Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 67000 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 335(@200wpm)___ 268(@250wpm)___ 223(@300wpm)
But then, an obvious nudge to my hand, had me opening my eyes and glancing down.
The baby.
I’d felt the baby.
My God.
The only reason I could feel the baby was because there was only a small amount of gauze separating me from Ellodie’s actual uterus.
I was sick to my stomach.
And damned if the tears didn’t win.
Would either of them survive until tomorrow?
I had this dawning sense of horror that they wouldn’t.
In the hospital, hours later, with her lying in a bed looking so utterly broken, I couldn’t stop the tears that had dried up the moment we got to the hospital from starting again.
A deep, almost physical ache had taken root in my chest upon sight of her, and it felt like it split wider and wider by the second.
I moved toward the bed, tears threatening to spill over, and stopped within arm’s reach of her hand.
Her hand that was broken.
I pressed the barest of touches to her ace-bandage-wrapped hand and said, “I’m so fucking mad at you right now.”
I was.
I was livid.
Mad that she’d trusted him.
Mad at myself for trusting her instincts when it came to him.
Mad that she’d gotten gas when I’d told her not to.
Mad that she’d almost taken herself away from me.
Mad that my brother had gotten shot and had taken the attention away from Ellodie.
Mad. Mad. Mad.
Just. So. Mad.
She cracked her eye open.
Just one.
The other one was swollen shut.
She had a shattered cheekbone that would take months to heal.
But that was only the tip of the iceberg.
She had so, so many more injuries.
But that deep blue of her eye was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life.
“Calamity,” I growled. “You are in so much trouble.”
Her lips parted.
And a single word came out. “Kiss.”
I closed my eyes, felt the tears fall, and bent down to give the barest of kisses to her cracked and bleeding lips.
“Love.” She breathed shallowly. “You.”
Another tear fell.
“Love you, too, Calamity. So fuckin’ much that I can’t wait to let you have it when you’re better,” I whispered.
“The.” She drew another breath. “Baby?”
The baby.
I hadn’t even thought to ask.
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I didn’t even think.”
Some dad I was going to be…
“Think,” she breathed. “Now.”
I went and got the doctor.
My Calamity was asleep when I came back with the poor man.
“I’m surprised she woke up,” Dr. Marroni admitted. “She’s been heavily sedated.”
I watched Ellodie’s chest rise and fall, still waiting for shit to hit the fan.
There was no way it was this easy. With her injuries… there was just no way this was going to be an easy road.
“Can you tell me about the baby?” I asked. “She asked when she woke up.”
“Your son, as far as we can tell, is perfectly fine,” Dr. Marroni said as if his words hadn’t just shocked my poor, abused heart. “We did an ultrasound after she arrived, transvaginal because of the trauma she sustained.”
I closed my eyes for a few long seconds, thinking about our son.
Our son.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked, surprised at how even my voice came out.
The doctor walked up and checked her chart for a few seconds before placing it back in the holder at the bottom of her bed before replying.
“At this point, we’ve stabilized her as much as possible,” Dr. Marroni answered. “It’s a waiting game. One of the biggest obstacles that we’re about to face is infection. Dirt. Grime. Germs. All of it got into her stomach wound. Though we disinfected it as best as we could, and we’ll treat her with antibiotics preemptively, there’s still a very real possibility that she’ll get an infection.” He paused to take a breath. “Then, there’s the obvious. Bruising, contusions, broken bones. It’s going to take a very long time to heal. She’ll be in the hospital, my guess, for about a month. From there, she’ll be on strict bed rest until the rest of her heals. Her belly’s already going to be compromised because of the wound she sustained. With the baby growing, it could also put stress on the wound. The OB/GYN will be able to tell you more about what she expects after we get you out of here…”
If we get you out of here was left unsaid.
It’s kind of rude how you have to work out to be in shape.
—Ellodie’s secret thoughts
ELLODIE
I woke up in a fog of confusion, my eyes so heavy they felt like they were sewn shut.
“Why’s she tied down?” someone asked.
“The crazy bitch…” I heard a man pause. “Sorry. The crazy girl keeps trying to get out of bed. Sleepwalking through sedation is a new thing for me.”
“She wasn’t sedated when she tried to sleepwalk,” I heard my favorite person in the world say. “She was on pain meds. She’s been off sedation for a week now.”
A week?
What?
“She must be doing better if she’s finally allowed visitors, though,” the same man who’d called me a crazy bitch said. “Right?”