Chapter Thirteen
Keir
The nurses were checking Lake’s vitals as I sat with her and held her hand. She was in active labor, but she was still unconscious. I was scared to death.
I glanced up at the nurse, who offered a wan smile. “She’s doing okay, Mr. Dearly. She’s just had a shock with what happened, and her mind is keeping her safe until it’s time for her to process what’s going on.”
I nodded. “Her parents are on their way because I’m not authorized to give consent for her medical care. We were going to execute a medical power of attorney this week before we went to her obstetrician appointment. The baby isn’t due untilthe seventeenth, so we thought we had time. Lake has recently returned to town for the birth.”
The woman stared at me as if I was some crazed stalker—though, to her credit, I was sure I looked a hot mess. My left hand and arm were bandaged with gauze, as was the left side of my face and neck. My hair was scorched, or so the nurse in the ER told me as she was trying to clean me up to treat the wounds.
I had second-degree burns that had been hastily treated in the emergency room so I could get to Lake. I hadn’t wanted her to be alone for even a moment. I wished to hell I knew where Dash was.
“A medical power of attorney? Aren’t the two of you a couple? You were brought in together, and the paramedics told the ER docs you were a couple.”
Our status wasn’t any of this woman’s business, but then again, they probably didn’t know anything about Lake since she was unconscious when we arrived in the ambulance. “Oh, uh, Lake’s our surrogate. She’s carrying our baby. My husband should be here any minute now.”
The woman rushed out of the room as I stared at the fetal heart monitor that provided proof our baby girl was still alive and well. I wanted Lake to be okay, too, because she was important to us all. I had no idea how that fire started, and I wanted to ask Lake about the event to see if there had been a way to avoid it.
Where the hell is Jo? Isn’t she supposed to be watching out for Lake?
A male orderly with a menacing expression entered the room, his large arms crossed over his barrel chest. “Sir, I’m afraid you’ll need to vacate the room until the patient’s next of kin arrives. We have no way to verify you’re not just some pervert with a pregnant-woman fixation.”
I wanted to laugh at him, but he seemed damn serious. “She’s carrying my baby. I’m not going anywhere.” I stood from the chair and returned his scowl.
The hospital where we’d been brought wasn’t the hospital where Lake had registered for the delivery, so they had no information regarding the special circumstances surrounding Lake’s pregnancy and our place in it.
“You motherfuckers better let me see my husband and my baby mama right now, or I’ll tear this place apart.”
I knew that shouting, and I’d have been proud of him if we weren’t on the maternity floor where babies were being born. I hurried out of the room and found Dash standing inside the security doors with his own menacing look. The orderly was headed for him, but I got there first.
“Dashiell, keep your voice down. Women are having babies in here, and hopefully, one of them is ours. Lake’s mother and father are on the way. We’ll just go to the waiting room until they arrive and give these people space to do their work—”
An alarm started blaring, and nurses began running down the hall from all directions. “Code blue! Code blue! Five-two-three!”
“That’s Lake’s room!”
I started running down the hallway, only to bump into the stupid damn orderly who stuck his arms out and caught me around the chest before I could get there. “What’s wrong? What’s happening with Lake Gryner?”
“Dude, you’re not going back there, even if you are the baby daddy. I can’t tell you more than that.” He refused to get out of my way, and when he picked me up and carried me back to the doors, shoving me through them, Dash caught his arm and bent it at an ugly angle.
“Keep your fucking hands off my husband. That’s our baby. What…the fuck…is going on?”
I’d never seen Dash so angry, and I’d seen him plenty mad before. Thankfully, the elevator dinged, and Mr. and Mrs. Gryner exited. Jamie ran out of the waiting room to hug her grandmother as I approached Lake’s father.
“I’m glad you’re here. They won’t tell me anything about Lake or the baby.”
Jack Gryner stared at me and turned to the orderly. “We were contacted by an Officer Jophiel that our daughter was brought here. These men are the fathers of the baby my daughter is carrying. What the hell is going on?” Debra stood with her arms around Jamie as we all listened to the orderly.
“I’ll get a nurse.” The orderly took off down the hall, and Dash growled, heading after him.
I grabbed the back of his leather jacket before he got too far away. “Let it go. Where were you?”
Dash turned to me and stared at the bandages, lifting his hand to touch the ones on my face, neck, and arm before he pulled back. “Baby, what happened?”
“It was crazy. One minute, I was downstairs talking on the phone to Jonas and checking inventory. Jamie came to the top of the stairs leading to the mortuary. She was panicked but couldn’t tell me what was wrong.”
“Yeah, I went by after… I’ll tell you about it later.” He pushed my hair off my forehead and leaned forward to place a kiss there.
