Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 49294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49294 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 246(@200wpm)___ 197(@250wpm)___ 164(@300wpm)
“I’m coming, but don’t scare me like this ever again, you hear me?” I try to be stern, but I’m quickly falling to pieces. I’m at his bedside, he’s cupping my cheeks, and his lips are on mine. I close my eyes, breathe in his presence, and finally start to calm down from the past five or so minutes.
“I hear you, gorgeous. Loud and clear. Though it was an accident, so I can’t guarantee it won’t happen again,” he says once we’re done with our kiss. I’d have liked for it to last longer than it did, but there’s a knock on the door, and we are in a hospital. I’m thinking a hot and heavy make-out session may be frowned upon.
“All good?” The door opens, and Luke peeks his head in.
“We are now,” Asher grumbles.
“Okay, before they take you upstairs for imaging, I figured I’d go over the results of Lennon’s bloodwork. I’d have done this a lot sooner, except a certain person didn’t get her labs done until earlier this morning.” Asher looks from Luke to me, cocks that eyebrow in his way, asking a question that I’m not answering. It took me a minute to build up the courage to get shit taken care of. Sue me. I shrug my shoulders at him. Asher gives me a slight nod and an uplift of his lip. He gets it. He sees me, he hears me, and he’s here for me.
“Yeah, yeah. Out with it.” Asher holds my hand, squeezing it gently, and my stomach, which was already sinking to my feet, plummets even further. I’ve always kept my head up, even with the saying ‘When it rains, it pours’ running through my mind. I made lemonade out of lemons, margaritas out of limes, so on and so forth. Yet right now, this feels entirely too ominous.
“Just as I expected, everything looks normal. I’d hazard a guess that the other party was the issue,” Luke says. I stay silent, processing what I’ve been told all along, what I thought in the back of my mind, and what I’m slowly allowing myself to believe. Yes, I have small blips along the way, but who wouldn’t after having lies battered into your head by the person who is supposed to love you?
“Lennon, it’s okay. Come here,” Asher says. I move, getting as close to him as possible without climbing on top of him and melding with his skin. My breathing finally returns to normal. Our foreheads meet, and he gives me the words I so desperately need. “We’re gonna have a baby. Mark my words, gorgeous. If not, there are other options. Anything you want, I’m going to give it to you.”
“I would like to see how things go for the next few weeks, still chart like you have been, and should things not progress, we’ll do an ultrasound. I’m hopeful that won’t be necessary, though,” Luke says, making our moment that much better with his news.
“Thanks, Luke,” Asher says, since words are hard for me to form. I nod instead.
“Anytime,” he replies just as the sound of knuckles on a door sound through the room.
“Knock, knock. Are you ready for your MRI?” I hear someone in the background, but right now, I’m in a clench with my man, and nothing could interrupt us from celebrating.
“They’re going to need a couple of more minutes,” Luke says, then walks out the door with the nurse.
22
ASHER
“If you wanted our attention, you didn’t have to get hurt.” I’m sitting on the couch when everyone and their brother walk through the door. It’s Matthew who makes the statement, leading in front of everyone else. I shake my head and start to get up from my place on the couch.
“Sit down, Asher Fontaine,” Lennon scolds from near the front door, waiting for the last person to clear the foyer. This is more or less a precaution, but anytime something happens while you’re on a call where a firefighter gets injured, you’re automatically taken to the hospital.
“Not my idea of fun either. Who rallied the troops?” I ask Matthew. He’s still in a business suit.
“That’d be me,” Luke says from his place near Briar, who’s been here all day, along with my sister. It’s the middle of the week, and Kennedy kept my niece out of school. Word traveled fast about me being in the hospital. Luckily, the only people who came to see me there were my parents, Luke, and, of course, Lennon. Luke happened to be doing rounds, saw me coming in on a stretcher, came over to talk to me, and I asked him to bring Lennon to me. He did, she made the call to my parents, and because Kenny was working and Briar was in school, we opted to let them know what happened once I was home.