Page 29 of Never Really Mine
“I’m her husband,” he says confidently.
My jaw drops in shock.What the fuck?I swear, this man is giving me whiplash.
“Great!” Lily says, leading us through the double doors toward an empty room. “I’ll give you a minute to get changed, but can you verify your name and birth date for me?”
I do as she asks, and then she’s spinning on her clogged heel, heading out the door.
“My husband?” I hiss as soon as the door is closed.
Beau has the nerve to look sheepish. “If I said I was your friend or something else, they probably wouldn’t have let me back here.” He has his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels. “You didn’t want me back here for some reason, but Marley, I think I have at least a little bit of a right to be here, don’t you think?”
“Why were you flirting with the front desk lady?” I accuse, figuring we might as well get it out in the open now.
His eyes widen at my words, and he stalks toward me with purpose. “I was not flirting. She was being nice. I said hopefully the wait isn’t too long, or you’d throw up in the waiting room, and she laughed. That’s all.” Beau cups my cheek in his hands. “Not only do I have no interest in anyone that isn’t you, I would never flirt with anyone else. I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again. I’m all in. I’m here for you, for us.”
My eyes sting with tears, and I curse myself for being so emotional. “Okay,” I say, turning out of his grip. “Can you turn around so I can have some privacy?”
Beau nods, but doesn’t move right away. Instead, he leans down, pressing a tender kiss to my forehead. As soon as he’s facing the other direction, I whip my shirt over my head and push down my jeans, leaving me in my sports bra and undies. I tug the scratchy gown up my arms and try to tie the back. When Ifight to find the ties for a moment, I give up. “Can you help me?” I unwillingly ask.
Beau spins around immediately, a look of concern marring his beautiful face. I spin, showing him the open back. He inhales sharply and ties the gown for me. With shaky legs I head over to the bed, and slump down onto it.
When my head hits the pillow, a wave of exhaustion hits me like a truck. My eyes fall shut as another bout of dizziness and nausea overtakes me. “Beau?” I ask.
“Yeah, love?”
“I think I need another puke bag.”
“You got it,” he says. His footsteps rush toward the door, opening it and calling for the nurse. She rushes back with a crinkling bag and promises to be back in just a moment.
Beau comes back to my side, setting the bag in my left hand, sitting down in the creaky chair next to my bed and taking my right hand in his. He squeezes it three times, and I squeeze back three times. “Thank you,” I whisper.
“Anything for you.”
20
MARLEY
Iknow she doesn’t mean to, but this nurse is making me feel all sorts of stupid. She’s shocked that I don’t know the day of my last period, or how far along I am down to the day. Beau and I did a little mental math, counting out eight weeks since the night of the wedding, but I guess that wasn’t a good enough answer for her.
She got me hooked up to an IV with some good anti-nausea meds that have helped a ton. I feel better than I have in days, and have even kept down a turkey sandwich they offered.
There’s a knock on the door, and a woman in a white coat enters. She’s tall, with curly dark waves and black scrubs on. I thank my lucky stars that Megan isn’t working this week. She and Isaac are visiting extended family in Florida. Megan is a family medicine doctor, but occasionally picks up a shift in the ER to help. I’m not ready to own up to this yet, to escape from this little bubble of denial, and if Megan were here, I’d have to do just that.
“Hi, Marley,” she greets, reaching out to shake my hand. “I’m Dr. Carmichel. Sounds like you passed out, and are having some severe nausea?”
I nod. “Yeah. I feel better with the meds, but today has been the worst. I thought I had a stomach bug with how gross I felt until last night when I took a pregnancy test.”
“I’m glad the meds are helping. Who do you have with you?”
“My—” I start to speak, and yet again, Beau interrupts me.
“Her husband.” Beau stands, striding over to shake the doctor's hand. I glower at his back, all while trying to ignore the flurry of emotion that word brings.
Dr. Carmichel nods, shaking Beau's hand. “Nice to meet you. Marley, had you eaten or drank any water before you passed out?”
I shake my head. “No, the paramedic said my blood sugar was super low.”
She nods again thoughtfully and scribbles some notes on a clipboard. “Likely what happened is your blood sugar dropped, and you were just so dehydrated that you passed out. I’d like to run some labs, and do an ultrasound and check on baby just to cover all of our bases.”
