TROUBLE, A New Adult Romance Novel (The Rebel Series) (46 page)

“What are we supposed to do next?” Teagan asks, sliding back down into her seat.
 
“Do we cut the cord or something?
 
I have a shoelace.” She rolls down her window and cracks her door open.

“I’ll call nine-one-one and ask them.
 
I think I hung up on them too soon,” Quin says.

The rest of the event passes in a blur.
 
The ambulance shows up and loads me and the baby inside where they cut the cord off and wrap the baby up.
 
I think Colin and the girls are behind us on the way to the hospital.
 
I’m wheeled on a gurney up to a room, and nurses clean me and the baby off.
 
My clothes are bagged up and I’m put into a hospital gown open in the back.
 
I have no underwear.
 
Someone comes in and gives me some stitches in my nether regions.
 
But none of it matters to me much.
 
I can’t take my eyes off my daughter.
 
She’s drinking from my breast.
 
A real live itty bitty person, perfectly formed, is lying in my arms, staring up at me with dark blue eyes like she’s lost.

“I’m here, baby girl.” I say, stroking her fuzzy down-covered cheek.
 
“I’m here.
 
You don’t need to worry.
 
You’re not alone.” She closes her eyes and falls asleep, and I join her a few minutes later.

CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE

I WAKE UP TO FIND Colin next to me.
 
As soon as he sees I’m awake, he smiles.
 
“Hey.”
 
His voice is rough, so he clears it.
 
“How’re you feeling?”

I smile.
 
“Tired.
 
I don’t know why.
 
It all happened so fast.”

His eyebrows go up. “You did the concentrated version, I think.
 
If I had to do what you did, I’d sleep for a week.”

“How long have I been here?” I ask, looking around.
 
The table near the foot of the bed has three bouquets of flowers on it and two silver balloons.

“Few hours.
 
You have lots of fans,” he says, following my gaze.
 
“The newspaper wants to interview you.”

I sigh and just stare at the flowers for a while.
 
Then I look at Colin.
 
I feel like I’m in another world.
 
My baby is nestled in my arms, wrapped in hospital blankets with her eyes closed.

He moves his chair closer.
 
“She’s real pretty,” he says, looking down at her.

“You think so?”
 
I move the blanket away from her face.
 
“She’s got dark skin.
 
Like a tan.”

“The nurse said all babies look like that.
 
She said they’ll put her under some lights to make it go away.”

“Is it bad?” I ask, suddenly fearing for my baby’s health.

“No, I don’t think so.”
 
He strokes her forehead with a finger.
 
His hand is huge in comparison to her tiny features.
 
“She’s so soft,” he whispers.

“Yeah,” I whisper back.
 
“Like velvet.”

He seems mesmerized by her.
 
My heart squeezes painfully in my chest.
 
“Thank you, Colin.
 
Thank you for catching her.”

He smiles.
 
“We have a hell of a story to tell her some day, don’t we?”

I can only nod.
 
His choice of words suggests that he’ll be there, when she’s grown up.
 
How did I get so lucky?

The door opens and a nurse sticks her head inside.
 
“Hi.
 
Grandparents are here to say hello.
 
Can they come in?”

My body goes ice cold and I grip the baby tighter.
 
She squeaks and squirms but quickly settles back down as I relax my hold a little.

I look at Colin as he stands.

“Who is it?” he asks.

The nurse frowns.
 
“Father’s parents.
 
Yours maybe?”

Colin looks down at me.
 
“I’ll go see what’s going on.
 
Just wait here.”

I have to laugh.
 
“It’s not like I’m going anywhere.”

“Oh. Yeah. Right.”
 
He pats me on the shoulder and is halfway across the room before he stops, turns around and comes back.
 
“Be right back,” he says, kissing me on the forehead and then the baby on the cheek.

My lips tremble in a smile as I watch her face twist up in annoyance.

He’s gone and back again before I have time to decide how I feel about these strangers coming into my hospital room.
 
How did they find out?
 
If Charlie’s with them I’m going to have Colin beat his butt all over again.
 
He’s not coming anywhere near my baby.
 
Over my dead body.

Colin stops at the foot of my bed.
 
“It’s Charlie’s parents.
 
He’s not with them.”

I breathe out a sigh of relief.

“How did they find out?” I ask.

“Apparently someone who works in this hospital is a friend of theirs and has decided that privacy laws mean absolutely nothing where you’re concerned.
 
And when I find out who that person is, I’ll re-educate them on that law, but in the meantime, they say they want to see you to see if you and the baby are okay.”

I grimace.
 
“They’re going to ruin my afterglow.”

Half of Colin’s mouth goes up in a smile.
 
“No one can ruin your afterglow, babe.
 
No one.
 
And I talked to them.
 
I don’t think they mean you any harm. I think they want to make things right.
 
As right as they can.”

My lips set into a firm line.
 
“I’m not going to stop the lawsuit.
 
I don’t care what they say.”

“Agreed.”
 
Colin nods.
 
“And I’ll be right here with you the whole time.
 
They’ll be out on their asses if they say anything out of line.”

I take a deep breath and let it out, gazing down at my daughter.
 
“Fine.
 
But if they don’t tell me how beautiful she is within the first ten seconds, they’re outta here.”

Colin opens the door and gestures to someone outside.

I school my features to look unconcerned as Charlie’s parents walk into the room.

CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

I THINK CHARLIE’S PARENTS ARE as nervous as I am.
 
They walk into the room cautiously, nodding to Colin first and then stopping at the foot of my bed.
 
Hal looks around at the flowers, but Charlie’s mother only has eyes for the baby.

I hold my daughter closer, my protective instincts going into overdrive.
 
If she comes too close and tries to make a grab for the baby, I will rip this woman’s eyes out and feed them to her with my fist through her stomach. I resist the strong urge to growl like a mother bear.

“Congratulations,” Charlie’s mom says.
 
“She is
just
beautiful.”

I flick my gaze over to Colin.
 
He nods at me and smiles.

“Did Colin tell you to say that?” I ask.

She looks confused for a moment.
 
“Say what, dear?”

I shake my head.
 
“Never mind.”

“Pretty flowers,” Hal says, reaching out to touch the petals of one of the pink roses.

“Thanks.” The atmosphere in the room could not be more awkward.

Charlie’s mom moves carefully around the side of the bed.
 
“May I see her?
 
Is she sleeping?”

She’s moving slow enough that I don’t feel threatened.
 
Besides, Colin is standing right behind her. I know he’ll protect us.

I move the blanket away from the baby’s face a little. “She’s sleeping.
 
She just ate.”
 
I feel so proud of myself, that I was the one to feed her.
 
I’ve never done that before, sustained another human life like that.

“Oh, my goodness.
 
She looks just like you.
 
So pretty.”
 
She smiles at me.
 
“I won’t ask you if I can hold her this time, because I know you’re a new mom and it’s hard to share right away, but I can’t promise I won’t ask next time.”

I don’t know how I feel about that … seeing them more than once or ever again.
 
It makes me nervous to think these people are going to be in my life or even that they want to be in it.

Hal leaves his study of the flowers and looks somewhere up near my headboard.
 
“So, you’re feeling okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine.”

“We heard you had the baby in a car on the way over,” Charlie’s mom exclaims.
 
“That’s so exciting.
 
Probably at the time it seemed scary, but boy oh boy what a story you will have to tell later.”

“That’s what Colin said.”
 
I smile over at him.
 
He’s standing in front of his chair, his arms crossed over his chest.

“Were you there?” Hal asks Colin.

Colin nods at the baby.
 
“I showed up just before she arrived.”

Hal nods and presses his lips together, turning his mouth down at the corners.
 
“Good.”

Colin drops his folded arms and lets them swing at his sides.

Hal clears his throat a few times.
 
He’s plainly uncomfortable.
 
We all wait for him to work up the nerve to say whatever’s on his mind.

“So, we received your court papers,” he says. “As you can imagine, we were quite shocked.”

I can’t look at him or respond and be polite, so I keep my mouth shut.
 
My fingers go automatically to cover the baby more with her blanket.
 
Charlie’s mom turns to face her husband.

He continues.
 
“We were in denial at first, but then we had a talk with Charlie and we did a search of his bedroom and vehicle…”
 
Hal sighs and his voice gets rough.
 
“Suffice to say, we have reason to believe everything you’ve claimed in the court documents to be true.”

I want to cry with relief.
 
These people are not here to hurt me.
 
At least, I hope they’re not.

Charlie’s mom speaks next.
 
She’s very sad, that much is obvious.
 
All of her joy over the baby has disappeared.
 
She rests her hand lightly on the blankets covering my legs.
 
“There is nothing I could possibly say to you to adequately express my sorrow over learning about what my son has done to you.
 
This is a mother’s worst nightmare, and now that you have a child of your own, perhaps you can get a small feeling for what that means.
 
My heart is broken in two, and I’m quite sure it will never be the same again.”

Hal puts his arm around her and draws her close.
 
“You never think your kid will be the one that you read about in the papers,” he says. “The one who hurts another human being.
 
You raise him up, you try to teach him right from wrong, you try to give him the things he needs to be a better person than you are…”

“But sometimes, you give too much,” Charlie’s mother says, looking down at the bed.
 
“Sometimes you spoil them and then they lose that sense of themselves and where they fit in with the rest of the world.”

“Charlie was spoiled rotten,” Hal says. He sounds angry. “He was given everything and worked for nothing.
 
We are guilty of allowing him to believe he was somehow better than his fellow man.
 
And it’s too late to apologize, because the damage is done, but we’d like to do that anyway.”
 
Hal finally looks right at me.
 
“Please accept our sincerest apologies for what our son has done to you.
 
We know it doesn’t change things and we know it won’t make it better, but we felt like it needed to be said anyway.”

“Yes,” his wife adds.
 
“Please.
 
And if you could just think about perhaps letting us be a part of your life and our grandchild’s life … I know it’s a lot to ask and we really have no right … but we would be so … happy …” She can’t continue.
 
She’s crying too much and her husband takes her in his arms so she can bury her face in his shoulder.

I can’t help but cry right along with her.
 
Silent tears leave salty tracks down my face.
 
I sure wish I had met her under different circumstances.
 
I wonder if she would have liked me.
 
I think she might have.

“Thanks for coming over,” Colin says, walking over and holding his hand out.
 
“It can’t have been easy.”

Hal leans over and takes his hand, shaking it for longer than normal.
 
“Happy to.”

Hal finishes the handshake and looks at me. “I’m going to leave you our cell numbers.”
 
He puts two business cards on the table with the flowers. “You call us anytime, for anything.
 
I mean it.
 
Anything you need, you call.
 
Money, food, a babysitter…”
 
He smiles, looking almost shy.
 
“If you don’t trust us for anything like that, we’ll take our lumps.
 
But maybe we can all do a trip to the zoo or something some day.”