Forever Rockers (35 page)

My tears dried almost instantly. I sucked in one breath after another as I strived to remain calm. He was right. I could hurt the baby worse if I didn’t get hold of myself.

Please, God.

Please.

Don’t take Violet.

Shane

Linc was doing a hundred and ten on the interstate in my Jaguar. His hands were shaking and he looked like he was about to break down and cry at any second. Still, he was a million miles away from catching up to how destroyed I was right then.

She was bleeding. She was in pain. They were taking her to the closest hospital.

That was all I knew and just those few details were enough to make my heart stop.
Fuck
. This wasn’t happening. It couldn’t. We’d come too far for this to happen now. The baby was healthy, Harper was healthy. Her stress had been cut down and she’d been exercising every day with Linc to make sure she was fit.

My girls had to be okay.

Violet had to be…

Harper had to be.

Fuck.

Ah, fuck.

I couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t think past getting to my wife and making sure she was okay. I couldn’t lose her. I might survive if Violet didn’t make it, but I would be destroyed if something happened to Harper.

Women had miscarriages every day. I’d read the statistics over and over again. Read every baby book I could get my hands on about all the things that could go wrong during a pregnancy. We lived in a time when women dying while giving birth or having a miscarriage was a rare thing.

Rare didn’t mean it didn’t happen, though.

Gods. Please. Don’t take either from me.

I didn’t think to call Emmie. Didn’t have the brain power to remember anything I should be doing to make whatever was going on with Harper easier. All I could think was that I needed to get to her as quickly as possible.

She was bleeding.

She was in pain.

She was losing our precious baby girl.

I prayed to every god whose name I knew and then started making some up to pray to. One of them had to hear my plea, had to answer my prayer.

Keep them safe. Watch over them both. Give me the strength to help her if we lose our baby.

But even as that last prayer flashed through my mind, I knew that I wouldn’t have the strength to help Harper through this if she did lose Violet. I’d be just as distraught, just as broken as she was. In the beginning, I hadn’t cared if we had a baby of our own, or if we had kids, period.

Now…

Now that I had seen her, heard her heart beating, watched her wave at me from a monitor, I knew that I couldn’t live without that little girl tucked safely inside her mother.

But she wasn’t safe right then. Her mother was bleeding.

Bleeding.

Hurting.

Losing our Violet.

“Cops,” Linc snapped less than a mile from the exit we needed to take in order to reach the hospital that Theo had told me they were taking Harper to.

I glanced out the side window and glared at the flashing lights that were now on our tail. “Fuck ‘em,” I snapped. “Hit the godsdamn hazard lights and floor it.”

Linc didn’t even question me, but did exactly what I said. The
click click click
of the hazard lights echoed throughout the car as the cop turned his siren on to add to the annoying flashing lights. I didn’t care if we got a ticket. I’d pay it without complaint. Didn’t care if the bastard wanted to impound my car. The cop could have it as his own if he just let me get to Harper.

I’d give up every penny in my bank account in that moment as long as she was okay.

Both of them.

Linc had to cut across three lanes of traffic to get to the hospital. The cop was still following, but I didn’t spare him so much as a glance as I jumped out of the car before Linc had even fully stopped and took off at full speed into the building.

I spotted Theo first. He was standing by the door that led back to the exam rooms. He saw me and straightened. I grabbed him, fisting his suit jacket in my desperation for answers. “Where is she?” I demanded, my voice breaking.

“They took her back as soon as we got here. They’re doing tests.” Theo shook his head. “Peterson said Dr. Lee is on her way.”

I nodded and moved to open the door. When I found it locked, I pounded on the metal so hard it left a dent. A nurse opened it, a glare on her aged face. “What do you think you’re doing? We have sick people back here and you’re disrupting them.”

I pushed her back as carefully as I could, but I couldn’t honestly say just how gentle I was. She didn’t bounce off a wall or any other crazy shit, so it must not have been too hard. “Harper?” I called out, not bothering to ask the now grumbling nurse where I could find my wife.

“Harper!”

Peterson’s head appeared out of an exam room just a few yards down the corridor and I hurried forward. But when I reached the door, Peterson put his hands on my shoulders, holding me back.

“Get the fuck out of my way,” I snarled at the big man. I had to get in there with her. Had to hold her hand, had to kiss her and tell her everything was going to be okay.

Gods, let everything be okay.

“You need to take a few deep breaths, man. If you go in there like that, it will only upset her even more and her getting upset can change this whole ballgame.” He tightened his hold, giving my shoulders an understanding squeeze. “Don’t lose your shit in there.”

Biting back a curse, I did as he had suggested and sucked in three deep breaths. It didn’t calm me on the inside, but at least on the surface I appeared calm. Peterson gave me an approving nod and then stepped aside. On shaking legs, I entered the room.

She looked so small and scared lying there that it took me a few seconds before I could speak or I knew I was going to lose it. She was pale, fear and helplessness haunting her beautiful face. With hands that shook, I reached for one of her hands and brought it to my lips, kissing her palm to give myself a little extra time to get a better hold of my emotions before speaking.

“Has the doctor said anything?”

She shook her head. “They did blood work and are supposed to do an ultrasound. Dr. Lee is on her way. The ER doctor said it could be nothing. Possibly a busted blood vessel…or it could be abruption of the placenta.”

If there had been any color in my face, it disappeared in that second. Abruption of the placenta was bad. Very, very bad. I’d read about it in at least three of those damn baby books. It
was one of those uncommon but serious complications during pregnancy. The placenta peels away from the inner wall of the uterus before delivery and can deprive the baby of oxygen and nutrients and caused heavy bleeding in the mother.

If caught in time it might not be too bad for Harper, but if she had hesitated the results could very easily turn fatal.

For them both.

“Shane, I’m scared.”

Hearing the fear in her voice, seeing the pain in her eyes, gutted me. I didn’t know how to help her, how to tell her it was going to be okay when I didn’t know if it was going to be or not. So I just held her hand, kissing her palm over and over again and telling her I loved her.

It seemed to take Dr. Lee hours to arrive, but was really only about ten minutes. She walked in, pushing an ultrasound machine with her and a man in a white lab coat followed. I assumed he was the ER doctor, but couldn’t have cared less who he was. Dr. Lee was there, that was all that mattered.

“How’s the pain?” the man asked as he came around the other side of Harper’s bed with Dr. Lee.

“It’s not as bad since I’m lying down,” she assured him.

“She hasn’t had a fever, has she?” Dr. Lee asked with a glance in my direction.

I shook my head. “As far as I know, she hasn’t. She’s been fine. Happy.”

“It just came on all of a sudden while I was at work,” Harper explained, her voice shaky. “It started in my back and moved to the front and then I felt the blood…” She broke off, closing her violet eyes as she sucked in a deep breath.

“Blood work looks good,” Dr. Lee informed us. “Let’s see what Miss Violet is doing in there.”

The next few minutes were agony to live through. I wanted to pace, but stayed where I was, holding Harper’s cold hand. I wanted to curse and scream, but silently prayed instead.

“Okay,” Dr. Lee finally said as she pushed the wand over Harper’s distended belly. “Baby looks to be fine. I don’t think she’s in any distress and the amniotic fluid is measuring good. I think we should do a pelvic to see how things look down there.” She replaced the wand after doing a little more searching and told the other doctor to turn on the lights.

Dr. Lee did a pelvic exam on Harper, and when she lifted her head the look on her face had my heart beating again. She gave us both a small smile. “I can’t find anything wrong, Harper. It’s probably just a busted vessel. Everything is expanding down here and Violet is growing more every day.”

“So she’s okay? They’re both okay?” My voice was choked with tears as I spoke.

“So far, so good.” She pulled off her gloves and moved to the sink to wash her hands. “Her cervix is nice and closed, labs show that her hCG level is within normal ranges, and the baby appears to be thriving.”

My legs went weak with relief. “Thank gods,” I breathed.

The smile on Dr. Lee’s face turned serious. “I don’t think Harper has a high-risk pregnancy, but I don’t want to have to change that opinion. I’m going to suggest that you take it easy for the next few weeks, Harper. I know you have a job, but I think it would be better for both you and the baby to work from home. I want you to rest as much as possible, stay off your feet often, and relax.”

Harper opened her mouth and I had no idea if she was going to agree or argue but I tightened my hold on her hand. “She’s not leaving the house until the baby is born.”

“Shane,” Harper protested, but the doctor grinned.

“I didn’t say she had to take things to that extreme. She can get some exercise and sunshine. That will be good for both her and the baby. I’m just saying that she needs to rest more, relax, and stay off her feet.”

I nodded. “She’s not leaving the house.”

“I’m not going to become a prisoner in my own home,” Harper grumbled, but she didn’t really put up a fight when I turned my pleading eyes on her. “But I will do as she suggests. I think Rex can do without me at the office now that things are going smoothly. Hannah can do most of what I’m needed for and the rest can be handled from home.”

Another wave of relief flooded through me and I bent to kiss her. “Thank you,” I breathed against her lips.

Her chin trembled and a few tears spilled free as she locked gazes with me. “I was so scared we were going to lose her.”

“I know, beautiful. Me too.”

“I’m going to admit you for the night, Harper,” Dr. Lee said, pulling our focus back to her. “Just to be on the safe side. I want to monitor you and the baby for a full twenty-four hours. If everything still looks good tomorrow, you can go home.”

“Sounds good,” I told her.

“Sit tight, Mom and Dad. We’ll get you a room and sort you out.” She turned to leave just as the door opened and Linc entered the room.

With a cop right behind him.

Linc hurried forward and wrapped his arms carefully around Harper. “How are you? How’s my little buddy doing in there?”

“We’re both going to be okay,” Harper assured him, burying her face in the big man’s chest.

I grimaced as the cop stepped forward. The man glanced from me to Harper and Linc, then back to me again. “Sir, I understand why you two were driving so recklessly, but you could have easily killed yourselves and innocent people. I have no choice but to give Mr. Spencer a ticket.”

I shrugged. “I’ll pay for it.”

The officer pulled out a book and tore out the top sheet. “Make sure you do.” His gaze went back to Linc who was still holding on to Harper. “I hope everything turns out okay for you, ma’am.”

Only then did Harper lift her head and notice the man. “What? Oh… Um, thanks?” She turned her eyes to me and then to Linc. “What did you two do?”

“Mr. Spencer was doing a hundred and fifteen on the interstate, ma’am,” the man tattled.

Violet eyes widened in surprise. “What? You didn’t.” She slapped her hand against Linc’s chest. “You did. Damn it, Linc. Don’t you ever do that again.”

A grin tilted the officer’s lips as he turned to go, leaving both me and Linc to fend for ourselves with a pissed-off Harper. I didn’t mind, though. My girls were going to be okay.

That’s all I could ask for.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
S
EVEN

March

Gabriella

“You’re going to be the first woman I know of to be late for her own wedding.”

If it had been anyone but my Lee-Lee who had dared say that to me today of all days, I wouldn’t have hesitated to stab them in the eye. Luckily for her—and yeah, I guess for myself, considering what day it was—I loved Alexis Moreitti more than anyone in the world.

Well, almost more than anyone.

Liam came before anyone else in my heart, including Alexis and Jordan. I wasn’t ever letting him go, and I hoped he knew that. Hoped, because as my beloved cousin had said, I was running late for something important.