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“Ky, you and Ryan stay here and take care of things,” Dad demanded, not looking away from my face. He was trying to silently comfort me, but I wasn’t sure if that was what I needed or not.
“On it,” Uncle Ky replied, and I turned to look at him where he was standing in the doorway to the hallway, which led to the bedrooms. He smiled sadly, his gaze tracking over my body, most likely taking stock of the injuries he could see. The long T-shirt I’d worn to bed came to just above my knees at the front and past my knees at the back. His eyes widened as his gaze moved to my face and then back to my stomach several times.
“What the fuck is that?”
“What?” Uncle Jord asked, and nerves rolled throughout my entire body. It wasn’t enough that they’d come here and found two dead bodies, but they also had found me very pregnant. Something which none of them knew about. Something I’d been planning to tell them once I’d come home, not that you could have missed it.
“That.” Uncle Ky pointed at me, specifically my stomach, and Uncle Jord stared at me, seeing what Uncle Ky had.
“Holy shit.”
“What?” Dad ground out, turning his head to look back at them, but neither of them answered, so he turned back to face me, his brow raised.
I may have been tired and in pain, and altogether exhausted, but I wasn’t sure how best to tell him he was about to be a grandfather. The thought hadn’t occurred to me once while I’d been waiting for him to come here, but now I had to improvise, so I placed my hand on my stomach and tried to smile as I said, “I’m pregnant.”
Dad stumbled back a step, frowning as h
e glanced down at my stomach, and I swore I heard him gasp. “Fuck.” His chest heaved, and he stared back at my face. The silence stretched while we all stood in the cabin, and I was afraid of what he’d say. Would he ask who the dad was? Was he assuming the dead body in the room was the dad? Was he coming to his own conclusions? Something flashed over his face, and his expression changed instantly. “How hurt are you?”
“I…” I cradled my arm against my chest, not sure how to reply to that. I couldn’t localize one specific pain because I felt like it was all over.
“Jord,” Dad commanded, pushing his shoulders back and not waiting for me to formulate an answer. “Find the nearest hospital.” He stepped toward me, placed his arm around my shoulder, and pulled me with him. “We’ll get you checked out before we go home.” He glanced down at my stomach. “And make sure everything is okay with you and…and…the baby.”
I nodded, not knowing what else to say, but halted when we were a couple of feet from the front door. For the last time, I stared at Curtis’ face and his open eyes, and then with the help of my dad and Uncle Jord, stepped over him.
The front of the cabin was lit up from two SUVs' headlights, and Dad helped me into the back of one of them, then slid in beside me. Everything was moving at lightning speed, but I couldn’t help notice it was only the four of them. Hope had been festering inside of me that Ford was still alive, and I’d somehow been mistaken, but knowing he hadn’t come with them solidified it in my mind for the final time.
I was alone in the world, at least until the baby came.
Dad’s hand reached for mine and held it tightly as Jord whizzed through the small town and toward the city. The silence was deafening, and I could practically hear my dad’s unsaid questions. I knew I’d have to explain to them all what had happened tonight, and why I’d not come home for the last six months. I wasn’t sure where I’d start, but I knew I first had to make sure the baby was okay.
Uncle Jord pulled up outside the emergency room, and Dad helped me out of the SUV and inside. Uncle Jord walked ahead of us, talking to someone at the front desk who looked over at us, nodded, and then waved for us to follow her. We moved single file behind her, first Uncle Jord, then me, with Dad taking up the rear.
She opened up a door to an exam room and waved her arm to indicate we go inside. “Go on in there. I’ll get you some forms to fill in and get a doctor.”
“Thank you,” Dad said, and closed the door behind her. He signaled to the bed in the middle of the room, and I heaved up onto it, cursing at each twinge of pain.
A couple of minutes later, the nurse returned with the paperwork and handed it to me. “Doctor is on her way,” she informed me and moved toward the left side of the room. She opened several cupboard doors and retrieved things from them, and just as I was finishing up the paperwork she’d given me, a doctor walked into the room.
“Hello, I’m Dr. Mortis.” Her hands were pushed into the pockets of the white doctor’s coat she wore, and she glanced at me, then did a double take. “Looks like you’ve been through a war.” I swallowed and kept my mouth closed, scared I’d let something slip. If she was expecting an answer from me, she’d be waiting a while because I had no intention of talking to her unless I absolutely had to. “Let’s take a look at you.” She closed the door and moved toward the nurse as she pulled a pair of latex gloves over her hands. “Can you tell me where it hurts?”
I glanced at Dad, who was standing on the other side of the room next to Uncle Jord. He smiled gently at me and tilted his head, letting me know it was okay, and that was all I’d needed to open my mouth and tell her, “Here.” I pointed at my eye. “And my arm, I think it may be broken.” I paused and then continued, “My throat and stomach hurt too.”
I stared down at my clothing, seeing the dried blood on them, and I wondered what it looked like I’d been doing. Was the doctor making assumptions about the kind of person I was? Was she thinking I was the kind of person who needed escorting in here by two officers of the law because I was a bad person?
“Do you need the clothes?” she asked, and at first, I thought she was talking to me, but then realized she’d directed the question to my dad.
“Yes,” he said, and I wasn’t sure what that meant. I’d killed Curtis, but it had been self-defense, so why did he need my clothes? Were they evidence? What would happen after we left here? My mind was swirling with thoughts that I couldn’t get under control. I’d never been in any kind of situation like this, and I was putting all my trust into my dad, but I couldn’t deny the little voice in the back of my head that told me I still wasn’t safe. I’d been fooled for so long, and I wouldn’t allow myself to live my life through rose-tinted glasses any longer.
The nurse handed me a hospital gown and told me, “I’ll find you something else to leave in.”
I took the gown from her with a whispered, “Thank you,” and swallowed, wishing I hadn’t because my throat was in agony.
“Do you need help?” she asked, and although I wanted to tell her I was fine, the reality was I did need help. I was aching all over, and I wasn’t sure I had the energy to even lift my arms.
Dad and Uncle Jord turned around, and the nurse helped me out of the long T-shirt I’d been wearing and into the gown. The doctor checked my face and passed me an ice pack to press against my cheek, then prodded at my wrist.
“This needs x-raying,” she commented, causing my dad to turn around at the exact time she lifted up part of the gown and exposed my stomach. His nostrils flared at the sight of it, and when I looked down, I could see purple bruising starting to take effect. The doctor didn’t seem fazed by it, and I wondered if she was used to seeing this kind of thing. She grabbed a small machine and placed a wand-shaped piece of plastic on my stomach.
