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When I returned to the hospital, Nina was still unconscious, and Ryan gave me a full report on what the doctors said. “She’s going to be fine,” Ryan said as he touched my shoulder.
His words offered a little bit of comfort, but they didn’t take the fear tunneling through me away. “I just need her to be fine.”
“She will be. Right now, I need coffee, so I’ll be right back.”
Ryan adjusted the cap on his head, then he walked out of the room. I turned to Nina’s bed and stared at her for a long time. My heart was heavy, and I wished I had protected her better.
I was sloppy.I shouldn’t have let her return to New York so soon. I should have asked her to stay by my side so I could protect her.
None of that mattered now. All I could hope for was Nina’s forgiveness.
I sat by her bedside and brushed a hand over the side of her face to get rid of the dangling bits of hair there. She looked so beautiful even in her sleep, and I longed to take her in my arms and cuddle her close.
“This is all my fault,” I said in a hoarse voice as I struggled to come to terms with what had happened. I took Nina to Jeddah and put her on the sheikh’s radar.
She would have been safe here in New York without me in her life, and now that this had happened, I didn’t think I would ever forgive myself for it.
Especially if she never recovers.
Ryan stayed away for a while, and I stayed by Nina’s side because I couldn’t imagine being anywhere else. This woman was the love of my life, and I realized how deep my feelings ran when I nearly lost her.
I just need her back.
When she stirred on the bed and murmured words I didn’t understand in her sleep, watching her only made me want to cuddle closer to her.
“It’s all right. I’m right here with you.”
I didn’t care for anything else, so I leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead before I smoothed a hand over it.
The rest of the night I stayed by Nina’s side, and the next morning when the doctors came into the room, I got on my feet and let them do their thing.
“Luckily the bullet didn’t touch any major organs, and we were able to take it out. She should recover quickly too and be out of here in no time. The baby is safe, so we need to make sure she gets a lot of rest.”
“The baby?” I stammered, shocked and reeling with the news at the same time. “I … is she pregnant?”
“Yes,” the doctor answered. “Three weeks pregnant, sir. Congratulations.” The doctor smiled at me again before he walked out of the room and let me have my time with Nina.
I held my breath for a long time and tried to slow down the race of my pulse and my pounding heart.
She’s pregnant?
Relief flooded me even though I didn’t say anything. I simply nodded, then sighed and looked at Nina on the bed again. Ryan came back to the hospital later that day, and he stayed with Nina while I met up with Jim and the others from the CIA.
The meeting was brief. The sheikh was in custody now and was being transported to a CIA base where they would take the investigations to the next stage. My job with the task force, for now, was done. The entire time I thought of Nina, and the baby … my baby. I couldn’t believe it, and yet at the same time, I couldn’t control the burst of joy that shoved through me.
I knew I still had to ask for Nina’s forgiveness, and I intended to make sure I proved to her that I was in love with her and I always had been.
“How’s the lady?” Jim asked when he walked me out of the base and stopped in front of the building we used as a cover-up-operations base.
“She’s all right. The doctor is positive she will recover quickly since the bullet didn’t touch any major organs.”
“That was a real close one,” Jim said. “The chief wants to know why we had a civilian onsite, but I covered up for you. I didn’t need to get into the details of why you took her to Jeddah in the first place.”
“I needed to fool the sheikh … I was thinking—“
“You did what you had to do,” Jim interrupted. “And you pulled it off. Let’s just be grateful that things aren’t worse than they are at the moment.”
Jim patted my shoulder, and I sighed. “Thanks, Jim. This means a lot to me.”
