Happy tears poured down my face. I never would've forgiven myself if something had happened to him or her.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Maverick
Jo wasn't the only one crying.
I wasn't ashamed to admit that tears filled my eyes as I stared at the monitor until it went blurry. There on the screen was our baby, and that beautiful heartbeat drumming throughout the room was proof of what Jo and I created.
"The sound is so beautiful." Jo sniffled, and I felt her body shake.
"It really is." I gave her a little squeeze.
"I'll print off the picture for you, but the baby sounds great." I winced when the doctor pulled the wand out. I didn't care what Jo said. There was no way that thing didn't hurt. "Give me a few minutes and I'll get you discharged with instructions to follow up with your ob-gyn."
The doctor was out of the room when Jo broke down into sobs. "I'm so sorry."
"You have nothing to apologize for." I tried to reassure her, but she shook her head violently.
"No, it's my fault. I was so mad when I left the house that I was driving recklessly. Then when the brakes didn't work, I panicked, and all I could think to do was cover my stomach in hopes it saved the baby."
"And you did great. Our baby is safe because of you."
"But I was so reckless," she wailed. "What kind of mother does that make me?"
"One who makes mistakes but learns from them. In the end, you protected the baby when it mattered most. That's all you need to concern yourself with."
It was screwing with my head that I wasn't the one there to protect them. I should've been. If anything, I never should've let her storm off in a fit of rage. But we had another problem to worry about at the moment.
"Tell me more about the brakes." I shifted around the bed so I could look at her as we discussed it.
"They just stopped working. I pressed on the brake to stop when I got close to the diner, but nothing happened. I even tried pumping on them a few times to see if maybe I was just imagining things, but again nothing happened. That's when I threw the car into neutral and braced for impact. Oh my God! The other car. Was there someone in it?"
"No," I reassured her. "It was just a parked car with no one in it."
Jo sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God. I would've felt horrible if someone else got hurt because of me."
"I don't think it was your fault."
"What do you mean?"
I obviously didn't have anything to go on without someone looking over the car, but I had a good idea what could've happened.
"I'll explain more once I get someone to check the car." I pulled out my phone. "I need to make a phone call. Are you goingto be all right if I step out for a minute? I can wait if you prefer I stay with you."
I probably shouldn't have asked. Of course she would want me to stay after what happened.
"Actually no, it can wait."
"Maverick." Jo placed her hand on my arm. "It's fine. Go make the call and come back to us."
I liked the sound of that. "I promise I'll be right back."
"Okay." She patted my arm.
It was harder than I expected to walk away even though I knew it would only be for a moment. If Jo thought I was protective before, it was nothing compared to how I was going to be now that this had happened.
Once in the hallway, I called Nolen.
