Chapter 66
CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
“You have got to be kidding me, Walker. No, absolutely not. This is ridiculous.” I cross my arms and glare at my supervising agent—he is not my friend or brother-in-law right now. He is being a hard-ass about protocol.
He slightly tilts his head at me as his eyes narrow. “Were you or were you not injured in the process of us apprehending our suspect this evening?”
I can feel my face reddening with embarrassment. “Technically, yes. But—”
He raises his hand to stop me. “And did you or did you not need assistance in standing and are still limping twenty minutes later?”
“I just fell down. I’m fine. I’m a doctor!” I hiss at him.
“And they make the worst patients. Listen, I’m not messing around when it comes to the health and safety of my team members.
” He takes a step closer and lowers his voice, totally channeling his dad-voice that I’ve heard him use around his kids.
“And if you think that Ryan won’t kick my ass for not getting you checked out after you fell down a damn flight of stairs, then you must have hit your head, too. ”
“It wasn’t an entire flight, it was like …
four steps. And the stairs didn’t hurt as much as the concrete wall that caught my hip when I landed off the four steps that were not a full flight,” I grumble at him, but I know I’m losing this fight.
“I fell on my ass, Walker. I don’t need a damn ambulance. ”
He just stares at me, and I know I’m not getting my way.
I swallow my pride and climb into the back of the ambulance, but not before pleading with the EMTs to not run their sirens during transport.
I lost that battle, too.
“I knew I should have tried harder to convince you to take a longer honeymoon after our wedding,” Ryan grumbles into the phone as I lie back in the hospital bed. The unforgiving fluorescent lights are way too bright for ten o’clock at night, and I let my eyes close.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“Yes, I promise, I’m okay. And if we had taken a longer honeymoon, I still doubt it would have been a five weeklong one. Besides, don’t sell our honeymoon in Iceland short—the Northern Lights were amazing.”
He grunts at me. Who is this adorable, disgruntled caveman?
“Ryan, I would tell you if I thought this was urgent or serious. I literally got knocked on my ass, and Walker is being a stickler for protocol. I think it’s just a deep muscle bruise on my hip, but nothing is broken.”
“You said someone can’t always feel a hairline fracture.”
“Okay, true, but I think if I had a hairline fracture in my hip, it would hurt like hell if I was walking around.”
“They’re going to check that, right?” I can hear him pacing around and just imagine him running his hands through his hair.
“Yes, I am going to get imaging here soon, and then I will call you back and tell you I was right and it was nothing to worry about, okay? So long as they clear me to get out of here soon, we should be able to catch a flight back to Nashville tonight, or we will drive. The team is all still here.”
He huffs at me again. “I can come to Birmingham. I could be there in less than three hours.”
“I know you could, but I wouldn’t be here, and then I’d be sad at home without my husband.” He barks a rough laugh at that. “Seriously, Ryan, I’m okay.”
“Tell me again what happened.”
“We followed the leads to a building where the suspect was known to frequent and got lucky. He was inside, we called a tactical response team in, and in the process of apprehending him, he tried to make a break, and in the commotion of things, I fell.”
“Fell where?”
“Down a few stairs.”
“Harlow.”
“No, it was not a flight of stairs. Ryan, babe, I swear, I’m okay.” The emergency room nurse comes back in, and imaging must finally be ready for me. “I’ll call you as soon as I get my test results.”
“I’m waiting by the phone. I love you, Lo. I need you to be okay—you know that, right?”
“Of course. And I am okay. I love you. We will talk soon.” I exhale and pause before looking up. I shouldn’t be emotional over him caring so much, but it is still so novel in situations that it steals my breath and puts me directly in my feels.
“Okay, hon, we are going to get you down to x-ray to make sure that hip looks alright, but we need a quick pregnancy test before we do, all standard. You said you aren’t on birth control, right?” The matronly nurse moves with the efficiency that only comes with decades of experience.
“Right, my body doesn’t handle hormone birth control well, but I know the drill, and I’m sure it will be…” Oh.
Oh.
Oh, shit.
“What were you saying, dear?” The nurse holds out a cup for me to take in the attached bathroom. My eyes widen and she gives me a knowing look before slowly nodding. “Ah, I see. Well, let’s just take this test, and then we will go from there, alright?”
“Right, yes. I’m sure I just…” When was my last period?
I pull up the app I use to track my cycles, and sure enough, there is an alert at the top: If you still have not started your cycle, you may want to consider taking a pregnancy test. Our wedding was six weeks ago, and we always use protection, but my cycles can be inconsistent, especially during times of stress or exceptionally busy periods.
Like planning a wedding.
I use the bathroom to collect the sample then gnaw my bottom lip raw as I wait for the results from the dip stick test.
The second line shows up moments after the nurse lays the test stick down.
Pregnant.
I’m pregnant.
“I’m going to need to speak with the attending doctor about this test result. I’ll be right back.”
“Of course, could you … could you hand me the test before you go?” I ask her, feeling very exposed in this room at this moment by myself.
“Sure thing, hon. It’s going to be okay, alright?” She hands me the little white stick that just changed my entire world. “I’ll be back in a few.” She pats my shoulder as I stare at the faint little pink line.
Without thinking, I pull up Ryan’s contact, but this time, I call him on video. His gorgeous face fills the screen, and I can tell he’s sitting on the couch in our living room. “Hey, are you already done? That was quick. What was the verdict?”
I don’t trust myself to speak, so I slowly shake my head.
“Baby, it’s okay, whatever is going on, it’s okay.” Ryan gets up and starts moving around, and I know this man is about to drive himself to me.
I raise the test into view.
“What’s that?” Ryan squints to see the screen closer.
“It’s a pregnancy test.” My voice cracks and a sob nearly escapes.
“A … a pregnancy … Lo, baby, are you pregnant?” His face goes from concerned to overjoyed before the words are even out of his mouth.
I nod. “I—I … yes.”
“Baby! This is amazing. Okay, not the way I thought we’d find out, but Lo, you’re pregnant! We’re having a baby! Wait, is everything okay?”
“I don’t know, Ryan. I just found out. And I needed you.”
“What does your gut tell you?”
I look back at the pink line and up at my husband. My gut is only saying one thing, even if my head is freaking out over the possibility, but my heart has already accepted the truth.
“We’re having a baby, Ryan.” The tears are free falling by now, joy mixed with fear. Did I hurt the baby when I fell? Am I capable of being a mother? What if I turn into my mother?
The exam room door opens, and Walker steps in, immediately honing in on my tears.
“Did you already go to imaging?” He looks around the room as if someone else made me cry hysterically.
I shake my head and hand my phone to Walker.
“Walker, I need you to get her cleared, then get her back to Forrest Falls as soon as possible. We will follow up with doctors here.”
Walker looks from Ryan to me. “Why would she need follow-up care if she insisted up and down all night it was just a fall?”
Ryan is pacing faster on the screen. “Walker, less questions, more action, man. I need my girl home, so I can make sure they are both okay.”
Walker’s eyes bulge out of his head as his head whips to me. “Both? What do you mean both?” He looks down to my stomach then back up at me. “Harlow, are you pregnant? Did I … did I send you on an operation when you’re pregnant?”
“I didn’t know—we didn’t know. You didn’t know.
I … I don’t know!” I lean back on the bed and cover my eyes, embarrassed that I can’t get a hold of my emotions that are all over the place right now.
I shouldn’t be finding this out in a room with my boss.
It should be in our bathroom with Ryan pacing around the toilet, and a moment where we can hug and look at each other, sharing the joy.
But instead, I fell on my ass and found out I was pregnant.
Twenty-two minutes later, I am lying on my back and watching a little jellybean on the screen while the on-call OBGYN confirms that everything looks like it should after my fall. My fears relax as I take in the image on the screen.
And then I hear it.
The fluttering sound fills the exam room, and I’ve never heard such a beautiful sound in my life.
My baby—our baby. Their beating heart chased away any fears of becoming my mother, and I am engulfed with a love I’ve never experienced, and I still need to wait approximately thirty-five weeks before I get to meet them face to face.
But like I already somehow know them, I already love them.
I grip the cell phone tighter at the realization as I glance down at the screen.
I had the camera flipped so I could make sure he saw what I did.
They don’t usually allow cell phones during ultrasounds but made an exception based on our situation.
And even though he isn’t here, I’m so glad I got to share this moment with him. The OBGYN gives me the standard information after the exam, and I promise to follow up with my own doctor as soon as possible. Once she leaves the room, it’s just me, looking at my cell phone screen.
Ryan, with tears in his eyes, softly says, “We know three things now, Lo.”
I wipe away a tear that escaped at seeing him emotional. “Oh, yeah, what’s that?”
“We know this baby is going to make life interesting and keep us on our toes.”
I huff a laugh at that as I nod. “And what was the third?”
“We know you’ll be a fantastic mother,” he proclaims.
“We don’t know that, Ryan. I didn’t have a good example.”
“We abso-fucking-lutely do know that, Harlow. And do you know how I know that?”
“No. Why?”
“Because you will choose that baby every single time. They will never, ever, have to wonder if their mother loves them, because it will never be a competition with anything else in your life. When it comes to what’s best for them, you will always put them first and love them to the best of your ability. ”
I smile at that—he’s right.
I look at my husband and need to figure out how to get discharged quicker so I can get home to him. “Lucky baby,” I tell him.
“To have you? Of course.”
“No, Ryan. To have us.”