Star-Crossed(131)
“Mr. Conner—”
“It’s Sheriff Conner, and I said back up,” Conner growled in his scariest, most intimidating voice. “She’s overwhelmed, and I need two minutes. Ain’t nothing gonna change on those machines in that amount time. Lemme talk to my sister.” Jules reached for Wyatt when he leaned over her, and she clung to his shoulders, shaking with fear as she whispered in his ear, “Is he dead?”
“No.” Wyatt shook his head. “And you ain’t either, but you got to calm down, Ju Ju Bean. ’Cause they’re gonna come in here and pump ya full of drugs if you don’t.” Jules blinked past the tears, trying to focus on Wyatt’s face that was nothing but a blur. “Is he gonna be okay?”
Wyatt was quiet for a long moment before he whispered, “I dunno.”
“Oh God.” Jules tried to cover her face with her hands, but her shoulder hurt something fierce, and the damn IV was getting in the way. She finally gave up. Her whole body felt weak, and she dropped her arms and cried while completely exposed.
“He’s gonna leave me alone. I just know it.”
340
“Hey, look at me, darlin’.” Wyatt grabbed her chin, forcing her eyes to him. “You ain’t gonna be alone. You heard the doctor say you got something else to live for, right?”
Jules thought Wyatt was talking about himself, but he touched her stomach gently and she looked at him in confusion. “What?”
He gave her a smile, his light eyes crystalline. “You’re pregnant.”
“I’m gonna have a baby?” She swallowed past the sob. “Is that true?”
“You’re gonna have two of ’em.” Wyatt gave a broken laugh. “Talk ’bout paying for past sins. Here’s hoping they ain’t half as big a handful as we were.”
“But I took tests.”
“You took bad tests. They did one of those video things, and you could see ’em bouncing around in there like little jumping beans. I saw ’em myself.” Jules tried to absorb that, but fresh tears slid down her face and all she could manage was, “Tell me what’s wrong with Romeo.”
“Why don’t we worry ’bout what’s wrong with you instead,” Wyatt countered. “I think you ought to work on getting healthy and strong and give those little Ju Ju Beans a break, don’t you?”
Jules touched her shoulder, feeling the bandage beneath the hospital gown. “Wha-what—” She was still struggling with the fog in her brain. Her whole head seemed stuffed full of cotton, and moving was incredibly difficult in a way that was more than pain. It was like her body weighed a thousand pounds more than it had before. Still she fought to concentrate and asked, “Are the babies gonna be all right?”
“Doctors said they should be. They had to do a few things they weren’t thrilled
’bout, but you’re twelve weeks. I guess that makes it better. I reckon with you and Wellings as parents, the little Ju Ju Beans should be hardheaded enough to be fine. They haven’t used that many drugs, but they’ve been giving you blood transfusions and—”
“Blood transfusions?”
341
“You had a cut on your neck. Glass or something.” Wyatt’s eyes darkened. “You were near dead when I got to the hospital. The lady doctor’s here. You wanna talk to him ’bout the babies?”
Jules wiped at her face and nodded. “Yeah, lemme talk to him.”
“I bet they’ll do one of those things”—Wyatt gestured to her stomach—“so you can see ’em.”
“Okay.” Jules swallowed hard and looked to the new doctor who walked up.
“Will you lemme see them?”
“Absolutely,” the doctor said with a warm smile. “We’re happy to see you awake and alert. How are you feeling?”
“I feel like I wanna know what’s going on with Romeo.” Jules choked against a fresh surge of tears. Even with the cotton in her brain, the panic was overwhelming.
“Why won’t anyone tell me what’s—”
The doctor smiled and grasped her wrist to cut her off. “Do you want me to order the sonogram now?”
Jules nodded and wiped at her eyes again, but the tears didn’t seem to want to stop flowing. “Yeah.”
“Then let’s do that, and we’ll let Dr. Miller work on better assessing you.”
“Why’s it so hard for me to think?” Jules asked herself more than the doctor. It was so frustrating. If she could think clearly, she could demand real answers. Out of desperation she reached for her brother. “My brain’s not working right.” Wyatt grasped her hand in his. “You’ve been laying in this bed for a while now. I ain’t all that surprised things are foggy.”