Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69772 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
That’s when the doctor’s words kicked in, allowing my poor brain to catch up.
Fetus?
Fetus?
“You’re pregnant?” I rasped, feeling like I’d just taken a sucker punch right to the solar plexus.
“Was.” Shayne’s voice cracked, sounding hollow. “I didn’t know. When we came in…”
I closed my eyes as I licked my lips, trying to make sense of her words.
A feeling of tightening took up a place in my chest, making me feel like I was drowning.
“You… She…” I stuttered out my words, not able to complete a full sentence.
Pregnant.
She was pregnant.
Was, in past tense.
Because she’d lost the baby.
“How far along?” I asked, unable to control the anguish in my voice.
The pressure inside my chest was building, and I wanted to fucking scream.
“Six weeks or so,” the doctor answered. “I think had this happened when she was further along, it might’ve not been so severe. But…”
I missed whatever else she had to say.
The ringing in my ears was almost too much.
I took a seat beside her, dropped my head to our connected hands, and croaked. “This is all my fault.”
Numb.
I was numb.
“It wasn’t,” Shayne tried to make it better, but no amount of assurance from her would change my mind on this.
I’d had a choice yesterday.
I could’ve told her to get out.
I didn’t, because I didn’t want her to look implicated.
And now we were here.
I’d lost my child because I’d made the wrong decision.
I’d gotten Shayne hurt.
I’d…
“Stop it, right now,” Shayne hissed.
I looked away from her intense stare.
She was right.
I didn’t have time to break down right now.
I didn’t deserve to break down…
Shayne’s palm hit me in the middle of the forehead. “I said stop!”
I stopped and pulled back, looking at her like she was a mirage.
She’d hit me.
Not that I didn’t deserve…
“Stop. Listen to the rest,” she ordered.
The rest?
I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.
“What’s the rest?” I asked.
“The chance of her ever having a child… it’s likely impossible,” the doctor admitted. “With the uterine abnormality Shayne has… it’s possible today’s events didn’t have anything to do with her miscarrying. Having a bicornate uterus is something that can be fixed with surgery, however.”
I swallowed. “What kind of recovery is that?”
“Not too bad,” she admitted. “It just depends on how bad you want a child.”
The problem was, I didn’t know how badly I wanted a child with Shayne until I knew that I couldn’t have one.
“Oh,” Shayne looked wrecked at the news.
“Do you happen to have someone who could give us a little more information on this?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. Actually, my best friend is in today. I’ll go see if she’s available.”
Turns out she was.
When in Rome…
Since we were already here, and there was an OB/GYN in the building, Dr. Kinsler asked Dr. Marroni to come take a look.
I nodded at the doctor when she walked in. “Oh…”
She looked between me and Shayne, then back to me.
“We’re triplets, remember?” I reminded her.
Quincy and Quaid had been in to see Dr. Marroni. Hell, I’d just seen her deliver Quincy and Hollis’ daughter, Dalia, only a few weeks ago. Not to mention, she was Quaid’s wife’s OB as well. And seeing as Quaid’s wife was in there every week, I’d made a couple of appointments with them myself, because Quaid hated her going alone when he was forced to work.
After the near disemboweling of Ellodie a few months ago, there wasn’t much that she was allowed to do on her own—and going to the doctor was one of them. Not just because Quaid was overprotective, though. Ellodie was having issues leaving her home without having minor panic attacks.
That I didn’t blame her for one bit, after what the serial killer doctors had put her through.
She snapped her fingers. “I should’ve remembered that.”
Shayne looked at me. “Your family is a little bit of everywhere.”
That they were.
Tomatoes are a rich source of lycopene.
To a regular person: that’s interesting.
To a paranormal book reader: lycopene. As in a lycan’s peen?
—Text from Shayne to Quaid
SHAYNE
“Let’s have a look, shall we?”
The doctor, her nametag read Dr. Marroni, said, “Are you comfortable with him being in the room?”
I looked over at the man who’d pretty much thrown himself under the bus over the last twenty minutes, telling me that he’d ruined us, and himself in the process. I turned my gaze back to the doctor and said, “Yeah. He’s staying.”
Quinn grabbed my hand and squeezed lightly.
I held on a little tighter.
When I’d arrived earlier, and received all the news, I’d yearned to have Quinn here listening to it with me.
Now that he was here…
It felt right.
I wasn’t going through this alone.
He was here…
“Has the bleeding slowed any?” Dr. Marroni asked the ER doc.
“Actually, yes,” I said at the same time the ER doc, Dr. Kinsler, answered. “No, but it hasn’t gotten heavier either.”
I pinched my lips together, trying not to contradict her.