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“I know,” I whispered, blinking back my own tears. “I heard it too. It was a sweet sound that I’ll never forget.”
She turned angry eyes on me. “Then how could you let them take it away from us?”
“Because you were going to bleed to death if I didn’t!” River flinched at my raised voice. I cleared my throat and tried to rein in my emotions. “The baby was dying, and so were you. There can be other babies, but there’s only one you.” I cupped the side of her face with my free hand, wiping away one of her tears with the pad of my thumb. “There wasn’t a choice to make. You are my everything.”
Her choked sobs were slowly killing me, but there was nothing I could say to make any of this better for her. For either of us.
“Th-this is m-my punishment,” she said with a whimper, breaking my heart even more.
I frowned down at her in surprise. “For what, baby?”
“F-for almost…almost…”
I inhaled sharply. “No, River. Sweetheart, no. This isn’t your punishment. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“B-but I almost did,” she choked out.
“Almost doesn’t count.” I moved to sit on the edge of the bed, turning so I could hold her. As she wrapped her arm around me, some of the tension left both of our bodies, and she pillowed her head on my chest. “You’re not being punished. I swear.”
“Then, why?”
Pushing her hair back from her face, I kissed her forehead. “You didn’t do anything wrong. It was just one of those things. Didn’t you hear what the doctor said before they took up to surgery?”
She shook her head. “I was kind of out of it. Between the pain and the drugs they gave me, I didn’t really understand a lot of what was going on.”
“The baby was growing in your left fallopian tube. As it got bigger, the tube burst.”
“D-does that mean we can’t have more babies?” she cried.
I kissed her again, wanting to take away the pain I was afraid I was about to cause her. “The doctor said it cuts the chances in half.”
“O-oh,” she whispered, and I felt her shoulders begin to shake as she started to cry again.
“It doesn’t matter, though,” I murmured, stroking my fingers through her blond hair, aching to take away all her pain—both the physical and the emotional. “If we have another baby, fine. If we don’t, then that’s fine too. All that matters is that I have you.”
Eleven
River
I was released from the hospital early the next morning. Surprisingly, I had little pain since the surgery had been done laparoscopically. I had tiny incisions in my belly button and my bikini line, and that was the only proof that only twenty-four hours before I’d been pregnant.
My heart felt heavy as Lyric pulled up outside of Maverick’s apartment. Opening his door, Mav got out and then reached back in to assist me. Thankfully, I had fresh clothes Lyric had gotten for me at the mall the day before, and I’d showered earlier, so at least I didn’t feel grungy as I slowly walked up the steps to the second floor.
As I walked, my head was down, my arms wrapped around myself, trying to hold myself together.
“Why the fuck weren’t you at school yesterday or today?”
My head snapped up at the sound of my dad’s voice. Fuck, I hadn’t seen his motorcycle in the parking lot, so I hadn’t even considered he would be up there waiting. Instinctively, I took a step back, putting myself between him and Maverick as he and Lyric walked behind me.
“I-I was sick,” I told him. “I’ve had a stomach bug for the last few days. It’s been going around school pretty badly.”
“Oh,” he muttered. “Yeah, Raven and Nova both mentioned you weren’t feeling well Sunday.” He thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans as his green eyes skimmed over my face. “You look like you’re still sick, River. Did you at least go to the doctor?”
Swallowing the lump of emotion in my throat, I glared at him. “Why are you here, Dad?”
His jaw clenched, and he shot a dark look at the two men behind me before switching his gaze back to me. “You weren’t answering your phone.”
“It’s been off because I didn’t feel up to talking to anyone.” Not a lie. I hadn’t felt like talking to anyone, not even Mila. She’d texted Maverick every hour the day before, but she knew I wasn’t up for chatting, so she hadn’t called.
