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carolina
My phone was missing.I patted the sheets around me, looking for it, the movement shifting the heart monitor strapped to my belly. The soft ping ping ping quickly turned to something more menacing as a nurse hurried into the room, looking for the source.
“Sorry, I was looking for my phone and must’ve shifted the monitor.”
“It’s fine, dear.” She smiled comfortingly and stopped at my side, moving the small round device until she found the heartbeat again.
“I don’t think I brought it with me.”
“Hm?”
“My cell phone. I think in all the hubbub, I left it in the bathroom. I wanted to call my boyfriend.” I frowned to myself, that quiet, horrible voice in the back of my head asking if he would even come.
Don’t be stupid, Carolina. Of course, he would.
“If you know his number, we could call him for you.” She looked at the monitor, watching the print-out of the heartbeat before she glanced back at me.
“I don’t …” I laughed awkwardly. “The last phone number I memorized was my childhood home.”
She laughed with me and nodded in understanding before she removed her hands slowly. “There. Just try not to move too much this time.” She said it kindly, but it felt like I was being chastised anyway.
“Is everything okay?” I glanced nervously at the monitor.
“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you anything without the doctor’s approval.”
“Right, of course.” I smiled tightly as she turned to leave, almost through the door when Owen appeared, nearly running her right over.
“Care. Beau called me …” He paused against the door to catch his breath before moving further into the small room, taking my hand in his tightly. “He said you called the ambulance because there was some bleeding?”
My emotions flooded through me, and I couldn’t hold it together as my eyes suddenly brimmed over with tears.
“Hey, hey …” Owen wrapped me up against him as I sobbed into his chest, only vaguely aware of the chaotic beeping we’d set off again. I pulled away, grabbing the round disk, and moved it around until the beeping stopped again and we could hear the heartbeats once more.
“Is that …?”
I nodded, wiping my cheeks as Owen stood and went around to the machine, lifting the paper that was slowly printing out the heartbeats.
“Our babies.” He spoke softly, still marveling at the image before he let it slip from his fingers and turned to look at me. “I’m sorry I left.”
“No, I’m sorry I kept it from you. As soon as I found out, I should have told you.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” He sat on the edge of my bed, his warm hand traveling up my leg in reassuring strokes before making its way back down. “You needed time to process it. I get that. I can’t pretend to know what it would be like to one minute think your shit-head ex was the father of your babies only to find your stunningly handsome boss actually is.” He flashed me a cheesy grin, making me burst out with laughter.
“Yeah, that definitely took me for a loop.”
“And then we started going out, and it all went really fast. I’m sure you were scared to tell me in case it ended this thing between us.”
I nodded my head, letting him talk because it felt like he was in my head. How was he real? Wyatt had never been like this. His feelings always took precedence over mine, and he never tried to understand what I was going through. He just assumed I was wrong.
“I want you to know, no matter what happens, I want to be with you.” No matter what happens suddenly cut like a knife, and another soft sob escaped me.
“What if I—if we lose them?” My hand ran uneasily over my bump, but Owen reached out, stilling it with his.
“If that happens, I won’t lie, I’ll be heartbroken. But it wouldn’t be your fault. And there would be no reason why we couldn’t try again. You said it yourself. You couldn’t make something this perfect and magical with your ex. But we could. We did it once, on the first try. We could do it again. And if we can’t. We’ll adopt. We both want kids, but most importantly, I want kids with you. So, we’ll figure it out. Together.”
“Promise?” Wyatt had left me when I couldn’t give him what he wanted. Who’s to say the same wouldn’t be true of Owen when he realized that a younger woman, someone his age, would be able to?
“I swear, Carolina. There’s no one else for me. It’s you or nothing at all.” He lifted my hand to his mouth, kissing it tenderly before he smiled at me.
“I love you, Owen. I love you with everything I am and everything I want to be.”
“I know, babe, I know.” He shifted toward me, kissing my forehead before he tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. “I’m not going anywhere, not anymore. You’re stuck with me whether you like it or not.”
I laughed, still feeling slightly hollow with our current situation, but I meant every word I’d said.
“Oh, I love it.”
