Kyle and Griffin walked into the room behind her, and my jaw dropped.
“How are you guys here already?” I gasped.
“When I say get the plane ready now… I mean get the plane ready now.” Kyle said with a cocky smirk. I rolled my eyes and laughed. He bent down and hugged me. “Are you okay, sis?” The confident, cocky look was gone from his face and had been replaced with worried eyes.
“I will be.”
“Melanie,” Griffin said from behind Kyle, and Kyle released me with a little huff. Griffin stepped closer and then reared back when I slapped his arm.
“What was that for?” he looked at his arm and back at me.
“Did you call this hospital and bully them into giving me a private room and then force this perfectly nice man to come to work on his day off?” I scowled at him and crossed my arms. I noticed how his eyes briefly darted down to where my arms were pushing my breasts up beneath the ugly johnny.
“Yes.” He stated without any remorse.
“And you don’t see a problem with any of that?” I squinted at him.
“No.” he said gruffly and scowled at me. “You were hurt.”
“I give up.” I threw my hands up and shook my head. “Thank you for caring about me, you overbearing, stubborn man.” I reached out for him, and he rolled his eyes and bent down to hug me.
After the introductions were done, Max asked if I was comfortable having everyone present for the ultrasound, and I assured him I was. A few minutes later, we were all cooing andclapping at the sound of my baby’s heartbeat and the sight of the little blob tucked safely away in my uterus. Well, everyone but Kyle.
“That’s it?” Kyle squinted at the screen. “That’s the whole baby?”
“Yes, I’m only eight weeks along!” I rolled my eyes.
“I thought it’d be more… human looking.” He shrugged and stepped back again. I looked at my mother and wrinkled my nose, and she tried to hide her smile behind her hand. Max and Griffin appeared amused by the exchange, and my father, as always, was watching my mother with admiration.
“Does everything look okay?” I turned my attention back to Max. He nodded and pointed to a few different things on the screen and explained what everyone was looking at. At one point, Griffin and I found ourselves staring at each other instead of the screen, and I blushed. His eyes darkened and his nostrils flared, just slightly, as he took a sharp breath and dragged his eyes back to the screen.
Max explained, then paged Natalie to come retrieve the ultrasound machine, who must’ve been waiting in the hall because she knocked on the door within seconds. Then he explained to my family what he believed had happened. When he discussed that I needed to eat small, more frequent meals and minimize my stress, Griffin tensed.
“How do we minimize stress if it’s currently a stressful period in her life?” he kept his tone even, but there was an underlying sense of urgency.
“When stress can’t be avoided in one area it should be avoided in all the others.” Max explained. “Melanie gave me a brief explanation of her current situation so for example, on a day where she has to discuss things with a lawyer that is a day where she should minimize her time on her feet, spend time resting or doing hobbies rather than working, eat small but nutritious meals, and stay hydrated.” He looked at me to make sure I felt included in the conversation, “consider it a modified bed rest order.” He smirked when my face twisted with disgust.
“Modified or not, bed rest is not even a possibility right now.” I glanced at my family and groaned when I saw that they all wore matching expressions that told me they didn’t agree.
“We will figure it out.” Kyle said, firmly.
“That’s easy for you all to say. In a few days I have to return to my life, where I will be navigating multiple betrayals, my ex, a divorce, house hunting, and work… alone.” The machine behind me started to beep a little louder as the list grew.
“Melanie…” Max warned. “This is exactly what I’m talking about for avoiding stress. You are listing the next six months’ worth of problems as if you need to solve them from this bed,” he chastised gently.
“You’re not going to be alone,” Kyle argued, arms crossed, and obviously offended. “You really think we’d let you go back and deal with all of this alone? Hell, it’s my fucking fault Ben is even in our lives.”
“Kyle…” I softened my voice and reached for his hand. He shook his head and scowled.
“No, I don’t want you to tell me how it isn’t. He was my friend, and not only did I let him date my little sister, but I also didn’t keep a good enough eye on the bastard. I run a fucking security company for fucks sake…" Kyle shook his head, "I control the security systems and cameras in his goddamn fuck pads." He looked like he was seconds away from breaking under the weight of guilt that wasn't his to carry.
“Kyle…” I repeated and waited for him to look at me, “I’m glad you didn’t catch him.”
I was. As much as I wished I hadn’t been fooled for so long, I knew that if Kyle had watched those videos while I was still in the dark, he would’ve killed Ben.
“You’d be in jail right now if you had.” I murmured.
“I still might end up there.”
