It’s really not, but fine. I can’t get much out, barely any, but the twirl in my stomach is out of me. Relief hits me, but my head feels warm, and hell, I’m worn out.
I’m a ragdoll sitting on the floor, and Carter quickly grabs a towel before he lowers to the ground to be level with me. “Fuck, Rosie, I don’t think this is normal anymore.”
I wave him off. “I’m pregnant. It comes with the status.”
He shakes his head, and his hand shoots out to touch my cheek. His fingers imprint gently onto my skin, and his thumb circles near the corner of my mouth. “No. I’m taking you to the emergency room. Don’t even try to debate me on this. You’re dehydrated, and what good is that to you or the baby?”
I won’t protest, he’s right. “Maybe we’re just overreacting.” I make one last-ditch effort of denial for my current ailments, but he just gives me an unimpressed look. “Okay,” I whisper. “Okay, we’ll go.”
“Thank you for not being difficult and protesting,” he says sincerely. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since I discovered I’m going to be a dad, and since then, you’ve only been sick or in a deep sleep.”
“You’re kind of good at holding my hair back,” I joke with half a smile on my dry lips. I go ahead and ask because I’m far too curious in this moment. “Is that why you took me to your bed? In case I needed you to hold my hair back?” I’m poking the bear.
He rolls his lips in and glances away, only to swipe a boyish grin my way. “Among other things.” Carter stands and offers me his hands to help me up. “I wasn’t going to let you sleep on the couch.”
“Still, it’s your bed.”
I’m wobbly on my feet, and he braces my arms to ensure I don’t fall. “If I wasn’t concerned then I would jam a cracker into your mouth just to avoid your argument that I did it because I’m trying to prove a point that you should live here.”
I snort a laugh. “Where I wouldn’t be in your bed, instead one of the spare rooms. Even though your bed is perfect for sleeping.”
“I noticed you think so. You slept all night.”
My eyes skim to the side because he just casually admitted that he knows because he was watching me most of the night.
And the rhythm of my heart changes.
* * *
I’m lyingon an exam table in a curtained cubicle. Luckily, nobody else is in the emergency room, so it’s quiet. The crunchy sound of the paper gown annoys me, as I hear it on every micromovement. The doctor smiles as the curtain swooshes open. A woman in her forties enters, and her gaze travels between me and Carter who is sitting next to me before she rolls in a cart with a machine.
She seems surprised by Carter’s presence, and for a second, I’m concerned that maybe they dated while I was away, but then I remember he’s Sheriff Carter, everybody knows him. I’m sure many tried to set him up while I was away. I always used to laugh because he once told me how years back he had an awkward encounter when a friend tried to set him up with his sister, but she was in a secret relationship with his best friend, who happens to be the team owner of the Spinners hockey team. In my book, ending up with the sheriff was the winner.
“Hello, I’m Dr. White, and I’m from obstetrics. You’re in luck, my appointment canceled and I was called down here instead of having the ER doctor come in. Kind of wasn’t expecting the sheriff to be here. I heard the paperwork is in for your run as mayor. The head of the hospital board of trustees is running against you, but between you and me, none of us like him.”
“Good to know. But Rosie has a little problem right now.” He smiles tightly at the reminder.
It takes a moment for Dr. White to jolt into action. “Vomiting. Yes, I understand you’ve been vomiting quite a bit.” She begins to feel my stomach.
I open my mouth, but before I can get a word out, Carter cuts right in. “She’s been sick basically non-stop. Even crackers aren’t helping. Rosie can’t even drink water without gagging. Not to mention, she’s weak.” You can hear the concern in his voice.
My lips pop because it seems I don’t need to explain.
Dr. White throws Carter an amused look before looking at me. “Do you agree?”
“Yeah, it started a few days ago. That’s how I figured out I’m pregnant.”
She turns on the machine. “The blood tests came back and you are indeed a little low on iron, but I’m not yet worried about anemia. Since you just found out that you’re pregnant, you haven’t been to a doctor yet?”
“Nope.”
“We can calculate from your last period. Or any idea when conception might have been?”
“Yes,” Carter and I say in unison.
Dr. White whips her gaze back to Carter and me, probably because we’re acting a little strange. “And when might that be?”
“Six weeks ago.” Again, by accident, we speak at the same time.
