“I’m not sure I believe that. I think it’s more, and as a caterer, a lot of those hours must be on your feet.” Luke looked straight at her until she met his eyes. “Listen, you’re pushing yourself way too hard for being six months pregnant. And your job is clearly stressful, since you said your client today was upset with you for leaving to get medical care. You need to step way back. I’d guess that you need at least two weeks of bed rest, or as close to bedrest as you can get. Let your staff take over, and spend as much time resting as you can.”
Bella’s expression closed. “I don’t have staff.”
“You need to get some,” Luke said firmly. “If you keep working this hard, you’ll keep ending up in the hospital. You need rest.”
Bella folded her arms and looked away. “It isn’t that simple.”
Just as Luke was about to reply that it actuallywasthat simple, the nurse returned with the ultrasound. Luke thanked him and took a moment to recenter himself. He wouldn’t push a normal patient this hard, so he shouldn’t push Bella, either. He couldn’t treat her differently from other patients.
Luke pulled the curtains closed around the bed and squirted a little gel onto the wand.
“I’m going to use the ultrasound to check on your baby. Could you please lie back and lift your shirt?” he asked. Bella hesitated. “I can get someone else to do this if you feel uncomfortable.”
“No, it’s fine.” She lay down on the crinkly paper of the exam table, setting her apron aside and pulling her blouse up. Luke gently pressed the wand to her stomach, and grainy images filled the screen.
“This is your baby,” Luke said. “Two legs, two arms… the heartbeat right here… he’s fine. He’s even sucking his thumb, see?”
“He?”
Luke’s stomach dropped, and he turned from the screen to look at Bella. “You didn’t know you were having a boy?”
“I didn’t. I was going to wait…”
Luke felt like a complete jerk. With a regular patient, he’d have asked if they knew the gender, but he’d been distracted by the fact that his patient was the mother of his child.
“I’m so sorry.”
“It’s fine.” Bella looked down at her stomach. “A boy. Hey there.”
“I really didn’t mean to?—”
“It’s fine.” She raised her gaze to meet his. “You said he’s okay?”
“He should be, but we’ll need to keep you in for observation for a few more hours. These contractions appear to have been Braxton-Hicks, but we need to make sure they weren’t the start of actual labor.”
“Okay.” Bella looked away.
“I’m sure you understand,” Luke said, “but this is very serious. If you go into labor this early, it would be hard on you and the baby.”
“I do understand. I just…” She shook her head. “My problems aren’t your problems. It’s fine.”
“Right.” Luke stood and handed her a tissue to wipe the ultrasound gel off her stomach. “I’m going to get a fetal heart-rate monitor and check in with our OB on call, then I’ll be back. Stay right here, okay?”
“I will. Thank you.”
Luke slipped back out through the curtains. In truth, he could have asked a nurse to get the fetal heart-rate monitor, and there was no need to check in with the OB for such a simple case. What he really needed was a moment of space.
Bella was pregnant. With his baby. And she didn’t want anything to do with him. He wanted to be professional and helpful, but it was all he could do not to ask her what had happened. He’d thought they’d shared something special that night at the conference, but maybe it was all in his head.
Still, he couldn’t ignore the fact that Bella was carryinghischild. He was going to have to talk to her about it. Even if she didn’t want him in his life, he wanted to be in the child’s life, if she’d let him. He couldn’t stand the thought of being a father and not knowing his own child.
He was going to be a father.
Luke’s thoughts chased themselves in circles. He managed to cross the ER and went into the hallway, where he found the supply closet. He leaned against the wall inside, arms folded,mind still racing. He had no idea what to do. Years of medical training had done nothing to prepare him for a situation in which the patient was his one-night stand carrying his baby.
But Bella felt like much more than a one-night stand. When he’d seen her again, his heart had soared for a fraction of a second, before reality came crashing down. He’d hoped there was something between them, and he’d hoped he might someday get to know her better. He’d even looked for her.
And all the while, she’d been out there, pregnant with his baby, not even trying to find him.
