Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91182 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 456(@200wpm)___ 365(@250wpm)___ 304(@300wpm)
“Killian,” Olivia says, “when the nurse called, she said Giselle Winters.” Shit! We hadn’t gotten around to getting her driver’s license changed yet. We’re still waiting on the documents to go through.
“Giselle Winters,” I say. “I’m her husband.”
“And you are?” the nurse asks Olivia.
“Olivia Harper.”
“I have permission to speak to you. She’s just coming out of surgery. She’ll be moved into recovery, and once the doctor has checked on her, she’ll be able to have visitors.”
“Why is she in surgery?” I ask.
“She was brought in for appendicitis.”
I let out a sigh of relief. She didn’t run… maybe the throwing up wasn’t that she was pregnant, but that her appendix was about to burst.
“Do you know if she’s pregnant?” I ask.
The nurse’s expression gives nothing away. “I don’t have that kind of information. I’m sorry.”
Everyone sits down to wait, but I head over to billing to make sure whatever my wife needs, she gets. I know she doesn’t have insurance, and we haven’t added her to my policy yet, but I’m going to make damn sure they understand she gets the best treatment.
After requesting a private room for her recovery, and giving the woman my credit card to charge everything to, I sit down to wait with the others. I remember Giselle’s mom is at home and would want to know about her daughter, so I give her a call to let her know what I know. When she tells me she’s on her way, I offer to go and get her, but she scoffs. “I’ve been hailing cabs since before you were born,” she says before we hang up.
For the next couple hours we wait to hear something from the doctor. Sarah shows up and lets me know she called Adrianna, who is on her way, despite her mom suggesting she should wait until we hear from the doctor.
“Family of Giselle Winters,” a nurse finally calls out, and we all stand. “I can only bring one of you back at a time until she’s brought to her private room.”
“Go ahead,” I tell Sarah. As much as I want to see my wife, I know she’s been waiting a long time to be able to be there for her daughter.
“Thank you,” she says. Pulling me into a hug, she murmurs, “Thank you for loving my daughter.”
Thirty-Two
Giselle
I’m staring at the ugly, dreary-looking pictures on the wall as I wait for Killian to walk through the door. I don’t know what I’m going to say…what he’s going to say. I don’t know what he knows or doesn’t know. I left without telling him and ended up having emergency surgery to remove my appendix. Instead of telling him something felt wrong, I chose to hide it and run. I put myself and our baby at risk. I can only imagine how mad he must be with me. Mentally, I’m preparing myself for the shit he’s going to give me. And I deserve it. So, I’m shocked when, instead of Killian, in walks my mother.
“Oh, Giselle,” she coos. She frames my face with her hands and gives me a kiss on my forehead. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” The tears, which were threatening, spill over. My entire life all I wanted was for my mom to be a mom, and here she is doing just that. My side is in pain, the drugs are barely helping because my options are limited due to being pregnant, but none of that matters, because right here in this moment, my mom is holding me.
“I-I’m pregnant,” I blurt out.
My mom smiles. “Did you finally figure it out on your own or did the doctor tell you?”
I gasp. “You knew?”
“Well, I have been pregnant a couple of times.” She winks.
“Did everyone know but me?” I laugh, but then remember Killian doesn’t know…or maybe he does but didn’t mention it.
“I think you always knew,” Mom says, grabbing a chair and sitting next to my bed. She’s right. In the back of my mind I knew something was off, but didn’t want to have to face it.
“I think I did too,” I admit.
“Is the baby okay?” Mom asks.
“The doctor said so far everything is good. They did an appendectomy. Luckily, I’m only ten weeks, so they were able to go in and do the surgery easily. They’ve ordered an ultrasound for the morning to check everything over, and I’ll be here for the next few days.”
Mom grabs my hand and squeezes it. “I know you were brought in here because of your appendix, but it seemed like maybe your husband didn’t know where you were until Olivia got the call from the hospital. Were you running?”
I let out a sigh. “I was…I told Killian before we even got married I didn’t want to have kids.” I hate having to admit this to my mom, that because of what she put us through, I didn’t want to have my own children.