Equites : Book 4 of the Heku Series (26 page)

Emily smiled at him, “Get the papers
drawn up, and I’ll come and sign them.”

He nodded, “I suspect you have a loan
already?”

“
No, actually… it will be a
cash transaction,” Emily said, and ignored his shocked
expression.

She slid into the seat of her Durango,
just as another pain hit. She leaned against the steering wheel and
breathed through it, then put it in gear and headed for her hotel.
As she passed the tiny town hospital, she sighed and pulled into
the Emergency Room.

“
Good evening, can I help
you?” the young nurse asked with a smile.

“
Yes, I’d just like to make
sure I’m not going into labor,” Emily said, blushing.

“
Oh, right away. Follow
me,” the nurse said, suddenly looking anxious.

Within a few minutes, Emily was in a
backless gown and had large round monitors on her stomach. She
watched the baby’s heartbeat while she waited for the
doctor.

“
Well hello,” the doctor
said when he came in. “I’m Dr. Price, the on-call obstetrician…
Emily, right?”

Emily nodded.

“
How far along are you
then?”

“
I don’t really know,” she
said, wincing at his expression.

Dr. Price smiled, “Let’s see if I can
get a general idea then.”

Emily nodded and watched as he brought
in a large machine. Dr. Price put gel onto the end of the
ultrasound machine and suddenly, Emily was looking at her baby on
the monitor.

“
Baby looks good, good
heart rate, good lung development. I’m guessing you’re almost 35
weeks… but, the baby’s pretty big,” Dr. Price said, watching the
monitor closely.

“
Yes, so was my last one,”
Emily told him.

“
I have to be honest,
Emily. I’m tempted to induce you right now. Your blood pressure is
dangerously high, and the baby is going to be too big for you,” Dr.
Price said, looking at the monitor.

“
I’m not from here. I’ll go
back and talk to a doctor in my hometown,” Emily lied.

“
I’m not really comfortable
sending you out like this,” Dr. Price said to her. “Can we at least
call your husband, have him come and get you?”

Emily shook her head, “He’s not in the
country right now.”

Dr. Price sighed, “Let’s keep you and
induce, it’s too risky. If your blood pressure gets any higher,
you’re going to start having seizures, add the big baby, and I
think it’s time.”

“
So I’m not in labor at
all, right?” Emily asked, sitting up.

“
Not yet, those are called
Braxton Hicks and will just get stronger. Course, once I admit you
they won’t matter,” Dr. Price said, and left the room.

Emily quickly dressed and slipped out
through the back kitchen door of the hospital. She pulled the
Durango out into traffic just as Dr. Price ran from the ER door.
She made it back to the hotel and was locked inside before she
relaxed. She had left the ranch address as her home contact and her
cell phone as the number at the hospital. She was sure she covered
her tracks enough that no one else would know she’d
gone.

Emily was lying on the bed when her
cell phone rang. She picked it up without looking at the
ID.

“
Hello,” Emily
said.

“
This is Dr. Price,” the
voice on the other end said.

Emily sat up quickly, “I can’t have
this baby right now.”

“
You don’t understand the
health risks, please, come back and talk to me at least,” Dr. Price
said. She could tell he was nervous about her.

“
I’ll check with my
hometown doctor. I’ll be home tomorrow.”

“
Your mailing address is
here,” Dr. Price said skeptically.

“
I’m buying that place.
Right now I live out of town.”

“
Please come in, I’m very
worried.”

“
I’m ok. I’ll be home
tomorrow, but thank you,” Emily said, and hung up.

She sighed when the phone immediately
rang.

“
I’m not coming back
there,” she said, irritated.

“
Why not?” Chevalier
asked.

Emily took a deep breath, “Sorry, I
thought you were someone else.”

There was a long pause, “What’s going
on?”

“
Nothing, I’ll be back
there tomorrow,” Emily assured him.

“
Who did you think was
calling?” Chevalier asked.

“
They want me to come sign
papers on the ranch tonight, but I’m tired and told them I’d be
back next week,” Emily said calmly.

“
Oh, ok. So you are going
to get it?”

“
Yes, I really like it,”
Emily told him.

There was more silence before
Chevalier finally spoke, “Tomorrow, right?”

“
Yes, tomorrow,” Emily
said, and hung up the phone.

Emily reached over and turned off her
cell phone, then flipped through the TV until she found a good
movie on HBO. She settled back with some orange juice and watched
the movie in peace and quiet.

Chevalier was waiting in the garage
when Emily pulled the Durango into its spot. She hadn’t had time to
clean it, so it looked awful compared to the shiny sports cars
around it.

He opened her door before she even
slipped her seat belt off and kissed her.

“
Welcome back,” he said,
smiling.

“
Thanks,” she answered, and
grabbed the paperwork for the ranch from the seat. She spent some
of the night before marking out the address with a sharpie, in case
he got nosey.

Chevalier took her bag in one hand,
and her hand in his other, and they headed inside. He was
pleasantly unquestioning about the new ranch.

Once back in the room, Emily laid down
on the bed and grinned, “Always good to be home.”

“
Yes it is. You have no
idea how insanely nervous it makes me when you leave,” Chevalier
said, and laid back beside her.

“
How’d it go here?” she
asked, looking over at him.

“
Fine, nothing happened.
I’ve spent the entire time with Allen. He’s going to need some help
with this,” Chevalier said, and took Emily’s hand.

Emily nodded, “I figured.” She sat up
when someone knocked on the door.

“
Come in,” she said, and
then frowned when a strange heku entered.

“
Oh, Emily, this is Dr.
Alona,” Chevalier said nervously.

Emily looked at him, her eyes
narrowing, “Nice to meet you.”

Dr. Alona seemed friendly, but Emily
hated how he kept looking at her like she might fall over at any
moment.

“
Friend of yours?” Emily
asked Chevalier, but kept her eyes on Dr. Alona.

“
Sort of a friend of the
faction doctor,” Chevalier said, smiling.

“
Mhmm,” she mumbled, not
believing him.

“
I told the faction doctor
that I’d be happy to take a look at you while I’m visiting. I’m a
certified obstetrician,” he said, smiling.

“
How convenient,” Emily
said, irritated.

“
Why don’t you have a seat
then,” Dr. Alona said, and pointed to the bed.

“
No,” Emily told him
bluntly.

“
Hey, Breeder, are you
being a pain in the ass again?” Damon asked from the
door.

“
No, I’m letting you keep
that job,” Emily scowled at him. She was partially glad though,
it’d taken the doctor’s attention away from her.

“
Why don’t you sit down
nicely, and let the doctor do his thing?” Damon asked with a
smirk.

“
Why don’t you
drown?”

“
I can swim,” he replied,
grinning.

“
Great, next time you go,
let me toss you a toaster.”

“
You couldn’t kill me if
you tried.”

“
Is that a challenge?”
Emily snapped.

“
Bring it,
Child.”

“
Don’t even tempt
me.”

“
Stop it!” Chevalier
scowled. “Damn you two.”

Emily froze when she felt the
tightening in her stomach. She knew the pain was coming, and ran
for the bathroom, locking the door.

“
Damnit,” Emily said as she
bent over. The tightening continued until the pain started. She
fought against making any noise, but a small groan escaped at the
height of the pain.

“
Emily, what’s wrong?” Dr.
Alona said, knocking on the door.

“
Stubbed my toe,” Emily
said, panting.

When the pain in her abdomen stopped,
she sunk down to the floor of the bathroom and pressed her palms
into her eyes. Her headache started when Damon first spoke, and was
growing worse. She saw the little flashes of lights in her vision
and tried to calm herself down.

Emily felt her temper rising, despite
her best efforts to calm down when she heard Dr. Alona talking to
Chevalier about what she needed. She didn’t need anything, and was
getting frustrated when no one believed her. She was fine as long
as everyone just left her alone. Her headache worsened and she felt
the familiar dizziness creeping up on her.

Emily knew that if she passed out, it
would be too late for her to defend herself against the new doctor.
She pulled herself up to the sink, and tried to splash some cool
water on her forehead to see if she could stop the world from
spinning.

“
Don’t get that,” Emily
called out into the room when she heard her phone ring.

It rang three more times, and then
Emily heard Damon answer it.

“
Damon here.” The flashes
of light got brighter in her eyes.

“
Doctor who?” The world
leapt violently to the side and she felt herself hit the
tiles.

“
Oh really?” Darkness crept
into her vision and soon took over.

***

Emily could hear the voices around her
before she could open her eyes. She felt a pressure across her
chest and something on her face making it so she couldn’t breathe.
She pulled it off and tried to speak, but no sound came
out.

“
Leave that on,” she heard
a strange voice say, and then she felt someone replace the
mask.

Emily opened her eyes finally, and
once they focused, she could tell she was in the back of an
ambulance. She could feel the slight swaying, so she knew they were
in motion. She saw the I.V. dripping from the ceiling into her arm,
and the straps on the gurney that held her down.

“
It’s ok, we’re on the way
to the hospital,” the female paramedic said. “You had a little
seizure.”

Emily groaned and reached toward her
I.V. She felt firm fingers holding onto it tightly, so she pulled
her mask off again instead. She couldn’t breathe with
it.

“
Emily, leave that on,” she
heard Chevalier say, sternly.

She was extremely tired. She just
needed everyone to leave her alone so she could sleep. The
paramedic was putting something on her stomach, and she pulled one
of them off before she felt someone grasp her wrist.

Chevalier held both of her wrists, and
felt her relax as she fell back to sleep.

“
You weren’t kidding about
the medical phobia,” the female paramedic said to Chevalier, with a
smile.

“
Nope, wish I was,” he
said, watching Emily sleep. Even by just touching her wrists, he
could see the swirls of her dream starting.

“
Baby’s looking good, good
strong heartbeat,” the paramedic said, and Chevalier looked up at
the sound of the rapid thumping.

“
When’s her due date?” the
paramedic asked as she grabbed a clipboard.

Chevalier sighed, “She won’t go to a
doctor, and won’t tell anyone.”

“
Wow,” the paramedic said,
and wrote something down. “Wait… says here you’re her
brother?”

Chevalier nodded.

“
So where’s the father of
the baby?” the paramedic asked.

“
He’s coming. He wanted to
bring a car along,” Chevalier explained.

Chevalier felt the two bumps as the
ambulance drove into the hospital’s emergency entrance. The back
doors flew open, and the paramedic reached in and pulled the gurney
out. They met several doctors and nurses directly inside the doors,
and they whisked Emily away to a room, but kept Chevalier back for
some questions.

Kyle ran in a few minutes later and
stood beside Chevalier.

“
Are you the husband then…
let’s see… Keith?” the nurse asked.

“
Yes,” Kyle lied. He was
surprised how handy it was to have Keith’s ID from his wallet, and
how nice it was that they looked somewhat alike.

“
Just sign here, that’s a
consent to treat and a consent to admit,” the nurse said, handing
him a pen.

“
So they are admitting
her?” Chevalier asked.

The nurse nodded, “Yes, her blood
pressure alone will keep her here until delivery.”