Page 9 of The Alpha's Sin
When I remember things like that, I feel even more stupid for ever believing he loved me. But what can I do? It’s too late to go back and change things now.
We get to the ER and once again, Logan insists on carrying me. He even waves off the orderly with the wheelchair who comes to meet us as we pass through the sliding glass doors.
“No—I’ve got her,” he says firmly.
“You don’t have to—I’m too heavy,” I protest.
“No, you’re not, kitten.” He cradles me closer. “Not letting you go until we find out what’s going on with you.”
It’s not too crowded in the ER—maybe because it’s the middle of a workday—so we get sent back to an exam room immediately—a cubical type area surrounded on three sides with pale blue curtains. Logan at least agrees to put me down on the hospital gurney but then he pulls up a chair and holds my hand, watching me anxiously all the while.
A few minutes later, a nurse comes in. She gets my vitals and the story of what happened and nods. Next comes a doctor—an older man with silver hair and a frown. He checks my pupils with a light and feels the bump on the back of my head. When I wince in pain, he tells me he wants to get a quick X-ray of my skull to be sure everything is okay. Then he bustles away.
A few minutes after that, a girl in her twenties with short, bleached blonde hair and lots of piercings comes over with a wheelchair.
“Hi there—I’m here to take you to Radiology. But first, we have to do a little test. So we’re going to the bathroom.”
Logan helps me get into the wheelchair and makes the girl promise not to leave me.
“She’s still dizzy,” he says anxiously.
“Don’t worry,” the girl chirps. “It says she’s a fall risk on her chart—I won’t leave her for a minute.”
True to her word, she accompanies me into a large bathroom with a single toilet. She helps me get up and then looks away nicely as I sit on the toilet.
“Good—now pee in this—fill it up to here.” She hands me a cup, pointing to the line near the middle.
“Okay,” I agree, groggily. Everything still feels kind of unreal. I pee in the cup and hand it back to her. She nods, labels it, and then puts a cap on.
“All right—we should know in a minute if we can do those X-rays or not,” she says brightly.
I want to ask what she means. Didn’t the Doctor order the X-rays? Doesn’t that mean we have to do them? But I feel too tired and dizzy to say anything about it. So I wash my hands—while she stands beside me, making sure I don’t fall—and then she rolls me down a long hallway.
A few minutes later, though, she rolls me right back to my cubical again. I’m too out of it to protest as she and Logan help me back into bed.
“Is everything all right?” he asks, frowning. “That was quick. Did the X-rays show something bad?”
“We haven’t taken the X-rays yet. The doctor needs to talk to you first.”
She whisks away and I lay back and close my eyes, too tired to protest when Logan fusses over me.
“You’re shivering,” he says, sounding worried. “Are you cold again?”
“A…a little,” I admit.
He wanted to buy me a warm coat when I started working, but I refused and insisted I could just borrow one of his—he has several. I swim in them, but they’re warm and they smell like him, which I secretly really like—his scent makes me feel safe. However, I left the coat I was borrowing today in the break room at the back of the Dollar Tree. And being wheeled around the drafty hospital in the wheelchair has leeched away all the warmth I gained when he carried me and held me to his chest. So yeah, I’m cold.
Logan finds a blanket for me and he’s tucking it in when the doctor comes back.
“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Hayes,” he says, smiling. Clearly he’s mistaking us for a couple since we have the same last name. I’m too tired to correct him and Logan doesn’t either.
“Is there some reason you haven’t done Poppy’s X-rays yet?” he asks, frowning. “I thought we were worried about some kind of skull fracture.”
“We were—a little. But now we have a different problem,” the Doctor informs him. “Did the two of you know that Poppy is pregnant?”
This jolts me out of the daze I’ve been in. I sat bolt upright in the hospital gurney and then wish I hadn’t. My head is throbbing and my heart is pounding. I look at Logan in terror. Oh God, it wasn’t just a cheap test—I really am pregnant!
Now what will he do? Will he kick me out? Bad enough to deal with his destitute sister-in-law…now there’s a baby in the mix. No man wants to raise a baby that’s not his—right? Right?
