“I have one errand to run, and then I’ll be home. And don’t worry. Just remember I love you, and everything’s fine. I’ll see you soon.”
“I love you too, babe.”
He hangs up and I turn into the Target parking lot. I want to get him a present, but I have no idea what. So, I spend ten minutes on Pinterest, trying to find the best way to tell him. I can’t decide, so I just go inside and walk through the baby section, getting kind of mushy and excited. I wish I could tell one of the girls and ask them for help, but I’d better tell him first.
It’s important that I do this the right way.
I find a onesie that says So the Adventure Begins, and I think that’s pretty perfect.
This is definitely going to be an adventure.
So I snatch that up, along with a card that’s blank inside. When I get to the car, I write, Congratulations, Daddy inside the card and put it in a fun gift bag with the onesie.
That’s pretty good for spur of the moment, if I do think so myself.
I feel like the past few days have taken our relationship to a brand-new place. The past is finally in the past, and we love each other. I have no qualms at all about telling him about this baby.
I wonder what would have happened ten years ago if I had been pregnant? Would we still be married, or would we have divorced, making us split time with the kiddo? Would we hate each other by now?
Because let’s be honest, we were so young then, and obviously not great with communication. I don’t see how that could have lasted long term.
“It doesn’t matter,” I mutter and flip the radio on. The freeway is busy, but moving well, and I’m excited to get home to Camden. I’m not even nervous.
“Holy fuck, I’m going to have a baby.”
I do a little happy dance in my seat just as the guy ahead of me switches lanes.
But the person ahead of him is stopped dead, and I don’t have time to stop.
Loud noise. Airbag in my face.
Nothing.
It feels like I’m swimming in really thick water. I can’t move. Sounds are really slow and far away.
I open my eyes, and it’s like being hit by a hammer. Loud noises, people bustling around. It smells horrible.
“Miss?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t move.” I glance to my left and see a guy in his twenties looking in at me. He’s wearing a hat and suspenders. “We’re cutting you out of there.”
“What’s happening?”
“You rear-ended the car in front of you going pretty fast.”
I frown and cry out at the pain in my head.
“Your car is crushed in. You also got hit from the rear. So we have to cut you out of here.”
“Shit.” The light hurts. Everything hurts. “Baby.”
“Did you have a baby in the car?”
“No.” I lick my lips, unable to open my eyes, the light hurts so badly. “Pregnant.”
“She’s pregnant!” he yells to someone. I’m in the water again, fighting to stay awake, but the water is warm and it doesn’t hurt here. I let myself slip back under, until there’s nothing.
“Wake up, Mia.”
“No.” It’s loud. I don’t want to get up and go to work. I’d rather lie here next to Camden. Maybe we can just have sex all day. That would be fun, but I have a killer headache. “Head hurts.”
“I know, sweetheart, but I need you to wake up. You have a concussion.”
I open an eye, and I’m thrust into a nightmare. Two men are looking down at me, and it feels like I’m speeding in a car.
“What’s happening?”
“Do you remember me?” one of the men asks. “You talked to me when you woke up in the car, do you remember?”
“Sort of.” I wince. “My head is killing me.”
“You hit it pretty good,” he says with a smile. “But it looks like that’s the worst of it. Mia, I need you to tell me what day it is.”
“September something.” I frown. “My mouth is dry.”
“September what?”
“Tenth? It’s Wednesday.”
“Good girl,” he says and holds a straw to my mouth. “You can have a sip of this. What year is it?”
“2018.”
He nods and looks up at the other guy. “How’s her BP?”
“High, but not scary.”
“My parents.”
“I called your mom,” he says. “I found your phone, and Mom was listed as your emergency contact.”
“Good.”
I try to swallow, but everything in me hurts.
“Someone in front of me changed lanes, and the car in front of them was stopped dead. I had no warning.”
“That’s what the guy said who rear-ended you. He’s fine, he was able to slam on his breaks.”
I try to move my head, but it’s strapped to a board. “I can’t move.”
“We need you to have some scans done to make sure you don’t have a spinal injury,” he says. “But the fact that you’re staying awake and talking to me is a very good sign. You scared me when you passed out on me again.”
“I think I scared me, too,” I whisper. “I’m really tired.”
“Stay awake, Mia,” the other guy says.
“You two are ridiculously good looking.”
They both smile down at me. “Is that a requirement to be a fire fighter or EMT? That you have to be hot so you can make calendars and bring in a bunch of money in calendar sales?”
“She found us out.” He presses some gauze to my head and comes away with blood. “You have quite the head wound here. I hope blood doesn’t make you queasy.”
“No choice, I guess,” I reply, and immediately feel queasy. “I’m always nauseated these days.”
“How far along are you?” he asks, surprising me. I blink at him for a moment, and he says, “You said you’re pregnant.”
“Oh God, I’m pregnant. Around ten weeks.”
He nods and exchanges a look with the other guy that isn’t encouraging.
“Am I going to lose it?”
“I don’t know, Mia. I’m not a doctor, but I do know that they’ll do everything they can to make sure that you don’t.”
I nod, tears falling down my cheeks now. “Can I call someone?”
“Who?”
“Camden.” I swallow. “I don’t know if they’ll think to call him right away.”
“I’ll call him.” I nod as he finds Camden’s name in my phone and holds it to my ear.
“I was wondering where you are.”
“I don’t want you to freak out.”
“What’s happening?”
“I’m okay.”
“Mia, tell me what’s happening.”
“I’m in an ambulance. I was in an accident, and we’re going to the hospital.” I can’t stop the tears from flowing now. “Will you please meet me there?”
“Oh my God, of course. Which hospital?”
“I don’t know. Which hospital?”
The EMT takes my phone and talks to Camden, giving him the name of the hospital, and how far out we are from there, which isn’t far, and then he presses the phone back to my ear.
“You listen to me, Mia. You’re going to be okay. I’m on my way to meet you. I love you, baby.”
“I l-l-love you too,” I whisper. “I have so much to tell you.”
“You’re going to tell me very soon. You’re so brave, my love. Just hang in there, okay?”
“Okay.”
He’s gone, and I’m left staring at Mr. EMT. “Are we almost there?”
“Yes, ma’am. Just a few more minutes.”
“I’m really sleepy.”
“Mia, we don’t want you to sleep. You have a head injury.”
“I can’t help it.”
Chapter Eighteen
~Camden~
I hang up the phone and reach for my keys, trying to keep the ball of panic down when Trevor calls.
“Mia’s been in an accide
nt,” I say in greeting.
“I know. I was calling to tell you. We’re all on our way to the hospital. Do you want me to swing by and pick you up?”
“No, I’ll get there faster on my own.” I run down the stairs of the house to my car. “Have you heard what her condition is?”
“Just that she’s stable and being rushed to Emanuel Hospital,” he replies. “We will meet you there.”
He hangs up and I immediately dial Steph’s number.
“Do you miss me already?” she asks when she answers.
“Where are you?”
“Camden? I thought you were . . . never mind. What’s happening?” Her voice is sober now.
“I’m on my way to the hospital. Mia’s been in a car accident.”
“Oh, God. I’m in Olympia. I can be down there in like an hour and a half.”
I take a deep breath. “Okay. I don’t know much now. I spoke with her for a minute when they had her in the ambulance and she sounded scared, out of it. It’s my worst nightmare.”
“I know. I know. I’m on my way. Keep me posted if you find out more.”
I give her the hospital information and then hang up, just as I’m arriving at the hospital. I find the ER, park, and run inside to find that most everyone has beat me here.
Mia’s parents are sitting with Landon and Cami. Riley and Trevor have just walked in ahead of me. Addie, Jake, Kat and a man that I assume is her husband, are sitting nearby.
“Camden.” Addie walks to me and offers me a hug. “She’s here, but no one is allowed to go back with her yet.”
“They’re running scans and such,” Landon says, his face grim. “She’s pretty beat up, but we don’t know how badly she’s beat up quite yet. The lab and the imaging departments are backed up, so they warned us that it could be a couple of hours before we know something.”
“And they won’t let anyone back to at least sit with her?” I ask, the anger setting up root in my belly. “When I spoke to her, she was terrified.”
“She’s unconscious,” Cami replies. Her eyes are red and swollen from crying. “We were told that either when she wakes up, or they have more information, we can go back with her.”
“I fucking hate waiting,” Riley mutters and rubs her hands over her face.
Less than an hour later, Steph comes rushing through the doors, her eyes wide and frantic until she finds me. She hugs me and asks how she is.
“We don’t know,” I reply, rubbing circles on her back. “We haven’t been given an update, but she’s unconscious.”
“She’s going to be okay,” Steph says and looks around the room at all of Mia’s family and friends. “I’m his sister.”
“We assumed so,” Addie says with a smile. She briefly introduces everyone, and then turns back to us. “Did you drive all the way from Seattle?”
“I was working in Olympia today, so I only had half as far to drive.”
“You still made good time,” Jake replies. “We probably don’t want to know how fast you were driving.”
“No,” Steph replies. “You don’t. Also, aren’t you Jake Knox?”
“This is my husband,” Addie says with a smile.
“It’s Jake Knox,” I reply. “She had a massive crush on you back in the day.”
“Hell, on this day,” Steph says and shrugs. “I’m happily married too, by the way, but yeah. Big fan.”
Jake grins, and just then the doctor comes through the double doors. She looks tired as she scans the waiting area.
“Mr. and Mrs. Palazzo?”
“That’s us.” Mia’s parents stand. Landon joins them, and the doctor approaches them.
“Do you want to go somewhere private to talk?” she asks.
“No,” Landon says. “Everyone here is family.”
The doctor nods. “I’m Dr. Miller, and I’m Mia’s physician today. Your daughter is very lucky. She was in a car accident, as you know. She rear-ended the car ahead of her at a high speed. The police estimate that she was going at around forty-five miles per hour.”
“Jesus,” Trevor mutters.
“Then, a man rear-ended her. He wasn’t going as fast, which is probably what saved her life. The car crumpled like an accordion, so the first responders had to cut her out of the car.
“We’ve done a CT scan and taken several X-rays. It appears that she has one broken rib, some bruising on her chest from the seat belt, and lacerations on her head where she hit the airbag. She has a concussion, which was concerning because we couldn’t get her to stay awake, but she seems to be doing better now.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Cami asks, holding on to Landon’s hand for dear life.
Steph is standing beside me, also holding on to my hand.
“Yes,” Dr. Miller says with a nod. “She’s going to be just fine. I think we’ll keep her here overnight, just so we can watch that concussion, but she’s going to make a full recovery.
“It’s going to take about thirty more minutes to get her settled in her room, and then you are all welcome to go in and see her. I would recommend no more than four of you at a time, as the room isn’t that big.”
She turns to leave, but then stops short and turns back. “I almost forgot. The baby is fine, too. She’s going to need to monitor things for a few weeks, but I don’t think there will be any trouble.”
She walks away, and I’m stunned.
“What baby?” Steph asks me.
“I have no idea,” I murmur. My God, is that what she was hurrying home to tell me? I look around and all eyes are on me, but there’s nothing that I can say, given that I simply don’t know.
Did she just find out today? Has she known for a while?
“What are you thinking?” Steph asks quietly.
“I don’t know what to think.”
I just shake my head at the others and sigh, then rub my hands over my face in frustration.
“I take it he didn’t know either,” Kat murmurs. I can hear other voices around me, but I’ve tuned them all out. All I know for sure is, the woman I love more than anything is lying in a hospital bed alone, that she’s apparently carrying a baby that I didn’t know about, and I can’t get to her.
“We’re going to go,” Addie says and everyone but Mia’s parents, brother, and Cami nod. “Now that we know she’s okay, we’ll go and come back later this evening or tomorrow morning. Just please keep us posted if anything changes.”
“We will,” Landon says. “Thanks for being here.”
I’m hugged and assured that everything is okay as they leave, but I barely feel it. I need to see Mia. I need to ask her a million questions.
Not even ten minutes later, a nurse comes out to escort us back to Mia’s room. Stephanie and I lag behind, entering the room last. Mia’s parents immediately rush to her and hug her, her mother crying.
“Oh, bambina,” she says. “You scared me. How are you? Do you need anything?”
Mia searches the room for me, and when her eyes meet mine, they soften, but she doesn’t ask for me. Instead, she just starts to talk about the accident.
“It was stupid. The guy changed lanes to move to a faster moving one, but I couldn’t see that traffic was stopped ahead of him. And that’s really all I remember.”
Her head is wrapped in gauze. Her arm is in a sling, and her white skin matches the sheets on the bed.
She’s hooked up to dozens of wires and monitors. Her heartbeat is thumping in the room.
“It was scary,” she whispers, and her mother hugs her again.
“I want to hear about this baby,” her father says. Mia’s eyes immediately fly to mine again, and she shakes her head.
“Not now.”
“Were you ever going to tell anyone?” Steph asks, her hands on her hips and her face a mask of pure anger. “Do you know how horrible it is that Camden found out this way?”
“Stop,” I say, holding on to her elbow to keep her from advancing on Mia. “This is not the time for this.”
&
nbsp; “I know you’re hurt,” Steph continues. “And I’m so relieved that you’re going to be okay. But Mia, again? After everything you’ve been through with my brother, you’re going to do this to him again?”
“Do what?” Cami asks with a frown. “You don’t know that she’s done anything to your brother.”
“She knows.” Steph nods and then shakes her head in disgust. “I can’t believe that we’d all started to trust you. To think that you’ve grown up, and it would be different this time.”
Mia glares at Steph for a moment, then turns her gaze to me.
“You don’t get to talk to her like that,” I tell my sister. “Look at me.”
“No, I want to hear from her.”
“You don’t get to hear from me,” Mia says. “First of all, it’s none of your fucking business; and two, don’t you think I’d rather tell the father of my child that he’s going to be a daddy before I tell anyone else? You’re making assumptions, and maybe it’s out of fear. I know that car accidents are probably a trigger for you, given how you lost your parents. But you don’t get to shame me in front of my family and my boyfriend, Steph. If you’d all get the hell out of here, and give Camden and me a moment to ourselves, I can properly tell him that he’s going to be a daddy.”
She’s so fucking magnificent when she’s fighting. When she’s fighting for me, and for what’s right for us.
Landon kisses her forehead, takes Cami’s hand and leads her out of the room. Their parents do the same, and finally, I look down at Steph and gesture for her to get the fuck out of here.
When they’re gone, I latch the door closed, but before I can walk to Mia, the doctor bustles in.
“Oh, I’m happy to see that the family has left you be for a while,” she says with a smile. “You’ve had a rough afternoon, and I’d like to keep you as calm as possible. Are you the daddy?” she asks, looking at me.
“He is,” Mia replies, but won’t look me in the eyes.
“Well, this monitor here is Mia’s heartbeat. And this one is the baby. As you can see, the baby’s is much faster than mama’s.”
I’m still struck dumb. I’m watching everything unfold as if it’s a movie, and I’m the outsider.
Finally, the doctor leaves; and I once again latch the door closed behind her, and turn around to take Mia in.