Page 102 of Erik's Redemption
“I’m okay! My head hurts, but I’m okay.” She looked up, tears in her eyes. “Brigid bailed him out of jail. We need to check on her! He hit her and she wasn’t moving.”
Sirens wailed in the distance. When footsteps sounded behind him, he turned to see Rachel. She stopped and blew out a long breath when she saw them together.
He turned back to Hannah, taking his first easy breath since the agent spoke her name.
CHAPTER 36
“Erik, I’mfine.” Hannah smoothed her hands down his chest, wishing he wasn’t so tense. “I spent the entire night here with doctors and nurses keeping an eye on me. They’ve confirmed multiple times that I’m okay.”
Erik’s eyes narrowed. “You could probably be bleeding out and still tell everyone you’re okay. Does your head hurt?”
She rolled her eyes, although he wasn’t far off the truth. She’d needed a few stitches in her head, and she would have fought to go home last night if Erik hadn’t looked so on edge. “My head’s fine. I have a dull ache, but that’s all. Now, I need to go find out which room Brigid’s in.”
“You need to wait for your discharge papers.”
Oh, this man…he was wonderful, but sometimes just a tad overbearing. He’d stayed with her all night and had barely let her out of bed, insisting he get her everything she needed. He’d also carried her to the bathroom every time she needed to go.
There’d been just one time he’d left her room last night to go down and get a coffee, and in those few minutes, she’d quickly beeped the nurse to ask for a blood test to confirm that she was pregnant. She’d told her she didn’t want anyone else knowing, soof course she’d yet to get the results because Erik never left her side again.
Yes, the home pregnancy test had been positive, but she needed to hear the words from a nurse or a doctor.
Her smile wobbled, and Erik noticed immediately. “You’re in pain.”
“No,” she replied. “Look, why don’t you go get a coffee while I change into my clothes.”
“Hannah—”
“Please, Erik? You need caffeine so you’re not a grouch, and I need a second to breathe.”
Some of the hardness in his eyes softened. “Fine. But call if you need—”
“Anything. I know.”
He lowered his head and kissed her, and she felt that kiss everywhere. In her skin, her bones. Deep in her chest.
Seconds after he left, she pressed the call button. This was her only chance to talk to someone alone. She wasn’t surewhyshe needed that blood test confirmation so much. Maybe to confirm that she really had seen those lines on the home test. Maybe because hearing the words out of a medical professional’s mouth would make it more real.
When the door opened, she looked up, expecting to see the nurse. Instead, Brigid stepped in wearing jeans and a sweater, Henry behind her. She had a bandage around her head, but other than that, she looked okay.
Tears immediately gathered in Brigid’s eyes, threatening to spill over as she stopped beside the bed. “I am so sorry, Han.”
She pulled the woman into her arms. “You made a mistake.”
Brigid dug her head into Hannah’s neck. “A huge, could-have-cost-both-of-us-our-lives mistake.”
Sobs began to rattle her friend’s chest, and Hannah held her tighter, trying to keep her friend in one piece. “James is the mistake you were talking about at Andi’s party, wasn’t he?”
Brigid pulled back, cheeks wet, face red. “Yes. I don’t know why it was so hard to let him go,” she said, her voice small. “I just felt…hollow without him, and I wanted the pain to end! So I went to visit him in prison a couple of times, hoping it would give me closure. And he was like the old James. He said he loved me, and he made me feelwholeagain. He kept telling me how sorry he was. How much he regretted what he’d done. He told me if I bailed him out, we could have some time together, begin to mend things before he went to prison.”
She shook her head. “I was such an idiot. I fell for his act because I desperatelywantedit to be true. I wanted him to be the same man I fell in love with.”
“I know all about heartache,” Hannah told her. “I know how much it can affect every decision.”
Henry wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “We’ll all get through this. Because we have each other.”
“You’re both too good to me.” Brigid sniffed. “I hate myself for what I did, for what could have happened.”
“Don’t,” Hannah pressed. She tilted her head. “Whatdidhappen between you two after he got out?”
