CHARLOTTE

Oh, my God. How on earth did this happen? How was I going to tell Deck? I already had some explaining to do about the accident we had. I knew from the phone call in the car before the impact of the accident that he was upset about me taking my belt off and climbing into the back seat. But absolutely nothing would have kept me from getting to Shiloh.

In all the commotion, the little devil had removed her belt to get to me. The car behind us crashed into us, and the same crazy rogue soldier who had been harassing the club amped up his efforts to get back at the guys by going after Stella, Shiloh, and me. I was unsure how Dundee was or if he was dead. Things hadn’t looked too good for him back there on the road. What we saw looked very bad, and Shiloh had seen some of it. She knew he was on his bike behind our car, and I knew she had heard Stella and me screaming that the prospect was off his bike, so Shiloh, obviously, had been very scared, and her first instinct was to get into my arms. My instinct had been to get to her as quickly as possible. My promise to protect her with my life was not made in vain, nor had I just spoke pretty words to impress her father.

I meant them.

I wanted to be with her right then, but the doctors were adamant that she had to stay with Stella in the triage unit.

The very tall man, who had appeared at the accident scene only minutes after it had happened, turned out to be a former soldier and friend of the Wounded Souls’ men. He had assured us that Deck and the others were on their way to the hospital. So I knew Shiloh was going to be with her daddy soon enough.

It had broken my heart to hear Shiloh wail and beg for me to take her with me, but when a nurse told Shiloh to grow up, I saw red. So I did something I had never done.

I cursed.

Then I came close to punching her. The silly woman needed to pull her head in. Shiloh was only three years old, for heaven’s sake—but I didn’t regret my actions—well, protecting Shiloh I didn’t, but swearing? Maybe a little. At least none of the guys heard me.

So they took me away to another part of the hospital. They had to do some scans on my back, which had taken much of the impact after being pushed violently against the large seat of Booth’s truck. The pain was excruciating at the time. They gave me a mild painkiller, and it had taken the edge off, but I wasn’t going to lie—it hurt like a female dog. According to the doctor, I had some major bruising on my back and a large gash on the back of my neck. We weren’t sure how that had happened. There must have been something sharp on the back of the seat that got me. I was sure when they looked at the car it would all be figured out.

I had much bigger problems right now.

Because…?

Now, I was in deep dog poo.

Placing my hand on my flat stomach, I still couldn’t believe the doctor’s words. I mean, I’d known something might have been up, but my head was happily buried in the sand. And now? With what Deck had said back at the compound… Nope, I couldn’t face this.

“Miss Jackson, did you know you are pregnant?”

I argued with him—literally called him a liar. When they said they needed some urine for a test before they performed the CT scan, I’d had no idea it would come back positive.

“But I can’t be. I’ve had a period since Deck and I have been together. There must be some mistake.”

“No mistake, Miss Jackson, and since you are only in the very early stages, it is hard to be too accurate, but going by your hormone levels, my best guess is you are no more than a month along. It’s not unusual for a woman to experience a mini-period in the first few months of pregnancy.”

So there I sat. Pregnant. And Deck, only hours ago, had told me he didn’t want any more children, and that Shiloh was fine. And she was. Completely. I loved and adored that little girl with my whole heart.

I rubbed my hand over my belly and smiled. But I knew I loved this baby, too. I could love them both, equally. But maybe Deck couldn’t.

My confusion grew the longer I sat there waiting to be released. They said I could go home as long as I rested in bed for the next few days. They couldn’t do an ultrasound of the baby because the hospital was small and they didn’t have a technician on staff full time who could perform the procedure. So I had to go home and have one in the next twenty-four hours. I hadn’t experienced any cramping or spotting, so they were optimistic the baby was still safe inside me.

I had also asked them about the drinking I’d done the other night. I felt sick knowing I’d put that in my stomach and fed my baby toxins, but the doctor reassured me that as long as I didn’t do it anymore, everything should be okay. It did little to alleviate my guilt.

“Teach? You in here?” I could hear Creed’s voice coming from somewhere behind the curtains.

“Creed?” Oh, thank God. If Creed was here, that meant Deck was here, too. He must be with Shiloh. She had been hysterical earlier, and it still brought tears to my eyes. Thank goodness her daddy was with her now.

Pulling the curtain to the side a bit, Creed walked in, dressed in his usual leather cut, black army pants, and chunky black, lace-up boots. I nearly wept at the sight of him.

“Oh, Creed, thank goodness. Creed, how is Dundee?” I was desperate to know if the nice prospect was okay.

I saw something pass over Creed’s face, but as usual, with these men, they were very good at covering up their emotions. And appearing unaffected.

“Let’s see to you first then check out Dundee, okay, Teach? Now the scary lady out there said you are free to leave, so let’s get you off that bed and with Deck and Shiloh where you belong, yeah?”

“Oh, that sounds like heaven,” I said just as scary nurse burst through the curtains with a wheelchair, discharge papers, and some promised painkillers.

“Okay, then, Miss Jackson, here are all the instructions for your doctor at home, what we have observed, and the painkillers we have prescribed. They are safe for baby, but please don’t go over the correct dosage. You really need to get that internal ultrasound as soon as you can tomorrow. Now you must get in the wheelchair, and your lovely husband here can take you home.”

I didn’t know how to respond to any of the things she’d just spewed out in front of Creed. Should I talk about the fact she had told him I was pregnant? Or the fact that I had to have an internal ultrasound—ewww. Or the fact that she thought Creed was my husband?

Creed didn’t smile. Ever. But I noticed his eyebrows shot up past his hairline at everything the scary nurse said.

“Come on, wife, time to get you and junior home,” he said in a deadpan voice. He settled me in the chair, for which I was grateful. I really didn’t think I could walk a metre let alone out of the hospital and to the truck.

I sighed, then immediately winced at the effort of just sighing. Oh, Lord, this was going to be fun. If I couldn’t sigh, how was I going to work and teach dance? I didn’t have any sick pay left. I had to cash my sick time in to pay my family six months ago, which meant time off without pay. Marvellous.

“Does Deck know about the bun in the oven, Teach?”

“No, and don’t tell him,” I warned. I couldn’t turn myself around to scowl or even lift my hand to shake at him, but I did growl the words.

“Teach.”

“No, Creed. He has already told me that more children aren’t on his radar, so until I can think this through, I don’t want to talk to him about it. Please, Creed, just let me have a little more time. I only just found out myself, and I need to process everything,” I pleaded.

Creed didn’t answer, but I felt his hand rest on my uninjured shoulder, and he gave me a gentle squeeze. I hoped this meant he would give me what I’d asked for, but I knew he wouldn’t keep it from Deck too long, their code unbreakable. Brothers to a fault. I nodded my head in thanks.

“Okay, then, let’s go see my soldier man and our daughter.”