The sound of the door creaking open had me swivelling around and the doctor stepped out, his face neutral.
“My wife,” I choked. “Is she okay? What’s happening? The babies?”
“Your wife is still unconscious, but she should be awake soon. Mrs. Spencer had lost some blood, so she’ll be weak for a few days. While the delivery was harsh on her body, she’s out of any immediate danger and is recovering.”
Relief was instant and my legs grew weak. “Oh, thank God. Thank God,” I breathed. “Thank you. And what about the triplets?”
The doctor sighed. “Mr. Spencer, I want you to know we’ve tried out utmost best–”
My heart squeezed. “What are you trying to say?”
“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his eyes turning glassy. “One of the girls didn’t survive the birth. She was the smallest of the triplets, weighting barely three pounds and we tried everything to bring her back but… I’m so sorry.”
I stumbled back, shaking with the force of my barely contained emotions. The pain was sharp and brutal. “You’re saying that one of my daughters… my daughter, she didn’t….”
The doctor shook his head dejectedly. My knees weakened and I stumbled down into the chair behind me. I blinked and then the shaking started; my heart racing and the blood coursing through my veins growing cold.
My chest shuddered as raw sounds of anguish tore through me and my heart bled.
I could hear Gideon speaking to the doctor but I wasn’t listening. Shock coursed through me and I was trying to make sense of it all.
One of the girls didn’t survive the birth.
This couldn’t be… real.
But it was. As much as it made me sick in my stomach, it was real. I swallowed down the acidic bile in my mouth before I could gag on it.
Eventually, I stopped shaking. Samuel clasped my shoulders. “They have shifted Julianna to a private room. You should be with her.”
I followed Gideon upstairs, slightly unsteady on my feet. The minute I walked into Julianna’s room, my heart seized at the sight of her. Looking so small and fragile in the hospital bed. Tears clouded my vision as I walked closer. The expression on her beautiful face was peaceful and that broke my heart because for how long?
How do I tell my wife that we lost one of our babies?
I ran a knuckle down her warm cheek. “I got you, Princess.”
I took a seat on the chair beside her bed, taking one of her hands in mine as I waited for her to wake up. It felt like forever and I leaned my forehead against our laced fingers. I waited and waited some more.
The door behind me opened and Julianna’s father stepped into the room. He walked around the bed and stood on the opposite side of her head, hovering over his daughter, watching her intently with heartbreak written all over his face.
My eyes locked with Gideon. He stared at me; there was no judgement. He was just waiting.
And I knew exactly what I had to do.
My dead father would probably be disappointed in me.
But I had to make a choice.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Julianna
I woke up feeling slightly numb and my head was all fuzzy, confused. My eyes darted around the hospital room and before landing on my husband who was sitting next to my bed, with my hand between his. I remembered what happened outside the Spencer’s Building but everything after that was just an empty blank in my memory.
“What–” My throat was so dry, I could barely speak. I swallowed a few times before trying to speak again. “What happened?”
My whole body was sore and there was a tinge of discomfort in my lower stomach. I looked down, expecting to see my heavy pregnant belly and while my stomach was still swollen, but it was fairly smaller than I remembered.
“Killian,” I gasped in alarm, trying to sit up but then I whimpered as agony laced through my body. “My babies, w-where are they?”
He lunged off the chair when I cried out and leaned over the bed, trying to get me to lay back down. “What happened?” I demanded sharply. “Killian!”
He swallowed hard, his gaze shifting around the room before coming back to me. “You were in distress and so were the triplets, so they had to do an emergency C-section,” he explained slowly. “The babies are premature but they will be okay.”
“Oh, thank God. Thank God,” I sighed, slumping back against the pillow. “Where are they? Can I see them?”
His grief-stricken expression confused me. Killian just said that the babies were okay. Why did he look so… heartbroken?
“What’s wrong?” I asked, my voice cracking. Panic rose inside me and fear slithered though my veins. “There’s something you’re not telling me. Tell me!”
My husband pressed his shaky fist to his mouth and I watched him swallow back a cry. “One of the babies… she… didn’t make it. She didn’t…”