“You don’t need to be so crass about it. I fully intended to date her moving forward. Although there was some miscommunication and it took us some time to get to that point, we eventually started dating.” I don’t explain how it took us finding out she was pregnant to detangle our issues. It’s none of his fucking business.
Which reminds me. “You gave me the wrong number, didn’t you?” It takes him a second, and then his face says it all. He thought I was cheating on Vanessa and didn’t want me to make the moves on his sister, so he gave me the wrong number. “Fuck you, Sebastian.”
“Mr. Oliver.” A nurse waves me over, and I nearly trip over my feet to get to her. “Your girlfriend is asking for you.”
Bash is on my heels. I block his entrance to the ER. “No, you don’t get to join us. Not after all the shit you stirred this morning.”
He swallows, regret in his eyes, and even though I’m pissed, I probably won’t be able to stay angry at him long. But he’s not my priority today.
“Will you tell her I’m sorry?” he asks quietly.
“Yeah, dipshit. I will.”
The sterile hallways are blindingly bright as the nurse and I wind through the ER. Each step closer to Maggie makes me feel more nauseous. Christ, I hope she’s okay.
There’s a loud beeping coming from one of the cubicles and several doctors are rushing in and out. It looks like someone’s coded. But then it goes quiet and all the movement stops. Oh, shit, I think someone just died.
My heart goes into a full-out assault in my chest as we head closer and closer to that room, but the nurse opens the curtain to the cubicle next to the commotion. I let out a relieved breath that Maggie’s situation isn’t dire.
At least I hope it’s not.
The nurse ushers me in. “A doctor will be in to discuss everything with you shortly.”
Maggie’s face is splotchy and red. An IV is hanging off her arm, and a wide strap is wrapped around her belly. The frightened look in her eyes guts me.
“Are you okay? What happened?” I will never forgive myself if she loses these babies. Why didn’t I just call an Uber last night? I could’ve gotten my truck this morning. My attention snags on a bloody blanket on the floor. “Is this… are the babies…”
“They’re okay. That’s from a blood draw. The phlebotomist had a hard time getting a vein and then accidentally popped open the syringe he was using.” She rubs the tape around the needle sticking out of her arm. “Getting the IV in was a whole other ordeal, but I’m okay. Your eye looks terrible.”
Relief sweeps through me so hard, I almost laugh.
“I’m fine.” I brush her sweaty hair out of her face. “Listen, I can explain everything that happened last night. I swear on my parents and everything I hold dear that I was not unfaithful last night. Maggie, I haven’t even looked at another woman since we’ve gotten together.”
Magnolia Morales consumes my thoughts, morning, noon, and night. When would I have time to go out and be a dirtbag?
Her lower lip trembles. “I didn’t think you were, but Sebastian wouldn’t stop. He seemed so sure you’d done all of these terrible things behind my back. That pool situation looked out of control, and then seeing that blonde from the grocery store, the one who looked at me like I was shit on her shoe, in your bed was really upsetting. And that definitely looked like Vanessa rolling around on there too.” Tugging on her blanket, she shrugs. “After you didn’t come home last night, it caught me off guard.”
That fucker. I’m livid all over again. Strangling Sebastian doesn’t feel like a good enough punishment. I tell Maggie about the conversation with her brother out in the ER waiting room. “I can call Cam for you if you want to hear it for yourself.”
She gives me a weak smile. “It’s fine. I believe you.”
I sit next to her and wrap my arms around her little body. “I’m sorry for how everything went down this morning.”
Nodding against me, she trembles but doesn’t say anything. We sit in a strange silence until the doctor enters. He introduces himself to me and then looks over Maggie’s chart. “The good news is I don’t think you’ve gone into labor. I suspect that fall, along with dehydration, might’ve triggered some Braxton Hicks contractions.”
Maggie’s eyes go glossy, but she’s smiling.
“The bad news,” he says slowly, “is that I’d like for you to be on bed rest until you can get in to see your obstetrician. So no stairs, no running around, no sex, nothing that would get your heart rate up. Take it easy and give your body time to recuperate. You’re getting a bolus of fluids now, but you should stay extra-hydrated because that will keep the amniotic fluid around the babies in good shape. You can always come back here if you don’t feel well.”
I whip out my phone and take notes. Extra fluids. No stairs. No sex. Damn, that last one sucks, but it’s a small price to pay for Maggie’s health.
49
OLLY
My phone is blowing up with messages, which I ignore.
“Do you have enough pillows?” I ask as I drape a blanket over Maggie’s legs. I set her up on the couch in the living room so she can be near the kitchen without traversing the stairs. Plus, down here she can watch TV. I should make her more snacks because I’m not sure how long I’ll be gone. She has juice, a sandwich, chips, some fruit. Three bottles of water. Is that enough?
