Maxie was dizzy and her head hurt, but there was no better sight than Lucas walking in. She’d been asking for him for the past hour, but they’d insisted on checking her for injuries and making sure the baby was okay. She’d have been happier if Lucas had been here the entire time. But at least he was here now.
He strode over and clasped her hand, but it wasn’t enough. The next thing she knew, his arms were wrapped solidly around her, holding her tight, and the tears she’d been holding back since Bernardi had approached her fell freely.
“I’m sorry,” she said, sniffling against his shirt.
“For what?” He pulled back and met her gaze, all the worry he’d been through in his expression, all the love he felt for her in his eyes.
She swallowed hard. “For how I’ve acted lately.”
A corner of his mouth kicked up in a half smile. “We’ll get to that.”
He brushed her hair off her face, studying her intently. “Are you really okay?”
She nodded, regretting it immediately. The pain seared through her skull. “Just a bad headache.”
“Are you up to telling me what happened?”
She wasn’t ready to tell him about the baby. Not until this mess with Keith was out and behind them. “Bernardi walked up to me on the street, grabbed my arm, and said I was coming with him. That the cops in the Caymans got a decoy he sent instead of going himself because he suspected a trap. I started walking with him, but the minute I saw the car, all the TV talk shows I’ve seen telling you not to get into a vehicle and go to a second location with a kidnapper came back to me. I knew I’d risk anything to stay where I was.”
“Smart girl,” he murmured.
She shrugged, trying not to remember the abject fear and just relay the story. “I let myself go limp and fell to the ground, lying down flat. He was so angry. He tried to yank me up, and when I wouldn’t go, he slapped me. That’s when my head hit the concrete.”
A low growl escaped Lucas’ throat. “Are you okay?”
“They’re watching me for a concussion.”
He pulled in a deep breath. “What happened next?”
“Next thing I knew, someone tackled him, throwing him off me. His gun fell near me, I grabbed it…”
His entire body trembled. “Jesus. And I thought there was nothing worse than getting the phone call from Gold telling me they’d gotten the wrong guy. I tried to reach you. I kept dialing. Eventually I called Nick, who said you were at a doctor’s appointment,” Lucas said, his gaze narrowing, as if that piece of information had been lost in his panic and he was just now remembering it.
Her face flushed with heat. “Right. About that…”
He pushed himself onto the edge of the bed, scooting in beside her. “You don’t have to report your every move to me, but—”
She drew a deep breath. “It’s all tied to how I’ve been acting lately.”
She drew nervous circles on the hospital blanket. “It turns out I’m pregnant.” She paused to let that piece of information sink in.
He blinked. “Pregnant.”
“Yep.”
“As in having a baby. My baby.”
She caught herself before nodding. “Yes. And I didn’t handle the news well at all. After everything I went through last time, I panicked. I couldn’t imagine living every day of the next nine months wondering when something was going to go wrong. I was petrified of losing the baby, of the pain, the depression, the hurt, the loss.” Tears were flowing freely now.
He brushed them away with his thumb, looking dazed himself. “Are you telling me you were at the doctor to… end the pregnancy?” he asked, the words sounding torn from his throat.
“No! No. I never once considered that possibility.”
The tension eased from his face, and his entire body fell lax in relief.
“It’s odd, actually. I never considered anything. It’s like I went numb to everything around me. I could only focus on what I couldn’t handle, and I felt like I was slipping back into the black hole that consumed me in those early days.”
“So where were you today?”