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Doc had hurried on as if she’d misunderstood him, repeatedly reassuring her that the baby had survived the attack and fall down the stairs. At the time, she’d nodded, but still hadn’t been completely convinced that she deserved this baby.
Now, with Quinn holding her hand, more than anything, she wanted to prove to herself, to her baby, that shewasworthy. By some miracle, she’d been given a second chance.They’dbeen given a second chance.
She glanced at the rolling table next to her bed, at the black-and-white sonogram printout. Her eyes misted. Just a little fuzzy blob the size of a blueberry. But it was the most perfect little blueberry.
Her baby shouldnothave survived the trauma, nor the blood loss she’d endured. But it had. And she was going to love her child above everything else. Every day, she was going to prove that she was worthy of being its mother.
“I’m okay,” she said, swallowing past the lump in her throat. “I was so scared, Quinn.”
In a flash, he was on the bed next to her, his arms a soft cocoon. Her head tucked into that perfect spot between his neck and shoulder. She inhaled deeply. His familiar woodsy soap calmed her.
Minutes passed as she simply lay in his arms, taking comfort in his strength and the quiet words of reassurance he whispered in her ear. There was something about this man that settled her, made everything right.
A knock at the door interrupted the quiet.
Joe entered and stood at the foot of her bed, his smile not reaching his gloomy blue eyes. “Hey, doll. How are you?”
“I’ve been better.” She snuggled deeper into Quinn’s embrace. “The doctors say we’ll be fine, and your dad has been great at explaining all the technical stuff.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Truly.” He sat in Quinn’s vacated seat. “Alex, I know this is shitty timing, but if you’re feeling up to it, I’d like to talk to you about what happened.”
She hesitated.
Quinn pressed his lips to the top of her head. “I’m right here, sweetheart. I’m not going anywhere.”
She nodded at Joe. “Who was that guy?”
“We’ll get to that. Let’s go through what happened first.”
She shifted, wincing as a sharp pain shot up her side.
Quinn tensed. “Are you okay? Do you need the doctor?”
“No.” She slowly exhaled. “I’m fine, Quinn. Just no sudden movements.” With another breath, she turned her attention back to Joe. “What do you want to know?”
He set his phone on the rolling table and hit record. “Why don’t you start from the beginning? When you and Roxie left the party.”
“Okay. I caught a ride home with her. We said our goodbyes in the driveway.” She shrugged. “Roxie headed toward her place, and I went to mine.”
“Did you use the front door or back?”
“Front. Why?”
He frowned. “The back door was open.”
“Oh.” She looked down at her hands. “I didn’t check the back door when I got home. I just threw my stuff on the entry table and went upstairs. I guess I should have—”
“It’s not your fault, sweetheart,” Quinn interrupted.
“He’s right,” Joe said. “Go on.”
“That’s pretty much it. I got ready for bed and crashed. I’d been asleep for about an hour when something woke me up. A noise of some sort. I wasn’t sure what. Then it happened again, and I think it was the stairs creaking.”
Joe rubbed his temples. “Second from the bottom.”
“And fourth from the top,” Quinn added.
“Those two steps have creaked since we were little kids,” Joe explained to Alex. “As we got older, avoiding them became habit so we wouldn’t get caught sneaking in and out. Dad’s been meaning to get it fixed...” He met her gaze. “Good thing he didn’t.”
