Billionaires, Bad Boys, and Alpha Males (162 page)

She
ran
her fingers through Red’s curly dark hair and he stirred, finally waking
up.
 
“Hey,” he said, smiling at her,
and rolling onto his back.

“I’m
sorry
about last night,” she purred, burying her head in his chest.
 
“I was being hormonal again.”

He
laughed.
 
His hand stroked her hair and rubbed her
back.
 
“I’m sorry I was being
testy.
 
I just got annoyed because
Kallie ended up meeting some guy at the party and then apparently he punched
somebody.”

“What?”
Nicole sat up. “Who punched somebody?”

Red
laughed.
 
“Please, don’t bring any of this up to
Kallie.
 
She asked me not to tell
you because she was embarrassed.
 
I
just heard that there was an altercation and it had something to do with Kallie
and this guy she was hanging out with last night.”

“That’s
really strange.”

“She’s
young
and probably she’s been sheltered her whole life.
 
Suddenly, she’s living in New York and
meeting all these new, exciting people.
 
Of course she’s going to do some stupid stuff.”

“True.
But
I honestly didn’t see her as that wild child type.”

Red shrugged.
 
“She certainly got wild last night.”

Nicole
sighed.
 
“I really like her.
 
I hope I’m not wrong about her, too.”

“What do you mean, her too?
 
Who else have you been wrong about?”

“Let’s not go there.
 
Too many people to count.”

Red
chuckled
again.
 
“I think you’re a great
judge of character.
 
I mean, look
who you chose for a husband.
 
That’s
some good judging right there.”

Nicole
smiled
at him, then, because she realized that last night’s fears really had been
nothing more than paranoia and insecurity on her part.
 
Red loved her, she could tell by the way
he was looking at her right now—she knew it with every fiber of her
being.

He
slid
out of bed and padded to the bathroom, yawning, and she watched him scratching
his shoulder, as he shuffled and closed the door behind him.
 
She could almost imagine him as the old
man he’d one day become, and she loved him even more somehow for that—for
his humanness.

When
she’d first met him, Red had been
completely foreign, out of reach, strange and unattainable.
 
Now she reflected on the fact that she
knew him better than anybody in the world, and he’d opened himself completely
to her.

Nicole
sat up in bed and slowly swung her legs
over the edge. Her feet struck the floor.
 
She looked down at them and noticed they seemed unusually swollen.
 
She knew that it was normal for feet to
swell during pregnancy, and certainly hers already had, but this was different.

She
told herself she was just being paranoid
again.

Nicole
gathered
herself and then stood, a task that was becoming more and more of an effort
lately.
 
When she stood up,
something strange happened.

She
started
seeing spots in her vision.
 
“Shit,”
she said, to nobody in particular. There was a sensation of vertigo again, and
then her head started to pound instantly,
as
if someone had taken a mallet and smashed her in the face with it.

She
stood there, swaying for a time, and
closed her eyes.

“Hey,
Nic!
 
Nicole, what’s wrong?” Red cried, coming
out of the bathroom and seeing her frozen in place, head bowed.

“I
don’t feel so good,”
she moaned.

“Tell
me what’s going on.”
 
He was instantly beside her, holding
her, lowering

Nicole
back
to the bed where she sat with him as he rubbed her back. “Something’s wrong,”
she cried.

“What
is it?”

Nicole
could
hear the anxiety in his voice, even though he was trying to be calm for them
both.

“I’ve
been
getting headaches and dizzy spells.
 
My stomach’s been hurting.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?
 
How long has this been going on?”

“I
didn’t want to think anything bad was
happening.”

“Okay.
Come on, we’re going to see Dr. Rosen
right away.”

Nicole
nodded
miserably.
 
She put her hand on her
stomach and tried not to sob as the fear and desperation overcame her.

***

The
drive to the doctor’s office had been
tense and quiet, with Red making lame attempts to keep things light and calm,
but failing to do so.
 
They were
both petrified of losing the baby, and neither of them could pretend otherwise.

At
the
hospital, they were immediately seen by Dr. Rosen, who did her best to reassure
them.
 
But when Nicole described her
symptoms, the doctor grew concerned.

“There’s
swelling
in the extremities, what we call edema,” the doctor said, examining Nicole’s
hands.
“It’s basically an excess of
fluid in any body part.”

“What
does it mean?”
Nicole asked, her heart racing.

“It
can
mean different things—I don’t want to speak to soon.”
 
The doctor began touching Nicole’s cheeks
and sliding her fingers above and beneath Nicole’s eyes.
 
“I think I’m detecting some swelling
around your eyes as well.”

Nicole
glanced
at Red who tried to smile at her and let her know it was okay.
 
His arms were folded and his jaw was
tight, though—she could read him like a book and he was extremely
worried.

Dr.
Rosen took Nicole’s vitals—she took
her blood pressure twice without saying a word, then listened to her breathing,
moving the stethoscope around her chest and back for alarming lengths of time.

“Hear
anything funny?” Nicole joked in a
high-pitched voice.

Dr.
Rosen
didn’t even answer.
 
She then
listened to Nicole’s stomach, moving the stethoscope from place to place, and
looking particularly attentive.

Finally,
the
doctor sat up straight and looked at them both.
 
“We need to test Nicole’s urine for
protein, but right now I suspect her symptoms are due to
preeclampsia—which is a condition that is fairly common, but needs to be
monitored.”

“Is
the baby okay?” Nicole asked, her hands
tightening into fists.

Dr.
Rosen nodded.
 
“I detected a heartbeat, everything
seems normal on that front. Your blood pressure is elevated, although not
alarmingly so, but due to the symptoms you described and the edema, I’m
concerned enough that I’m recommending a combination of
bed rest and minimal activity.
 
You can spend a little time each day up
and about, very light walking, but absolutely nothing even remotely strenuous
or stressful.”

Nicole
licked her lips.
 
“So the baby is fine, though.”

“Yes.
And
we aim to keep it that way.”

“So what’s next?” Red asked.

“We’re
going
to get that urine test and have a look at the protein levels to make sure, but
I suspect we’ll find that there’s significant protein in your urine.”
 
Dr. Rosen looked at them both and
smiled, her face relaxing.
 
“Now,
I’m not trying to alarm you. This is a fairly common condition.
 
However, it does need to be monitored
carefully and if there’s any progression in symptoms, we may have to deliver
early.”

“Really?”
Red asked, startled.

“Let’s
cross
that bridge when we come to it,” Dr. Rosen said.
 
“Right now, I don’t see that as a very
likely possibility.
 
What I want you
to do is pick up a blood pressure monitor at the pharmacy—you can get
them for fifty bucks.
 
Take Nicole’s
blood pressure
a few times a day,
once in the morning, once at night, and another time in between.
 
I’d like you to email me the results at
the end of the week so I can see how she’s doing, and tell me any other notable
symptoms or concerns.”

“We
really appreciate you taking that extra
step,” Red told her.

“That’s
my
job,” Dr. Rosen said.
 
“We’ll set up
another appointment for the next couple of weeks to get you back in here and
check on your progress.”

Nicole
nodded
and felt her eyes fill with tears.
 
Dr. Rosen put a hand on her shoulder.
 
“Don’t worry.
 
We’ve got a good handle on this,
Nicole.
 
Just try and relax, rest,
let Red do the heavy lifting.
 
Okay?”

“Okay,”
she whispered, trying to smile.

The
doctor
had Nicole go to the nearby bathroom and give a urine sample.
 
When she came back, Dr. Rosen once again
went over the plan and told them not to worry too much, how typical this was,
yada yada.

Finally,
Nicole
and Red left the office together, holding hands.
 
They walked very slowly together,
heading to the elevators to go home.

***

When
they got home, Red immediately set about
making Nicole as comfortable as possible.
 
When Kallie came downstairs, they explained to her what had occurred and
she immediately offered to help with everything and anything they needed.

Red
told
her that wasn’t necessary, but Nicole was heartened to see that Kallie was
already making it her personal mission to pick up the slack around the house.

Nicole
retired
to her room and slept for a while.
 
When she woke, Kallie came in and asked if she was hungry, which she
was.
 
Nicole told her that a grilled
cheese sounded good, and a few minutes later, Kallie came back with a perfectly
toasted sandwich.
 
The cheese was
gooey and the bread was buttery and Nicole remarked that it was probably the
best one she’d ever had.

Not
long
after that, Red came and took her blood pressure.
 
“One forty over ninety-five,” he said.

“That’s
high,”
Nicole responded.
 
“Don’t let me see
the numbers anymore.
 
The more
nervous I get, the higher it’s probably going to go.”

He
nodded.
 
“What else do you need right now?”

“Nothing.
Just you.
 
You’re helping a lot by taking care of
me.”

He
stroked her hair.
 
“I know everything’s going to be fine,”
he said.

She
nodded
but couldn’t meet his eyes.
 
For
some reason, Nicole didn’t share his convictions.

For
the
rest of the day, she stayed in bed and watched a series of awful reality TV
shows, talk shows like Jerry Springer and Doctor Oz, and then a terrible movie
that was so bad she didn’t even bother to find out what it was called.
 
Nicole drifted in and out of sleep,
having restless semi-nightmares where she was being poked and prodded by the
doctor and one where she delivered the baby under water and couldn’t fight her
way to the surface.

She
woke
up gasping for breath, and Kallie was standing next to the bed.
 
“Hey, are you okay?” she asked Nicole,
alarmed.

“Yes.
Just
had a nightmare.”
 
Nicole slid up in
bed to a sitting position.

“I came in to see if you wanted another glass
of water.”

“Yes,
please.”

Kallie
grabbed
the empty glass from the bedside table.
 
She returned a few minutes later.
 
“Red’s downstairs in his office doing some work.
 
He told me to let you know that he was
around if you need him.”

“I’m
sorry
you ended up having to babysit me today,” Nicole said, taking the fresh glass
of water and drinking gratefully from it.
 
“This wasn’t planned, just so you know.”