“We’ll come back to that in a minute,” Drake growled. I could feel anger wafting off him as he said it. “The important part is, if you had told him that you were pregnant, where do you think he would have been? By her side or yours?”
“That’s just it; I don’t know, Drake and I don’t know where I’d want him to be in that scenario either. Obviously, if she had been pregnant with his child, he would need to protect it from her, just like I needed to protect my baby from the fact that she was around him.”
“Right. Well, he would have come for you. He would have protected both of you if he had known.”
“You can’t know that.”
“I can because I spoke to him before he went to de-funk himself.” Drake looked immensely pleased with himself when I didn’t have anything to say in return. He then told me about how Ridge kept referring to me as his wife with Dr. Carson. And that was all before he and Dad filled me in on all the evidence that had come forward about Fiona.
“When they find her, she’s going away for a long time.”
“I hope so. That woman is crazy,” I informed them as if they hadn’t already seen proof of it for themselves.
“If he had known, he would have been there for you all along, Vi. Not her. Not her fake baby. You and yours. He loves you. He’s only ever loved you, and I believe that with all my heart.” Drake’s voice had become a plea as he spoke. I was about to tell him it was okay, that I believed it, as well, but then my father spoke.
“Vi?” Dad wasn’t looking at me when he said my name. My eyes tracked over to the monitors that were keeping track of my baby’s stats, and I realized what he saw there.
“Oh no!” Just as I said that, I felt it for the first time since we started talking. My stomach turned rock hard, and a slight ache rippled through me. “I think they have me on pain meds. I didn’t feel it.”
“I’ll go get the doctor,” my dad said as he turned and left the room.
“Shit,” Drake called out as his worried eyes dropped down to my stomach. “Did I upset you? Is that why this is happening?”
“No, bud. They told me this might happen. I was already,” I stopped speaking when my brother turned pale. “This is not your fault. The chances were high that I would go into labor spontaneously no matter what. My body has been through a lot, and it was already preparing for an earlier than expected delivery before our accident.”
Dad came back with a team of nurses and Dr. Carson. One of the nurses immediately wheeled my brother back out into the hall. “Tell Ridge he can come back if he gets here in time.”
“I just tried calling, sweetheart. It went to voicemail, but I’ll keep trying until I get through.” Dad winced, and I knew it was because he had faith in Ridge before, but it wasn’t looking so good that the man wasn’t answering his phone.
Ten minutes later, I was on a different type of hospital bed with what looked like a whole hospital staff on hand ready to…
I couldn’t think about what they were ready for.
Me dying.
My baby…
Nope. Not going there.
“Hello, Violet. I’m Dr. Macon. I am the one that drilled that beautiful hole into your head earlier, and I need to pull these bandages off so we can monitor things up here while Dr. Carson helps you deliver this baby. Your little one is already set to go in the birth canal from what I’ve been told, so you’re ready to push. I am going to make sure that all the work you do doesn’t cause issues up here.” He tapped the top of my head as he continued to unwind the bandage that had been wrapped around my head.
“Not gonna lie, that sounds awful, Doc.”
“Nah. Just checking out my handy work because my ego needs a boost. You do your thing and pretend I’m not even here. I have faith that you’ll do just fine.”
A contraction hit, and I felt it that time. If I wasn’t laying back in the bed, it would have doubled me over. “Oh my God!” I yelled.
“Okay, we’re good to go, Violet. Next time you have a contraction, I want you to push with all your might. Focus that energy and power down here.” Dr. Carson glanced down, and I didn’t even want to think about what his view looked like. My poor body.
“Okay, here we go, Nurse Whitcomb, help her pull that leg back. That’s it.”
“I’ve got this side,” Dr. Macon said as he wrapped his arm through my left leg and helped the nurse pull my thighs back into my body as I sat forward and pushed. “Good effort, and your head is doing just fine.” I glanced over at him in time to see him wink. The man had a great bedside manner; I’d give him that.
“All right. Let’s go again,” Dr. Carson ordered. “Push, Violet.”
Just as I pushed, the door to my delivery room opened and one more person walked through. He was decked out in the same surgical attire as everyone else, but I knew who it was. Our eyes met and mine immediately teared up. Throughout my whole pregnancy, I knew I’d have to do it alone. Little did I know, my ex-husband would show up along with about thirty members of the hospital staff. Okay, maybe there were only like fifteen, but it still felt a bit like overkill.
“Ridge,” I called out.
