“Fuck yeah.” Kissing me once more, he then brushes hair out of my face. “Never thought I’d be into that, but with how fast it made me come, clearly, I am.”
“Noted.” A grin curls up my face as exhaustion washes over me. “Now, take me to bed…Daddy.”
“Careful,” he growls as I stand. “You keep that up and we won’t be getting any sleep.”
“You promise?”
Graham chuckles and slaps my ass as I walk in front of him on our way to his bedroom. Since we decided to give things a try, I haven’t slept in my bed a single night, and I love it a lot more than I probably should. Being surrounded by his scent all night, feeling his arms wrap around me. It’s perfect, and tonight is no different. Once he gets me in bed and cleans me up, he climbs in next to me and holds me, my back to his front, and those same words from earlier skate through my mind… Words I want to say, but haven’t figured out how.
I love you…
28
Graham, 31 weeks
I’m staring at the screen—at the reading that makesmyblood pressure spike—and my stomach is in knots. Glancing at Charley, she’s already watching me and worrying her bottom lip. “We need to go in,” I say.
She breathes out a sigh, her shoulders deflating. “Yeah, I know.” Running her fingers through her hair, she adds, “I really thought it would settle throughout the day.”
When she took her blood pressure this morning, it was right on the cusp, and Dr. Mitchell told us to monitor it today and go in if it got worse. The afternoon got away from us because we took Ellie Mae to the park, then out to dinner. Her hands were swollen by the time we left the restaurant, so I had a feeling it would be high.
I press a kiss on her forehead before standing from the couch. “I’ll see if one of my sisters can stay with Ellie Mae.”
Texting the group chat I have with them, Georgia lets me know she’s able to come over. She doesn’t live that far from us,so by the time I get Ellie Mae in her pajamas and ready for bed, there’s a knock at the door.
“Is everything okay?” Georgia asks as she and Fletcher step into the house. Eyes filled with concern go to Charley. “Graham said it’s your blood pressure again?”
She nods. “Yeah, it’s a little high. I’m sure everything will be fine, but we have to get it checked out.”
My sister’s gaze flits over to me. “You guys go,” she says. “We’ll be here as long as you need.”
“Thanks. I just laid Ellie Mae down, so she should be fine. The baby monitor is over there on the coffee table.”
“Got it. Keep us updated, please.”
The drive to the emergency room is silent; there’s tension between us I know we can both feel. After the first trip to the ER a week ago, I’ve been a ball of nerves, waiting for the other shoe to drop. Even though her numbers have been okay since then—never at a normal range, but not high enough for concern—I knew in my gut we’d end up here again.
Once Charley gets signed in and they bring us to a room, a nurse checks her vitals and asks a series of questions. My pulse races the entire time, the vein in my neck throbbing. It feels like there’s a weight pressing on my chest that I can’t shake, no matter how hard I try. As soon as Charley gets back from giving a urine sample, and the nurse draws some blood, she hooks her up to a machine that continuously monitors her blood pressure, as well as one for the baby too.
“How are you feeling?” I ask Charley once the nurse leaves, slipping my hand in hers.
“I feel fine,” she says. “I don’t have a headache or the spotty vision, like I had the last time we came here, so I’m sure that’s a good sign.”
I wish I had her positivity, but all I’ve been able to focus on is everything that could go wrong. And there areso manythingsthat could go wrong. I know, because I made the mistake of googling high blood pressure in pregnancy the other night when I couldn’t sleep. Hypertension, especially in the third trimester, can lead to preeclampsia, which then can cause seizures, stroke, organ damage, placenta abruption—made the mistake of going down that rabbit hole too—among other things. This is serious and can very much be life threatening, and from over here, Charley seems cool as a cucumber about it all.
About twenty minutes pass before there’s a knock on the door. An older woman steps into the room, a warm smile on her face as her gaze finds Charley. “Hi, Charley, I’m Dr. Hudgens, one of the ER physicians.” Sitting in the swivel chair next to the computer, she turns her attention to me. “Are you Dad?”
“I am.” I nod, extending my hand for her to shake. “Graham.”
“Nice to meet you both.” Unlocking the computer, she says, “Now, Charley, I’ve had a chance to look over your blood pressure and labs. Your reading was 152 over 93 when you came in, which is elevated, but not quite in the severe range. The good news is, your bloodwork looks stable, and we didn’t find any protein in your urine, so we’re not seeing signs of preeclampsia at this point.”
“Oh, that’s great,” Charley says, her relief clear, glancing over at me. I force a smile, not wanting her to see how anxious I am.
“That said,” Dr. Hudgens continues, “this is something we want to stay ahead of. I saw in your chart you were here about a week ago, so I’m sure you’ve already been told that high blood pressure in pregnancy can change quickly. It’s not something we take lightly.”
Charley nods. “We’ve been monitoring it twice a day, like Dr. Mitchell recommended.”
“What else can we do?” I ask.
