"I have made myself clear. Call security, if necessary, and I will call the board for the hospital!"
"Whoa, what is going on here?" A large man in a white coat entered the room with a heavy set nurse on one side and Dixon on the other.
"Doctor Sherman," the nurse sighed in relief, "I was simply explaining to Mr. Iverson our policy of visiting hours for intensive care." She turned to eye me smugly.
"And I, was simply stating, that I could buy the hospital by tomorrow morning if need be, which would make it no longer her concern that I was here with my wife." I spat back in her direction.
"Okay..." Dixon pushed into the room, "Aidan, calm down." Dixon put an arm on my shoulder in attempt to relax me, but I shrugged him off.
"Nancy, I think we can make a small exception for tonight. Mr. Iverson only got here a few moments ago and has two family members on this floor." The nurse, who was clearly Nancy, looked from him to me and then left the room.
"Thank you," I sighed out and sat in a chair closest to Lilli.
The doctor went about his routine of checking her over.
"Doctor..."
"Sherman," he smiled.
"Doctor Sherman, is she going to be okay? What happened? What's wrong with—?"
"Dixon, could you please give us a moment to talk privately?" He looked at Dixon. Dixon seemed to hesitate. "I know you are like family; however, I do need to follow some rules tonight." He smiled and Dixon nodded in understanding as he left the room.
He took a large breath and I stood to look straight at him over Lilli's still body.
"Mr. Iverson, your wife was side swiped by a large road construction vehicle. He did not see her in the lane as he attempted to move over too quickly, which resulted in the left front end of the vehicle being crushed into itself." He paused. "Now, her ankle is bruised with a slight fracture, but should be fine in a couple of weeks. The major injury is her head which hit the driver's side window and lashed back against the headrest. Thankfully, the airbag prevented her from the front windshield or the steering wheel. Though, the jolt to her head has caused some swelling around her brain." He saw my face tense up. "It isn't anything to be too concerned about." He reassured.
"Is she in a coma?"
"Medically induced. This is to allow her brain to heal. Tomorrow I will run her through another scan to see if the swelling is improving on its own." He smiled and then joined me on the side of the bed I was standing on. "Rest assured that we are doing everything we can and being very mindful of the baby."
"Thank you, doctor. I.....wait...what?" I turned. I had to have heard him wrong.
"What?" He seemed as confused as I felt.
"Did you say the baby?"
He nodded slowly.
"You were unaware." It wasn't a question. He could clearly tell I'd had no idea.
"She's pregnant?" I swallowed hard.
"Yes...uh...her blood work came back positive. Her uterus is measuring far enough along I would have thought for sure that you knew."
"Far enough along?" I looked at Lilli. "She doesn't look far along." I motioned to her stomach. "Are you sure the test is accurate? She is on birth control pills."
He looked at me confused.
"Mr. Iverson, I assure you that it's accurate. The emergency room did a scan and found the fetus and the heartbeat. Your wife is pregnant." Then he looked over her chart and seemed perplexed. "I also don’t see any signs of birth control medication in her system." He looked up at me. "Are you sure she's taking something?"
Had she stopped? No, Lilli was so unsure about having a baby there was no way she would just stop taking them. Wasn't there? I mean, she would have no reason to hide that she stopped. She knew that I would be more than happy that she was going to provide the last condition of my inheritance. Hell, I would hope she realized that her agreeing to have my child, children, would make me the happiest man alive.
"Mr. Iverson?"
I'd taken way too long to respond.
"I'm sure doctor. She was adamant about taking the pill."
"Hmm...well, the OB/GYN will be coming to visit her after the last of her blood work is complete, as well as her scan." He smiled halfheartedly. "Do you have any questions?"
"When will you take her out of the coma?"
"Hopefully we can let her regain consciousness tomorrow after her scan in the morning."
"And you are sure that the drugs aren’t hurting the baby?"
"I assure you that we are taking all the precautionary measures." He patted my back and then cleared his throat. "Um...congratulations." He left the room quickly.
I climbed back into bed with Lilli and placed my hand over her stomach.
Lilli was having my baby. We are having a baby. I am going to be a father. The woman I love is going to give birth to a child that we created together.
I stayed lost in my thoughts until I finally reconciled that Lilli would know that I was in love with her before we left. I drifted off to dreams filled with a small girl that looked exactly like Lilli, but with my hair color.
~
Lilli
Beeping. More Beeping. Muffled voices. What the hell was going...ow, my head. I groaned.