Ranger
Ranger
R anger left Luke and Ruby’s house to run to his own, grab a few essentials, and then, he took off for the address that he’d found for Millie. She wasn’t the only one who could track people down. He had done a pretty good job finding her when she made it nearly impossible to find where she had moved to. Her only mistake was that she left her new address with HR to have her last paycheck sent. It took him breaking into the HR office after hours and going through her file, but he had found her.
He drove two hours south and finally found the apartment complex in a not-so-great-looking part of town. He was sure that she had picked the most run-down place in the whole county and moved into it. What the hell was she thinking?
Ranger parked his car in the lot in front of her building and practically ran up the two flights of steps to her place on the second floor. There was no security and nothing to stop anyone from getting into her place—him included.
He banged on the door a few times, and when she didn’t answer, he shouted her name through the door. “Millie, I know that you’re in there,” he yelled.
A little, old woman to the left of Millie’s apartment opened her door and peeked out at him. “Do I need to call the police?” she asked.
“No ma’am,” he insisted. “I just need to talk to Millie. Do you know her?”
“Nope,” the woman said, “that one keeps to herself.” That sounded like Millie—well, what he knew of her. Ranger really didn’t know her much at all, besides what he learned about her during their one night together. He remembered everything about her from that night, including her breathy little sighs every time he kissed her or touched her just right. He shook his head, trying to shake those memories loose so that he could concentrate on the here and now.
“Are you all right?” the woman asked.
“I am,” he lied. He wasn’t. Nothing about what was happening made him feel all right in any way. “I just really need to talk to Millie.”
“I noticed that she’s pregnant,” the woman said. Yeah, everyone had noticed that except for him. “Are you the baby’s father?” It wasn’t any of Millie’s nosey neighbor’s business, but maybe if he answered just a few of her questions, he’d be able to get into her place to talk to her.
“I am,” he admitted. “Although, she didn’t bother telling me that. I just found out and that’s why I’d like to talk to her.” There, maybe a bit of honesty would play in his favor.
“If you promise not to upset her, I can give you a key to her place. My friend who used to live there passed away and I still have the key she gave me. I doubt that Millie changed the locks since she moved in.” Yeah, he doubted that too.
“Thank you,” he said. “I really appreciate it.” He waited outside the older woman’s door for her to return with the key. She handed it to him and smiled.
“Go easy on her,” she said. “Us women make some crazy decisions when we find out that we’re pregnant. Just give her a chance to explain,” she said.
Ranger nodded and thanked her. It wasn’t really Millie who needed to explain anything to him. He was the one who had some explaining to do. He was the one who had shut her out of his life and basically turned his back on her. Ranger didn’t give her a chance to tell him about the baby, and that was on him.
He quietly walked back to Millie’s door and opened it, hoping that she didn’t buy a gun or taser in the past couple of months. He was essentially breaking into her place, and she’d have every right to clobber him over the head if given the chance. He waved to her neighbor who was still watching him and quietly shut her front door. The last thing he needed while he groveled was an audience.
Ranger looked around her tiny apartment. It looked like Millie had already started to buy a few things for the baby and the thought of not being included in any of that made him sad. He walked back through the dark apartment to the only bedroom and found Millie sleeping. She looked so peaceful, he almost didn’t want to wake her, but he had to. He didn’t come all this way to not talk to her.
He reached down and touched her shoulder, shaking her just a bit. “Millie,” he whispered.
“Not now,” she breathed.
“Millie, it’s time to wake up,” Ranger insisted.
“Just five more minutes,” she begged. “My head hurts.”
“Shit,” Ranger grumbled. “Millie, you need to wake up now, honey,” he said.
“Can’t open my eyes,” she grumbled. “Hurts too much.”
“That’s it,” he said, “I’m taking you to the hospital.” He pocketed the key that her neighbor gave him and picked Millie up, noticing her belly. She was really pregnant with his baby and there would be no denying it now. He cradled her against his chest and walked with her out of her apartment. Ranger shut and locked her front door and carried her to his pickup truck. He got her settled, making sure that she was buckled in, and then rounded his truck to get into the driver’s seat. He programmed the closest hospital into his GPS and pulled out of the parking lot.
“We’ll be to the hospital in just ten minutes, honey,” he promised. “Just hold on.”
“Head hurts,” she repeated.
“I know, Millie,” he said, taking her hand into his own. “We’re going to get you all fixed up.” She seemed so helpless, all he wanted to do was take care of her. He planned on going into her place, apologizing to her, and then asking her a million questions about why she left without telling him about the baby. She was all alone in the world, and she didn’t have to be. Instead, he found her in pain and all he wanted now was for everything to be all right with both her and the baby.
He found the entrance to the ER and pulled right up to the front door. He got out of his truck and shouted at the security guard manning the front door. “I have a pregnant woman here and she’s in distress. I need a wheelchair or a bed.” The guard disappeared into the building and came back out with two other people who Ranger assumed were nurses or doctors, and a gurney.
“Let’s get her up onto the gurney and we’ll take her from there.” He panicked thinking that they might not let him go in with her.
“Can I be with her?” he asked. “I don’t want to leave her. The baby is mine,” Ranger said. Saying those words out loud for the first time really threw him off kilter. He was going to be a father and seeing Millie made that all too clear.
“You can come in with her, but you might not be able to stay for all of the tests that we have to run. Right now, we need to take her vitals. You can park over there and come in to join her. What’s her name?”
“Her name is Millie Jenkins,” he said. “Please, help her.”
“We’ll do our best,” one of the nurses promised. He parked his car and then followed them into the ER. They wheeled her into a cubical that barely fit the gurney in, let alone him, two nurses, and a doctor.
“Millie, I’m Dr. Drew. Can you open your eyes for me and tell me what’s going on?” They were hooking her up to a bunch of machines and suddenly a loud whooshing sound filled the room.
“What’s that?” Ranger asked one of the nurses.
“It’s the baby’s heartbeat,” a nurse said. “It’s nice and strong” That was one less worry, but Millie still looked so frail.
“Head hurts,” she mumbled.
“She said that it hurts to open her eyes,” Ranger helped.
“Check her blood pressure, please,” the doctor ordered one of the nurses. She strapped a cuff around Millie’s arm, and he could tell by her face that it wasn’t good.
“It’s 180/110,” she whispered loud enough that Ranger could hear her.
“Okay, we need to get that blood pressure under control. I’m betting that’s the cause of her headache,” the doctor assured. He gave instructions to the nurses as to what to give Millie and promised to check back in on her in a few minutes. One of the nurses drew some blood and assured him that she’d be back just as soon as they got the results. They were all gone in a matter of minutes, and he was left wondering what was going to happen next. Ranger did the only thing that he could. He sat down next to her on the gurney and pulled her hand into his own.
“We’re going to be all right, honey. All three of us,” he promised. Ranger just hoped that it was a promise that he wouldn’t have to break to her.
They got back from the hospital late that night and he was dead on his feet. He knew that Millie had to be feeling even worse than he was, given the fact that she was carrying around another human inside of her. The doctors said that she had hypertension and assured her that it was quite normal during pregnancy. Millie had to be on bed rest for the rest of her pregnancy and she didn’t seem very happy about that fact. Honestly, she didn’t seem very happy that Ranger was there either, but if he hadn’t barged into her apartment, she might have had a stroke. When the doctors told her that, she calmed down a bit.
They had driven home in near silence, besides him asking her if she was all right and her nodding her head at him while staring out the front windshield. When he parked in front of her apartment building, she turned and thanked him for the ride, effectively dismissing him.
“That’s not how this is going to work, honey,” Ranger said. “I didn’t drive all this way to be your chauffeur. I’m going to come in and we’re going to talk. Then, I’m going to sleep on your sofa because I want to be able to keep an eye on you both.” She rolled her eyes at him and sighed, and he couldn’t help but laugh at her theatrics.
“Why did you come here, Ranger?” she asked. “You’ve ignored me for months now and all of the sudden, you want to talk about everything. Well, guess what—I’m not interested.”
“You don’t have to talk,” he assured. “In fact, I’m the one who should be doing all of the talking here. I came to apologize to you for the way that I acted.”
She crossed her arms over her chest, “I’m listening.”
“I’ll explain it all, but I need for you to get into bed. You just got out of the hospital and you’re on bed rest now.”
“I’m aware,” she sassed. Millie sighed and climbed into her bed. “Fine,” she said. “I’m in bed, now talk.”
“After our night together, I freaked out. You weren’t budging on letting me stay with you, to keep you safe, and I wasn’t willing to give you what you wanted—a relationship. I couldn’t give you that because I had never been in a relationship with anyone. I was afraid that I’d fuck things up with you, and then, when you told me that you wanted the job at McTavish, I knew that making you promises would only end badly for us both. The crazy thing is, I still managed to fuck everything up. You should have been able to come to me to tell me about the baby, at the very least. You should have known that you could turn to me and that I would have been there for you, but you had to go it all alone. I’m sorry, Millie,” he said.
“I appreciate you saying all of that, Ranger,” she said. “It means a lot. And for what it’s worth, I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you about the baby. I shouldn’t have kept him or her a secret, but I worried that you wouldn’t care about either of us. I guess it was easier to not tell you and hope that one day, you’d find out and want our baby in your life.”
“I would like the chance to be a part of his or her life. While I was driving here, I had some time to think, and I’m not promising that I’ll be a good father, but I’d like to try.”
“I’d be good with that,” Millie said. “I’ll need all the help I can get, especially now that I’m going to be on bed rest for the next three months.”
“I’ll do whatever you need, honey, but I have to make one request. I need to go back home, to work. How about taking your old job back? I’m sure that we can make it a work from home deal like you have here.”
“I won’t come back to McTavish. I like my new job, but I can live anywhere. I’ll go home with you, but I’m afraid that I can’t get my apartment back. I’ll need some time to find a place, but once I do, I’ll come back.”
“You don’t have to stay here, Millie. I don’t want to leave you here alone. You can move to my place. Hell, my house has four bedrooms, and you can take your pick.” He wanted to ask her for more. Ranger wanted to ask if she’d share his bed, but it was too soon to push her for more. He was just lucky that she accepted his apology and was agreeing to come back home with him.
“Can I think about your offer?” she asked around a yawn. “I’m really tired and would like to get some sleep.”
“All right,” Ranger agreed. “I’ll run to the pharmacy and pick up your blood pressure medication while you rest. Are you hungry?” he asked.
“I’m starving and I’d love a burger and some watermelon,” she said.
“Um, a burger and watermelon?” he questioned.
“Yes,” she said. “It’s what I’ve been craving lately. I love the burger place around the corner, and I have some watermelon cut up in my refrigerator. Oh—and a vanilla milkshake so that I can dunk my watermelon in it.” He must have made a face because she giggled and rubbed her belly. “Blame this kid of ours. I have had the craziest cravings since my second trimester.”
“Okay, I’ll be back as soon as possible.” He pointed at Millie, “You stay put,” he ordered.
She gave him a mock salute and rolled over to her side. “Lock up on your way out.”
“Will do,” he assured. He left her apartment, locking the front door on his way out. He’d call Luke and Ruby to let them know that he had found Millie and that she was safe. He was going to be sticking around for a bit until he could get Millie packed up and moved home because there was no way that he was going to leave her behind.
Ranger was able to catch a few hours of sleep on Millie’s very uncomfortable sofa before his cell phone rang early the next morning. He had fallen asleep and forgotten to call Ruby and Luke after he ran out to pick up Millie’s medication. He was so focused on getting back to her, that he blocked out everything else that he had to do.
“Hello,” he grumbled.
“You okay?” Luke asked. “You haven’t checked in.”
“Yeah, sorry,” Ranger said. “I had to get Millie settled after we got back from the hospital, and I guess that I was more tired than I thought.”
“Hospital?” Ruby shouted into the other end of the phone, causing him to hold his cell phone from his ear. “What the hell is going on, Ranger?”
“Hey, Ruby,” he whispered. “When I found Millie, she was asleep in her bed. I tried to wake her, and she said she had a headache. I took her to the ER to have her checked out. It’s a long story,” Ranger said.
“Well, I’ve got time,” Ruby spat, “continue, please.” He knew that she wasn’t asking. Ruby could be quite demanding when she wanted to be.
“Her blood pressure was up, and the doctors put her on some medication and bed rest for the next three months until the baby comes. They said she had hypertension, but that it’s quite normal in pregnant women. They want to see her every week until she delivers, and I got a blood pressure machine for home so that we can monitor it here—or there. She’s agreed to come home with me.”
“Thank God,” Ruby breathed. “I’ve been so worried about her. Is the baby okay?” she asked.
Ranger felt a little choked up as he nodded and hummed. “The baby’s heartbeat is strong. They want to see Millie back tomorrow for a sonogram. Their machine was down in the ER, and we had to schedule with maternity for tomorrow morning. I’m hoping to have her apartment packed up in the next few days so that I can get her back home by the weekend. Can you cover for me at work, Luke?” he asked.
“Of course,” his friend agreed. “I’ll take care of everything on that end. You just make sure that Millie and the baby are all right. We can help you out when you get home with unpacking her stuff. Where will she be staying?” he asked.
“With me,” Ranger growled.
“All right then,” Ruby said, causing Luke to chuckle. “Just keep us updated,” she ordered.
“Will do,” Ranger agreed. “And thanks for doing what you did earlier. I know that you felt bad about tricking Millie, but it possibly saved both her and the baby’s lives. I owe you, Ruby,” he said.
“Not at all,” Ruby said. “I’m just glad that it all worked out and that they are both safe. Talk soon.” He ended the call and turned to find Millie standing in the doorway.
“How much did you hear?” he asked.
“Most of it.” She shrugged and smiled at him. “I guess we’re all guilty for eavesdropping,” she teased. “But I’m thankful for what Ruby did too. I was angry with her, but if you didn’t come here, things could have ended very badly for us both,” she said, rubbing her belly through her t-shirt.
“Why are you out of bed?” he asked.
“Because I had to pee, and I’d rather not wear a diaper. I’m hoping that we can agree to me using the bathroom because if not, things will get very messy. Besides, the doctor said that I can shower and move to the couch when I get tired of laying in bed. I’m following the doctor’s orders. I wouldn’t do anything to hurt my baby.”
“Our baby,” he corrected.
“Our baby,” she agreed. “That’s going to take me some getting used to, sorry.”
“Me too, but we’ll figure it out,” he assured.
“I’d like to take a shower and I’m starving again,” she said.
He chuckled, “Okay, I’ll make us something to eat, and you take a shower. Anything I should avoid? I know that Ruby has a long list of things that she won’t eat since getting pregnant.”
“Nope,” Millie said. “I really have nothing that I won’t eat right now, unfortunately. I’m always hungry.” She looked down at her belly and back up at him, making a face.
“Well, if I get a vote, I like your new body. I mean, being pregnant suits you, Millie.” She turned the cutest shade of pink and nodded, turning to go back to her room.
“I won’t be long,” she shouted back. “I’d love some scrambled eggs and toast with lots of butter.”
“Got it,” he said.