’t help my mind. We haven’t talked in a while; he’s asking if I’m still sticking with the plan. Truth is, he’s right.
I’m choosing Luke.
I want to be with Luke. I want a future with him. He did say he loves me, and I believe him, but crazy Lily and my trust issues with men are tying my tongue, stopping me from saying it back to him. Maybe I need to say it to believe it and manifest it into our lives. I’ll tell him when he returns from this trip.
One more hour, and I’m out. I’m already dreaming of my bed and some sexy talk with Luke. I smile just thinking of our nightly conversations. A good thing Martin dropped me off this morning, which means I’ll get a ride home. I can barely stay awake these days. Tomorrow will be my rest day. I hear the ER door open; the paramedics are bringing someone in. I get up and see Curtis, the patient I call “giant baby.” I work with the paramedics to transfer him to bed.
“I see you can’t stop coming to visit me, Curtis, or you just love this place,” I joke with the boy I call “giant baby,” who's a frequent flyer at the ER. Once he doesn’t take his meds, which is often because he dislikes the side effects. According to him, the meds make him slow in playing baseball, and as he’s always said to me, baseball is all he lives for. I’ve often tried to change his thinking that he can be more than just baseball, but he’s too young to understand.
“How else do I get to see the most beautiful woman if I don’t make an excuse to be sick?” He smiles. This young, and he’s already a flirter.
“You got jokes, giant baby,” I laugh with him as I get ready to inject him with his meds prescribed by the doctor. It all happens so fast—before I can inject him, he jerks and pushes me hard. I stumble into the equipment.
Everything makes a loud crash in the room. I try to get up, and before I can balance myself, he comes at me and kicks me, then picks me up and throws me.
“I don’t want medication!” giant baby shouts at me.
My head hits something hard, and I black out.
When I open my eyes, I’m in a hospital bed with doctors checking on me. “You had us worried for a second there,” Jax says to me.
“What happened?” I ask with all my strength, though it is barely a whisper.
“Giant baby went nuclear on you. We don’t know why, but he’s sedated now, and guards are watching him.”
“Oh god, my head hurts,” I say as I try to get up and feel the ghastly pain in my head. I lay back down.
“You hit your head hard against the metal cabinet. You have a mild concussion, and girl, you are pregnant,” she says with excitement.
“What!?” I ask, my voice trembling. She holds my hand. I squeeze it with the little strength I have, as I try to comprehend the shock of the information she just shared.
“We found out during the x-ray to check if you had any broken bones. Giant baby went nuclear and kicked you hard a few times before they pulled him off you.”
“I didn’t know,” I murmur in response to the news of my pregnancy.
“I figured as much, but your baby is okay, and they can discharge you tonight.”
“Can you please call Osei to come and get me?”
“Not your husband?” she stares at me, a bewildered expression on her face.
“For now, I need to hide this from Luke. Luckily, he’s out of town for the next two days, and maybe I’ll be better by the time he gets home.”
“Why are you hiding this from him? I don’t think that’s a good thing.” Her voice echoes her concern.
“Trust me, Luke will raise hell if he sees me like this, and now that I’m pregnant, it will not be a pretty sight. It’s best I’m better by the time he returns, and I can break it to him more mildly.”
“Okay, I’ll call Osei,” she says, agreeing with me. “You rest for now.” I nod and close my eyes. I feel pain all over, but they can’t give me too many meds because of the baby. I can’t even rejoice about my baby, considering I don’t know how Luke will react to this. What I do know is I’m keeping my baby.
I rest and wait for Osei to show up.
“Thank God you’re okay. And good thing Luke is out of town.”
“Yeah, can you help me get home? I should be good by the time he gets back.”
“Sure, let’s go.”
An hour later, we sign out and head home. Osei helps me get into bed. The nurse in charge already told me I should take all the time I need to rest. I just nodded, not sure how this injury will affect things, but I can’t think about all that right now.
We arrived home, and Osei helped me get into bed. As he tried to move my leg, I cried out loud in pain.
“Gosh, I’m so sorry. You need to move some of these bones so they don’t become stiff.” He states.
“Not now, Osei. Tomorrow we can do all that. Right now, I need to sleep and try not to think about my baby.”
“Wait, what? Did you just say baby?” His voice is loud.
“I just found out that I’m pregnant. They said the baby is fine.”
“You didn’t tell me you’ve been getting cozy with my brother,” he teased. “That explains why he’s been crazy jealous.” He laughed. “I’m so going to enjoy messing with him now that I know.”
“Please don’t do that. You know Luke won’t find it funny.”
“Fine, I won’t poke him yet. But about the baby, was this planned?”
Way to switch, Osei.
“No, but can we keep this news to ourselves for now?” I pleaded, though I knew that was nearly an impossible request with Osei. He might keep it from Luke, but he sure as hell wouldn’t keep it from his mom. “I need to speak with Luke first.” Before Stella calls him. I’m not sure if a baby was even in the plans for us.
“Please don’t tell me you don’t want to keep my niece or nephew,” he says with a scowl. I turned a perplexed face to him.
“The one thing I do know is that I’m keeping my baby. I just don’t know how your brother would feel about it. But for now, please keep it between us.”
“Go to sleep. We’ll talk in the morning when you look and sound a lot better,” he grumbled.
“Thanks.” I watched him leave. I felt weaker than I let on. Luckily, I have 48 hours before Luke gets home. I should be good by then. I managed to rub my flat belly despite the pain and weakness I felt. I just need to rest, and all would be fine. I told myself that and closed my eyes, just for a minute.