Fidelity (Infidelity #5)(89)

The doctor was sitting beside her, holding her hand. The tears were back as she looked up at me. Fuck, the nurse was right.

“You said you didn’t…” My accusation came out louder than I intended.

“I didn’t what?”

“I believed you.”

“Young man…” Dr. Beck stood.

“Nox, what are you talking about?”

“You said he didn’t touch you… like that. I’ll kill him. I’ll kill him!”

Charli’s head moved back and forth. “He didn’t. We didn’t.”

If I’d been wearing her necklace the heart rate would have been off the chart. They’d be sending a crash cart to her room. Code blue. Was that what they called it?

It had to be a heart attack. That’s what happened when the pain was so intense that speech was out of reach. “You didn’t…? I took a step forward as the realization struck. “Me?”

She nodded, her lips turning upward into a sad smile. “I’m sorry. I tried to tell you.”

“When? How?”

Dr. Beck laughed. “Would you like me to explain the how?”

“That’s why they didn’t do the scan,” I said, the pieces of the puzzle sliding into place.

I fell to the side of her bed and clutched her hand. “You didn’t know?”

“No, not until a few hours ago.” Her chin fell forward. “They say six weeks. I know your hard limits…” She gasped for breath and looked back up. Her golden eyes were clouded with emotions, too many to decipher. “…but I can’t. I just can’t.”

I couldn’t understand. Her sentences weren’t making sense. “Can’t… what?” And then I heard her words. Six weeks. “Six weeks?”

Charli nodded.

I turned to the doctor. “Is she all right? Do tests. Do whatever you need to do. Is the baby where it should be?” I jumped from the side of the bed and began to pace small circles. “She needs to stay here. No, wait. We need to get her to New York.” I ran my hand through my hair. “I know, my cousin is a doctor. I’ll call her.”

Dr. Beck put his hand on my arm. “Son, calm down. Alexandria is a healthy, strong woman. That kid of yours is zapping her energy and will continue to wreak havoc on her emotions. You’re in for a fun eight months, but physically she’s fine.”

“You know this because you’ve done tests, right?”

“No, I know this because she’s a healthy young woman.”

I shook my head. “No. No. That’s not enough. I want one of those things where we can see it—an ultrasound—and I want it tonight. I want to know where it is.”

“Nox.”

Charli called, but I kept talking to the doctor. “Order it. Now.”

“Nox.”

“Son, where it is… is where it should be.”

“We don’t know. Not until we see it.”

“Lennox!”

“What?” I asked, turning toward Charli.

“Will you please come here?”

Would I come to her? Hell, I’d walk over hot coals. I’d swim through alligators. I’d do any damn thing I needed to do. What I wouldn’t do was put her at risk.

I took a deep breath and went back to her. The gold of her eyes was clearer, brighter. I cupped her cheeks. “You’re not fighting me on this. I need to know. I can’t not know that you’re all right.”

Charli nodded within my grasp. “Dr. Beck,” she said. “Please. I know it’s late and unusual, but can we please have an ultrasound?”

“I can order one for tomorrow.”

Nox sat taller. “Tonight.”

An hour later, with Charli in a wheelchair as a man in scrubs pushed her toward large doors with a sign that read DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING. Our private parade headed inside: the orderly, Charli, the two guards, and me.

“This could have waited until tomorrow,” Charli said for what I think may have been the tenth time.

“No, it couldn’t.”

After the orderly left and our guards moved outside the door, I helped Charli from the wheelchair onto a long table. “You’re not telling me to leave this time.”

She kicked her sock-covered feet back and forth as she reached for my hand. “I don’t want you out.”

“Yet you told Dr. Beck you’d do this alone?”

She moved one shoulder up and down, the neck of her hospital gown falling to the side and exposing her soft skin. “I didn’t tell him I wanted to. I told him I would. I didn’t think you wanted this and I couldn’t not…”

“Princess, I won’t stand by and let anyone… not your stepfather, that asshole Spencer, or even that one…” I nodded toward her stomach. “…hurt you. I can’t wrap my mind around this. I really can’t, but first, let me have the peace of mind to know you’re okay.”

She nodded.

As we waited for the technician, we talked. We even mentioned Jo. It was hard not to, and yet it didn’t feel wrong. It was almost as if she were beside me, encouraging me to do what I hadn’t done before. I recalled what Oren and Silvia had said, saying that my mom had been happy for my dad… that she knew about Adelaide.