Swallowing around the lump in my throat, I try to pull myself together before turning back to Sabrina, which is when I realize that my careless words have crushed her. She’s now standing and slowly moving around to the back of the bench. Her eyes are glazed and her mouth is loose as though she’s in shock. I reach out to her, but she flinches away from me.
“Sabrina…I’m sorry. I didn’t mean those words. It was a shock. It was the last thing I expected you to say. Please stay and talk to me.” I’m begging right now and I don’t give a damn. I need to make Sabrina realize I believe her that the baby is mine and, I need her to know that I want to be involved every step of the way. I could also do with sometime to breathe. Sometime to get used to the bomb she’s dropped on me. I’m sure as hell not going to walk away from her now. Now she has a part of me growing inside her.
“I can’t. Not right now. I’m sorry, but I can’t be with you right now.” She turns and starts walking away, back toward the car park leaving me standing here. Watching her go, I’m still numb with what she’s told me.
I yank the sunglasses from my face while I continue to watch her wondering how the hell I’m going to get her to believe me. Believe me when I say I want to be part of the baby’s life…and hers.
Ramon will know about her condition. I’d bet anything he knows. I need to talk to him and get him on my side. Thanks to me getting Ramon involved a few weeks ago, she’s obviously become a friend of his. In fact, he’s always there, at her apartment. If I didn’t know Ramon’s sexual preference, I’d have interfered by now.
I frown as I watch her. She seems to be leaning slightly. Her right hand comes out as though she needs to lean against something…and then it happens…
I’m suddenly running towards her as I watch her in slow motion fall to the grass.
Skidding to a halt, I’m on my knees beside her shoulders. I check her pulse, and sigh when I feel one, although it’s a bit erratic.
I cradle her face in my hands and kiss her cold lips. “Sabrina,” I whisper against her. “Please baby. You have to be all right. I’m sorry for everything. Just, please be okay.”
“Mmm,” she mumbles, starting to come around.
“Sabrina, baby. Open your eyes.”
They flutter, but stay closed.
“Sabrina. I need to see your eyes.”
They flutter a few times before she stares at me, and after blinking a few times, she struggles to sit up.
“No.” I get to my feet and pick her up in my arms. “I’m taking you to the hospital to get checked out.”
She doesn’t say anything, but she gazes up at me for what feels like hours before saying, “Okay,” as she closes her eyes and snuggles into my chest.
She’s the only woman ever to bring me to my knees! I’m totally fuckin’ screwed.
Chapter Eleven
Sabrina
Waiting for the doctor to come into the room with my test results is excruciating. Not only am I lying in a hospital bed after Lucien had insisted on bringing me in to get checked out, but he insisted on staying—announcing he is my fiancé. That sure opened my eyes. Fiancé! I’d have loved nothing more than to call him my fiancé a few weeks ago. Even now my heart flutters thinking about it but my head knows the truth. The only reason he’s throwing that word around is so he can stay with me when the hospital has a family only policy.
I think he’s trying to be supportive, but all he’s doing is making me feel uneasy. I’d ask him to leave, but I don’t have it in me when I can see how concerned he is for the baby, and perhaps me. I can dream.
Hearing someone at the door, I glance at Lucien who is already watching me before I turn towards the door to see the doctor coming in with a nurse in tow.
“Hello Sabrina, Lucien. I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.” He walks further into the room and sits beside Lucien. “Let me put both your minds at rest. Your baby is doing as expected. But Sabrina, you need to take better care of yourself. I can see you’re not sleeping well and the tests show you aren’t getting enough nutrients inside you. When did you last eat a proper meal, and I don’t mean a meal that you spent the entire time picking at.”
I have no idea when that was. I usually have fruit for breakfast to help my stomach settle, and then maybe half a sandwich for lunch and bits and pieces in the evening, which I’ve had trouble getting down lately.
“I’m not sure,” I finally hedge and catch the frown that crosses Lucien’s handsome face before I notice the matching one on the doctor’s.