Chapter 29
Twenty-Nine
K enzo looks as if he hasn’t slept in days. He is looking at me like he would do anything I asked. There is pain and relief in his eyes. The pieces of what happened are still fuzzy, but they are slowly coming back to me.
“I’m going to let the nurse know you are awake.” He squeezes my hand as his eyes go to my belly.
“What is it?” He’s hiding something from me. I know he is. I’ve been awake for less than a day, and I can already tell he is keeping secrets. All right, awake is a stretch. I’ve been in and out of it, but I remember most of the short bursts of time I was awake.
“Let’s wait for the doctor to come in,” he tells me. Not wanting to push it any further and risk an argument, I nod my head. Kenzo smiles as he pulls out his phone and texts someone.
“Water,” I say, my mouth dry. Kenzo grabs the Styrofoam cup from the side table and holds the straw up to my mouth. “Small sips.”
I want to greedily gulp it all down, but I know he is right. When I’m finished, he sets the cup back down on the table.
“Kenzo.” Hesitantly, I lick my lips. “I need to tell you something.” I fiddle with my fingers. “Your mom…she…” His eyes turn hard as he shakes his head.
“I know, firecracker,” he whispers dangerously. “Gia figured it out when she decrypted a missing piece of surveillance from the wedding. She was wearing the comb she gave you.”
“The Medusa comb,” I whisper. Kenzo nods.
“I know all about the betrayal.” He clears his throat. “And my…my dad.”
“Oh, Kenzo…”
“Good morning.” The doctor comes in wearing a friendly smile, the nurse right behind him. “How do you feel?”
“Not too bad,” I tell him honestly.
“Where does it hurt?” he asks as he begins to check me over.
“My ribs ache, and I have a headache, but for the most part, the rest just feels like white noise.”
While the doctor examines me, Kenzo stands on the other side of the bed, watching like a hawk. The doctor goes through the gamut of exams and tests to make sure everything is working properly. The nurse takes some blood, and several minutes later, another nurse comes in with an ultrasound machine.
“What’s that for?”
The doctor smiles. “I thought your husband would have told you by now.” He chuckles. “Congratulations, Mrs. Nakamura. You are having a baby.”
No fucking way.
“What?”
“A baby, firecracker.” My husband smiles down at me. “A little Kenzo.”
“But…I…” Shit, we never used protection and I hadn’t gone to get another Depo shot when my needed renewed.
“Are you okay?” Kenzo asks, concern lining his dark eyes. I don’t know. Am I? Having a child is no small feat. Look at my mother. She couldn’t handle it, and that broke her. She literally drowned my twin.
What if I end up like her? Crazy and homicidal.
“Get those thoughts out of your head, firecracker,” Kenzo orders. “You are nothing like your mother.”
How is it that he can read me so easily? We’ve only been married for a few weeks, but it feels like forever.
Forever and always.
Those were the words I heard him whisper to me when I was sedated.
“I know,” I whisper. “It’s just…a lot,” I finish lamely. He nods and comes to sit next to me on my bed. One arm wraps around me, and I lean into his strong chest, distracting myself from the nurse sticking a wand into my vagina.
“We will do this together.”
“And what about your mother?”
Kenzo stares ahead at the wall.
“She won’t be an issue for much longer.”
I open my mouth to question him further, but the sound of whooshing catches my attention.
“It’s too early to detect a heartbeat this way, but you see that little dot?” The doctor points to a tiny donut hole on the screen inside a large black space. Oh, it’s so…clinical. “We’ll do some more blood tests to make sure your hCG is going up, but at the moment, we will need to wait until we can hear the fetal heartbeat and go from there.”
“Okay,” I breathe, my voice full of awe. It’s just a little donut, but it’s a little donut that has a sudden grip on my heart.
Forever and always .