Chapter 20

Kailee

I blink at the bright lights above me, only to find Liam's face so close to me that I yelp and push back against something soft behind my head. Pillows? Behind him, Lorelei stares at me, her mouth slightly open. Memories of whispering from moments before bop around my head. They were talking about me and why I'm here. They were talking about Chase.

"Where am I, and why are you so close to my face?"

"You're in the hospital," Lorelei says, moving into better view. Liam moves aside and lets Lorelei sit on the edge of my bed. "You weren't feeling well at work and passed out. They think it was low blood pressure and low blood sugar."

That makes sense. I've been woozy when standing too fast for a few days, and I haven't been keeping much down when I can bear to eat. My pregnancy book says low blood pressure is common in early pregnancy, and the nurse at the doctor's office mentioned mine was a bit low when I was there. One more thing to be mindful of. My thoughts swirl in my mind. Low blood pressure now and the worry of high blood pressure later. Fuck, this pregnancy stuff is hard on a woman's body.

"How did I get here?" I ask.

Please don't let them tell me it was an ambulance. I can't imagine the medical bill. My toes curl under the blanket as I brace myself for the amount of money I'll owe for a cross-town jaunt to the hospital for something that routinely happens to pregnant women.

"Chase picked you up and brought you. Carried you through the doors and everything." God, Lorelei and the Chase hero worship again. I guess he's off her shit list. "He stayed until we got here, and they kicked him out about twenty minutes ago and made him go wash the cake out of his hair. He was causing quite the mess. Incidentally, your favorite sweater now smells like buttercream," Lorelei says.

My nose crinkles. "Do I want to know why he was covered in cake and why I have to throw away my sweater?"

Lorelei puts her hands on her hips and grimaces. "No, you do not."

"How long was I out?"

"About an hour. Chase got you in the car and put his police light on. They said you passed out and then were probably so tired you stayed out even when you could have come to." I look around the room. I'm not hooked to anything electrical, but I have an IV dripping something into the vein of my left hand. "Oh, you were dehydrated, too. They're giving you fluids."

I don't doubt that as much as I throw up.

"Is the baby OK?" I squeak.

Lorelei nods. "Right as rain. You need a little work, though. You had a blood pressure blip and are so severely dehydrated that they were kind of impressed you went to work and were functional for half a day. The baby is OK, though. Your heart rate is good."

I nod and look around the standard hospital room. A small chair is nearby, and the Missouri River is outside my window, showcasing a beautiful fall day. The smell of cleaner fills my nose, and I cough. That's not going to help the nausea.

"Can I go home now that I'm awake?"

"The doctor said he'd be back to check on you. They said they'd release you after the fluids," Lorelei says.

"Since we have time to kill, tell me what happened with Chase."

Lorelei sits in the extra chair and holds her hands out like she's going to tell a grand story. "Apparently, Chase Barnett defended your honor."

"I wouldn't go that far," Liam mumbles as he moves to her side and props himself on the arm of the chair. "He took a swipe at that guy at work, though."

"Leo? He hit Leo? "

"Got a decent knock to the principal in, too," he chuckles. He quickly straightens his face when he sees I find nothing funny about any of this. "The principal was trying to pull them apart."

"Why were they fighting?"

"Well, when you passed out, Leo wanted to give you CPR," Lorelei explains. "Chase didn't want your ribs broken."

"Excuse me? I passed out. I wasn't having a heart attack."

"That's what Chase said. He checked for a pulse, and yours was steady. You were breathing. There was really nothing to do but get you to the hospital to have you checked. He explained that to Leo, but Leo still wanted to put his mouth on yours."

I make a gagging gesture at the idea of Leo explaining to our coworkers why he should put his mouth on mine. "Ew. Please tell me he didn't stick his tongue down my throat. I feel violated."

Lorelei shakes her head so hard that her ponytail hits her cheeks. "No way. Chase wouldn't let it happen. There was some pushing and shoving." Lorelei's face is pink, and she practically pants with excitement to tell the story of how Chase protected me from Leo Paulson's midday coffee breath. "Well, Chase wouldn't have him touch you like that, so he punched him."

"Right there in the teacher's lounge?"

She nods, her eyes wide. Liam shakes his head like he can't believe it.

"Leo didn't like that," Lorelei continues. She puts her hands out in front like a tribal elder of centuries ago telling stories about wolves and the grandfathers around a fire before a big hunt. "He attacked Chase, ripping and kicking." She pantomimes punching and kicking. "Chase had teeth marks on his shoulder, so there was obvious biting. Leo was an enraged animal!"

I put my hand over my chest and grimace. "What the hell? Are you fucking with me right now? In front of everyone?"

Liam shakes his head. "Not fucking with you."

"Leo pushed Chase into the cake cart and then jumped on him," Lorelei continues. "They thrashed around like…like a stallion going at a mare in heat."

Liam side eyes his girlfriend with a questioning look. Lorelei notices, shakes her head, and glares at him. "Do you have a better analogy, Liam?"

"Do horses go into heat?" he asks.

She shakes her head and shrugs. "I don't really know. Google it." She turns her attention back to me. "But they went after it, rolling around in the cake as their hands and bodies were slathered in buttercream, Chase defending you from that awful predator."

"This is awfully descriptive for a woman who wasn't even there and is going off a thirty-second run down from Chase," Liam says.

"Shut up, Liam. This story is legendary now. You can't stop that. Your partner is a hero. First, he saved your life, and now he defends Kailee when she's incapacitated. He should be the new Captain America, and you'll never convince me otherwise."

"So, Leo rolled Chase around in the cake, and Chase eventually picked me up and put me in his police cruiser?"

"Yep," Lorelei says, nodding. "Well, after he tased Leo."

"He tased Leo?" Dear Christ, this will be the fodder for teacher's lounge conversation for a long time.

"He drove you straight here, called us, and called ahead to have orderlies waiting. They used smelling salts and everything. Who knew those still existed?"

"I came to? Why don't I remember?"

Lorelei shrugs. "You focused your eyes and then went right back to sleep. Have you been sleeping at all?"

"Very little."

Lorelei gets out of her chair and approaches my bed. She smoothes the sheet a bit before sitting down. "You have to start taking this seriously and taking care of your body. I know the nausea thing is bad, but you need sleep. Water when you throw up. Chase said you're keeping the baby."

"Yeah, we're keeping it."

Liam clears his throat. "He also said you fought because you don't think you should be a couple."

I stare at my hand and the needle sticking out of it. "It sounds bad when you say it like that."

"Because it is bad," Lorelei says .

Liam stretches his long legs out and slouches into the chair Lorelei vacated. He puts his hands behind his head like he's on vacation. "Do you want to know what he says about you?"

I raise my head, suddenly interested.

Liam doesn't wait for me to answer. "Mind you, this is before he found out you were pregnant. This information is from seeing him in passing over the last couple of weeks when we've had to go to our separate counseling sessions. It's from my party Lorelei threw."

Lorelei scoots to the edge of the bed and fidgets with her dress. Our eyes never leave Liam, and Lorelei holds her breath, waiting for the information about what Chase feels. My heart pounds with the fact that Chase Barnett has talked about me.

Liam smiles at both Lorelei and me and takes a deep breath. "He said he thought he finally found someone who makes him happy. He said you were a challenge and stubborn as a mule, but he's never been so captivated. Like he had to get to know you and had to learn whatever he could about you. He said you wouldn't tell him things about yourself, and he asked me. He asked me if you have family nearby. He asked if I knew how you got started substitute teaching. He asked me if you wanted kids before he even knew you were knocked up."

He stops for a second and looks me straight in the eyes. "If he's not one-hundred-percent head over heels in love with you yet, he will be soon if you even give him one iota of a chance to prove himself. And he will prove himself. He's not a villain. He's not evil. He wants you – has wanted you for a while. His eyes light up when he sees you. I have known him for a few years now. I've been through everything with the guy. We've picked up women together when we were both single, been on drug busts, sat through stakeouts, and worked through some intense undercover gigs. I've never seen his eyes follow someone through a room like he does when you walk in. I saw it when you and Lorelei came back from the kitchen at my party."

I work the hospital blanket between my fingers. "He said all of this before he found out?"

Liam nods. "He's not faking it, and I don't know if you'll ever get rid of him, Kailee. Whatever you think about him only liking you because of the baby, it's bullshit."

Lorelei nods nearby. "You have to get out of your head about it, Kailee. Let him love you for you. Let him take care of you."

"You're one to talk. Talk about independent and stubborn!"

"Don't I know it," Liam says under his breath, earning a middle finger from Lorelei.

"I may be independent and stubborn, but if a couple of people I trusted said something, I'd believe them," Lorelei says. "If you can't trust him yet, trust us that he's a good guy and obviously cares for you, baby or no baby."

"He'll be a good father," Liam says. "But he's also a good partner. I should know. He's my work partner. He's wanted someone for a relationship for a long time, and I think he met you and just…fell hard. "

My stomach turns, and it doesn't have anything to do with morning sickness.

What have I done? I've been so busy trying to create the perfect relationship timeline that I rejected a great guy and the father of my child because he wanted to help me.

I've never been helped before. What's help? Is this what it's like to be loved? Knowing that I have a rough life and it will be infinitely less rough if I form a team with the one person who is attractive, dead sexy, and just wants me in his orbit?

This isn't about my child. This is about my stupidity – my inability to believe someone wants me just because I've never felt wanted before.

Chase Barnett wants me.

Me!

He wants me for who I am and not who some dickhead wants me to be. He doesn't want my boobs to be bigger or my teeth to be perfectly white. He doesn't want me to have a better job or a better education. He doesn't care that I'm broke.

He wants to care about…me.

Love me?

I look back at Liam and inhale deeply. "I trust you, so don't bullshit me. If I miscarried right this second, would Chase still date me and even still ask me to move in with him? Maybe not right this second, but eventually? Even after all I've put the guy through the last week? "

Liam leans forward in his chair and rests his elbows on his knees. He looks into my eyes and doesn't blink. "Yes."

"How are we doing in here?" a voice chimes from the doorway. A handsome doctor sashays into the room, but I don't flirt like I normally would. There's only one man I want to flirt with.

"How long until I can get out of here?" I ask.

The doctor thumps the IV and pulls up my chart on his iPad. "We need the whole IV to run. After that, you can leave, but I want you to go straight home and rest until we get the blood work results back."

"How long do I have to rest?"

"Twenty-four hours."

Good. That gives me enough time to craft a decent apology to the best man I've ever met.