Novel-novel oleh D.F. Hart

In the early morning hours of October tenth, Karli woke from a deep sleep and nudged Jordan’s shoulder.“Baby,” she said through gritted teeth.“Hmm,” came the sleepy response.“No. The baby. I think I’m in labor,” she told him, her pitch rising as the next contraction almost stole her breath away.“And I think my water just broke.”Jordan went from mostly asleep to wide awake in an instant, scrambling for his watch.“Tell me when this one is over, okay? And breathe, honey. In through your nose and out through your mouth,” he directed, moving around the room to get dressed and grab her hospital bag.“It’s gone,” Karli said, and motioned to him to help her sit up and maneuver to the side of the bed. “But I think another one’s pretty close behind it.”When the subsequent contraction began, she panted, “Now,” and he noted the time then coached her breathing through it.“A little under five minutes apart,” he calculated once it had passed. “I think we need to get going.”She nodded, holdi

After three hours, the general surgeon came out to the waiting room.“I’m sure you all will be glad to know EMT Baker should make a full recovery,” he began, and the room erupted with cheers.The surgeon smiled and waited a moment before motioning for quiet so he could continue.“The surgery went well. The knife missed all major organs, thankfully. He did have muscle and ligament damage that required repair, so you all will have to do without him wrestling a gurney for a little while. We’ll keep him for a few days, then send him home.”“How soon can we see him?” Tim asked.“Immediate family only until he’s out of ICU,” the doctor replied. “He’s in post-op right now, and we’ll be moving him to ICU within the next two hours.”“His girlfriend’s right here,” Tim pointed at Karli. “Can she see him in post-op?”Karli lurched to her feet and came to stand beside Tim with hopeful eyes. Tim put an arm around her.“Give us ten minutes,” the surgeon said, “and I’ll send my nurse out to come get

Cake, punch, party games, and an avalanche of opened baby gifts later, it was time to go.Madge approached Karli and enveloped her in a huge hug.“You two are so good together,” she whispered. “This is the most I’ve ever seen Jordan smile. And I am so happy to see you happy again too, Karli.”“Thanks, Madge. Truly.”“Call me if you need anything,” Madge said, and walked away.Karli looked at the mound of gifts once everyone had left.“No way all this is going to fit in my room,” she lamented.“About that,” Jordan said as he came back in from putting another box in the bed of his truck.“Why don’t you move in with me? Think about it. You’re at my place most of the time now anyway, and that second bedroom is completely empty. It would make a great nursery.”She tilted her head and considered.“You know what? Yes. Let’s do it.”“I was hoping you’d say that,” he grinned before he kissed her. “I’m the luckiest man on the planet, did you know that? And it’s because of you.”“When do you wan

“So, that wasn’t so bad,” Karli decided as they left their first childbirth class later that afternoon. “A lot of that stuff I already knew, and I am totally okay with the idea that watching the video isn’t required.”Jordan grinned.“I thought that might make you happy. I’ve had to watch it, as part of my EMT training. It’s pretty, um, intense.”“You know what else is intense? This heat,” she observed, fanning herself with the welcome pamphlet they’d been given. “Late summer in Texas is always a beating, but being almost eight months pregnant in mid-August? That sucks on a whole new level.”“Sounds like you could use air conditioning, a bowl of ice cream, and a foot rub,” Jordan mentioned. “And I just happen to know a place that has all three.”“Lead the way,” she urged. “Before we melt.”In a half-hour, Karli was stretched out contentedly on Jordan’s couch, a bowl of her favored sea salt caramel ice cream in her hands.She was also moaning lightly as Jordan gently worked a knot out

The following Friday Karli had another sonogram to go to, but this time she had someone to share the experience with.Jordan came to Sarah’s as scheduled and just stopped himself from picking Karli up and carrying her like a china doll to the passenger seat.“You sure you can get up in there okay?”“I’m fine,” she chuckled. “May not be able to in another month or so, but right now, I’m good. Stop worrying.”“Can’t help it,” he said earnestly, and received a kiss for his concern.At Dr. Hollard’s office, Jordan held Karli’s hand as the tech, Tracy, raced to keep up with an increasingly active baby.“Trying to get good pictures, but this little angel won’t cooperate,” Tracy commented with a grin.Jordan leaned down close to Karli’s belly.“Hey you in there,” he murmured. “Can you please hold still for just a little while? We’d like to get a good look at you.”Karli gasped when she looked at the monitor, watching her baby slow its movements and turn its head in response to Jordan’s voice

She gasped.“But we only hung out a few…”.“It’s been way, way longer than that,” he interrupted, taking another step closer.“I fell in love with you the moment I saw you at that frat party seven years ago. But my feelings did not need to be the reason I told you. Was Evan’s cheating wrong? Absolutely. Did you deserve to know? Absolutely. But I questioned my motives for wanting to reveal Evan’s secret. Not to mention, I didn’t want to tell you something I knew would hurt you. Does that make sense at all?”“I…I can’t be around you right now,” she whispered, and slowly turned and walked to her car.“Punch me,” he offered, striding after her. “Scream at me. Throw things. Whatever you need to do. But please, Karli, please. Don’t try to drive while you are this upset. Please.”She whirled around again, and her face crumpled as she began to sob.“How could you do that? How could you just… keep quiet like that?”He put his arms around her, and she struggled at first.“No! Get away from me!”

The doctor finally released her from the hospital five weeks later, and Drew insisted on moving her into his house.“What about Joshie?” had been her first concern.“What about him? I have a huge backyard and multiple years’ experience with playing fetch and giving belly scratches. He’ll love it at my place.”“What about work?”“It will still be there when you get back, Trixie,” he said softly. “Or I can make sure you’re completely set up to work remotely, your call.”She stuck her tongue out at him.“Smartass,” she teased. “I was talking about you. You have a company to run. You can’t afford to be away.”“The hell I can’t,” he told her, and watched her brow furrow in confusion.He knew the second she put it all altogether, because her eyes suddenly got huge.“You took the buyout deal.”He nodded. “Ran it by the board and although they were surprised as hell, they voted one hundred percent in favor of moving forward with it.”“So… when does all that become official?”“End of next mont

“Son, what can I do to help?” Blake said once Drew sat down heavily on the two-seat couch in the little room they’d spent all day in.“I’m not sure,” Drew admitted, his fingers raking his hair for the hundredth time. “I’m not leaving, Dad, I can tell you that much. I know they probably won’t let me stay in ICU with her overnight, but once they get her moved into a regular room, they’ll have to drag me out.”“Drew,” his father said gently as he placed his hand on his son’s shoulder. “You need rest, too. It doesn’t mean you love her any less if you get some sleep and take time to shower and eat. It won’t do her any good at all if the very first thing she sees is that you’ve run yourself into the ground.”Drew exhaled sharply.“I almost lost her, Dad. And she doesn’t know how I feel about her. Not really. I hinted around about it, but I never just came right out and said that I love her. Now I’ve been given another chance to tell her, and I don’t want to take it for granted.”“But you’re

Time stopped as Drew reached out blindly.Drew and Meghan both began to shake, and Meghan gripped his hand tightly for support before the lanky surgeon’s next words restored some order to their upside-down world.“But for now, she seems to have stabilized, and we’re prepping her for surgery. She broke her left leg, her pelvis, her left arm and collarbone, and there are hairline fractures of four vertebrae in her lower back. In addition, the CT scan revealed a ruptured spleen, a lacerated left kidney, and a broken rib that punctured her left lung. She’s also got a head injury; we’re still trying to determine how severe that is. All tests so far show no sign of skull fractures or swelling on her brain, which is excellent news.”“Is she going to make it?” Drew asked in a rush with a tremor in his voice. “When can we see her?”“She’s still very critical, but stable at the moment,” Baker responded. “Like I said, they’re prepping her for surgery now, and we’ll address the injuries in order

“Jesus. No wonder Trixie’s got trouble trusting people,” he announced, anger flashing in his eyes. “Especially men.”“Yeah, that’s an understatement,” Meghan agreed. “It took her years to let another man past her guard again, and that was Grant – another complete jackass, if you ask me. And, well, Trixie already told you what happened there.”Meghan watched as Drew’s eyes shifted, filled with pain and outrage on Trixie’s behalf.“She didn’t deserve that. Any of it. But it certainly explains why she left me the way she did.”“Yep,” Meghan confirmed. “That you got as far as you did? That’s huge, Drew, because that’s extremely difficult for her. I’m thinking she must love you, but she just doesn’t realize it yet. Otherwise, she would never have allowed you to get that close.”“Tell me honestly, Meghan,” Drew pleaded. “Do you think she’ll listen to me? Give me a chance to explain what she heard?”“I don’t know,” Meghan answered him honestly as she shrugged. “I know that’s not what you wan

Trixie yawned and stretched, wincing at the stiffness in her neck. She moved gingerly, stretching muscles further before she decided a hot shower would be the quickest way to get relief.She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. Six-twelve a.m.Huh. I managed to get some sleep. Didn’t think that would happen.She rose, stretching her arms over her head, and headed for the bathroom. In a half-hour’s time she’d dressed, packed, loaded her suitcase, and turned in her room key. She saw a McDonald’s sign not far away and made a run through the drive-through for breakfast.Trixie left the drive-through lane with her food and pulled into an empty slot. She turned on her cell phone, synced it to her rental car, and dialed Meghan’s number before she left the restaurant’s parking lot.“Hey girl, what’s up?” Meghan said when she answered.Trixie burst into tears.***Almost an hour later, Meghan said, “Okay, honey. Love you. Be careful, and I will see you in a while, all right?”Trixie sniffle

Drew sat on the couch in his suite, head in hands, trying to figure out what the hell Trixie was talking about.“Oh, shit,” he breathed as realization finally dawned.“She heard parts of my conversation with Dad about the ranch, maybe? But what the hell did I say that would result in all this?”He strained his memory to find exactly what he’d said to his father. Once he recalled it, he paled as he felt his heart break completely in two.No wonder she thought it was about her, he grimaced as he scooped up his phone and dialed his father again.“Dad,” he managed.“Drew. What’s wrong?”“Trixie. The woman I want to marry. I screwed up, Dad. There’s been a huge misunderstanding, and she’s gone. And I don’t know how to fix it.”“Start from the beginning, and tell me what happened, son. And we’ll go from there.”***Ten minutes later, Drew finished with, “And she left. Dad. What do I do?”“If you really love this girl, you need to find her and explain, son. Hopefully, that will be enough.”“