I knew that Anderson was Smoke’s former boss when he worked for the government. Not much more was known. Like what agency he was with. But he helped when the club had taken down a trafficking ring, Smoke’s old lady, Everly, had gotten involved in. I waited for Bull to answer. It would be his decision on whether we brought in someone like Anderson.
“Can he keep it as unofficial as possible? I don’t want us to catch heat if we have to take these assholes out. If he can, then why the hell not? We’ll take all the help we can get.”
“Oh, don’t you worry. Anderson will make sure our asses are covered. I’ll give him a call. Talk to you soon.” He hung up. Bull sat there tapping his fingers on the desk as he stared out the window. He finally looked at us.
“We need to have church, but I want to see if Smoke finds out more. Today is Wednesday. Let’s see if we can wait until our regular meeting on Saturday. Until then, guard duty as usual. I know things are tight here with all the extra bodies. I’ve been talking to Tank here about that. Not that it’ll help this time, but in the future, if we have a bunch of people staying for whatever reason, we need more room. He suggested we build townhomes. I think if we do several of those, they can work for visitors and any of our brothers who are settling down, at least until they get a house of their own. There is room near the back of the garage here on the compound to build them. I told him to make them two bedrooms with maybe a couple having three. In total, I’m thinking three to five buildings for a total of six to ten townhomes. Think about it. We’ll talk about it in church and bring it to a vote.”
I had to say I liked the idea. I would love to be in a place more private than the clubhouse and with more room. Madisen didn’t complain, but I knew she missed being able to do her own cooking and baking. Even though we had the kitchen, it wasn’t like being in our own house and cooking for just us. Bull tied up the discussion after this. We all went back out to the common room. I wanted to go see how Madisen and Jocelyn were doing. We’d barely gotten out to the common room when Jocelyn came hurrying out. I could see the worry on her face. I raced over to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think Madisen needs to go to the hospital. She’s suddenly having all kinds of pain in her stomach. She can’t even stand up. It just started.” Her words sent me into a panic. What if it was the baby? She’d been worried about miscarrying. I ran down the hall to our room. Bursting through the door, I found her curled up in a ball in the center of the room. She was pale, sweaty, and panting. Pain was written all over her face. I crawled on the bed with her.
“Baby, tell me where it hurts?” She didn’t respond but touched her stomach low, down on her left side. “I’m calling an ambulance. You need to go to the hospital.” She nodded.
“I already did,” came from the door. There stood Bull, Jocelyn, Tank, and Payne. Bull was the one who had said it. I gave him a chin lift in thanks. She cried out in pain. I curled up with her and tried to rock her. Tears streamed down her face.
“It hurts so bad, Rebel. What if it’s the baby? I don’t want to lose our baby,” she sobbed. I didn’t either, but she was more important. I didn’t want to think about losing her.
“Think positive. It’s not the baby. It’s probably something really simple. Just try to relax and breath. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere. I love you, baby.”
“I love you too, Ronan,” she whispered.
I didn’t know how much time had passed before I heard the wail of sirens. Tank and Payne went out to greet them. By this time, more of the guys had gotten back to the compound and were asking what was going on. I could hear them in the hall. It was another minute or two before two paramedics rolled through the door and brought the gurney over to the bed. They quickly assessed her and asked both of us questions. They got her on the gurney and rolling in no time. I followed them outside. I was going with her. I waited for one of them to tell me I couldn’t. No one did. They just instructed me to stay out of the way so they could work.
I sat at her head and held her hand as they put an IV in her arm and checked her vitals. I heard the driver calling into what I assumed was the hospital, telling them to expect her. I’d told them she was three months pregnant. It felt like it took forever to get to the hospital. When they rolled her out of the ambulance and through those doors, I tried to follow them into the back. An orderly stopped me at the door. I thought about pushing past him, but I remembered last time. I reluctantly sat down with my head in my hands. That’s how Bull and the others found me.
Devyn and Jocelyn came with them. They sat on one side of me and Bull on the other. Bull didn’t say anything, he just gave silent support. Jocelyn held my hand and kept telling me everything would be alright. I saw Tank go off somewhere. It wasn’t long until he came back with Dr. Weeks. He greeted us with a concerned face.
“I’m sorry to hear Madisen seems to be in pain and having trouble. I’ll be back there with her and bring you in as soon as possible.”
I stood up. “She needs to have guards, Doc. She has several people targeting her right now. I need to have myself and a few others stationed around. Can you get them to let us do that?” He looked at Bull who nodded and said he’d be back. I paced around the waiting room. It was going on ten minutes before he came back. He had a man in a suit with him. He introduced him as the administrator of the hospital.
“I told him the issue and that she’s to be under guard at all times. The hospital isn’t equipped to provide that, however, he’s agreeable to having a few guards posted outside the ER and one back with her, but that’s it. They have to stay out of the way so the staff can do their work without problems. If she gets admitted, then he’s fine with the same setup for her protection. He does want to know if the police are aware of the threat.”
Before I could answer, Scarelli stepped out of nowhere. “Yeah, we’re aware. She’s definitely in danger. These guys need to have guards posted at all times. My officers will provide additional support where we can. Hell, if you need me to, I’ll deputize these ones.” His offer surprised me. The administrator said it wasn’t necessary. Before he and Dr. Weeks led me back to Madisen, I shook Scarelli’s hand and told him thank you. Joker, Payne, and Slash all said they’d take up posts outside the ER.
Back in the treatment area, I found her still curled up, but she seemed to be in less pain. Dr. Weeks explained they had given her something for the pain. They had drawn blood and were about to send her for an ultrasound and possibly an MRI. She was still pale and had tear tracks on her cheeks. I wiped at them.
“It’s going to be okay. I know it. Try to relax. I’m here and the guys are outside guarding the place. I won’t let them take you anywhere that I can’t follow.” She nodded her head. I’d been there maybe five minutes when an orderly came to take her down for her tests. As I stood to go, he protested that I had to wait there. I told him I was her guard. He shut up when he saw the cut. He took us to the X-ray department. While she was inside, I stood outside the door. When they were done, we went back to the same cubicle in the ER.
She didn’t seem to want to talk, so I stayed quiet and held her hand. She drifted off to sleep. I found myself praying to God. He and I hadn’t seen eye to eye over the years, but I needed him now. Please God, don’t take our baby or her away. I can’t live without her. I hoped he heard me. As the next hour passed, I waited impatiently and watched her face as she slept. My life was in that bed. Who knew you could be taken over by someone in such a short period of time? I was pulled from my thoughts by Dr. Weeks and Dr. Foreman, her OB/GYN, coming through the curtain. I stood and greeted them both. It was Weeks who spoke.
“It looks like the baby is fine. The scans showed a cyst on her left ovary. It’s not life threatening but very painful. It’s not uncommon for some women when they get pregnant. We have two choices—treat her with pain meds and watch it over time with ultrasounds, or we can go in and remove it laparoscopically. It looks like it is ready to burst. If that happens, no need to do surgery, though it may hurt and she could have some vaginal bleeding and nausea with it.”
I looked at Dr. Foreman. He was our baby doctor. I wanted to know his thoughts. “If it were me, I’d wait. I hate to do surgery even laparoscopically. It poses a tiny risk to the baby, but I would rather have none. The cyst at the moment doesn’t pose any risk to the baby. If that should change, then we’d do surgery. She may be in some pain for a few days, but we can manage it with meds that won’t affect the baby. What would you like to do?” I looked back at Madisen. She had her eyes open and was listening to us. I wondered if she had heard everything.
“I’d like to monitor it please. Yes, it hurts, but I don’t want to do anything to put the baby at risk. I’ve read about cysts and know they’re fairly common. Can we please do that? Do I have to stay here while I’m in pain or can I go home?”
“We’ll want to keep you at least overnight to see how you do and to monitor the cyst. After that, we’ll see how you’re doing. I agree with the wait-and-see approach. We’ll make sure to keep your pain under control. Let me get to work on getting you transferred to my floor. Usually, you wouldn’t until you’re further along, but I want to monitor you closely,” Dr. Foreman told her.
Agreeing with his plan, we both thanked him and Dr. Weeks. I sent off a quick text to Bull telling him what the plan was, then sat down on the bed and pulled her in my arms. “See, not as bad as you thought. We’ll get you up there and squared away in no time. I’ll be here the whole time.”
“Thank you, Ronan. I love you. I can’t imagine doing this with anyone else.” I laid a soft kiss on her mouth. We stayed that way, cuddled up, until they came to move her. I got the stink eye for being on the bed, but no one dared to say a word. They took her to the third floor which I found was the labor-and-delivery floor. As we passed the nursery, I looked in awe at all the tiny babies. We’d be welcoming one of those in a few months. A part of me was scared to be responsible for such a small, defenseless baby, but the other was excited. I hadn’t realized until Madisen how much I wanted to be a father.
Once we got to her room, a nurse came in, hooked her up to the monitors, got her settled, and then left us. I listened to the baby’s heartbeat. They had a monitor on her belly and it was sounding throughout the room. A text came through saying the guys were posted outside the labor-and-delivery floor and they were working to get one outside her actual room. I rang the call light.
Her nurse came bustling in, asking what we needed. “My woman is to have guards at all times. You can check with her doctor or the hospital administrator if you want. This means I stay in here with her and one of my brothers needs to be posted outside her room. I need you to let him back. You’ll recognize them, they’re all in the waiting room wearing a cut like mine.” I pointed to my cut.