Total pages in book: 78
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77415 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 310(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I followed her in and she directed me to a sanitation station.
“Go there, wash your hands, and get your gown on,” she ordered. “I’ll send someone for you.”
I nodded and did as directed, waiting at the glass that overlooked the large room once I was finished.
Everything I saw inside made my heart race.
There were four babies inside right now, and every one of them was tiny. All except one, which was the size of a small car.
Not really a car, but he was huge. So huge, in fact, that I wondered why the hell he was in there.
“The baby was born with a hole in his heart,” a quiet voice said from beside me.
I looked up to find a woman dressed in hot pink scrubs staring at me with curiosity.
“That’s terrible,” I murmured. “Why is he alone?”
A sadness overtook the woman for a few short seconds, and then she shook herself out of it.
“The mother put him up for adoption. It was planned well before they knew he was sick, so it’s not because he was sick that they did. Though, the parents that did adopt him are on their way here all the way from the UK. They’re supposed to arrive within the next two days.”
A smile flashed across my lips.
“That’s good news. I hate seeing him all alone.”
She nodded, watching me carefully.
“I don’t usually let non-parents in here, but Aerie said your husband is the baby’s father, correct?”
I felt like shit for lying to her, but nodded anyway.
I couldn’t leave that baby here all by herself. My gut was telling me not to leave her.
“Yes,” I told the first of many lies to this woman. “He’s the baby’s father. The mother…she’s not so good.”
The nurse snorted.
“I figured that out the moment Aerie wheeled that baby in here shaking like a tiny little leaf in the middle of a thunderstorm.”
I turned my attention back to where Aerie had wheeled the bed.
They’d transferred her to an open bed with lights above it. There were half a dozen machines surrounding the small girl, and there wasn’t a single piece of the girl’s skin that wasn’t now flushed an angry red.
“I don’t know much about medical issues, but I’d love to sit here, offer her anything that might help.”
The woman’s smile was warm.
“My name is Estella.”
She held her hand out to me, and I shook it, feeling slightly guilty that I’d lied.
“Come on in. I’ll give you the rundown.”
***
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he’d found me.
He was freakin’ Superman when it came to me.
I felt him come up behind me before I saw him. I’d been there for about an hour, watching and agonizing over the poor child’s screams.
“Why did I know I’d find you here?” he rasped as he looped one strong arm around my waist and pulled me back against him.
I leaned my head slightly to the side to rest it against his bearded chin.
“You know me well,” I told him.
We sat there and watched the baby for a minute. Her cries never abated.
“If she was in that place for as long as she was, wouldn’t you think that she’d be better than she is right now?”
“From what I understand, detoxification takes a while. Days three and four are the worst, and she’s only been in the treatment facility for four days and some change. The baby didn’t have a chance to get it all out of her system.”
I bit my lip, wondering what he’d think of what I had to say next.
I’d done a lot of thinking in the last hour, and I was dead set on doing what I knew I needed to do.
“She’s dealing with something that she didn’t know that she’d have to deal with,” I told him. “So I’m going to give her the love she deserves.”
“Ellen…” Jessie hesitated.
I held up my hand. “I’m doing this, and you can’t stop me.”
Before I could even finish telling him how it was, he wrapped me in his arms so tight that I found it hard to pull in a breath.
“I fucking love you,” he growled. “Sometimes, when I don’t think I can possibly love you any more than I already do, you go and show me that I was wrong and I can. But this baby is going to have a lot of problems.”
I knew that. Boy, did I know that.
“She’s so tiny and in so much pain,” I whispered.
“Yeah,” he agreed. “But she’s also so far from okay that it’s not even funny.”
I didn’t reply for a long moment, but when I did, I knew he was listening.
“I want her,” I said. “Want to take care of her so bad it hurts. This baby needs a fighting chance, and we’re going to give it to her.”
“If I do this…” He hesitated. “It would tie me to her for the rest of my life. For the rest of hers. I’m not going to leave her. She’ll always be mine, which will also mean that Margot will have another tie when it comes to me and my life. The restraining order might be in place, but she’s still going to come around.”