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“Shhh, shhh, babygirl. You need to let them check you out.”
“I’m ok. I told you that.”
“You did, but they still need to check you and the baby too.” She gasps the moment I mention the baby, and she jerks back, a look of horror on her face as she palms her belly. “What? What’s wrong?” I ask, instantly on alert, and my voice breaks. I felt it, felt the little kicks earlier, but what if something happened in the last few minutes?
“Oh god, what if all the stress hurts the baby? He j-jumped on me at one point, but not on my belly, but oh my god, what if…?” That thought pushes her to action, and she allows the EMTs to help her up and lead her to the ambulance.
I don’t spare another glance at the motherfucker lying dead in our yard, and I grunt at the officer following behind us, who tells me we can answer questions later in the morning. I help Dolly onto the stretcher, wishing I could cradle her on my lap as we head to the hospital, but I settle for holding her hand and stroking her messy hair the whole way there.
* * *
To make the worst night of my life that much shittier, a nurse tries to stop me from following Dolly into her room at the hospital. She refuses to move out of my way despite Dolly screaming for me, and the sound shreds my insides.
I’ve never laid hands on a woman before, but I’m close to throwing my morals out the window and snapping when the nurse tells me I can’t go in yet since I’m not family.
“Not family? That is my woman in there, pregnant with my baby! She is my family, and if you don’t get the hell out of my way—”
“You’ll what? What are you going to do?” she asks as she cocks an eyebrow and sets her fists on her hips.
I grit my teeth and yank at my beard, knowing I’ll never sink low enough to hurt a woman no matter how crazy I’m going inside at being separated from them. I don’t know if this nurse is on some kind of power trip or if it’s hospital policy, but I won’t be able to keep it together for much longer.
“Jennifer Jenkins!”
I turn at hearing Mama’s raised voice and watch as she comes running down the hall as fast as her legs will let her, hollering up a storm. Several people in the hallway step out of her way, backing into the walls to let her pass. No matter how mad I’ve made my mama over the years, I’ve never seen this level of rage pouring out of her before.
“You let my boy in to see Dolly right now, or I’ll be having words with your granny, your mama, and your daddy! And don’t you think for a second that you’re too old for me to box your ears in because I sure as hell will if you don’t get out of his way!”
The nurse, apparently named Jennifer, goes pale as the blood drains from her face. She puts her hands up to cover her ears while she backs away like she’s retreating from a charging bull and says, “Oh my god, I’m so sorry, Mrs. Roberts. Please don’t tell my granny!” Keeping her eyes on Mama, she tips her head toward the door, silently giving me permission to go inside.
I stomp past Jennifer and into Dolly’s hospital room and shove a male nurse out of my way after seeing him with his hands on her, trying to manhandle her back toward the hospital bed. I send him tripping over his feet and onto the floor with a grunt, and then Dolly is in my arms. Her eyes are red and swollen from crying, and I want to kill everyone who’s stood in our way, keeping us from being together for even a fraction of a second.
I’m sickened when I see the numerous dark stains of that bastard’s blood and mine on her flannel from when I held her after the attack. I hadn’t allowed the EMTs to clean and bandage my hands on the way here since I wanted all their attention fixed on her. The cuts on my knuckles ache and throb, but my injuries don’t mean shit to me, not when Dolly needs me, and I don’t let the blood stop me from holding her now.
Shortly after, Dolly’s OBGYN, Dr. Patel, marches into the room and takes charge. She’s a welcome sight after the hell we’ve been through tonight, and I can finally breathe, knowing she’s here to take care of my family.
“Hi, Dolly. I need you to lie down so we can examine you and make sure you and the baby are ok. Can you do that for me?”
I nod to the doctor, even though she asked Dolly and not me, and attempt to lay her on the hospital bed. She fists my shirt, not allowing me to set her down.
“Come on, babygirl. Listen to the doctor. I’m going to stay right here and hold your hand, ok? I’m not going anywhere.”
With a soothing voice, Dr. Patel asks, “Would you like to see the baby? I can do the ultrasound right here, and we can listen to their heartbeat. How does that sound?”
That does the trick, and Dolly finally calms and settles back on the bed, but she keeps a death grip on my hand. While some nurses hover and carry on with a long list of what they need to do, the OBGYN drops a glob of jelly on Dolly’s belly and places the ultrasound wand over it. We’re blessed with the most beautiful sound—our baby’s heart beating strong and steady.
Chapter 29
Dolly
The officers wait in the hallway while I finish up with my doctor. Wyatt and I hold each other while I cry at the confirmation that our baby is ok after the attack. Dr. Patel reassures us that as stressful as this night has been, it shouldn’t affect my pregnancy this far along, especially since she sees no cause for concern with the baby’s movements and heartbeat, nor do I have any bleeding.
I had never been more scared in all my life than when Dad kicked down the back door, tripping the house alarm, pulling me out of the deep sleep I fell into seconds after Wyatt left to get ice cream. I was awake and out of bed immediately, phone in hand to call Wyatt, but Dad was on me before I even had time to pull up my contacts list. I screamed, and he shoved me to the floor, sending my phone flying out of my hands and knocking the breath out of my lungs when I landed on my back.
He looked crazed, with his bloodshot eyes bulging and spittle flying from his sour, whiskey-laced mouth as he hovered over me and shouted in my face, “Found you now, you stupid bitch! That big motherfucker finally left your ass alone. I’m going to kill you for the shit you put me through, Dolores. And then I’m going to kill him for turning you into a whore!”
I tried to crawl back and got one good kick to his stomach when he followed and crouched over me, though I hurt myself more than him in the process with my bare feet. The satisfaction at hearing his breath leave him in a rush as he doubled over was short-lived when he then scrambled on top of me, sickeningly straddling my thighs, making nausea churn my stomach.
“You’re going to pay for that, you fucking slut!” he shouted in maniacal rage as he tried to pin my flailing arms down. “Pay for every fucking night you’ve been gone, just like your worthless mother!”
