24. Jenner

Chapter 24

Jenner

"Knight?" a voice called out into the waiting room.

Shoving off the chair I'd been sitting in, I practically ran to the doctor in scrubs and a white overcoat, who was holding a tablet.

Placing a hand over my chest, I breathed out, "I'm Evie's husband. Is she okay?"

He nodded. "She's stable."

I slumped against the nearest wall, almost unable to remain standing as relief at his words rushed over me. "Thank God."

"If you want to follow me, I can take you to the room we've moved her to, and we can discuss her condition."

"Yes, of course." Pushing off the wall, I followed him through the double doors and into the area I'd previously been barred from entering.

We moved through several corridors until we reached a room with a cracked-open door. From where I stood, I could tell the lights inside were dimmed.

Turning to face the doctor, I gave him an expectant look, ready for him to share what he knew about what had happened to Evie.

Instead, he huffed out a small laugh. "Sorry. I just have to say I am a huge fan."

For the love of God. Is this guy for real? Does he not realize now's not the time?

Not wanting to seem ungrateful for the care he and his team had provided my wife, I gave him a tight smile. "Thank you."

"Seriously, my whole den is decked out in Indy Speed red and black. I think this year could be our year."

My patience was barely hanging on by a thread, and it took everything in me to keep my tone level. "I appreciate the support. But right now, my wife is my sole focus, as I'm sure you can understand."

The ER doctor seemed to remember where he was and nodded. "Right. Of course." He tapped on the tablet he held. "Her toxicology report came back clean, so we can rule out any kind of self-induced overdose, which I believe was a concern?"

Nodding, I swallowed. I hated that my mind had even gone there, but she'd been in such a bad place when I left that I couldn't be sure.

"Since she was alone when she lost consciousness, we also made sure to run a CT scan to rule out any head trauma. It came back negative."

Folding my arms over my chest, I said, "All I'm hearing is what's not wrong with her. Have you managed to figure out why she passed out? And is she awake yet?"

The doctor shook his head. "She's still unconscious, but there's nothing to suggest that she won't come around soon. From what we can tell, your wife is extremely dehydrated. It's possible she experienced a sudden drop in blood pressure, which caused the fainting episode."

Okay, that made sense. She'd been in bed for a week and had refused most offerings of food or drink. As soon as she was discharged, I'd be forced to make some hard choices about her care. There was only so much I could do on my own, and maybe it was in her best interest to be checked into an in-patient facility—somewhere they'd have eyes on her 24/7—at least until her mental state improved enough that I didn't have to worry about leaving her alone.

"Has her morning sickness been severe?"

The question was like a bucket of ice water being dumped over my head, and I jolted. "Excuse me?"

Almost as if he hadn't heard my request for clarification, he continued, "I'm going to have OB come down and check on her, see if they want to admit her for observation. Then—"

I held a hand up, cutting him off. "You need to back it up a step. I think you have the wrong patient."

The doctor frowned, peeking down at the tablet. "No. It says right here: Evangeline Knight. Is that not correct?"

"Yes, but you're talking about morning sickness and an OB. You must have made an error because my wife can't get pregnant."

"Her HCG levels would suggest otherwise," he countered. "In fact, they're so high, I'd say she's pretty far along. Nearing her second trimester if I had to guess."

"Sec—" The words died on my tongue. After all this time? There was no way. I simply couldn't believe what he was telling me.

Clearing my throat, I found my voice again, leveling the doctor with a glare. "You better be fucking sure before I walk into that room and tell my wife that what she's struggled for years to achieve has suddenly become a reality. She won't survive a false positive."

He nodded in understanding but didn't waver. "Blood tests don't lie, Mr. Knight. And like I said, I plan to make a call to OB, and we can have them confirm."

"So she's—" I paused, taking a deep breath with my eyes closed, almost afraid to say the words. "She's really pregnant?"

"It would seem so, and I'm guessing by your reaction, this news is coming as a surprise?"

I scoffed. "Surprise is an understatement. You have no idea the hell we've been through."

He offered me a smile. "Glad to see it's a happy surprise, then. Shall we go in and see her?"

In a daze, I nodded, allowing him to push through the door ahead of me.

Light from the bright hallway behind us illuminated the room, and I caught my first sight of Evie since I'd watched them wheel her away. She looked so weak and helpless, lying there in a hospital bed, hooked up to all kinds of monitors.

When her soft moan reached my ears and her head shifted on the pillow, I rushed to her bedside, grasping her hand with both of mine and squeezing. "Hey, baby. Can you hear me?"

"Jenner?" she rasped, her voice barely audible.

"It's me. Can you open your eyes for me?"

Evie's lips turned down in a frown, but her eyelashes fluttered against her cheeks before violet eyes peered at me from beneath heavy lids.

"There she is." Tears fell freely down my face. I'd been so fucking scared when I found her, worried I'd never get the chance to tell her how much I loved her, how she was my world, and that she would always be enough for me.

She tugged her hand out of my hold, reaching up to cup my cheek. "What happened to you? You're hurt."

I shook my head. "Don't worry about me. I'm fine."

Her eyes flitted about the room. "Where am I?"

"The hospital. When I got home, you were passed out on the bedroom floor. I didn't know what had happened."

Evie placed her free palm against her head. "I remember the doorbell ringing. My phone was dead, so I got up. Then everything went dark."

The doctor cleared his throat, and her eyes snapped to him standing at the foot of her bed. "You gave your husband quite a scare, Mrs. Knight."

Flicking her gaze to me, she asked, "When can we go home? I don't want to be here."

"Soon, I promise. They, um, they want to run some more tests."

"Why?"

I turned my face into her palm, kissing it gently, trying to work up the nerve to tell her what the doctor had told me in the hallway.

"Evie, baby—" My voice broke, and I couldn't force myself to say the words. I still couldn't believe it was true, and I wouldn't survive watching her heart break again if it wasn't.

"Jenner." Her lower lip trembled. "You're scaring me. What's wrong?"

When I peeked at the doctor, he nodded, so I turned back to my wife.

"They think you're pregnant."

Her eyes went wide, and she jolted in bed. "What? No. That's—that's not possible."

"Mrs. Knight." The doctor stepped in. "When you came in, we ran standard blood tests, which came back showing a significant level of the pregnancy hormone, HCG. Judging from those numbers, you're several months pregnant."

Evie shook her head. "No, that can't be right. I've had regular periods."

"It's possible you were experiencing breakthrough bleeding, which is very common early in pregnancy."

Whisper-quiet, she said, "But I can't get pregnant. We tried." Her eyes squeezed shut, and her voice wavered as she added, "So many times."

"I won't pretend to know your exact circumstances. All I can tell you is what the results of our testing uncovered. Fertility is a tricky business, and you never know what's going to shift the odds in your favor."

Evie peeked at me before asking the doctor, "I've lost some weight since the last time we tried. Could that have helped?"

He nodded. "It's entirely possible."

"Is this real?" she asked in disbelief.

Honestly, I still couldn't wrap my mind around it either.

"I'm going to have OB pop down to do an ultrasound. That will help determine exactly how far along you are and set your minds at ease that this is really happening." The doctor tapped the foot of the bed. "But let me be the first to offer my congratulations."

I wasn't leaving Evie's side, so I nodded my thanks as the ER doctor left the room.

The minute he was gone, I broke down. Burying my face against Evie's soft waist, I wept. It was all too much, and I couldn't hold it in any longer.

What if I'd lost her tonight? What if I'd lost both of them if there truly was a baby?

Having her walk away was one thing. At least I'd known she was safe. But the thought of living in a world she wasn't in? It was too much to bear.

In a complete roll reversal after the years I'd been her strength in the storm, Evie ran her fingers through my hair. "I'm okay, Jenner. I'm right here."

I clutched her closer, pressing my ear to her chest, comforted by the sound of her beating heart.

"I was so scared, baby," I admitted.

"I know, and I'm sorry I put you through that."

Peering up, I wiped beneath my nose with the back of my hand. "I'm the one who should be sorry. I should've never left you."

"You had to go."

"No. You were in no state to be left alone. If I'd been there . . ." My words trailed off.

Evie sighed. "Honey, you were there. For days. And it didn't make any difference. Because my heart stopped beating when we lost a chance to be that sweet girl's parents." Her fingertips ghosted over her lower abdomen. "And if there is a baby in here, it's not a replacement for what we lost. I'll never not think of what it could have been like to have her in our lives, to raise her as our own."

I nodded my agreement. "Me, too."

"Knock, knock!" A chipper voice sounded from the doorway, and I whipped my head around to find a woman in pink scrubs wheeling in an ultrasound machine.

This was it. The moment of truth. We were about to find out if, against all odds, we'd done what we once thought impossible—create a baby of our own.

"You must be Evie."

The woman gave my wife a bright smile. Hadn't anyone told her it was the middle of the night?

She placed a hand over her chest, introducing herself, "I'm Wendy, and if it's okay with you, I've come down here to check and see if we can get a peek at what's going on based on your blood tests."

Evie let out a heavy exhale; she was likely as nervous as I was. "Yeah, okay."

"Great." Wendy positioned the ultrasound machine on the opposite side of the bed from where I sat, before rolling over a stool from the corner of the room so she could take a seat.

She began typing on the keyboard attached to the wheeled cart.

"Let's see." Wendy hummed. "Do you know the date of your last period?"

Evie chewed her lower lip. "I had one only a couple of weeks ago. Does that mean . . ." The unspoken end of that sentence hung heavy in the air.

"That's okay. Try not to panic. Lots of women experience bleeding while pregnant that can mimic a period."

I was no expert when it came to the inner workings of the female body, but I knew that bleeding during pregnancy was cause for alarm, and dread settled like a rock in my gut.

"Since we're not certain how far along you are, we'll try to keep it minimally invasive and attempt an abdominal ultrasound first. If we can't get a clear picture, I'll switch to the transvaginal wand, as that's the best way to pick up on very early pregnancies."

Evie reached for my hand, and I threaded my fingers through hers as she responded, "Okay."

They must have changed Evie into a standard hospital gown at some point after her arrival because that's what she wore now as Wendy pulled the hem up from beneath the blankets to expose her soft belly.

Wendy noticed Evie's free hand trembling because she gave it a quick squeeze. "Deep breaths, mama. You got this."

Mama. We were only seconds away from discovering if we would become parents.

Gel was squeezed onto Evie's bare skin, and Wendy glided a wand through it, her eyes trained on the screen turned in her direction.

"There you are, little one."

Those words had the breath freezing in my lungs, and Evie let out the tiniest whimper.

"There's really a baby?" I dared to ask.

Wendy nodded. "You bet. Why don't you take a look for yourself." She grabbed the side of the screen, but just as she was about to turn it around, she paused. "Wait a minute."

"Jenner." Evie sobbed my name, but it barely broke through the haze of panic buzzing in my ears.

My head dropped to the side of the bed, and I silently prayed to whomever was up there that this wouldn't be ripped away from us. We'd been through so much already; couldn't they see we were due for a break, for fate to turn in our favor for once?

"Sneaky little bugger," Wendy said, amusement lacing her words.

Peeking up, I saw the moment she turned the screen around, showing not one but two wiggling forms in black and white.

Evie gasped. "There's two?"

Wendy's smile grew wide as she pointed to one of the babies. "This one was hiding, which is quite impressive for this gestational age. If there's more than one, I should have been able to see it right away at fifteen weeks."

My jaw dropped. "Did you say fifteen weeks?"

"Mmhmm," she confirmed.

Evie found her voice next. "That's almost four months! There's no way." She glanced in my direction. "That would have been . . ."

Wendy cut in. "Well, the first two weeks are technically before conception occurs, so if you're looking to do some quick math, these little ones came to be about thirteen weeks ago. That puts you at sometime around early November."

I locked eyes with my wife, and color rose to her cheeks. She was thinking the same thing that I was. The timing lined up with when we'd physically reconnected—first in the kitchen and then with her bent over the edge of the couch.

"Well, I'll be damned," I whispered, staring in awe at the two babies on the screen. Swallowing, I asked Wendy, "Are they—are they healthy?"

"As far as I can tell," she replied. "I am going to recommend you call your own OB tomorrow and schedule a follow-up once you're discharged, since a twin pregnancy is automatically designated as high-risk, and you'll need extra monitoring. If you can promise me that, I'll see what I can do about them letting you go home as soon as your IV drip finishes."

"Yes, we can do that." Evie nodded.

"I want you to take it easy for a few days. Hydrate, and if you can manage it, small frequent meals. Nothing too strenuous activity-wise until we can be certain you won't pass out again, okay?"

"I'll make sure of it," I vowed.

Wendy removed the wand and wiped the gel from Evie's belly. "Perfect. I'll print some pictures of these little buddies and then talk to the doctor handling your chart. Hopefully, we can have you home before lunchtime."

Evie shifted the fabric of the hospital gown down to cover herself, and I reached over to take the offered pictures of our babies as Wendy congratulated us and left the room.

"Jenner. There's two of them."

"Uh-huh." I couldn't stop staring at their tiny little bodies.

"Two," Evie repeated.

"Yeah." I had whiplash from the emotional roller coaster of the past few hours.

"What are we going to do with two of them?" Her voice rose in panic, and I forced myself to drag my eyes away from the images of our babies.

"Hey, hey, hey." I placed the strip of photos across her legs before settling onto the bed beside her, stroking my thumbs over her cheeks as I cradled her face. "It's going to be okay."

"How?" She held up two fingers for emphasis. "Two."

I bit back a chuckle. "Don't you see, honey? We wanted it so badly for so long that when it finally happened, we were rewarded with a two-for-one special."

"But—but—but—" Her chest heaved with each attempt to formulate her rebuttal.

"It's a lot, I know. But we can handle it. Together. Okay?" I tried to reassure her the best I could, but I knew her mind was racing.

"Are you sure?" Evie's voice trembled.

"I've never been more certain of anything in my life," I promised. Reaching down, I grabbed the pictures, bringing them into view. "Look at them. They're beautiful. And they're ours. Made with love." I let out a shaky breath. "I love you so fucking much, Evie."

Tears leaked from her eyes, and she nodded. "I love you, too."

"We'll figure everything else out. I don't want you to worry. All your focus should go into taking care of yourself so you can grow our babies." My hand automatically came to rest over her belly, where our children were hidden from the world.

"Our babies," she whispered, tracing a fingertip over the outline of first one, then the other.

"We're going to have the family we always wanted, baby. You and me, and these two little ones."

Years of heartbreak had led us to this hard-earned moment, and I had every intention of making the most of it.