Page 25 of Ryder

“I feel better than I thought I would feel when I woke, but I now know I’ve been in a coma and a week has passed, so, I guess I feel like shit. I hurt.” I was in a lot of pain, too much considering I’d already had a week of healing.

He chuckled. “You won’t feel very good for a couple of weeks. You broke two ribs and fractured three others. Also, your left wrist is broken, three fingers on your right hand, your left ankle is fractured and your right knee was dislocated. You’re in bad shape.” He gently patted my arm. “The positive is the baby is healthy.”

“Say what now?” I choked out.

“Er…” He darted his gaze over to Ryder and I looked just in time to see Ryder give a swift nod. I narrowed my gaze and darted it from Dr. Linkon to Ryder. “Miss Stamon, I’m sorry. We needed to know if there was a possibility you were pregnant before we did x-rays or anything else that could harm the fetus. Your fiancée said it was possible, so we did a blood test and confirmed it. Congratulations. You and your fiancée should be expecting a new addition in a little less than eight months.”

I felt my mouth fall open and I then snapped shut as I realized my stupidity. Then I backed up, what did he mean fiancée? I shot a glare at Ryder and snarled when I saw him grinning like a loon. Of course he would be happy about this. He wasn’t the one who would have to squeeze a watermelon out of a hole of the size of an orange. The fiancée part I was sure Ryder and I had already discussed. I didn’t see the ring on my finger. I looked down at my hands and sighed. Not that any rings right now would fit on my chubby fingers. They were all swollen sausages, my left hand in a cast and three fingers were wrapped with a splint on my right. My ring finger might have been undamaged, but with a cast around my wrist and some of my hand and arm it was too big to have a ring on it.

Realizing I hadn’t replied to the doctor, I darted my gaze back to his and forced a smile on my face. “Thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done to help me heal. Thank you for making sure to ask about me being pregnant. I would have been devastated if I found out I’d lost a baby because of some medical procedures. Thank you.” What I said was true. This baby was a surprise, but I welcomed any new life, especially one I created with someone I had come to love.

This time when I gazed at Ryder, I felt no anger or annoyance, only hope for our future.

The next time I woke up it still took me a moment or two to remember where I was, but when I did, I was surprised to see three women sitting in chairs by the bed, talking. A young woman maybe a couple of years younger than me with jet-black hair and a round face with big green eyes smiled at a woman a little older with strawberry blonde hair. “Who needs a nanny when I have Gillian for a mother-in-law? I swear between her and the rest of the family I only see and hold my baby when I feed him.”

The strawberry blonde laughed. “Ha! I hear you on that. My daughter has more outfits than me. I don’t think she’s worn the same item twice.”

A girl with brown hair who looked close to the same age as the jet-black haired girl sighed. “It’s so fun buying all the babies’ outfits.” She beamed at both woman. “Your babies have made me totally clucky, but also helped me get my fix. The awesome thing is I get all the good stuff like dressing them in cute outfits and cuddling, but hand them back when unpleasant things like diaper changes are needed. Its win, win for me, I love them and then give them back and focus on uni.”

As I stared at them and listened, I wondered if they had the wrong the room. I didn’t know any of them. They weren’t who I expected to see when I awoke. Clearing my throat loudly I got their attention. “Hello. Have you got the wrong room?”

All three women stopped talking, turned to me, and smiled, their gazes holding pity, concern, and a good dose of interest as they stared at me. “We have the right one. You’re Divinity?” the strawberry blonde asked.

“Um, yeah. I don’t know you three, do I?” I narrowed my gaze and wracked my brain for anything on the three women before me and came up with nothing.

The brown-haired girl waved her hand as if shooing a problem away. “You don’t know us yet. I’m Jade and I’m married to Stephan, Ryder’s cousin.” She pointed to the jet-black haired girl. “That’s Bailey, and she’s married to Richard, another of Ryder’s cousins. The strawberry blonde Annabelle is married to Carl, Ryder’s uncle. We came to keep you company while the guys drag Ryder away to force him to eat, shower, and sleep. Now you’re awake we can all take turns, not just your father and Ryder, so you’re not alone. You also have a guard out at your door too. Gillian and Carol and my mother-in-law Evelin were going to be here, but we thought it best it be us. We know how you feel over the Silvermans. Trust me when I tell you I know how they come in and take over. We didn’t think you were ready for the mothers yet.”

I nodded as I studied the women. Jade and Bailey barely looked old enough to be married, and I was sure I heard Bailey say she had a baby. I furrowed my brows. She’d explained why Ryder wasn’t here, but she said my father took Ryder’s shift and stayed with me when he wasn’t around. So where was my dad now? Did I still need the guard? My mind swirled with questions and I was glad it was them and not Ryder’s mother or aunts. “Nice to meet you,” I mumbled.

“We wish we were meeting you under better circumstances.” Annabelle stated and darted her gaze to the other two women. She took a deep breath. “We wanted to check to see not just how you’re doing physically, but mentally. We know how crazy the Silverman men get over their woman, and we just wanted to see if we could help so you didn’t have to lie to Ryder, er if you do, do that.” She groaned. “Let me explain, when I was giving birth to my twins I learned to down play my pain, because even though my hubby is a doctor—so he knew that delivering his children would hurt— he freaked out about me being in so much pain. The nurses had him removed twice before I learned.”

Bailey giggled. “She’s right. I don’t think I walked for like a week after Sebastian’s birth. I ended up needing stitches.” She shivered. “Anyway, I got carried around because all I said was, ‘It hurts to walk’. Which made Stephan’s caveman side come out.” She grimaced. “I hope you get what we mean.”

“I get it. Ryder grabbed the nurse and made sure I received pain relief the first time I awoke.”

Jade moved a little closer. “What happened to you was crazy.”

It was insane. I had a feeling when I wasn’t doped out on pain meds and being distracted by people I would freak out about it too.

“I was almost kidnapped, but my bodyguards saved me.” Bailey said. “Um, we also wanted to come by because we heard what you did, and how you fought and well, um…” She looked down and then her gaze caught Jade’s and Annabelle’s.

“We want you to consider teaching us some moves and self-defense. We want to learn how to defend ourselves.” Annabelle babbled out. “We heard you even escaped too, or would have.”

I was shocked at what I was hearing. How and who did they hear all this from? “How? Who?”

Bailey smiled, lighting up the whole room. At first glance she was a shy, plain looking young woman who, and then she smiled and she became stunning. “Ryder. He told us. He’s so proud of you. Your father and brother are too, but, well, your dad stays away from all us. He’s, er, not much of a talker, but we can tell he’s proud though.”

It sounded all jumbled and took me a second to catch up. I wasn’t sure about what they said about escaping myself and even teaching them self-defense. My confidence had taken a beating. My body, too. Closing my eyes for a moment I wished my mother was alive. I could really use her love right now. Hell, I’d even settle for my father. That thought made me realize that I just needed a parent’s love right now. I opened my eyes. “My dad, where is he?”

Jade shrugged. “We don’t know where he is when he’s not here. I know your brother Arron is staying at Ryder’s parents’ house. I can go get someone to call him.”

“Yeah, please.” I was getting really tired. The little talk I’d just had had taken what little energy I had. I fought my lids to stay open and not shut. I’d sleep. “Thanks for visiting. It was nice to meet you and I’m glad I woke up to you and not your mother and sister-in-law’s.”

“It was nice to meet you even, so briefly. I’ll go tell them to call your father.” Jade patted my arm before she left the room.

“Nice to meet you. I look forward to seeing you more. My husband is close to Ryder so I’m sure we will. I’ll bring Sebastian, my baby, next time if you like.” Bailey smiled down at me and I could tell she was just one of those really nice sweet people.

“I’d love to meet your baby, and it was nice to meet you too.” I watched her nod to Annabelle before she strolled to the door.

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