T-Bone - L. Wilder Page 0,79
day was coming. No, I’d known it for just over four months—since the day Jack finally convinced me to go to the doctor. I’d been feeling so bad. I was still having trouble sleeping and eating, and when I’d fainted at work, Jack had had enough. Scared that something was terribly wrong, he put me in his car and drove me straight to Convenient Care.
Even then, I thought it was just stress and the fact that I was worrying over the upcoming meal presentation with Boucher and Bisset, but that quickly changed the second the nurse asked me the date of my last period. At that moment, it hit me. I hadn’t had a period in months—four to be exact. I don’t know how I could’ve been so stupid to let something like that slip my mind. I guess it just never dawned on me that I could be pregnant. It wasn’t like Beckett and I hadn’t been careful. We had, but, apparently, not careful enough. I motioned my hand over to the counter. “My phone is in my purse.”
“Okay.” The little blonde nurse hurried over to grab it, then pulled out my cell. “Do you want to make the call or should I do it?”
“I think you should do it—if you don’t mind.”
“Sure, sweetie. Whatever you want.” She looked down at the screen and asked, “Who is it that I’m calling?”
“My brother … Clay.”
As she dialed his number, I clamped my eyes shut and winced like I was waiting for a bomb to explode. It didn’t have to be like this. I could’ve told them. It wasn’t like I didn’t have the opportunity. While he’d done his best to respect my wishes about giving me space, he’d still stop by the restaurant or come by the house from time to time to check in. I’d always made sure to have on my coat or my work apron whenever I saw him to conceal my growing belly. At first, I just wanted the time to figure things out. I needed to wrap my head around the fact that I was going to be a mother. I was a wreck. I had a new job, a good relationship with a man that I ruined by pushing him away, and I just didn’t know how to fix it. Instead of simply going to Beckett and explaining the situation, I made it all worse by keeping it a secret.
Looking back, I realized now how stupid it all was. Clay and Beckett were good men, and I knew in my heart that they must’ve had a legitimate reason to go after those guys like they did. Maybe it was the fear of admitting I was wrong to push them away or maybe it was the fact that I was afraid they wouldn’t forgive me for doing it. Either way, I doubted they’d ever trust me again. I just prayed that, in time, they’d both find a way to forgive me.
I held my breath as I listened to the nurse say, “Hello, this is Jessica Tandy at Memorial Hospital. Is this Clay Hanson?”
I could hear my brother on the other end of the call say, “Yeah, this is he.”
“Well, I’m calling about your sister, Alyssa. She wanted me to let you know that she’ll be going into emergency surgery here in the next hour or so. The baby is showing signs of distress, and the doctors don’t want to take any chances—”
“Wait ... Baby? Emergency surgery? What the hell are you talking about?” he roared.
“I know this must come as a shock, Mr. Hanson, but it’s important for you to remain calm. Your sister’s life and—”
“I want to know what the hell is going on!”
“I’ll explain everything when you get here. We’re in room five-oh-three.” Before Clay could say anything more, Jessica said, “I’ll see you soon, Mr. Hanson.”
She hung up the phone, and in a matter of seconds, my phone started to ring. Knowing it was Clay, I extended my hand and said, “I’ll take that.”
I quickly declined the call and put my phone on silent. Jessica looked over at me with her brows furrowed. “I take it that he didn’t know you were pregnant?”
“No, he didn’t.”
“And the father?”
“No, he doesn’t know either.” I let out a deep sigh. “I’ve really made a mess of things.”
“Well, you don’t need to be worrying about that now. You just focus on you and that sweet baby of yours, and everything else will work out.”
“You sound pretty