Yup, pity party for one. Well, almost two. I patted my belly. About the only thing that had gone right so far was that I hadn’t gone into labor yet. And wouldn’t you know it, the minute I thought that, there was absolutely no wood to knock on for good luck. I wasn’t usually superstitious, but too many bad things kept happening to me and I was willing to try anything - including knocking on wood - to level the playing field.
Off by the door a knocking sound occurred, and I wondered for an instant if it counted if someone else knocked on wood for me. “Come in,” I called out.
“Hey, sis!”
“Drake,” I whispered and smiled at the same time. “I am so happy to see you.” My father wheeled him in and all the way over to my bed. He couldn’t take my hand from the side he was on, so he patted my knee instead.
“I would have been here sooner, but someone couldn’t stand all the attention I got when I had surgery, so she just had to have her own.” My brother rolled his eyes playfully and used a mocking tone the entire time.
“I’m so glad to see you,” I said.
Drake looked up at our father nervously. “She’s repeating herself. I thought Doc said there wasn’t any brain damage?” He was completely serious that time, the jerk.
“I’m not brain damaged, you idiot, and I take it back. I’m not pleased to see you anymore. Go back to your room.” I mockingly pouted as he patted my knee again. “Seriously, Drake, this is the first time I’ve seen you. I was worried you would hate me because it was my fault.”
“No, it fucking wasn’t!” my brother denied rather angrily. “It was that Fiona bitch. The psycho stalker from hell.”
“Okay, let’s not upset your sister, Drake.” My father’s reprimand was given while looking directly at me.
I chose to change the subject. “Where is Mom?” I glanced around my father and brother but didn’t see her anywhere.
“We sent her home,” Dad mentioned, but the tips of his ears turned red, and I knew something serious was behind that decision.
“Okay, why?”
“We can’t tell you right now because it might upset you.” Drake’s sage advice had the opposite effect, and my heart rate monitor jumped its beeps up as I grew anxious and unsettled.
“I think it’s best if you do tell me now.”
“She said and did some things that are unforgivable in my opinion. Can we leave it at that and discuss the rest when you’ve had time to rest so you don’t pop this kid out too early?”
That did it. I took a deep breath and let it go. Rinse. Repeat. Until my heartbeat settled back down to normal. I gave my brother a quick nod in agreement. He was right. I didn’t need to chance getting upset and potentially causing the baby distress after everything we had been through.
“We do need to talk about one more thing before you completely relax,” Drake mentioned.
“What’s that?”
“Ridge is here.”
I glanced all around the room looking for my former husband like a dumbass.
“Not here, obviously. He’s not invisible. He went to the office to change because he flew straight here from Australia and the dude was pretty ripe.”
“Drake,” our father warned in a tone that said he was simply exhausted.
“Fine. Whatever. I was just trying to break the ice and shit. Here’s the thing, Vi, you need to give him a chance to be a father to that baby even if you don’t want the man in your life anymore. He deserves to be a father.”
“You know why I couldn’t let that happen,” I huffed at him. “I wanted to tell him. In fact, I was on my way to do just that when I saw those pictures of him hugging his mistress at the airport. His pregnant mistress, as it turned out.”
“She was never pregnant. She lied.”
A dark chuckle escaped me. “Imagine that; Fiona lied.” I rolled my eyes and wanted to be done with the conversation. It was the woman herself who caused me to be in the hospital and my brother to be in a wheelchair while he visited me. Fuck her.
“Well, Ridge didn’t know she was lying, and he took the bitch with him to keep watch in case she was telling the truth. He wasn’t interested in her as a mistress, sis. For fuck’s sake, the woman raped him. Imagine how hard that must have been for your husband to have to deal with her on the off chance that she as carrying his child as a result of that rape.”
My brother’s words were like a slap to the face and one I probably needed. That was an angle I hadn’t thought of since I saw those pictures. It was like him being nice to her in public negated everything he might have been feeling about seeing her again. I had to admit that it had skewed the way I thought about everything.
“He still welcomed her into his sphere, and how was I supposed to know what was happening? He stopped talking to me after the whole birthday thing, remember?”
