Until You Loved Me (Silver Springs #3)(46)

“We’ve both been caught in something that we didn’t choose. Just...don’t freeze me out because I overreacted—or for something that’s beyond my control.”

A regular Hudson was appealing; a penitent Hudson was irresistible. “Okay.”

His grin slanted to one side. “Thanks. You hungry?” He picked up the sack he’d set on her rolling tray a few minutes earlier. “I brought you a blue cheese bacon burger and some fries. The food in this place sucks.”

She couldn’t even think about eating, least of all a greasy bacon burger. “No, thanks. I’m not interested in that sort of thing yet.”

“You have to eat. You haven’t had anything since you got home.”

“I prefer liquids for now. I’ll ask a nurse to bring me some broth later.”

“No problem. I can polish off both burgers.” He didn’t seem at all put off by the prospect of doubling his caloric intake. Given his career, he burned off whatever he ate almost as soon as he swallowed it. But it didn’t seem fair that he could eat so much and still look that good.

Adding jealousy to the list of reasons she needed to maintain some emotional distance, Ellie rubbed her forehead. She was trying to come up with a way to approach the subject of how involved he planned to be in the baby’s life when she encountered a bandage at her temple.

The moment he noticed, he put his half-eaten burger back in the sack and lowered his voice. “I told them you tripped and fell—that’s how you cut your head—and I hope you’ll leave it at that. I’d rather not create any speculation about whether I tried to hurt you. You have no idea how closely sports figures can be scrutinized. If someone from California reports a shouting match between us at a motel, and someone from Miami reports that you were injured, and that I was the one who took you to the hospital...well, some reporter could claim that I followed you back to Miami to continue the argument and...and it got out of hand. In other words, they could make me look guilty of something I’m not.”

He hadn’t tripped her on purpose. He hadn’t even been awake. He had no right to be in her house to begin with, but she wasn’t going to quibble about that, since she or the baby might’ve died had he not been there. “I get it. I won’t say a word.”

“Great.” He offered her a smile that somehow reminded her of when he’d pressed her up against the cab and kissed her.

With effort, she dragged her eyes away from his handsome face.

“So...what do you say about the ultrasound?” he asked as he went back to enjoying his burger. “Can I stay?” He lifted his right hand, burger and all. “I swear I won’t look at anything I’m not supposed to.”

She didn’t get the chance to answer. The door opened and a man dressed in scrubs and a lab coat wheeled in a monitor and other equipment. “Hi, I’m Ed Tate,” he announced as he pushed the cart to the side of the bed opposite where Hudson was standing. “I’m a diagnostic medical sonographer—or ultrasound technician.”

Someone must’ve warned Ed that Hudson King was with the patient he’d be working on, because he didn’t act shocked when he saw the Devils’ starting quarterback. He did, however, come off as a little starstruck when Hudson, once again setting his food aside, offered his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Ed’s face turned bright red. If he’d been hoping to pretend meeting Hudson King was no big deal, he’d failed. “Same here.”

“So it’s time for the ultrasound, huh?” Hudson said.

The technician, who’d been pumping Hudson’s hand, finally let go. “Um, yeah. Right. The ultrasound. Are you ready to see your baby?”

Hudson sent Ellie a glance, begging her not to make him leave. “I am. Are you, El?”

The shortened version of her name made it seem as if they were much closer than they were, but she supposed there wasn’t any harm in that. It wouldn’t be too difficult to maintain her modesty, not with the blankets she had at her disposal, so she didn’t really have a good reason to deny him. “I’m ready,” she said.

*

The ultrasound affected Hudson deeply, hit him much harder than simply hearing the heartbeat. Earlier, there’d been so many people in the room and so much chaos and activity as they’d hurried to get Ellie on an IV and check her vital signs that everything seemed to be happening at once. He’d heard the baby’s heartbeat, but he hadn’t been able to appreciate it. He’d been too afraid the baby would die and maybe Ellie would, too. That was how weak and sick she’d been.

Hudson had felt relief, for sure, but this was an entirely different emotion. When the baby’s image came up on the screen, and the technician proceeded to point out the head, the arms, the legs and even the male parts that revealed the child’s sex, Hudson’s eyes began to burn. He’d never had any blood relatives. Didn’t know of one. No grandmother. No aunt or uncle. No cousins. Other than his teammates, who created a rather loose family, since trades or cuts often moved players around the country, he didn’t even have an adopted family he could call his own. Not the kind most people had. He’d been raised piecemeal by this or that adult. A teacher who tried to take an interest. A coach. For the first time, he was looking at his own flesh and blood. He’d finally be able to lay claim to someone on a much deeper level than feeling gratitude for a kindness, resentment at unkindness or, more often than not, contempt for sheer neglect.