The Presence of Grace (Love and Loss #2)(67)

“Grace, baby?” I said again, smoothing her hair out of her face. Her eyes opened again and I’d never seen a blue I liked more than the color of them right then.

“Hey,” she whispered after she’d blinked a few times.

“Hey,” I said back to her, kissing her hand again. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay.” Her voice was quiet and I got the impression it was because she was weak and not because she was trying to keep the volume down. I leaned forward and kissed her forehead.

“You scared me,” I whispered against her skin.

“I’m sorry. I was scared too.”

“What happened?” I watched as her eyes closed and she took a breath, then she swallowed, and looked up at me.

“I thought a car was following us home. I watched it make all the same turns as me, but when I pulled in the driveway, it kept going. But after we all got out, it came back,” she said, her voice shaking. “I told the kids to lock themselves in the house. Are they okay?” Her voice filled with panic and she winced as she tried to sit up, practically climbing out of the bed with worry.

“They’re fine, I promise. They’re worried about you, but they aren’t hurt.”

“I was so scared.” She cried in earnest and nothing was going to stop me from crawling up beside her and holding her as she did. “I was so afraid something would happen to Ruby and Jax, and I don’t know what I’d do.”

I tried my best to soothe her, but I knew exactly why she was upset and knew how petrifying it could be to think about bad things happening to children, especially children you loved liked Grace loved my kids.

“They’re fine,” I said.

“But something could have happened. I don’t remember anything. They were in the house, that man was standing there begging me not to press charges, and then I was waking up in the emergency room. He didn’t go near the kids at all?” she asked, her eyes darting up to mine, looking for some reassurance.

“No, Grace, no one touched them. I promise.” She let out a sigh of relief.



“Hi, Ms. Richards, I’m Dr. Miller. I was the attending on duty when you came into the emergency room this afternoon. How are you feeling?”

“My head still hurts a little, and I’m really tired.”

He nodded, then his eyes darted over to me.

“Before we talk any further about your injuries, I want to make sure you’re comfortable with your visitor being in the room. There are privacy laws that protect you—”

“Oh, it’s fine to talk in front of Devon.”

I gave her hand a squeeze again.

“What do you remember from your accident?” the doctor asked.

“Not a lot. I remember standing in the driveway and I was really scared, and then all of a sudden I got really tired, or woozy, I guess. And then I saw dark spots, and the next thing I knew I was waking up in the emergency room.”

“Hmmm. Well, the police are going to want to talk to you about what happened, but as far as we can tell, it appears you passed out and hit your head against the concrete upon impact. We didn’t have any real information when you were brought in, so we ran some tests to try and determine what was wrong. It’s a good thing we did because otherwise we would have taken you to get some X-rays, which wouldn’t be good for the baby.”

“The what?” Grace asked, her voice shaky and weak.

“The baby. You’re pregnant. Based on the hCG levels, you’re probably only about two weeks along. Congratulations.”

I looked down at Grace and her eyes flashed up to mine, wide with surprise and disbelief.

“But, I can’t…. I’ve never….” Her words were falling from her mouth quickly, but I could tell she wasn’t able to process a full sentence.

“She’s been told before she can’t get pregnant naturally.”

“Listen, I’m no obstetrician, but I can tell when a woman is pregnant, and you definitely are.”

“This can’t be happening,” she murmured. “I don’t feel pregnant. I haven’t been sick or anything.”

“Like I said, it’s very early. It probably wouldn’t even show up on an over-the-counter test. But blood tests don’t lie. It’s too early for morning sickness. Give it about three weeks and you’ll be sick as a dog.” The doctor gave her a smile, but she just looked at him like he was speaking a foreign language. “However, this would explain the fainting. Some women experience fainting spells as a symptom of pregnancy. If it continues, you need to bring it up with your obstetrician. But seeing as how you were in a particularly stressful situation, the pregnancy could explain the fainting. Nothing else showed up on any of our tests to cause any concern.”

“No, there’s some mistake,” Grace stammered, blinking rapidly and looking confused. “Maybe you have someone else’s tests results mixed up with mine. Run the test again. I’m telling you I can’t get pregnant. My ovaries don’t even work. Please,” she begged, her voice wavering, “just run the test again.”

The doctor’s eyes caught mine.

“Could you please run the test again?”

He shrugged and walked to the computer, typing away, telling the nurse to run the test again.