Waking Up Pregnant(88)
Instinctively he reached for his phone, but only came back with a handful of broken technology and a choice expletive with Connor’s name on it.
As soon as the emergency vehicle passed, he hit the gas, telling himself it was going to turn off before his mom’s place. Either that or roll right past. Sure Darcy was getting close, but those lights weren’t for her. It wasn’t the baby. It wasn’t the end of his world. It couldn’t be.
Please, no.
Only as his mother’s drive came into view and the ambulance was already disappearing down it, that kernel of dread in his gut became a cannonball and the fantasy it was just his world that would end if something happened to Darcy went up in smoke. It would be the end of his universe. A loss so great, the limits were beyond comprehension.
Hands gripping the wheel tight enough that they threatened to rip it off, Jeff focused on that final stretch of road. Pulling up the drive. Slamming the car into Park as his mother, looking wild and desperate, pulled one of the responders with her around the far side of the house.
And then Jeff was out of the car, running across the lawn, trying to make a throat seized with panic work so he could call out, demand to know what happened.
The small group was huddled together between the house and a flower bed. The EMTs kneeling beside—
“Really, I don’t need an ambulance. It’s just a sprain. I’m a doctor.”
Skidding to a stop, the air punched out of his lungs as Grant’s voice sounded above the rest.
What the hell?
Only then whatever was happening with Grant became secondary, as one fact washed over him with tsunami force.
Not Darcy.
He saw her, struggling up from her knees where she’d been on the ground next to Grant. One hand supporting her belly as she found her balance and looked up, meeting his eyes as he took those last desperate steps and caught her against him.
“Darcy.” Her name was gravel-rough when he managed to get it past his throat. “You’re okay.”
“Jeff, look at your face.” And he could see from the look on hers, that his must be reflecting exactly the soul-deep horror he’d been experiencing. “The baby’s fine. I swear, we’re okay.”
He nodded, trying not to hold her too tightly, but having her in his arms after weeks without, finding her safe after seeing that ambulance—it was all he could do not to crush her against him and make her swear she’d never leave his arms again. Only that wasn’t what he’d come for, and based on the scene around him, circumstances might not allow for him to make any kind of claim at all.
His eye shifted to Grant who, despite the fact there was an ambulance there for him, seemed to be doing okay.
But what was he doing there at ten in the morning midweek? He hadn’t needed to check on Darcy since she’d started seeing her regular doctor months ago. But then maybe the reason Grant was here wasn’t professional. Maybe he’d found out Darcy had moved into her own place and decided to make his move before any of the other vultures swooped in.
Smart. But it made Jeff wish the guy looked a little worse off than he actually seemed to be.
“What happened?” he asked as Darcy buried her head against his chest.
“It’s my fault,” she started. “I’d told your mother I didn’t think I’d be in this morning, but then I came over anyway. And when I closed the door—”