“Fine. I will.”
His frame sags in relief. Then the most beautiful grin lights up his rugged face as he holds out his hand to her. “Let’s go, Pregnant Woman.”
Tessie takes a step forward, reaching out for his steady hand, and then the worst thing happens.
She slips.
Legs shooting out from under her, she falls forward. Though her balance is nonexistent, she manages to twist herself, but she still lands hard on the cement. Pain ricochets through her hips, her elbow, her head.
“Tessie!” Solomon’s panicked voice rings out like a shot in the dark.
The world swims. God. It hurts. Everything hurts. Like arrows needling her shoulder, her tailbone. For a long second, she lays there, gasping for air. Then, at the cramp weaving its way through her belly, she covers her face and lets out a wail.
In one fell swoop, she’s in Solomon’s arms, locked tight against his chest, her face buried against his racing heart. The only thing she hears is the wind gusting through the trees and Solomon’s deep voice vibrating through her.
“I’ve got you. You’re okay. You’re both okay.”
It’s Solomon’s favorite sound.
Bear’s heartbeat.
He sits in the chair beside Tessie’s hospital bed, his fists clenched tight on his thighs. Tears slip silently down Tessie’s face, but she stares out the window at the falling snow as the doctor checks her over. She still won’t look at him. Not since she discovered the papers. Not since she took that hard fall that spun his world off its axis.
When she fell, it almost ended him.
Driving like a madman in the snow, Solomon hauled ass to the hospital. The rest of his family and friends followed the minute he called them to tell them what was happening.
Now, her elbow bandaged, Tessie’s hooked up to a myriad of machines that monitor the baby and her. The lines jump on the heart monitor, a steady pulse telling him their son’s okay. Still, the fucking anvil in his chest, the fist wrapped around his throat won’t let him loose. Worry for the baby, for Tess, eats at him.
Doctor Banai straightens up on her stool and says, “Right now, there are no signs of fetal distress or placental abruption. Or internal bleeding.” She looks at Tess. “You said you had a cramp?”
“Yes,” Tessie replies with a sniffle. “After I fell.”
“Okay.” The doctor turns a wise eye to the band strapped across Tessie’s belly. “We’re monitoring you for contractions. This could be the start of labor.”
Solomon’s chest tightens, and he can barely force his next breath out. “It’s too soon.”
Tessie presses a hand against her mouth to smother a sob.
“The survival rate for babies at thirty-five weeks is the same as that for babies born at full term.” Doctor Banai smiles and stands, her dark eyes crinkling at the corners. “Rest, relax. I’ll be back to check in on you.”
Solomon’s frozen, processing the news, when Tess’s heart-wrenching voice says, “This is my fault.”
“Don’t,” he grits out.
Tears streaming down her face, she rests a hand on her swollen stomach, her gaze still trained out the window. “I shouldn’t have been wearing heels.”
“I’m not going to do that, Tess. Blame you.”
“Why not? I deserve it.” Another sob rips out of her, shaking her petite frame. “I’m a terrible person. Bear could have been hurt.”
He shakes his head, but she continues without even a glance his way.
“I know I overreacted.” She swipes angrily at her tears. “But I saw those papers, and it was like my world blew up. All I could see was you leaving me. Bear leaving me. I saw everything I loved going away. Again.”
He knows what she saw. And it guts him. Solomon doesn’t blame her for her reaction. All Tessie knew about love her entire life was a disappointment, and this set her off.
She should be pissed. She should take hard and fast swings at him, aim straight for the balls, punch the living shit out of him, and he wouldn’t stop her.
He blames himself. He made a promise to her about Bear. Whether or not Evelyn was behind it, it’s still his fault. He should have come clean about those papers. Burned them. Instead, Tessie found them, and she got hurt. He got her hurt.
He scoots closer. “It’s my mistake,” he rasps. The words wrench from his clenched jaw. “I should have told you about the papers. You never should have found them the way you did.”
Finally, she faces him. There’s fear in her eyes. Wariness. She still doesn’t trust him.
His stomach roils, nerves getting the best of him.
He has to make this right. If he and Tessie aren’t okay—he doesn’t know how he’ll survive. Thinking about never holding her again, of watching her leave, going back to LA with their son, threatens to knock the wind out of him.
“Listen to me,” he says, daring to take her slack hand in his, stroking a thumb across her knuckles. “This is on me. And Evelyn. You have to know that I never planned to take Bear away from you.” He brings her hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss against her palm. “I’m so sorry, Tessie. I’m so fucking sorry.”
When she finally speaks, it’s like a glass of cold water after a drought, and the tension melts from his body.
“It scared me,” she says, defeated and sniffling. “I went back there. When my father left. When my mother died. No one wanted me. All I have is Bear,” she says in a small voice. “He’s my son, my baby. Nothing can happen to him.”
His throat works as he swallows. “You have me,” he says raggedly.
Without a response, she looks away.
Christ, she’s killing him. He slips from the chair, a desperate man, on his knees in front of her. But for Tessie, it’s what he’ll always be. “I love you, Tess. I want you,” he promises, squeezing her hands in his. “You’re my undoing, my entire fucking world. I’m not going anywhere. Baby, I’m yours.” He closes his eyes. “Tell me you’re still mine.” His voice cracks; he can’t go on anymore.
A long silence fills the hospital room.
His heart rate is off the charts. If he were hooked up to that goddamn monitor, alarm bells would ring. Christ. If she doesn’t look at him, say something right this fucking instant, he’s going to die. Shrivel into a broken husk of a man.
Then her sweet voice, his saving grace, says softly, “I’m yours.”
His heart caves in with relief. “You are?”
“I am.” She faces him, raising her gaze to meet his. “I want the cabin. I want Chinook. And I want you, my Solemn Man.” Her beautiful brown eyes brim with tears. “I need you. Bear and I, we both need you.”
“Fuck,” he breathes, launching up. He can’t get her in his arms fast enough.
Their mouths collide, his hands threading through her silky hair. Tessie exhales and gives a little moan, and Solomon tightens his hold.
Thank Christ for this woman.
“Thank you,” he murmurs, kissing her hair, her cheek, her throat. “For not walking off. My heart couldn’t handle that.”
She closes her eyes, scratching her slender fingers through his beard. Her very touch licks through him like wildfire. “I know. Mine either.”
Gently, Solomon lowers her back down against the pillows and tucks the blanket tighter over her lap. Splaying his hand over her belly, he waits for Bear’s kick. Strong. Powerful.
Like Tessie.
Fuck. To think of how close he came to fucking it all up.
He’s never letting her go again, so help him God.
“If it makes you feel any better,” Solomon says, squeezing her hand, “I almost killed a whole flock of geese hauling ass to the hospital.”
She laughs, then thins her lips at him.
“Baby, what is it?”
“I’m still upset.” Her mouth quirks up. “I never got to throw a shoe at you.”
He chuckles and traces a finger over her cheekbone. “You can throw a shoe at me later.”
“I will. A stiletto. And you can’t duck.”
“Deal.” Grinning, he leans down and kisses her. “I should tell everyone what’s going on. You’ll be okay without me for a few minutes?” At her nod of assent, he shoves up from the bed, already ready to get back to her.