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“The test showed you’re likely to be about 8 weeks, but, Angel,” he paused, hesitating as sadness filled his eyes. “There is a chance your fall down the stairs may have injured the baby. Or worse.”

“Worse?” My moment of happiness turned to one of sorrow in an instant. “You mean-”

“We don’t know, Charlotte,” Dr. Emery said, drawing my attention back to him. “We’ve taken your blood every day while you’ve been in here, which still shows pregnancy hormones, but until we do a scan, we won’t know for sure.”

Jacob squeezed my hand. “I know it was selfish, but I wanted you to be conscious when we did the scan. If everything is okay with our baby, I wanted us to hear its heartbeat for the first time together.”

Taking my hand from Jacob’s grasp, I laced my fingers through his. “How soon can we do the scan?”

It turned out the scan could be done straight away. Dr. Emery introduced us to Dr. Merrifield, a world-renowned obstetrician. Within minutes, she had the machine set up and was pouring cold jelly on my stomach.

Jacob clutched my hand in his, his grip tight as if he was scared of what was about to happen. My heart rate hadn’t slowed since finding out the news. I always thought I’d be terrified of falling pregnant, especially at the tender age of eighteen, but my heart wasn’t racing out of fear. It was out of happiness and anticipation that I was about to hear my baby’s heartbeat.

Because I knew, deep down, that our baby had survived the fall and was growing inside of me.

“Okay, let’s take a look,” Dr. Merrifield said, moving the scanner over the gel.

The room seemed to hold its breath as she ran the device over my lower stomach. Jacob’s entire body was as rigid as a statue, his gaze fixed on the screen showing my womb, as was mine.

Time stood still, and the longer Dr. Merrifield took, the more my hopes began to die. Until a smile lifted her pink lips. “And there it is.” Water filled my eyes as I stared at the tiny dot that Dr. Merrifield was pointing to on the screen. A second later, a rough, beating sound echoed around us. “And here is the heartbeat, healthy and strong.”

A sob flew free, and Jacob stood to lean over me and place a delicate kiss on my head. “There’s our baby, Angel. Our baby.”

The giddiness in his tone was unmissable, and when I met his gaze, happy tears filled them, just like mine.

Our baby.

I had a piece of him growing inside of me.

The events of the past few days faded away. Now that the detective had delivered his findings, I accepted that what I had believed happened was just a result of the brain injury I had sustained.

Over the days of being stuck in a hospital bed, I had replayed the day in question over and over again, and each time, my version of events faded away, replaced by the events Jacob had recalled.

As I stared at the screen, my eyes fixed on the tiny dot Dr. Merrifield had pointed out, my body released any last tension it was holding on to. Jacob wasn’t dying from a gunshot that I had caused, and I would make a full recovery. And now, now we were having a baby together.

Suddenly, my life felt complete.

“Is everything okay with it?” Jacob asked, directing his question at Dr. Merrifield.

“I can’t see anything to suggest otherwise, Mr. Du Pont. We’ll keep a close eye on Charlotte and the baby throughout her pregnancy, but I don’t have any concerns right now.” She smiled kindly at us both before standing and wiping the gel off my stomach. “Congratulations. I’ll give you two a minute.”

She left the room, but I barely acknowledged her departure, too focused on the screen. Jacob returned to his seat, wrapping both hands around my one good hand. “We’re going to be parents, Angel.”

Reluctantly pulling my gaze away from the screen, I smiled at him. “I never thought I’d feel like this.”

“Like what?”

“Like I love our baby before he’s even here.”

Jacob’s brows lifted. “He?”

I chuckled. “I don’t know, but it feels like a boy.”

He kissed my knuckles. “Are you really happy about it? I know you said you didn’t want children yet. I thought you’d be angry.”

“I didn’t think I wanted children yet either.” I glanced back at the screen, staring at the little dot. “But I’m happy, Jacob.”

His eyes closed as a relieved smile pulled at his lips. He kissed my hand again before opening his eyes. “I’ve been doing some thinking these past few days.”