Chapter Eleven #2
“Ah,” Livvy said. “And this sweetheart is your son. They both look healthy, Trish. And I don’t see any signs of active labor.”
She released a ragged sigh of relief and eased back against the gurney. “That’s good. Just Braxton Hicks.” She’d heard about them, but she hadn’t thought it would feel like that.
“Your blood pressure is high, though,” Livvy said. “Have you been under a lot of stress?”
Trish laughed, and some of the tears that had rushed to her eyes earlier leaked out. She could only nod.
Livvy squeezed her shoulder. “I know you have a lot going on right now. But you need to take care of yourself and these babies. You have to get a handle on the stress.”
Trish laughed again, just one short chuckle this time.
“I know, I know, easier said than done,” Livvy said. “And you need to make sure that you’re getting enough rest and nutrition, too.”
“I was being so careful,” Trish said. “I didn’t want to lose these babies, too.”
“You’ve had miscarriages?”
Trish nodded as she pressed a hand to her heart, which had a hollow ache from the loss of those babies. “I’ve been doing IVF, trying to get pregnant for some time.” She stared at the ultrasound monitor, at her babies. “I can’t lose them.”
Livvy squeezed her shoulder again. “Everything looks good, Trish. Their heartbeats are strong. Their lungs are mostly developed. I think, even if you were in labor, they would survive. They might have to spend some time in the neonatal unit, but they would make it. You can stop worrying about that.”
More tension eased from Trish. She hadn’t realized how concerned she’d been about that until now.
“I… I knew I was getting close. That’s the only reason I waited this long to make the trip to Willow Creek.
Because I knew they were getting to that stage…
” Where they would survive if something happened.
“But I was still worried it could be too soon. That, as twins, they might not be as developed as a single baby.”
“They look strong,” Livvy said. “Both of them. Now we have to make sure that their mama is strong, too.”
Trish had been working on that for a while. And she did feel stronger than she ever had. She nodded. “I’m going to be okay.” Just like Brett had promised.
Sue patted her hand. “And I’ll get you that referral for an ob-gyn.”
“Thank you,” Trish said. Then it dawned on her who those silvery blue eyes reminded her of. Even his kids had them. “Weird question, but are you related to Nolan Stokes by any chance?”
The nurse gasped, and then all the color drained from her face. She didn’t answer the question, just pulled the curtain aside and rushed away.
“I’m sorry,” Trish said to Livvy. “I didn’t mean to upset her.”
Livvy stared after her coworker. “I don’t understand how you did. Who is this Nolan Stokes person?”
“My lawyer.”
“Oh…him…” Livvy murmured.
“What have you heard about him?” Trish wondered.
“Depends on who’s talking,” Livvy said. “Some people think he’s a saint. But your cousin…” She shook her head and chuckled softly.
“Yes, Frankie is not his biggest fan,” Trish said. Then she sighed. “She’s not mine either right now. I made a mess of things.”
“That’s life,” Livvy said. “We make messes of it sometimes. But we can usually clean them up with time.”
Tears stung Trish’s eyes again. “Unless it’s already too late…
” Like it was with her father. She’d lost him before she’d had a chance to clean up the mess she’d made of their relationship.
She didn’t want that to be the case with anyone else.
And she should have been thinking of Frankie and Maci then.
But the person who sprang to her mind was Brett, and then he was stepping inside the curtain with her.
“I hope it’s okay for me to be in here,” he said to Trish. “Nurse Sue showed me back.” He glanced at the ultrasound monitor, then at her face and then at the ultrasound machine again. “That’s them?” His dark eyes widened with awe. “They’re moving? They’re okay?”
“Yes,” Trish said, and the last of the fear that had been pressing on her chest eased. “You were right.”
Brett looked at his sister. “Really? They’re good?”
Livvy nodded. “Yeah, they’re strong, like their mama. She just needs to take it easy. No more stress.”
Trish wished that was possible, but she was too realistic to believe that. She’d turned her life upside down with her pregnancy and her divorce and the move. So of course she was stressed.
And she was also unsteady, often feeling as if she couldn’t quite get her balance, as if she was about to fall. But she had a feeling that wasn’t because of stress.
That was because of Brett Lemmon and the things he made her feel: things she hadn’t wanted to feel again. She’d wanted to focus only on her babies and her plans for the ranch. She didn’t want to fall, but she was worried that, if she wasn’t careful, she would fall…for Brett.
* * *
Livvy couldn’t get over the way Brett had carried the pregnant woman into the ER just moments ago.
Or the way he was looking at her now, and at the ultrasound monitor.
He looked stunned and maybe a little scared, too.
That surprised her so much that she had to duck out of the ER bay.
“I’ll be right back with that ob-gyn referral.
Maybe we can find one in the hospital today who might be able to see you. ”
Livvy would feel better for Trish if she made contact with her doctor now, because she had a feeling these twins weren’t going to wait around for another seven weeks before coming into the world.
She also needed to see if Sue was all right.
She found the older woman at the nurses’ station. “Are you getting that referral?”
Sue’s silvery eyes widened. “Yes. Was it okay that I showed your brother back?”
Livvy nodded and glanced toward where she’d left them alone together.
“This seems to be a habit with your brothers, coming into the ER with women,” Sue said.
“Women? Liam brought Lucy here after finding her in the barn.”
“He wasn’t alone,” Sue reminded her. “Elise Shaw was with him, and now they’re married. And your other brother…”
“Blake,” she said.
“He came in with the woman who’d passed out in the brewery.”
“Yeah, he did.” And he would probably propose to Maci Bluff soon.
“And now this brother…”
“Brett,” she said. “He’s the oldest.”
Sue made a strange noise, then cleared her throat. “And he carried in this pregnant woman…”
A slight shiver passed through Livvy as she remembered how Brett had looked.
“I’m not used to my oldest brother showing any emotion,” she admitted.
“He’s always acted so tough, so stoic. When we moved away from Willow Creek and Blake and Liam were crying, Brett never showed that he was upset, too.
And when Mom died…” She blew out a breath and shook her head.
“Sorry, Sue, I know you hate this personal stuff.”
Sue shrugged, but her shoulders moved stiffly. “It’s fine. Your family seems to come in and out of this ER quite a bit. I guess I’ll have to get used to it, especially now with things about to change…”
Before Livvy could ask her what she meant by that, Sue picked up the phone from the desk and made a call to Obstetrics, asking them to send a doctor to the ER.
Livvy heard Brett’s deep rumble and turned around to find him on his cell in the wide corridor outside the bay where Trish Dempsey was.
He was calling the Four Corners Ranch, letting them know where he and Trish were. He also gave them some instructions.
Livvy smiled at him after he disconnected the call. “That was smart. She really has to take it easy and avoid stress.”
Brett nodded. “I’ll make sure that she does.”
That shiver of uneasiness passed through Livvy again.
Brett always took on so much responsibility that his shoulders seemed to bow from the weight of everything he carried.
He also had dark circles beneath his dark eyes as if he hadn’t been sleeping much.
He worked so hard at the Four Corners, had gone through so much with losing his boss and best friend, and then Trish Dempsey had fought the will.
While they’d all been at Grandpa’s birthday party, Trish had sent Maci a text that she was coming back to the Four Corners to work things out, and the last time she’d talked to Liam, he’d seemed positive that everything would be fine.
But Brett didn’t look like everything was fine. He looked exhausted. She reached out and touched his shoulder. “You need to take care of yourself, too, Brett.”
He nodded. “I’m fine, Dr. Lemmon.”
But she knew that he would say that even if he wasn’t. He didn’t want to worry anyone else. But Livvy was worried.