Chapter 36
Carly felt a throbbing pain in her cheek and the back of her head as she started to hear voices trying to make their way through her foggy brain. She could hear Gage and another man speaking but couldn’t quite make out what they were saying. Just as she heard the other man say something about a sonogram and Gage could stay, the fog started clearing, and she heard herself moan as she tried to open her eyes.
Blinking a couple of times, the most beautiful sight in the world came into view, Gage’s smiling face looking down at her.
“Sweetheart, wake up.” His shining blue eyes connected with hers.
“Keep talking to her. That sometimes helps when they are trying to wake up from all the medication.” Carly heard the other man say.
As she started to look around, she realized she was in the hospital, and everything came rushing back. The picture of Gage and the other woman, Daniel as he grabbed her outside Gage’s house, then carrying her inside the cabin and having her arms and legs shackled to the bed. Carly couldn’t remember anything else and wondered how she ended up in the hospital.
“What happened? And why are you here?” Carly grimaced trying to pull her hand away from Gage’s hand–the picture she’d seen bringing back the raw feelings of betrayal.
“Let me check your eyes then I’ll leave you two to talk,” the man she assumed was a doctor said as he came over to her other side and began shining a light into her eyes. After he was finished and said he would get the nurse to bring her something for pain, he quietly left.
Looking back at Gage, Carly once again tried to pull her hand from the grasp he still held with her heart twisting painfully in her chest.
“Stop. You’re upset, and I want to explain.” Gage squeezed her hand as he sat down in the chair next to her bed.
“Fine, but then I want you to leave,” Carly muttered, feelings of hurt overwhelming her pounding head and the throbbing in her shoulder.
“Carly, I know you saw the damn picture. I was about to call you when Jonathan called to say you were missing. It’s not what you think. The woman in the picture is Mary Beth, and she works for the team. She’s also happily married to one of the players. She’d gone to the restroom and was coming out when someone bumped into her causing her head to snap down to one side. Her earring got tangled up in the lace of her dress, and she couldn’t raise her head. I happened to be going to the men’s room and stopped to help her. What looks like me kissing her is just me simply bending down to untangle her earing from her dress. I didn’t even realize anyone had taken a picture. Whoever took it must have sold it to one of those stupid magazines. I’m so sorry you saw it before I could explain. If you don’t believe me, I can call her, and you can talk to her yourself.” He tentatively touched her hand, and Carly, with relief washing through her body, slid hers back into his open palm without thinking.
“I believe you. So, you weren’t mad at me when I wouldn’t go with you this weekend?” Carly asked, realizing she may have been a little rash in jumping to conclusions.
“Of course not. I understand how important it was for you to have a good evaluation from Dr. Crawford. I could never be mad at you over something that important. However, mad that you could think I would cheat on you, that I am. But we have more important things to talk about.”
Carly smiled as he leaned over to kiss her, but before she could say anything else, a knock came from the door.
“Someone need a sonogram in here?” a cheerful voice called from the open doorway.
With a small knot of worry setting up in the pit of her stomach, she remembered Gage and the doctor mumbling something about a sonogram as she was waking up. But it couldn’t be for her. That’s something they do if you’re pregnant, wasn’t it? she thought as a myriad of emotions swept through her.
“Can you give us a minute?” Gage replied as he got up to close the door while the technician nodded and stepped back.
Coming back, Gage sat down in the chair and took Carly’s trembling hand. “Do you have something to tell me?”
In disbelief, Carly looked up at his shining blue eyes and shook her head. “I’m not pregnant.”
Gage’s shoulders shook as he chuckled and raised her hand up to his lips. “Well, according to Dr. Matthews you are.”
“Are you okay if I am?” Carly asked, secretly thrilled if what he was telling her was true.
“I’m more than okay. I love you, and I can’t think of anything that would make me happier than to have a baby with you,” he answered as Carly’s heart filled with the love shining in his eyes.
“I love you, too,” she whispered back.
***
The next morning, Carly lay in the lumpy hospital bed, smiling despite the throbbing pain in her shoulder as she sat the sweet note from Floyd next to the cute teddy bear holding a small vase of Gerber Daisies on the table next to the bed. The security guard had sent them to apologize for not being more diligent in letting her ex through the gate. Groaning at the twinge in her shoulder, she laid back against the pillow with one hand on her lower abdomen. The sonogram the night before confirmed she was indeed about eight weeks pregnant. She wasn’t sure why she’d missed the signs other than she’d been so wrapped up worrying about Daniel and the situation with Dr. Crawford, but now that she thought about it her period had been a no-show for a couple of months. She’d never seen someone as overjoyed as Gage when he saw the little bean on the screen and heard the heartbeat. He’d told her as an only child he’d always wanted more siblings and didn’t want Jonathan growing up wishing he’d had some, too. She wasn’t too sure how many he was thinking, but they could talk about it later. She was just thrilled he was happy about the one growing inside of her.
At a quiet knock, Carly turned her head from the muted television mounted on the white wall of her hospital room to the door and called, “Come in.”
“How are you feeling this morning?” Sophie said, walking into the room with Carly’s overnight bag and a sack from the donut shop not too far from their house.
“I’m feeling better. My head still hurts a little. There’d better be one of my favorite cinnamon rolls in that bag,” Carly teased, giving Sophie a mock scowl as she dropped the overnight bag in one of the chairs and placed the heavenly smelling sack on the rolling tray near the bed.
“There are two cinnamon rolls and two chocolate donuts in here. I thought you could use the extra calories since you’re eating for two. I’m so happy for you. I can’t wait until the baby gets here. Have you and Gage talked about what you are going to do?” Sophie gushed the same goofy grin on her face from last night when Carly had told her two friends the news. Carly smiled, also remembering the tears of joy as she and Gage told his parents and Jonathan and then finally her mom and dad when they got to the hospital sometime after two in the morning.
“Not yet. Is there any news about Daniel?” Carly asked as she opened the bag and caught the first whiff of the potent cinnamon and sugar aroma wafting up. Her stomach growled as she reached in and grabbed one of the warm rolls and took a big bite. For some strange reason, it seemed her body had decided to skip the dreaded morning sickness that usually accompanied a pregnancy and Carly moaned as the cinnamon and sugar flavors burst on her tongue as she chewed the warm, gooey roll.
“I checked at the nurses’ station, but they said they couldn’t tell anyone except family what his status is,” Sophie answered, taking a seat in the empty chair.
“Oh, well, I’m sure Detective Scott will tell me when he gets here. He’s supposed to come by to take my statement. I hope this doesn’t drag out too long. Gage said Travis told him the district attorney is preparing to prosecute him for kidnapping and may charge him with attempted murder of a police officer which would send him to prison for a while if he is found guilty.” Carly took another bite of the delicious cinnamon roll, hoping it wasn’t going straight to the hips she’d finally lost some weight from.
“How do you feel about that?” Sophie asked as she sat down in the chair next to her bed.
“I’m okay with it. I’ve been afraid of Daniel for so long, and even though I was married to him any love I thought I had for him was long gone after I discovered he was cheating. I’m just sorry he couldn’t let me go and move on. He might have been happy with someone else if he had tried,” Carly mumbled around a mouthful of gooey dough. Sophie shook her head as Carly held out the sack for her to take something if she wanted.
“Well, at least you can stop being afraid. I have a feeling you and Gage are going to be very happy,” Sophie said, smiling as Carly took the last bite of the cinnamon roll and reached into the bag for one of the chocolate donuts. As she sank her teeth into the soft donut, another knock sounded at the open door, and Carly looked up to see a tall, very handsome man in a dark blue uniform stand in the doorway.
“Oh, you must be Detective Scott. Gage told me you’d be stopping by,” Carly said after swallowing the bite of donut in her mouth and wiping her hand on a napkin Sophie handed over.
“At your service, ma’am,” the detective said as he flashed a brilliant smile at Carly before turning his eyes to a wide-eyed Sophie as he strode into the room.
“Mornin’, ma’am,” he said to Sophie, who immediately turned a deep shade of red.
“G—good morning,” Sophie stammered before quickly standing up from her chair. “I’ll see you later, Carly. Nice to meet you, Detective Scott,” she mumbled as she fled the room before Carly could even say goodbye.
This might get interesting, Carly thought as she looked up at the detective who had an amused look on his face as he turned back from the door where Sophie had exited.
“How are you feeling this morning, Ms. Owens?” he asked, taking the chair Sophie had vacated.
“I’m feeling much better, thanks for asking. And thanks for rescuing me,” Carly answered, adjusting the collar of her ill-fitting hospital gown.
“No need for thanks, just doing my job. I’m just glad everything turned out well for you,” the detective responded while taking a small notepad and pen from an inside pocket of his uniform jacket.
“Please call me Carly,” she replied, ignoring the sharp stab of pain in her shoulder as she sat up a little straighter.
“All right, Carly it is, and you can call me Travis. Are you ready to answer some questions?” Travis asked leaning forward with the notepad and pen.
“Sure, but first can you tell me what’s happened to Daniel? He was in surgery last night, but the nurses won’t tell me anything further,” Carly requested, setting the donut and napkin down on top of the rolling table.
“I just checked. Your ex-husband made it through the surgery and is in ICU. I hate to say this, but it doesn’t look good. He had a lot of damage to his internal organs and lost a lot of blood. The surgeon has given him about a twenty percent chance of survival.” Travis answered, scooting the chair closer and clicked the pen open. “Are you ready?”
Carly nodded her head ignoring the small spot of pity she felt for her ex and proceeded to retell everything she could remember about the previous day’s terrifying incident and answered all the questions he had. As she finished answering the last question, Gage walked through the door.
“Travis.”
“Gage.”
Carly smiled as the two men greeted each other from across the room, her heart overflowing at the huge grin on the face of the man she loved.
Travis stood up. “I’ll leave you two alone. I’ll let you know if I need to ask you anything else. Glad to see you feeling better this morning, Carly.”
“Thanks.” Carly smiled as he shook hands with Gage and then exited out the door.
“What’cha got here?” Gage asked, eyeing the sack sitting on the rolling table.
“Oh, just some goodies Sophie brought me,” Carly answered, reaching gingerly for the bag as he sat down in the chair. She giggled as he sniffed the cinnamon and chocolate wafting in the air. He groaned a little as she pulled out her partially-eaten chocolate donut and took a bite. Chewing slowly, Carly peered into the bag, pretending to see if there were any left. Swallowing, she laughed and handed him the bag. “You can have the rest.”
“Are you sure? You are eating for two,” he teased, and he reached for the bag.
“I’m sure. I ate one cinnamon roll and this donut. I’m full,” Carly replied, licking off a bit of chocolate she felt in the corner of her mouth.
After wolfing down the other cinnamon roll and the chocolate donut, Gage helped Carly to the restroom, where she took care of business and then changed into the pajamas Sophie had brought. As he gently helped her back into the bed, he leaned down to give her a tender kiss on the lips.
“Carly, I want to tell you again how thrilled I am about the baby. It caught me by surprise, but this is exactly what I want.” He grinned and kissed her again before sitting down. “Also, I want you to move in with Jonathan and me.”
Carly swallowed, happy he wanted her to move in and only a little disappointed he hadn’t mentioned getting married.
She looked into his beautiful blue eyes. “Are you sure? You were worried about what Jonathan would think of us sleeping together. How will that work?”
“Jonathan’s a big boy. He is fine with you moving in. In fact, I think he was a little relieved when I told him I was going to ask you. He feels guilty he couldn’t protect you. He wants to keep you close like I do. We both love you, Carly,” Gage answered, reaching over to squeeze her hand.
“Well, then, yes, I’ll move in with you and Jonathan. And he shouldn’t feel guilty at all. None of this was his fault.” Carly smiled at Gage, thrilled to be taking the first step in getting the family she always wanted. Maybe eventually they would have the marriage talk, but regardless, she was happy. Who knew she would go from being a divorced woman hiding from her ex-husband to a soon-to-be mom with the man of her dreams?