The hospital walls close in around me as I pace the area, my clothes still stained with Hannah's blood. Every time I close my eyes, I see her pale face, feel her body going limp in my arms. The parallels to losing Meghan tear at my soul. The helplessness, the crushing fear.
"Mr. Ifrinn?"
I spin around to face the doctor, terrified of what he’s about to tell me.
"Your wife is stable. The bullet grazed her side. It looked worse than it was. We've stitched her up and given her fluids." The doctor pauses, consulting his chart. "And I'm happy to report the baby wasn't harmed in any way."
“Thank you—” The world tilts sideways as his words register. "The… baby?"
"Yes, your wife is about eight weeks pregnant. We ran tests to ensure there was no damage to the fetus, and everything looks perfectly normal."
My legs wobble. Hannah's pregnant. With my child.
"Would you like to see her? She’s resting, but I’m sure she’d like you to be there when she wakes.”
I nod numbly, following him down the sterile hallway. A baby. Hannah's carrying my baby. The knowledge fills me with equal parts terror and something else, something that feels dangerously like hope.
I wonder why she didn’t tell me. And then I consider all the reasons she wouldn’t. I demanded a loveless marriage and never rescinded it or told her how I really felt.Thatwillchange, I vow. Hannah's alive. Our child is alive. And for the first time in ten years, I'm facing a future I never dared imagine. One that’s light and full of love, if Hannah will have me.
27
HANNAH
My eyes flutter open to harsh fluorescent lights. Everything feels fuzzy and wrong. Where am I? The steady beep of monitors and antiseptic smell tell me I'm in a hospital.
Everything comes rushing back. Hampton Kean, the gunfire, Ash rushing to save me, a searing pain in my side.
My hands fly to my stomach as panic grips me. "The baby.”
Cold sweat breaks out across my skin as I frantically feel my abdomen, searching for any sign that my child is still there. The thought of losing this precious life inside me, the only piece of Ash I might ever truly have, terrifies me.
A warm, familiar hand covers mine where it rests on my stomach. My eyes snap to Ash's face.
"You're both okay," he says, his deep voice steady and sure. "The doctor said the bullet just grazed you. No damage to you or…" His voice trails off as his gaze drops to where my hands still protectively cradle my abdomen. “To the baby.”
The relief is so overwhelming, fresh tears spill down my cheeks. "Thank God.”
Ash's thumb strokes across my knuckles, the gentle touch at odds with the tension I can feel radiating from him. "Why didn't you tell me, Hannah?"
I swallow hard, unable to meet his piercing gaze. "I was scared. Scared you'd think I planned this to trap you. Scared you wouldn't want… either of us."
“Hannah—”
“I promised we'd keep emotions out of this, but I couldn't help falling in love with you, Ash."
“Why? I’m a fucking asshole. Why would you fall for me?”
I realize that the tension in him isn’t anger but fear and maybe shame. "I see how much goodness there is in you, how deeply you care for your brothers, how protective you are of the people close to you. And I know you love deeply because even after all this time, you love Meghan.”
Tears blur my vision as I continue, "I know your heart belongs to her. She was the one you should be married to, having children with. And no matter how much I love you, I'll never be her."
I pull my hand away from his, knowing I need to be strong for me and the baby. "I know you plan to leave me when all this is over. I won't try to force you to be a father when your heart isn't in it. When you're still in love with someone else."
Ash looks at me like I’m speaking a foreign language. “Leave you? Why would you think that?”
“Taking me to see the college. Setting up my future when our marriage isn’t needed anymore.”
"You think I'm sending you to college to get rid of you?" Ash's tone is one of disbelief.
