“Yes. I talked to her a little earlier today. But they have her pretty sedated. She’s got a broken arm and collar bone and contusions all over her body. She’s lucky more bones aren’t broken. She had some internal bleeding in the stomach and intestines. That’s why she was in ICU. But that’s been resolved.”
“Thank God.”
“Oh, and there’s more good news.”
Good news? His heart rejoiced. “What?”
“So far she hasn’t lost the baby.”
Chapter Twelve
Baby?
Michael nearly lost his footing. Stacy was pregnant?
It couldn’t be his. They’d used protection.
Damn her! She’d written him, made him believe there was a chance, when all this time…
No. He willed his mind to settle. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that she was all right. That she was alive.
Stacy was alive, not dead like Beth. God damn it, Michael would see that she stayed alive. If she carried another man’s child, they would deal with it.
“You look surprised,” Kevin said.
“Yes. I didn’t know she was pregnant.”
“Neither did I. We’ve been pretty good friends since she moved in here after her divorce, but I didn’t even know she was seeing anyone.”
Damn. If her friend and neighbor—the man who was her emergency contact—didn’t know she was seeing anyone… Could it be?
Condoms weren’t one hundred percent effective, but he didn’t remember one breaking. Of course, he hadn’t looked carefully either, and they’d gone at it harshly at times. Despite the situation, he smiled faintly at the memory.
“She isn’t very far along,” Kevin went on. “The ER doctors detected a faint fetal heartbeat when she was initially brought in. They told me at first that she’d most likely lose the child. When she didn’t, they said it was pretty much a medical miracle.”
No shit. A fucking miracle. A wonderful baby who was trying desperately to enter this world despite condoms and hit and run drivers.
God, the baby had to be his. It had to be.
A beautiful baby with the woman he loved—it was a dream he’d thought long dead.
“I’ll take you over there if you like,” Kevin said, “I’m going myself.”
“I’ll follow you
,” Michael said. “I don’t plan to leave until she does.”
“Oh.” Kevin’s eyes widened. “You’re not…?”
“The father of the baby?” Suddenly, it didn’t matter whether he was the biological father or not. That baby was his. His and Stacy’s. The need to take care of both of them enveloped him in a thick haze. “Yes, I am.”
“Wow. Let’s get over there then. I’m sure she’ll be thrilled to see you.”
Michael’s heart raced until the moment he stood outside Stacy’s room. His Stacy lay in the bed, one eye swollen shut, the other open and alert as a nurse held a strange instrument over her abdomen.
“That’s a Doppler,” Kevin said. “She’s checking the baby’s heartbeat.”
A rapid staccato sounded from the device. “Is it supposed to be that fast?”