Page 77 of Mending Hearts

In the parking lot, Pasha opened the back door for me and Tyler. Pasha glared at Laura and gestured toward her rental car. “You follow.”

Laura reared back. “There’s room for me in the front.” She peered down at me. “Why do these men think they’re in charge of anything? Have you been letting them railroad you?”

From inside the car, I sighed. Although my water had broken, there was only a mild cramping so far. The worst was yet to come. Annoyance at my mother bloomed. I didn’t need to manage her on top of what was coming. “Mom, take your rental. Follow us.”

“Oh, fine.” She threw up her hands and stomped to her car.

All things considered, she was taking the surprise pregnancy well so far. I had half-expected her to call the police…or the paparazzi.

“That could have been worse,” Tyler said, easing into the seat. “How are you feeling?”

“Terrified. Abso-fucking-lutely terrified. I wish they could just pull the baby out.”

“They can—it’s called a C-section.”

“Oh, there you go with your fancy online medical degree. Watch any YouTube videos on how to do that? Want me to pass you an X-Acto knife?”

“Careful now. I’m quite good with an X-Acto knife. Normally, I’m cutting fabric, but how hard can flesh be, really?”

“You two,” Pasha said from up front, “are too weird.”

“Come on.” I shifted in the seat, trying to find a position that didn’t make my back ache. Should I have changed my pants? I looked like I pissed myself. What a weird feeling that uncontrollable gush of water had been. Too late now to worry about it. “Embrace the X-Acto knife madness, Pasha.”

“Can’t.” Pasha shook his head, but when he met my gaze in the mirror, his blue eyes were full of laughter. “Too sharp.”

“Yes, very clever.” I grinned at him. “You made a funny.”

“Very funny,” Pasha said, wagging his finger.

Tyler chuckled beside me, and my whole chest filled, felt like it was overflowing. I snuggled in beside him, relishing the closeness, the hint of jasmine that seemed to cling to his skin. Why hadn’t he taken a lollipop out of his pocket? Was he that sure everything would work out?

When we pulled up to the hospital, Pasha jumped out to grab my bag. As Tyler helped me exit the car, I said, “You really want this baby?”

Tyler’s brow creased, and then he leaned forward to kiss my forehead. “I really want this baby. You okay, Mini?”

“There’s nothing you want more?” I couldn’t help the hope in my voice. Pasha’s eyes were on me. His disapproval felt like a gardener spotting a weed in a garden of flowers, who believed they could pluck it with the intensity of their thoughts alone.

Tyler drew me into his chest, and his breath stirred the top of my hair. I’d wanted to see his face when he answered, to know for sure I shouldn’t ask him, suggest it, hint at it. Weed or not, the question had grown taller than the flowers, impossible to ignore. He couldn’t have me and the baby.

“I want this baby more than anything.”

I pressed my face into his shirt and clutched his arms, letting his shirt absorb the tears that were leaking. “Okay,” I whispered. “Okay.”

It turned out labor was kind of boring when it wasn’t painful. The lulls between contractions were both my favorite and least favorite. No one would willingly choose pain, but at least it gave me a focus. Otherwise, I was stuck in this private hospital suite sitting in silence with my mother or wishing desperately I could plead my case to Tyler.

Surely if he knew he couldn’t have both me and the baby, he’d choose me. He knew me. I was pretty sure he loved me, whatever that meant. He hadn’t said it, but no one had ever taken such good care of me. I’d beenmanagedbefore by lots of people, but I’d never been cared for. Even if he didn’t love me, maybe I loved him enough to satisfy both of us.

My mother sat stiff and silent in the chair beside the hospital bed. Tyler was getting a coffee, and Pasha and a team of bodyguards were outside the door and in the corridors keeping everyone but David and Katie from entering the room.

In hindsight, I should have done some more research into different ways to give birth. Wasn’t this supposed to feel like an event? If I’d told people, I could be live streaming this right now. I still could—that would make it an event.Surprise! I’ve been hiding this for nine months. Aren’t I clever?

“So, you must have gotten pregnant at that stupid fundraiser? The one Grady insisted on.” Laura bit out the words as though it pained her.

“If the shoe fits.” I reached for an ice chip from the bucket and popped it into my mouth.

“I thought I taught you to be more careful than that.”

She had. If there was one thing Laura Malone had been adamant about, it had been safe sex. Not that Laura always had control over who I slept with. Her safe sex advice had started after the episode in Kenny’s office. A shudder washed over me at the thought.

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