The Moment We Began (A Fairhope New Adult Romance) (30 page)

He pauses. He makes it sound like I was only able
to go because he allowed it. He let me go. In his mind, even after
all this time, he still thinks he owns me. He still thinks he’s
in control of my destiny.

“After a week had passed without even a
single phone call from you, we started to get worried,” he
says. He moves from behind the couch and takes one of the ice waters.
He takes a sip, then sets it back on the tray and begins to pace the
space between the couch and the window. “We made a simple call
to the cell phone company, but I suppose you know what we found out
when they searched for your cell signal.”

I look down again. I pull my legs under me in the
chair, wanting to curl into a little ball.

“How could you do something so reckless? So
stupid?” His voice is angry. Cold. “What if something
horrible had happened to you while you were on the road? What if we
had never found you?”

I can’t even look at him.

“But I suppose that was the whole point,
wasn’t it? To make us worry? To punish us for what you thought
was unfair?”

“This wasn’t about you,” I say,
looking up. Making sure he sees my eyes.

Preston puts his hand on my shoulder. I know he’s
trying to tell me to be calm and to just be quiet and let Dad say
what he needs to say. But I can’t let this go on. I can’t
take it any longer.

“If you want to know why I left why don’t
you just ask me? Why do you have to assume that what you think is
right? Why do you think you’re the only ones with all the
answers? I’m here now. Just ask me why I left.”

“We know why,” my mother says. Her
voice is angry and her hands are shaking as she stands. “You
left to be with that boy. Someone you’ve had a silly schoolgirl
crush on since you were twelve years old and who never loved you
back. Mason Trent will never love you, Penelope. What did you think?
That if you got knocked up, he would suddenly have some kind of
epiphany and realize you were meant to be together? He was using you.
Why can’t you see that? He was—”

“Stop it,” I shout. I stand up, my
hands by my ears. “I won’t let you talk about him like
that. If you think that’s the kind of person Mason is, then you
don’t know him at all. And if you think I was trying to trap
him into something, then you apparently don’t know me at all
either. I’m not going to sit here and let you talk to me this
way after what you’ve just done.”

I stand up and head toward the door, but my mother
reaches for me, grabbing my arm and turning me toward her.

“Everything we did was for your own good,”
she says.

“See? That’s exactly what I’m
talking about.” I look straight into her eyes. I want her to
see that she doesn’t control me. “You don’t want to
give me the freedom to figure anything out on my own. You want to fix
it for me. It’s been that way my whole life. I mess up and you
guys swoop in and take care of the consequences. How am I ever
supposed to learn about life if you never give me the freedom to live
it? Yes, I have made some mistakes, but they are my mistakes. My
choices. I should have every right to make those choices for myself
without you forcing me to do what you want.”

A wave of dizziness washes over me and my knees
grow weak. I reach out and my mother throws her arms around me,
holding me up.

The room is spinning and my entire body flushes
with fever. A new pain stabs me low and I cry out. I can’t hold
on to my thoughts. Everything begins to blur together and I double
over, clutching my stomach.

“Penny?”

Preston’s hands are on my back. He and Mom
try to lead me toward the couch, but I can’t take another step.
Another cramp seizes my stomach and I fall to my knees.

Then I feel a gush and something hot and wet and
sticky trickles down my leg. I look down and see nothing but red. A
river of red.

Please, don’t let this be happening.

Voices around me are muffled, growing distant.
Someone puts a soft pillow under my head, but I’m only
half-aware of the movement around me. All I can feel is pain and
absolute terror.

I close my eyes, darkness reaching for me. Someone
yells my name and they flutter open again.

My mother is hovering over me, her eyes full of
horror.

Then another wave of pain consumes me, and I give
in, the darkness pulling me under.

“Miss Wright, can you open your eyes for me,
sweetheart?”

I hear the voice, but it’s mixed with the
sound of sirens. I try to open my eyes but can’t. All I can see
in my mind is blood.

“Penelope, I need you to try to open your
eyes. Stay with me, okay?”

I don’t recognize the woman’s voice,
but I concentrate on trying to force my eyes open.

They flutter and images go past like rapid
pictures. A woman leaning over me. She’s dressed in some kind
of uniform.

An IV in my arm. My mother sitting next to me, her
eyes filled with tears.

My eyes close again. They’re so heavy, it’s
hard to keep them open. I feel like I’m going to throw up, but
I can’t find my voice to tell anyone, so I suffer in silence.

“My baby,” I say, but my voice doesn’t
work.

We come to a stop and people rush all around me.
I’m lifted up, then down again. Pushed down a bright white
hallway.

I hear my mother saying she demands to be with me,
but someone won’t let her go wherever it is they’re
taking me. I reach up, forcing my eyes open again. I try to open my
mouth, but I can’t speak. I feel so weak, but somehow I manage
to find my mother’s hand and hold on tight. I see the doctor
nod his head.

“Thank you,” Mom says. “You’re
going to be okay, Penny. Everything’s okay.”

I’m cold and shivering. The pain is still
there, but it’s weaker now. More distant.

The terror, though, is close.

“Stand aside, please. We’re going to
move her over to the bed.”

Hands slip under me, then move me from one bed to
another.

I feel another gush between my legs and moan in
fear. I thought my heart couldn’t break any more, but this is
life at its cruelest. My heart breaks in my chest with every second
that ticks by.

“Penny, are you experiencing cramping?”
the nurse asks.

I nod and press one hand against my stomach. It
hurts so bad, my head is spinning.

“What’s happening?” I say,
finally finding the strength to speak. “Is my baby going to be
okay? Please.”

I watch the nurse begin cleaning up the pad on top
of the bed. It’s covered in blood. I turn away as she removes
it and places another pad down.

All I can think about is the bad choices I’ve
made. This is all my fault. The drinking. The accident. The stress of
carrying this secret.

“Miss Wright, I’m very sorry, but it
seems you’re having a miscarriage,” she says. “We’re
going to give you some medication to ease your pain and something
else to ease any nausea you might be experiencing.”

I try to sit up, but the nurse puts her hand on my
shoulder.

“Just try to relax,” she says. “We’re
going to help you through this.”

“No, don’t give me any medicine that
might hurt the baby,” I say. “I don’t want to hurt
the baby.”

Someone puts a pillow behind my head, lifting me
up. I look over and see a kind-eyed nurse.

“Thank you,” I say.

She nods and pats my hand. “We’re
going to do everything we can to make you comfortable,” she
says.

I lay back against the pillow, tears falling down
my cheeks and into my hair. Why are they talking like there’s
no hope? There has to be something they can do.

I need to be strong. I have to be strong for my
baby.

“I’m here,” my mom says. “I’m
right here beside you.”

I realize with a sudden force that the one person
I want by my side right now is hundreds of miles away.

Mason is the only one I want here. He’s the
only one who would understand what this feels like.

“I need Mason,” I say. I search my
mother’s eyes. “Please. Can you find him?”

My mother strokes my hair. “Penny, you’ve
got to let him go,” she says. “Maybe this is for the
best. I know it doesn’t seem like it right now, but you’ll
see. Everything’s going to be okay.”

Rage flares through me, white hot.

I release my mother’s hand and pull my cheek
away from her caress. “Don’t ever say something like that
to me again,” I say. “Get out.”

“Penny.” She shakes her head.
“Sweetheart—”

“Please, someone get her out of here,”
I say.

A nurse touches my mother’s shoulder. “Maybe
it would be better if you waited outside, Mrs. Wright,” she
says. “Penny’s under a tremendous amount of stress right
now and we need to do everything we can to keep her calm.”

My mother protests, but the nurses usher her from
the room.

For a moment, I’m alone in the room and
everything is quiet except for the beating of my heart on the
monitor.

I lay my hands against my belly and pray that
there’s another heart still beating somewhere deep inside.

“There’s someone here to see you,”
the nurse says. “If you’re feeling up to it.”

I sit up. “Who is it?”

I want her to say it’s Mason and that he’s
come back for me.

“Leigh Anne Davis,” she says. “She’s
been waiting out there for a little while and I thought maybe you
might like some company.”

I swallow, my throat dry and cracked from crying.
“Yes, thank you.”

Leigh Anne peers around the side of the door, her
eyes wide and full of mixed emotions. Sorrow. Fear. Sympathy. She
takes my hand and sits down by my side.

“I’m so sorry,” she says. “What
did the doctor say?”

I take a ragged breath. It feels like ages since I
talked to the doctors, but I’ve lost track of time. He said
there isn’t much hope,” I say. My voice trembles and I
have to take a moment before I can continue. “He did an
ultrasound and for now, the baby seems to be fighting. I got to see
his heartbeat, still strong and flickering away, but with that much
blood loss, it doesn’t look good.”

“Isn’t there something they can do?”

I nod and sniff, my nose running from crying so
much. “They’re giving me some progesterone, but he said
that it might not be enough to prevent a miscarriage. All I can
really do right now is wait and see. He said he’ll be back in
the morning to do another ultrasound. He said that since the bleeding
has slowed down, if the baby can make it through the night, there’s
a good chance everything will be okay.”

“That’s good news, then,” she
says.

“I don’t know how I’ll survive
if there’s no heartbeat on that monitor tomorrow morning,”
I say, my face crumbling. “I don’t know how I’ll be
able to walk out that door and keep living.”

She squeezes my hand. “I know,” she
says. “But you will. You’re strong.”

I shake my head. “I’m a mess,” I
say. “I’m not strong like you are.”

She smiles, her eyes filling with tears. “You’ve
always been strong, Penny,” she says. “And stubborn as
hell. If that baby is anything like you, it’s not giving up
without a fight.”

I laugh and hope she’s right.

Maybe I’m stronger than I think I am.

When the door opens and Dr. Mallory walks in, I
hold my breath.

I close my eyes and pray for good news.

Fear and hope wrestle through me. There have been
so many times lately when I wasn’t sure if I was facing a
beginning or an end. The path was unclear. The future was uncertain.
None of those moments have been as difficult as this one.

I don’t know what I’ll do if he tells
me my baby is gone.

I don’t want this to be an end.

Leigh Anne stands up and moves around to the other
side of my bed so the nurse can roll the ultrasound machine closer. I
bite my lower lip, staring at the screen.

“How are you feeling this morning?” he
asks.

“Better,” I say.

“No more cramping?”

I shake my head. I don’t want to answer
questions. I only want to see that screen. To know which path I’m
headed down.

Before he can get started, a commotion breaks out
in the hallway. I sit up, my heart pounding in my chest.

There’s shouting and something clangs
against the wall. The doctor stands as two men push through the
doorway.

As soon as green eyes meet mine, my heart leaps.

My world shifts and in that instant, strength
flows through me.

Bernard tries to hold him back, but Mason can’t
be stopped. He punches Bernard in the face, knocking him backward. My
father is close behind, shouting, but it’s too late for them.
Right now, there is only us.

“You can’t be in here,” Dad
says, stepping forward.

“Like hell I can’t,” Mason says.
He doesn’t back down one inch. “This is my child’s
life on the line here, and I have every right to be here. You can
threaten to lock me up all you want, but I’m in love with your
daughter and I’m going to be here by her side through this
whether you like it or not.”

He turns to me, his expression full of worry and
love. And forgiveness.

He crosses the room in three easy strides, then
collapses at my side.

“Are you okay?” he asks. “Is the
baby okay?”

I shake my head. “I don’t know,”
I say, taking his hand in mine. “The doctor was about to do
another ultrasound to see if the baby’s heart is still beating.
I’m so glad you’re here.”

Dr. Mallory walks to the door, waving everyone
else out of the room. “I’ll give you two some privacy,”
he says. “I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

“I didn’t make it five miles from the
hotel before I turned around,” Mason says when we’re
alone. “When I got back to the room, you were already gone so I
drove to the airport and caught the first flight home. I called Knox
and when he told me you were in the hospital, I…”