her eyes. What could she say? He’d hurt her? That didn’t begin to explain the devastation. Gabe had ripped her heart out. He’d left her here alone, maybe losing her babies alone. These hours had been the worst of her life, this fear the worst she’d ever known. How could he have abandoned her? How could he have left her to face it alone?
Nic told her about the tension-filled drive to Gunnison, and Sarah said, “You hit an elk? And slid off the road? Oh, Nic. You’re lucky you weren’t killed!”
“I know it scared him. I know he has ghosts riding his shoulder. But that’s no excuse for this!”
“No excuse for what?” Sage asked as she and Celeste entered the cubicle. “What has Gabe done?”
“He left me. He basically kicked me out at the ER door to miscarry our babies all by myself.”
Sage’s eyes flew to the monitors. “You didn’t lose the babies.”
“No, thank God,” Nic said, blinking back angry tears. “But Gabe didn’t know that when he abandoned me here.”
“He left you?” Celeste clarified, her brow furrowing in concern.
Nic nodded. “I thought … we both thought … that I was losing the babies. I’d had a backache and a general sense that something was wrong. Then I started feeling contractions, and I called Dr. Marshall and she told me to come in. CareFlight couldn’t come, so he drove me. He signed the admission papers, then he left. Didn’t say good-bye or anything. He just left.”
Celeste clucked her tongue. “Oh, Gabe.”
“We didn’t know if I was in labor or not. If the babies were in danger or not. He left me to face it alone.”
“I can’t believe he’d do that,” Sage murmured, gazing at her with what Nic could only interpret to be pity. That made it even worse.
“That’s exactly what he did. At first I thought it was taking an exceptionally long time to fill out paperwork. Eventually I asked the nurse to go find him. When she returned from the parking lot with the news that the Jeep was nowhere in sight …” Nic closed her eyes. “I realized he’d run out on me. I swear it hurt worse than walking in on Greg and his lover in our bed.”
Sarah folded her arms and tapped her toes. “That’s unforgivable, Nic. Totally unforgivable.”
Celeste sighed heavily and shook her head. “I do believe that men can be the dumbest of God’s creatures.”
Sage took hold of Nic’s hand. “But you’re okay? The three of you are all right?”
Again Nic nodded, swallowing against the lump of emotion in her throat. “She’s going to keep us here and monitor us until noon just as a precaution, and after that …”
“Bed rest?” Sarah asked.
“Maybe. We discussed it. I guess the newest studies show it’s often unnecessary. That said, I’d rather be safe than sorry. That’s why …” Nic paused and licked her lips.
“I’m not going back to Eternity Springs. I’ve decided to go to Denver for the duration of the pregnancy, or at least until we’ve passed the magic twenty-eight-week mark. Dr. Marshall is setting me up with a perinatologist there, and she says they have a great newborn intensive care facility in Aurora.”
Sage nodded. “The Children’s Hospital has a state-of-the-art NICU.”
“You shouldn’t let that sorry dog run you out of town,” Sarah snapped. “Eternity Springs is your home.”
Nic lifted her chin. “I’m not running anywhere. I’m protecting my babies. After this, I’m a little gun-shy about trusting their lives to CareFlight.” Smiling at Celeste, she added, “I’m going to hate missing the grand opening.”
“Well, there is a good chance you won’t.” Celeste smiled at the ER nurse who brought her a chair, then said, “Zach Turner called while we were on our way here. There’s been a mud and rock slide on the mountain behind Angel’s Rest. It’s done a substantial amount of damage to the new buildings in back. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but our ahead-of-schedule status just took a knockout punch, I’m afraid. I’m going to reschedule the grand opening for around Labor Day.”
“Labor Day.” Nic gave a bittersweet smile. “Dr. Marshall said I should shoot for that as my red-letter day. If I can carry the babies that long, they won’t be considered premature.”
“Cool.” Sarah gave her a thumbs-up. “We’ll plan a ribbon cutting and a cord cutting on the same day.”
Celeste patted Nic’s leg and said, “What can we do to help, dear? Do you want me to talk to Gabe?”