Her Billionaires(133)

Or, maybe, she was just a wimp who felt trapped, now, and could only feel empathy when she experienced the torture of making a similar bad decision. She didn’t like to think of herself like that, but if the baby shoe fit...

The nurse looked around the room, first at Dylan, then Mike, then Josie. Finally, she jotted something in Laura’s chart and looked at her patient. “I’m going to leave now so you can rest, but a medical assistant will be in within an hour to check on you and take a few stats.” Laura caught a good look at her now; almond-shaped brown eyes, dark hair, kind, plump face. About her age. Short and full-figured, fast walker, quick wrist for writing. Her name tag read “Diana.”

“Rest is what she needs,” Diana declared. “The cops and firefighters want to interview Laura.” Her heart began to race. Why would they want to interview her?

Buh bum buh bum buh bum. Diana chuckled. “It’s a mood detector, isn’t it?” Really? Every emotion Laura felt was going to be tracked by the baby’s heart rate? Oh, wow. That was going to be sooooo awesome as Dylan and Mike confronted her. Really. Might as well strip her naked and—

“I promise we won’t stay long,” Mike said gently, sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes tracking back to Laura’s belly over and over.

“Me, too, ” Dylan added, shooting Diana a charm-filled look. It worked; the nurse wasn’t immune to his smile, and frankly, neither was Laura. A warmth, a hope, began to grow in her. Deep breath. Maybe she and the baby would be safe and fine and the three of them—

Uh. The four of them—would be OK.

Whoa, there. Getting ahead of yourself. You still have to face the music. The baby monitor made a series of strange sounds, like skittering bumps.

“What was that?” Mike asked, eyes filled with fear.

Laura’s turn to laugh. “She’s just moving all over the place.”

“She?”

“The baby.” Mouth open, his expression shifted, then closed off. What he had been about to ask was clear as he stopped himself, mid-reach, hand pulling back.

“You want to feel?” she offered. Tears filled his eyes suddenly, which made her own pool just as fast, and as Mike’s strong palm rested on her sheet-covered belly, it felt like being welcomed home after self-imposed exile. A bit awkward yet familiar, regret tinging everything good but hope a steady presence.

“Oh!” His eyes danced as the baby shifted, the feeling tangible through Laura’s stomach. “Was that a kick? It wasn’t very strong.”

“I just felt her first movement yesterday, so I know that was a movement, but I don’t know what she’s doing. A kick, a roll, Gangnam Style—who knows?” A tear trickled down Mike’s cheek and landed on his t-shirt, staining the light-blue fabric dark. In that moment, she felt a tearing horror of regret, of pain, of shame for keeping this from him. From them.

“I’m so, so sorry,” she choked out, voice hoarse and raw from breathing in smoke, but more from her own remorse. “I should have told you a long time ago, but I was just being stupid. I didn’t know how to handle it and now I get why you didn’t tell me about everything. Once you don’t say anything it just...snowballs.”

Dylan blinked hard and maintained his distance; unlike Mike, he seemed hardened. Which was weird, because she would have expected the opposite, that Dylan would be easier to reconnect with. “Why did you freeze?”

She didn’t expect that question. More tears. “You mean in the fire—Oh! My cats!” Panic filled her again, the baby’s heartbeat racing. Damn it! Staring deeply into her eyes, Mike inhaled slowly, her own body instinctively following. The act of being this connected made her heart slow down, his kind eyes extending an olive branch of forgiveness, of love and understanding.

It almost made her feel like this wasn’t hopeless.

Almost.

“The baby is telling us something, Laura,” Josie said, her voice pinched and worried. “Now really isn’t the time. And your cats are fine and peeing all over my apartment right now. I grabbed them from the bushes and threw them in my car and took them home for Dotty to terrorize.”

“Dotty’ll have them in line in no time,” Laura murmured. Yawn. What time was it?

“Laura?” Dylan asked, his voice gentle but firm. “What happened to your grandparents?”

Josie grabbed his bicep and pulled him aside. “Would you shut up about that? It upsets her.”

“No, no, it’s OK. I can talk about it. A little.” The horse hooves picked up their pace but not too much. Man, she had missed these guys. Even now, here in a hospital bed, her home probably destroyed by the fire, her cats becoming subs to Dotty’s dom, it felt so...right to have Mike and Dylan here.