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“Obviously not. You’ve hurt your ankle.” He answers his own question.
“I’m fine. Go away and let me get my bearings,” I say. Not that I think these words will do me any good. He doesn’t appear to be going anywhere. Before he can say anything, a nurse comes around the corner and spots us.
“Is everything all right?” the man asks.
“No. Ms. Truman hurt her ankle. Can you get a wheelchair?” Tyler asks before I’m able to tell the man I’m fine.
“It’s not that bad,” I say, but the nurse is already turning to do Tyler’s bidding. Tyler has that kind of effect on people.
“You’re obviously not fine, Olivia. We’ll get your foot looked at and then you’ll tell me what you mean about a baby,” Tyler demands.
The nurse is back in a flash, and before I can protest further, Tyler’s lifting me from the floor and depositing me in the contraption. He walks next to me while the nurse pushes me straight back to an examining room like the one I recently vacated.
Tyler’s silent as the nurse disappears, assuring us the doctor will be right with us. I refuse to look at him. If I pretend he isn’t here, maybe the man will disappear, giving me time to think. That doesn’t happen.
A knock sounds on the door, and the same doctor who examined me fifteen minutes ago walks in. I hold my breath, hoping he isn’t going to say something to make this situation worse.
“Ms. Truman, the nurse said you had a fall in the hallway,” Dr. Ortega says, taking a seat in front of me.
“Yes, I’m sure it’s nothing, but my ankle’s a little tender,” I tell him.
He feels my ankle, making me cringe. “It feels like a sprain, but we’ll order an X-ray to make sure. I’ll do an ultrasound to make sure the baby wasn’t injured. They’re pretty protected inside you, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.” My luck isn’t with me today.
“Yes, an ultrasound will be good,” Tyler says. There’s no inflection in his voice to give me any clue to what he’s thinking. And I’m too scared to look at him to try to read the expression in his eyes.
“Are you the father?” the doctor asks.
“No,” Tyler says. “We ran into each other in the hallway.” My heart shatters at his words. He’s acting as if we’re strangers.
“I’m sorry about that. We’re going to examine her, so you can wait outside,” Dr. Ortega tells him. I still don’t look at Tyler. If I do, I’m going to fall apart.
“I’ll be outside,” Tyler says.
I don’t look up until I hear the door close in the most final sounding click I’ve ever heard. Why would he bother waiting? He doesn’t think the baby’s his, and he obviously decided our relationship’s over.
“Lie back and we’ll get started.”
Time stops having meaning while my stomach and ankle are checked. My foot will heal fine. They wrap it, and I’m able to slowly move despite the minor sprain. But the fall — at least that’s what the doctor thinks — has caused my blood pressure to spike to dangerously high levels, so he wants to keep me in the hospital overnight.
I try to argue, but when he brings up the safety of my baby, I give in. As much as I want to go home and curl up with some ice cream and a lot of tears, I’m not about to put my baby’s life in danger.
The upside of being admitted is that it takes a while to get me moved to a room. I’m hoping against all hope that Tyler will grow impatient and leave. That will give me time to pull myself together. Because our next words to each other aren’t going to be pleasant.
ChapterThirty-Four
Tyler
I pace the waiting area as I try to figure out what in the world is going on. When I called Piper to find out where Olivia was and she told me she was at the clinic at the hospital, I panicked, and immediately searched for her. What I just found out isn’t what I expected.
She’s pregnant. This thought stumbles around inside my mind. Is it my child? I don’t take her as a cheater, but still... I’m always careful, always use protection. Except that one night. We used nothing at the park.
If she’s pregnant, why didn’t she correct me in the hospital corridor? The only explanation I can come up with is that she knows it isn’t my child, knows a DNA test will prove this. Otherwise, wouldn’t she tell me the moment she knew, wouldn’t she be trying to get me to marry her and get a nice healthy sum of money? That’s the only thing that makes sense.
So I should be thanking my lucky stars. This should end my obsession with this woman. I’m too hooked on her, too infatuated. Since she’s pregnant, she hasn’t been faithful to me.
But pregnant by who? And when would she have had the time? None of that matters, though. A baby changes everything. It’s over between us. So why am I still pacing in the waiting room like an expectant father? Why haven’t I left yet? Because Olivia still holds power over me. Maybe I want to hear it from her lips that the child she carries isn’t mine. That has to be what it is.
When too much time passes, I discover she’s being admitted to the hospital overnight. I try to tell myself it isn’t worry I’m feeling; it’s simply a case of loose ends. I wait longer.
