Chapter Forty-Nine
Sawyer
“And your mom never gave up on me. I love her and will always love her.”
That was Kurt’s voice. Who’s he talking to? And the beeping. Why is there beeping?
“Kurt?”
I opened my eyes. Kurt smiled at me. “Hey, baby. You’re awake.”
“What happened?”
I felt like I was trapped in a fog. Blinking a few more times, I tried to focus. Where am I? Holy hell, my stomach hurts. I winced. Dylan.
Kurt grabbed my hand. “Dylan’s okay. I don’t want you to get too excited. I have Dylan right here, okay?”
“Dylan’s with you?”
“Yes. When things come back to you, remember I have Dylan, and he’s fine.”
People walked into the room. One man was wearing a white coat. “Ms. Wade. How are you feeling?”
Dylan has been born? I closed my eyes for a few seconds, trying to get the fog to lift. My baby. I fought through the pain in my shoulder and stomach. “I want to see Dylan.”
I started to sit up, but the doctor put a light hand on my arm. “Try to avoid any sudden movements. You’ve had two surgeries. We need to check your vitals, and you’ll be able to hold your baby. He’s due for a feeding any time now. What do you remember?”
I closed my eyes and focused on the images in my head. “I was at Knoah’s. Went to the house with George. To meet the builder.”
My heart began to race as I remembered being in the house, knowing something was wrong. “We ran.”
“Please try to calm down, Ms. Wade. Breathe slowly.”
I took a few deep breaths and looked at Kurt. “Dylan is okay?”
“Perfectly healthy.” Kurt addressed the doctor. “Sawyer needs to see her son.” Kurt moved closer and everyone shifted to make room.
The doctor nodded and the nurse hit a button on the bed, raising me up a little. “Be careful not to move your shoulder too much, Ms. Wade. How’s your pain?”
“It hurts. I don’t want anything. My shoulder?”
“You were shot, and the bullet lodged in your shoulder. We got it out and repaired the damage, but it’s going to hurt for a few days.”
More images came back, and I started to piece things together. I had been carried and then shot.
Kurt leaned in, and in his arms, he held the most beautiful baby. With my uninjured arm, I reached out to touch his face. “Hey, Dylan. It’s your mommy.”
The pain wasn’t near as bad as it had been. Tears filled my eyes. “He’s so perfect, Kurt. He looks like you.”
Kissing my forehead, he whispered, “You did so good. He’s beyond perfect. And I’ve been telling him all about you.”
I hated that I’d missed Dylan’s birth. As I looked at his perfect little face, the fog cleared a little more, and pieces continued to fall into place. We were running. Adriane came out. George had taken off. Shots were fired. The yelp. Dustin. “What about Dustin? George? Adriane?”
The monitors beeped like crazy as my heart raced.
Kurt touched my face. “The doctor needs you to remain calm. George is out of surgery. Dustin is almost done, and they have Adriane in custody.”
The doctor cleared his throat. “Are you ready for a few tests, Ms. Wade? They won’t take long. Then a nurse will be in to talk about breastfeeding. If this is the route you choose, you’ll have to discard your breast milk for a bit until the anesthesia and painkillers are out of your system.”
“Yes, I want to do that.”
The doctor had me follow his finger, checked my eyes, asked simple questions, and checked my reflexes. More questions about the pain and the limitations I had with my surgeries. “All your diagnostics looked good. If you notice any unusual pain, light-headedness, or difficulty breathing, let a nurse know immediately.”
“Of course.”
The doctor and nurses left. And it was Kurt and me. A few seconds later, the lactation nurse came in with a breast pump. “I hear you want to breastfeed. To get your milk supply going, you’re going to pump each time Dylan eats for the next twenty-four hours. Then we’ll start breastfeeding. Just so you’re aware, it’s going to limit the pain medicine you’re able to take.”
“That’s fine. I’ll manage without it. Thank you.”
Anything for Dylan.
Having the connection to Dylan during breastfeeding was something I desperately wanted. The nurse plugged in the cord. “Here’s his bottle. I’ll give you two a moment before I come back. Any questions?”
“No, thank you,” I said, and the nurse left.
“You ready to hold your son?”
“More than ready.”
Gently, Kurt placed Dylan’s head on my injured side so I could hold the bottle with the other. It still hurt like a son of a bitch. “You okay?”
“I am.” I smiled down at my baby. “Hey there. It looks like your daddy took such good care of you while I was gone. I think I’ll keep him.”
Kurt handed me the bottle, and I held it to Dylan’s mouth. He eagerly sucked it.
“Marry me.”
Gasping, I turned to Kurt, who was watching me intently. “Marry me, Sawyer. I mean it.”
Kurt was scared. I saw the fear in his eyes. Something had happened while I was in surgery. But being motivated by fear wasn’t the way. “Give me a kiss.”
Getting married would rock the carefully crafted boat we were on. It wasn’t something he wanted. I knew it. He knew it. But something had scared him enough to propose. I would find out, but now wasn’t the time. He leaned closer, and I savored having him there with me and Dylan in my arms.
When he pulled back, I smiled. “We can talk about it more when we get home.”
“I’m not going to change my mind.”
Okay, I guess we’re going to discuss this now. “What happened? Please don’t hold back the truth from me.”
Kurt sat in the chair. My arm throbbed a little, but holding the bottle and feeding my son was worth the pain. If I didn’t move too much, my stomach was okay. I checked the ounces; he still had a half ounce left if he wanted it. But first he needed to be burped. I wasn’t going to be able to maneuver him. “Can you help burp him?”
“Anything you need. What do I do?”
“Hold him on up your shoulder and pat his back.”
Kurt took Dylan and put him to his shoulder. The movement was so delicate and loving my heart soared. A little burp came out. “Oh man, that was a good one.” He placed him back in my arms and helped me to get settled again.
As he sat down again, I waited for him to start. “Your parents are here. The doctor was worried we might have to make some important medical decisions about your health. I had to get an injunction to make sure they weren’t in control.”
The beeping of the heart monitor increased a little, and I worked on taking a few calming breaths. “They’re here?”
“Last update I got, they were sitting in one of the waiting rooms. They aren’t allowed back here.”
My mouth grew a little dry. “Were they involved?”
“They have an alibi, but I believe they were. Adriane snuck out of West Cedar disguised as a nurse who looked like her. Your parents flew her down. So, your parents may not have pulled the trigger, but they enabled the situation.”
“Adriane. She’s locked up?”
“Yes. And the lawyers are making sure she doesn’t get out. The police are issuing a warrant to search West Cedar. We have a team on the ground there to offer help if they’ll take it.”
A shiver went through me. At least we had that going for us. “Do I need to talk to my parents? To help the situation?”
“Honestly, I haven’t gotten very far on what needs to be done. Steve is the lead. Garrick is overseeing what they’re doing. You and Dylan were my priority.”
Why would my parents show up? I didn’t want them anywhere near my baby. Ever. “Whatever they need me to do, I will as long as it doesn’t involve Dylan.”
“Let’s focus on us right now. Tomorrow we’ll talk to Steve.”
“Okay.”
The nurse came back in. “Oh, he’s done well. Let’s work on pumping so you stay in sync with him.”
“Perfect.”