Las Vegas Sidewinders: Dominic (27 page)

“Hi, Dom.” She smiled as he
hugged her and kissed her cheek.

“Thanks for taking care of
her—how is she?”

“We had a bit of a scare,”
she admitted. “She was bleeding pretty badly and the surgery to correct the
detached blood vessel took longer than normal, but Dr. Halpern says she’s doing
better now.”

“Can I see her?”

“She’s tired and doped
up—you’re going to have to tread carefully.”

“I promise,” he said
somberly.

“Let’s go.” She led him to
the elevator and they rode up to the top floor. Walking together, Mack motioned
that she would walk in first. He paused outside the door as she went in.

“Molly?” Mack’s voice was
soft in the dimly lit room. “How are you feeling?”

“Like I got beat up again,”
Molly whispered. “What time is it?”

“Almost ten. You’ve been
asleep most of the day.”

“You should go home,” Molly
felt herself getting drowsy again.

“I need to tell you
something first,” Mack said gently.

“Am I okay?”

“You’re fine, but I need you
to understand that I did something you’re not going to like.”

“What?”

“I had to get someone to pay
the surgeon or you might not have gotten the care you needed—you could have
died, Molly.”

“Did you call Toli?”

“No.” Mack hesitated. “Dom,
come on in.”

“Oh.” Molly sighed even in
her drug-induced haze.

“I’m sorry,” Mack said
gently. “But I had to make sure you had access to the best doctors.” She turned
and quietly left the room, touching Dom’s arm as she went.

“You didn’t have to come,”
Molly said, feeling tears well up in her eyes as she looked at him. He looked
so damn handsome, but there was sadness in his eyes she’d never seen before.
Instinctively, she reached out her hand to him. He took it and gently leaned
over to brush his lips across her forehead.

“I’m so sorry, baby,” he
whispered. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. I don’t know what I was thinking, but
I’m going to do whatever I have to do to fix this.”

“Maybe it wasn’t meant to
be,” she whispered. “Maybe you need to work on you—without me.”

“No.” He shook his head
vehemently. “I love you. I didn’t mean to screw things up. I made a mistake,
but I’m new to relationships too—you’ve got to give me another chance.”

“Dom?” Molly’s voice was
barely audible.

“Yeah, babe?”

“I need Mack…” Her voice
trailed off as her eyes rolled back in her head.

“Mack!” Dom bolted for the
door, his stomach seizing in panic.

Mack came running in and
suddenly there were people everywhere. Dom stepped out of the way, unsure what
to do as several nurses and another doctor came in.

“She’s bleeding again,”
someone said.

“Page Dr. Halpern,” Mack
said quickly.

“We need to prep her for
surgery.”

“We need to move her stat.”
They began wheeling her out and Dom stared, paralyzed by fear.

“Mack, what…” His voice was
barely a whisper.

“The kidney is bleeding
again,” she said. “But Halpern is one of the best. He’ll take care of her.”

“Oh God.” He sank into the
nearest chair feeling nauseous. “I don’t understand—what’s happening?”

“During the beating, some of
the blood vessels in her kidney were fractured and disconnected. She was
bleeding and they operated to stop it, but the surgeon said he was afraid there
might be more that he couldn’t see because of swelling. Apparently, he was
right because she’s bleeding again.”

“But how will he see them
now if he couldn’t see them before?” He stared at her in despair.

“We have to trust him.” She
took his hand in hers.

It felt like hours before
the doctor came out and Dom thought he was going to lose his mind. He paced
until his legs hurt and then he stared out the windows wondering what he would
do if she died. He called Suze and booked her on a 6:00 a.m. flight out of Las
Vegas. Then he sat and waited, fighting the urge to scream at the top of his
lungs. This was the kind of panic he’d felt the night Brian died, as they’d all
been waiting for the doctor to come out and verify he was gone. After this past
summer and meeting Molly, he’d thought these memories were long gone, yet here
they were again, making his pulse race and sweat drip down his back. By the
time the doctor came out, Dom almost couldn’t breathe.

“She’s doing well,” Dr.
Halpern said, shaking Dom’s hand. “Better than expected considering everything.
I think we’ve got it all now, and she should be able to rest comfortably.
However, there was something in tonight’s blood work that didn’t show up on the
records she brought from Las Vegas.”

“What is it?” Dom felt his
stomach clench again.

“It appears that Molly is
pregnant.”

“Oh my God.” Dom felt dizzy
and Mack quickly pushed him into a chair.

“Dom? Is that possible?”
Mack touched his arm.

“We’ve been trying…” His
voice trailed off. “She has a history of miscarriages—she’s not going to handle
it well if she loses another baby. How did they not notice before?”

“The levels aren’t very
high, so she’s just barely pregnant—maybe a few weeks? Most women wouldn’t be
getting a blood test this early on.”

“Yeah, that’s all it could
be,” he whispered. “We decided to start trying because she’s…” He swallowed.
“Because she’s 40.”

“With the amount of blood she’s
lost, I think you need to prepare yourself for the worst with regard to the
pregnancy,” the doctor said gently. “But everything else is good.”

Dom closed his eyes and
nodded. He could feel Mack’s hand on his shoulder, rubbing gently as he
struggled with another bout of nausea. It was like reliving a nightmare, and
this time he was to blame. He got there in time to save her, but maybe not the
child they both wanted so much. He had no idea how he would tell her. 

Dom woke to laughter in the
hallway and a crick in his neck. He stretched slowly, cognizant of Molly
sleeping close to him. She’d woken in the middle of the night and asked him to
lie next to her, so that’s what he’d done, despite the tiny bed and his huge
body. Carefully, he lifted himself out of the bed and stretched.

“About time you woke up,”
Mack came in holding out a cup of coffee.

“Thank you, God,” he
breathed, taking it from her gratefully.

“You can call me Mack,” she
chuckled, smiling. She looked fresh and alert this morning, wearing a tight
black skirt and red blouse. She wore her lab coat over her clothes, but she
looked a lot better than he felt, and he knew she couldn’t have gotten much
more sleep than he had.

 “Has the doctor been
by at all?”

“As a matter of fact, he was
here about an hour ago and we just let you sleep. Molly’s fever is gone and
everything looks good. He thinks she’s going to be fine.”

“What about the baby?”

Mack gave a slight shrug.
“So far, there’s no change.”

He nodded. “I’m going to try
to freshen up. Will you stay with her?”

“Sure.” Mack sat down in the
chair next to where Molly slept. A moment later the door opened and Cody and
Suze came in. Mack put a finger to her lips and they all stepped back out into
the hall.

“What’s happening?” Suze
asked. “Dom sounded frantic last night.”

Mack explained everything
that had happened just as Dom came out to join them. He hugged Suze and Cody
put a hand on his shoulder.

“How are you holding up?” he
asked.

“I’m not really sure,” Dom
admitted. “She scared the crap out of me last night when they rushed her off to
surgery…”

“I have patients to see
today,” Mack said. “But I’ll be back this afternoon. Call my cell if you need
anything, okay?”

“Thanks.” Dom hugged her
tightly. “For everything.”

“You’re welcome.” Mack
nodded at Cody and Suze and swept down the hall.

“You look exhausted,” Suze
said softly. “What can we do for you?”

Dom sank into a chair.
“She’s pregnant.”

“What?” Suze’s eyes opened
wide. “How?”

Dom gave her a look. “The
doctor said that we should expect the worst, after everything she’s been
through. He doesn’t think the baby will make it, between the physical trauma,
the blood loss and two surgeries.”

“Oh hell.” Cody sat by his
side and put his arm around his friend’s shoulders. “Does she know yet?”

“No.” Dom shook his head.
“The levels in her blood are low, so they think it’s probably just a few
weeks.”

“Has she seen the press
conference?” Suze asked, sitting beside him.

“No. We barely had time to
talk before she started bleeding again. She woke up long enough to ask me to
lay next to her about five this morning and that was it. What time is it now?”
He looked around, confused.

“It’s after ten,” Cody said.
“We got here as quick as we could.”

“How’d we do last night?”
Dom asked, remembering the game against San Jose and desperate to hear about
something normal in his world.

“Sharks went home with their
tails between their legs,” Cody said with a grin. “Karl got the shutout.”

“Good for him.” Dom nodded.
Despite being happy about the win, he was so tired. Hockey was the last thing
on his mind, but he needed to think beyond these sterile walls and the pain
they represented both now and in the past. All he’d been able to think about
was how close he’d come to losing her. He needed her to be okay, and it scared
him to think she might not come through this.

“I’m going to fly out to
meet the team in Colorado tomorrow morning,” Cody said after a moment. “Coach
said to tell you to take whatever time you need. We still have 10 days before
the regular season starts, but if you need more time he’ll work it out.”

Dom nodded absently. He
couldn’t imagine leaving Molly right now, much less getting on a plane to
Colorado. He wouldn’t leave her until she was okay.

“Have you thought about
marrying her?” Suze asked him, leaning over and resting her chin in her hand.

Dom blinked. “Well, yeah.
But she’s kind of mad at me right now, not to mention barely conscious.”

“I think you should pop the
question as soon as she wakes up.”

“I don’t have a ring.”

“Then I could go ring
shopping for you!” Suze wiggled her eyebrows and Dom managed to laugh.

“She’s not divorced yet.” He
frowned. “We’ve got to talk to that damn lawyer.”

“Actually,” Cody pulled an
envelope out of his jacket. “Coach made some calls and we got this.
Technically, she’s been divorced since September first, but the court clerk was
in Tim’s pocket. Lonnie Finch got an attorney involved when Coach mentioned the
delay in the divorce papers, and apparently the judge signed off on everything
on the 1
^st
but his clerk conveniently forgot to send out the papers.
They got this for you yesterday.”

“Thank you.” Dom took the
papers with shaky hands and put them on his lap. All he wanted was to hear
Molly’s voice and know she was okay. Divorce papers in hand, he slipped back
into her room.

Molly was awake and he
leaned over to kiss her lips. “Good morning,” he said.

“I woke up and you were
gone,” she whispered.

“Sorry, I needed to go to
the bathroom and get coffee.” He held up the cup he still held. “And then you
got visitors.” He let out a low whistle and Suze practically bounded into the
room.

“Suze!”  Molly’s face
lit up and she reached out her arms. Suze hugged her gently.

“I was so worried about
you.”

“I’m so happy you’re here.”
She glanced at Dom. “All of you.”

“Everything’s going to be
okay,” Suze said.

“I don’t even know what
happened,” Molly rubbed her eyes, wincing at the pain that was ever-present in
her face. The drugs kept everything at a dull roar, but she couldn’t touch her
face without some reaction.

“You had more bleeding in
the kidney,” Dom gave her an abbreviated version of what had happened.

“Why do you all look like
you’re hiding something from me?” She focused on Suze, because she knew she
would cave faster than the guys.

“I have lots of things I
haven’t told you,” Dom said quickly. “But I’d like to tell you in private…”

“We’re going to go get some
food,” Suze said, standing up. She kissed Molly’s forehead and grinned. “Let
the big lug grovel for a while—it’ll be fun and I wish I could watch, but Cody
says I can’t.” She winked at her husband, who chuckled.

“You’re coming back, right?”
Molly asked worriedly.

“Of course!” Suze waved and
Cody squeezed Molly’s hand before they left.