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CHAPTER TEN
The mournful wail of a siren reached Ashley’s ears and brought her awake. At first she thought it was farther away, until she opened her eyes and discovered she was riding inside an ambulance with a male paramedic leaning over her, taking her vital signs.
Her head hurt and she had low back pain with a kind of dragging sensation in her pelvis. All of a sudden she remembered everything.
“Cord!” she screamed and tried to move, but her head and neck were held in some kind of brace and the attendant cautioned her to lie still.
“I’m right here, darling,” came the deep voice of her beloved husband who she could now tell was crouched near her feet.
Hot tears gushed from her eyes. “Are you all right? Sheila didn’t hurt you? I thought she had a w-weapon of some kind.”
“I’m fine,” he said in a ragged whisper. “Don’t worry about me. Sheila has gone out of our lives. All that is important is you and the baby.”
The mention of their unborn son reminded her that the pain in her back was starting to come all the way around to the front, and the pressure was building.
“Have I hurt the baby?” she cried out in panic.
The attendant remained calm. “You hit your head pretty hard, but fortunately for you, your husband caught you before you landed on that marble floor, so no bones are broken. Since you’ve come back to full consciousness and your vital signs are strong, the only thing serious to report is that the fall broke your water which means your baby is going to be born a little sooner than you expected.”
“Oh, no!”
“You’re going to be fine, darling,” Cord rushed to reassure her. “Dr. Noble has been notified.”
She couldn’t stop the tears. “I—I was hoping he’d be born on your birthday. I wanted him to be my present to you.”
“Have you forgotten how much I love early birthday presents?” he said huskily: “Especially this one.”
“But we’re not ready for him yet! I haven’t bought any diapers or little shirts or sleepers or—”
“With one phone call I can have all those things delivered to the house. The only thing that matters is you.”
“No. It’s not!” Ashley half-sobbed, uncaring that the attendant was privy to their nightmare. “I’ve been horrible to you, Cord. How can you ever forgive me for not believing you?” Her voice rang out. “When Sheila came into the bedroom this morning and started baiting me again, I suddenly realized that she had lied, about everything!
“I’m such a wretched creature. You don’t deserve to be married to a horrible wife like me.”
“You’re the only wife I want or need,” he answered emotionally.
“I don’t see how. I’ve been an ugly person on the inside for so long. Even Greg was shocked at how bitter and hard I had become. I hated myself for it, but—” Her voice trailed off as she began crying in earnest.
“Hush, darling. Sheila made victims out of everyone, starting with Dad. What we can be grateful for are true friends like Greg who encouraged us to never give up on our marriage.”
“I know,” Ashley moaned. “And Sister Bernice. They could both see what I couldn’t see.”
“What we couldn’t see, Ashley,” he amended with a residue of pain in his voice. “Sheila had even poor Dan hanging by a thread, slowly poisoning our relationship until he stopped believing in himself and me. But that’s all over.
“Dan is going to run the company from here on out. As for you, Mrs. McKnight, we’re going to have our baby and be a real family. Forever.” His voice shook.
“Oh, Cord—” Those words brought her so much joy, she didn’t stop sobbing until she felt the ambulance come to a stop.
“We’re here, darling. It won’t be long now.”
“Don’t leave me, Cord.”
“As if I would.”
The next few minutes went by in a blur as Ashley was taken to emergency to be examined. She had gone into labor but it was progressing slowly. Eventually they placed her on a gurney and sent her to the maternity floor. Cord held her hand throughout the journey, his midnight-blue eyes never leaving hers.
“Feel like déjà vu?” he whispered when they put her in one of the labor rooms.
