The rest, she’d have to figure out later, when she had a clearer head and heart.
Mindy Sue helped her to the bathroom. Brooke had the use of her left hand, though her fingers were cut and swollen. It hurt to move her arm and pull on the stitches, but it was better than nothing.
She used the restroom, then Mindy Sue helped wipe her body down with a washcloth, wash her face, brush her teeth, tie her hair in a ponytail, and change her clothes.
It sucked that she couldn’t manage on her own, but Mindy Sue was quick and efficient and Brooke felt a hell of a lot better.
And exhausted, though she’d barely done anything.
Slow going with the brace on her leg, but she managed to get back to their room while Mindy Sue ran out to get food.
Brooke opened the door and found Cody still there waiting for her.
“You look better. I called your mom and gave her an update. She can’t wait to see you. Do you want me to call her back so you can speak to her?”
“No. I…I just can’t yet.”
Cody stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Okay.”
“That’s it?”
“I’m letting you lead here, Brooke. Whatever you need, I’ll make sure you get it.”
She needed help with the bandages. It was nearly time to turn in her term paper; maybe she’d ask Mindy Sue to do it after she returned with breakfast. The dean had notified all her professors she might not be up to attending the last few remaining classes. She wanted to take her final and just leave.
She’d miss graduation.
She tried to tell herself it didn’t matter. But she couldn’t go through with it because everyone would know she’d been attacked by the campus stalker.
One more thing Adam had taken from her.
Cody obviously wanted to take her back to the ranch. She wanted to see her mom, but…yeah, not a good idea. Too many memories. Too much quiet to think.
And the upcoming wedding on the ranch. All those people coming to wish the happy couple a happy life. All of it made her want to scream.
Cody sat on her bed, looking through her notebook. “You had everything planned. A budget for daycare, diapers, formula. Everything to raise our daughter on your own.” He held up some printouts. “Cars for sale. Local mechanics to check them out before you bought one. A shopping list. A car seat, crib, dresser, changing table, a baby bathtub.”
He shook his head. “When Kristi told me she was pregnant, she started planning a wedding. We didn’t have a single conversation about buying a car seat for the baby, or getting a bathtub especially for them.”
Brooke didn’t know what to say. She didn’t care what he and Kristi talked about, or didn’t.
“You found out you were pregnant and started planning how you’d finish school, provide for and care for our baby, and focused on being a mom.”
She still didn’t say anything, because her throat closed and tears threatened. Yes, she had plans, but she didn’t need any of them anymore because she wasn’t going to be a mother.
But Brooke could do one thing for Cody. She opened the desk drawer and pulled out the framed photos of their baby’s ultrasound.
She handed one to him.
He touched his fingers to the black and white image. “Look at her.” He traced his fingers over her little face in the one image, and her little feet pressed to Brooke’s abdomen in another. She loved that picture. Cody seemed to count out her little toes.
“It took Kristi weeks to tell me she’d lost the baby. You were going to wait nearly seven months to tell me I was going to be a father.” He looked up at her. “Am I really that hard to talk to, Brooke? Do I make it impossible for the people closest to me to tell me things they think I don’t want to hear?”
“I’ve never had trouble telling you what I think, even if you are stubborn and don’t listen sometimes.”
He met her gaze, the anger she’d been waiting for front and center in his eyes. “But you couldn’t tell me you were pregnant.”
“Circumstances, Cody. There were reasons, and you know them all. I was going to tell you in July,” she said, choked up. “I hoped you’d be there for the delivery. I thought we could pick out her name. I was going to help you put together a room atthe ranch for her when she stayed with you and Kristi. I made plans for you and me to be her parentstogether, even if we lived apart.”
