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I swallowed over the lump in my throat when Sarah reached her hand out to me.
“Rhett,” she whispered.
“Shh, relax. Just rest.” Knowing she needed to stay calm, I grasped her hand in mine.
My gaze met Bella’s tortured expression as I glanced over my shoulder.
Could I do this to her? Bring her into my issues, my drama? I had let her down so many times already. What if I couldn’t be there for her and Brendan because I had to dedicate my time and attention to a new baby?
Chapter Fourteen
Rhett
My forearms restedon my knees while I stared helplessly at the floor. This was the exact position I had while waiting at the hospital when Bella was giving birth. I felt utterly and completely useless that day as well.
When Sarah first arrived in the ER, the nurses and doctors assured us they were doing everything they could to stop the bleeding and protect the baby. But now we were waiting for the doctor to come speak with us. Sarah looked awful. The cut above her swollen eye required stitches, but at least her split lip finally stopped bleeding. The doctor performed a reduction on her elbow, but they couldn’t do much for her bruised ribs. I wasn’t even sure what internal damage the blows to her lower abdomen had done.
“Ms. Richardson?” A tall older man stepped into the small room.
“Yes,” Sarah quickly answered. I thought she might have fallen asleep until her eyes opened.
“I’m Dr. Jones.” He directed his attention to me. “Would you like to step out while I speak with my patient?”
“No!” Sarah grabbed my forearm. “Please don’t leave.”
“No problem. He can stay if you’d like.” The doctor nodded and began speaking as he glanced at the clipboard he was holding in his hands. “We were able to stop the bleeding. Your blood work and sonogram show a healthy sixteen-week fetus.”
I froze, and my stomach flipped before my eyes whipped to Sarah. Sixteen weeks was too far along for the baby to be mine. Relief and disappointment flooded me as I sank back into my chair. This day had been a rollercoaster of shit, and I had no clue where to start with dealing with any of it.
The doctor paused to look further at the information on his clipboard as Sarah shot me back a wide-eyed, desperate look. “We obviously need to keep you and monitor the situation. Things can change at any minute, but for now, the bleeding has stopped and baby looks healthy.”
I realized I was fuming, but I couldn’t say I was surprised. Part of me had known the baby wasn’t mine. Maybe Kyle was right; could I have been so desperate to fix the mistakes I made with Bella that I projected it on the situation with Sarah?
Fucking idiot.
The doctor and Sarah exchanged a few more questions and answers before the doctor left the room.
“Sarah…” I began, knowing that I needed to be gentle with her, but also knowing that I needed the truth.
“I’m sorry. I think I was in denial; I couldn’t handle the thought of Drew being a father to my child. I… I just wanted so badly for it to be yours.” She shifted her gaze away from me.
“You got away and had a restraining order. But then at the restaurant in January, you decide to hell with it? Just throw it away?”
Her eyes found mine again. “Bella told you?”
“Yeah. Today, on the way over to your apartment.”
“The best way to handle Drew is not to fight him. If I give him what he wants, he doesn’t usually hurt me.” She stared down at the hospital blanket, picking at a loose thread. “He would have forcefully taken what he wanted from one of us or exploded and hurt us both. I thought it was best to just give it to him willingly.”
“Sarah—” I wasn’t sure what to say, feeling guilty that I’d judged her so harshly so many times before. “He could have killed you tonight.”
She whipped her head back up and glared at me. “So what? I should have let him hurt Bella?”
I ran a hand down my face. “No, that’s not what I meant. You could have gotten help. Or called the police. Or I don’t know, something. But, knowing what you did, in part, was to save Bella, I’ll admit I’m a little less angry about the whole thing.”
Sarah shrugged before giving me a half smile. “It’s always been her, huh?”
“Things between us are complicated.” I sighed. “We have a lot of shit we would need to work through.”
