“They did a pregnancy test? Don’t they need consent?”
“In an emergency situation, technically no, they don’t. As long as they can prove they had the best interests of you and your unborn child at heart they would not be held liable. At the time, you were semi-conscious and hysterical, Maggie, incapable of making any rational decisions. But to be clear, I gave consent.”
It was her turn to stiffen, but she relaxed again almost instantly. While she had been furious at the time that he had gone against her wishes, she now understood why he had done what he did. Just as she had ripped his DNR to shreds without a second thought.
“So you knew before I did?”
“No. They didn’t tell me the results of the test, and I’d been too distracted to ask. Since Roberts performed the actual surgery, I was not informed.” The disapproval – or disappointment – was evident in his voice.
“But if they had, Maggie, you have to believe that I would never have left. And that I want you and our baby, no matter what.”
“We like to think that, Michael, but none of us know for sure how we’ll react until we’re actually in the situation.”
“I know.”
Maggie stayed quiet, the pads of her fingers sliding in small circles over his chest.
“We’re not talking about me anymore, are we, Maggie?” Her fingers stopped their gentle caresses; he felt her breath hitch. “Tell me, baby.”
And so she did. She told him about her mother’s pregnancy, how the doctor had run tests and prescribed medications that had resulted in hemorrhaging and early labor. How an unnecessary hysterectomy had been performed, robbing her parents of the opportunity to have the big family they had always dreamed of.
How, as a child, she had been in the hospital more than out of it, until her parents couldn’t look upon her anymore without overwhelming grief and sadness.
She told him of how the last time she came home from the hospital, her grandparents told her that her mom and dad had returned to Ireland for a while to “get better”. But they never came back. And slowly, it was her grandmother’s remedies – not to mention her unconditional love - that had made her whole again.
Michael tightened his arms around her. “Oh, baby. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. No wonder you hate hospitals.”
“How could you possibly have known?” she sniffed.
“I know now,” he said. “And I promise you – I will never let anything happen to you or our baby, Maggie.”
She felt his words, the absolute conviction with which they were spoken. And she believed him.
“I saw a specialist in Benton,” she told him, watching him closely. She didn’t want to hide anything from him anymore. It wasn’t fair to either of them. “Lexi pulled a few strings, and got me in to see the woman who had cared for her during her pregnancy.”
To his credit, Michael kept his expression and his voice calm, though she felt him subconsciously tighten his hold while concern deepened his eyes to sapphire. “Are you having problems with the pregnancy, Maggie?”
“No,” she said honestly, hoping he would believe her, knowing she hadn’t really given him reason to. “Lexi and Taryn assured me that everything I was feeling was perfectly normal. But I was afraid that with the surgery and the meds ...” She couldn’t finish the thought. “All but one or two of the tests have come back negative, thank God.”
“You shouldn’t have gone through that all alone, Maggie,” he admonished gently. “I should have been there with you, holding your hand if nothing else.”
“I didn’t want to worry you, Michael. You’re still recovering.”
*
Michael allowed her warmth to seep into him. Touching her was imperative; it gave him a sense of profound peace. As long as he could do that, anything was possible.
He prayed for the strength to be calm, caring, and supportive. If he had known about the baby, he wouldn’t have traded with Shane for that mission. He wouldn’t have tried to sneak into the camp on his own, his only thought being that his brothers had wives to get home to. That one uncharacteristically irrational act almost cost his son a father. But, as Taryn had pointed out to him, Maggie had no idea of the situation he had placed himself in until after he’d already been wounded. She believed he was living at the Pub, the biggest danger he faced daily being the fifteen minute commute to and from the hospital. He could hardly berate her for withholding information when he had kept quite a bit from her.
He wished there was something he could say, something he could do to make her understand, to reassure her that no matter what, he was never leaving her side again. As it was, he would just have to spend the rest of his life convincing her.