Underneath It All (32 page)

Chapter XXXV

You Get Served What You Deserve

It was our turn to enter Rogue’s room. Reeve and I waited patiently for her to become conscious, waited for those telling eyes to open, betray her muddled mind and for her brow to furrow in confusion.

Minutes later, blue orbs like that of Reeve’s, clouded with apprehension, opened and Reeve let out a sigh of relief.

“How are you feeling?” Reeve asked with a hand on top of her forehead, pushing back her hair.

“I’m good.” Rogue smiled at him and Reeve looked completely at peace for the first time in the last twenty-four hours.

“That’s my girl.”

“How’s my baby?” asked Rogue.

“He was tiny, but absolutely perfect just like me.”

Rogue laughed and groaned in pain. She smacked Reeve’s arm and I chuckled lightly.

“Stop it, it hurts!”

“Why? I’m just stating a fact.” He laughed along with her.

“He’s absolutely precious,” I said in amazement.

“He sure is,” she smiled.

“Mik is down in the NICU, looking after your angel.”

“Can I see him?”

“You’re still weak,” Reeve reminded her. “You can see your baby as soon as you’ve regained your strength.”

“For now, you just have to lie here and stay pretty,” I added.

Rogue nodded. Slowly she drifted off to sleep. She looked like a broken mess, as if she was wrung out and hung out dry.

I was staring blankly at her.

Rogue spent the first day after the birth of her son in such crippling pain she was barely able to care for her baby, let alone experience the overwhelming joy she had always imagined would envelop her after giving birth.

It was not a beautiful experience. Giving birth was extremely scary and painful.

Suddenly it hit me. I became strangled with a paralyzing fear and realized I was scared to give birth.

“Agata.” Reeve’s voice snapped me out of my trance. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” I blinked. “You were saying?”

Reeve stared at me and held my hand.

“You’re scared.”

“Stop mocking me,” I said defensively.

Reeve stepped forward and I took a step back. He moved closer and held my shoulders. “Women have been giving birth since the beginning of time. No matter how afraid you are, you can do this.”

“It’ll hurt like bitch,” I muttered. He chuckled.

“Tsk, tsk, tsk, it’s really scary,” Reeve teased.

“Reeve!” I grew even more nervous.

He laughed lightly and pulled me into his chest. “On the bright side at least we have plenty of time to prepare. Don’t be scared; whatever pain comes your way will be forgotten almost immediately once you see our baby. Hearing that first cry, counting all their little fingers and toes…” he said, all while rocking me side to side and putting butterfly kisses on my head.

Our baby.
It was like music to my ear.

“Looking at Rogue really scares the crap out of me.”

“Her situation is different. You will have a much better labor and delivery experience,” Reeve assured me and rubbed my stomach.

Gone were my fears about giving birth, replaced with excitement about the life waiting for us. Absolute joy was around the corner, just months away. My heart could burst from it all.

We stayed tangled in each other’s arms for a few minutes only to be separated when a nurse came in to monitor Rogue.

“Can I go home with you? I missed the dogs.”

“The dogs?” Reeve’s head jerked and his right eyebrow arched up.

I smiled sweetly at him. “I missed you more.” I snuggled closer and kissed his cheek.

He tucked the strands of stray hairs behind my ears and smiled at me. “I need to take care of Eve first. I hope you understand.”

“Of course.” I nodded. “Let’s save the conversation for Project Bitch Slap for tomorrow, hmm? Too happy to plot an evil plan anymore today.”

It was getting late; my eyes were struggling to focus.

“What do you mean I can’t go in? I am his fiancée!”

Suddenly, I heard the familiar jarring voice of Eve yelling outside Rogue’s room. Speak of the devil.

We went out of the room to see what the commotion was all about.

“What’s going on here?” Reeve asked.

“What’s going on
here?
” Eve asked him back. She looked down at our intertwined fingers and her brows creased in anger. “What’s the meaning of this, Reeve?”

“You know what the meaning of this is,” I butted in.

“You bitch!” She charged at me but Reeve stood between us. “I’m not letting you take him away from me! We’re getting married!” she screamed, making everyone in the hallway stare at us.

“You’re a fraud!” I shouted back at her.

A few people began whispering among themselves.

“Stop making a scene, Eve,” Reeve growled and grabbed her arm tightly.

Eve quieted down to soft sobs. She hugged him as she threw her arms around his neck. “Do not believe her, Reeve. She just wants to break us apart. I’m pregnant, baby; I’m not lying. We’re going to have a baby.” Eve clutched his shirt and sobbed into his chest.

Reeve pushed her away. “You can’t fool me, you know.”

Eve stood there, on the brink of rage.

“You don’t believe me do you?” she inquired timidly, more tears coming down her face.

“Let’s stop this charade, Eve.”

“I hate you! I hate you!” Eve screamed repeatedly in uncontrollable hysteria while beating on his chest.

“Eve, stop!” Red restrained the untamed Eve as he grabbed her upper arm.

Eve wrenched her arm out of his grasp and pushed Red away.

She let out a sob before speaking. “He’s denying my baby, Red. You know this baby can’t live without a father.” Slowly she took a step back and started to run out of the hospital.

“Eve! Eve, where are you going?” Red called after her. “Eve! Damn it!” He ran after Eve.

“I have to go after them. Eve is capable of doing crazy things,” Reeve said.

“Okay.” I nodded and Reeve immediately left and ran after the two.

A few minutes later Reeve stormed through the hallway with hard facial features; his eyebrows drawn together, his eyes narrowed and his mouth formed in a tight line with his jaw clenched.

His shirt was spotted with blood.

“What the hell happened?” I demanded.

He simply stared at me with a blank expression.

“Hey, what happened?” Amanda came up to him and asked, “Where’s Red?”

Reeve swallowed hard. He hung his head and fixed his eyes on the floor. “Eve was hit by a speeding truck. Red and I took her to the emergency room.” His voice was low, in a deep whisper that shook with fear.

“Oh my God,” Amanda gasped, as her hand flew to her mouth and covered it.

Reeve sank into one of the chairs in the hallway, his head went into his hands. “The doctor that examined her said she was bleeding.”

“Bleeding?” I repeated and took a seat next to Reeve.

“The doctor said she was pregnant,” Reeve further explained.

My eyes closed for a split second trying to comprehend everything he just told me.

“I thought…” I trailed off.

Reeve looked up into my eyes and he shook his head. “Agata, I swear to God I didn’t touch her. I don’t know. I really don’t know how.”

“I honestly don’t know what to believe anymore,” I mumbled as a single tear rolled down my cheek.

I got up from the chair and shuffled away from Reeve.

Suddenly, Red came striding over with a look of madness on his face.

“Red, h-how is she?” I asked, though the last thing I could feel was to care for the life of an unborn child conceived by such an evil woman.

“How’s the baby?” Reeve came from behind.

Red’s shoulders sagged as he took a retreating step until his back hit the wall.

“The baby is gone.” Red turned to his brother.

Reeve cursed, pacing back and forth then he punched the wall near him.

“You don’t have anything to feel guilty about, Reeve. She brought this on herself. Eve was planning to get rid of it, in the first place,” Red said.

“What?” I exclaimed in shock. “Has she gone crazy? Who, in a sane mind, will take the life of her own child?”

“Lucy did,” Reeve blurted, pain etched in every line on his face. The past was repeating itself. Another child was taken away from him. His fingers gently ran through his hair, his face full of sorrow as he wiped the tears he tried to stop from falling.

He hadn’t even recovered from one tragedy before crashing into the next. Our separation, Rogue’s delivery and now…this.

“It wasn’t yours, brother,” Red uttered.

Both our heads turned his direction.

“Eve wasn’t really pregnant when she announced that she was, a month ago. It was Agata’s result,” Red confessed what he knew. “She always came to my pad, luring me to have sex with her. I figured she wanted me to get her pregnant, so her lies would hardly become distinguishable from the truth.”

“Goddamn it,” I murmured. “How many of you does she need to use just to get Reeve? She’s completely out of her mind.”

“And so, she became pregnant. I finally made it real. But I knew her plans of aborting it once Reeve agreed to marry her,” he continued. “Once she wakes up and learns she lost the baby, I know she won’t even care.” His head was hanging low. He had been devastated. All of us were.

“I’m sorry, Red,” I whispered and soothed his back.

He smiled weakly. “She’s now out of danger. Weeds really don’t die easily,” he remarked. “I’ll go home and change. It’s up to you if you want to see her. She looks awful but you can still recognize her.”

“Pardon me if I sound like I’m being mean to her, but she deserved it. I just want her to leave us alone once she recovers. She has no place here.”

“I knew you would say that and I totally understand. I’ll see you later,” Red bade, and after tapping his brother’s shoulder, he left.

I turned around and saw the distraught state Reeve was in. He turned his head slightly and his eyes locked with mine.

“I’m sorry I doubted you.”

Reeve rushed forward, drawing me into his tight, powerful embrace. He held me so close that his heartbeat vibrated through my body.

His breath tickled the shell of my ear as he whispered something. “I have doubted me, too. Let’s start fresh, Agata, and leave the past in the past.”

I remained silent and stoic, but his blue eyes looked to me and a small smile tugged at his lips. It was too easy to get lost in the power of a smile, a hug. And when his sweet lips had kissed mine, I’d nearly stopped breathing.

“You can never get rid of me; I love you.” He’d somehow strung together those three simple words and made it sound like a prayer. What he’d said in a single breath had the power to change my life forever. And it would. I cursed myself for every wasted second and vowed, right then, that I’d never let him go again.

***

I went inside Eve’s room. It was my damn sympathy that had always been my weakness and this would be another prime example. I knew this.

I wanted to put a pillow over that smug face, but instead I made my way to make sure she was okay.

“Well, well, well…look at you.” Eve gave a groan in pain and I instantly went to the side of her bed. “Are you okay? Do you want me to call the doctor?”

She smirked. “Why do you even care? Stop being nice to me.” I felt like I wanted to smack that smug look right off her face. “Just go; I don’t need you here.”

“Honestly, you make it very difficult to be nice. I’m not your friend and we’ll never be friends, for sure, but you don’t have anyone right now. As much as you don’t deserve my sympathy, I don’t want to sink as low as you did to yourself.”

She jumped, ignoring my kindness.

“If it makes you feel better, I feel nothing for you aside from anger.”

Her eyes flicked in pain but she quickly recovered. She cringed and closed her eyes.

“I’m Eve Cromwell; I get what I want. I was supposed to have him. I was supposed to win.”

Eve was breaking down. She was losing it before me. I was angry with her but also felt sad for her. I would not feel sympathy for long; this woman was still a devil. I wouldn’t let my sensitive side overcome me.

“You know, I’m sorry this happened to you, but I’m not sorry Reeve and I are back together and I’m not sorry I’m pregnant with his baby.”

“You may have loved him, but you didn’t know how to love him right.” Eve looked away briefly and stared back at me. “How could he endure the sight of your face when it reminds him of the monster stepmother he used to go crazy over?”