With Me in Seattle Bundle One (35 page)

“I wish you were coming with me.”

“You’ll be home tomorrow.”

“I don’t like leaving you.”

I smile, and my heart gives a little lurch.  “I’ll be okay.”

“Will you drive me to the airport?”

“Of course.” 

He sighs, his eyes serious as they take in my face.

“Are you okay?”  I rub his rough cheek with my hand.

“I miss you already.”

“Oh, you have it bad, Mr. Williams.”

Luke laughs and rolls me onto my back.  He runs his knuckles down my cheek and kisses me in that gentle way he has that makes me all gooey.  “Yes, I’m afraid I do.”

“I do, too,” I whisper.

“I’m glad to hear it.”

He sweeps his nose down mine as I raise my legs up and around his waist.  We’re still naked from last night’s lovemaking.  He shifts so his hard cock is lying against my folds and rocks gently back and forth.

I know this will be much different from the way he fucked me on the couch last night.  This will be slow and sweet.

He’s kissing me tenderly, his eyes open and on mine.  He pulls his hips back, and then slides inside me oh so slowly. 

“Luke,” I sigh against his mouth.

“I love you,” he whispers.

He doesn’t increase the tempo, he just continues a steady, slow rhythm, in and out, cupping my face in his hands, and it’s so beautiful I can’t stop the tears from falling out of the corners of my eyes.

“Don’t cry, baby.”  He brushes the tears away with his fingertips and rubs my nose with his again.

“I love you so much,” I whisper back to him.  “Please, be safe.” 

His eyes widen, and I know he can see the vulnerability in my eyes, and he finally understands my fear about this trip. 

“Oh, baby.”  He closes his eyes tightly and buries his head in my neck.  I wrap my arms around him, holding him to me, as he gradually increases the tempo and pressure inside me, and I come, pulsating around him, as he empties himself into me.

***

“They’re going to be calling your flight.  You’d better get through security.”  Luke’s wearing a baseball cap and glasses in hopes that he won’t get recognized in the airport.  He looks hot.

He always looks hot.

“Have fun with Jules tonight.”  He pulls me to him and kisses me long and slow.

“Be good.”  I raise an eyebrow at him, and he laughs.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.  I’ll call you when I get to the hotel.”  He kisses me again, then rests his lips on my forehead and takes a deep breath, like he really doesn’t want to let me go.

“Okay.  Safe travels, my love.”  I run my hands down his chest and step back and watch him walk toward security and his terminal.

***

“Natalie?”  Jules calls as I open the front door to my house.  I have hardly been here all week.

“Yeah, it’s me.”  I really don’t feel well, and I don’t think it has anything to do with Luke’s trip.

“Did Luke leave this morning?”

I walk into the kitchen.  Jules is buttering a bagel, and as the aroma hits my nose, it turns my stomach.

“Oh shit.”  I run for the hall bathroom and throw up, barely making it in time.

“Hey, are you okay?”  She’s standing in the doorway, watching me.  Jules is one of the only people in the world I would let stand there and watch me hurl.

“I think I must have the flu.  I’ve been feeling queasy all morning.  I thought it was nerves, but apparently not.”

My stomach convulses again, and I grip on to the toilet as I violently retch.

Jules disappears and comes back with a glass of water for rinsing my mouth and cool washcloth.  She sets the glass on the sink and presses the cloth to my neck, and I moan.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s get you upstairs and in bed.  Lie down for a while and see if your stomach settles.”

“Okay.” 

Jules follows me upstairs.  I don’t feel too bad, just intensely nauseated.  I hate throwing up.

My phone pings in my pocket as I climb on the bed.  It’s a text from Luke.

About to take off.  No one recognized me.  I miss you already, beautiful.

I smile and hit reply.

I miss you, too.  Be safe.  I want you home in one piece, please.

And, I have to barf again.  I run for my bathroom and stay there for the next thirty minutes.  Jules is hovering with wet rags and water and makes me shove a towel under my knees.

“I think we should go to the ER.”

“No, I’m fine.”  I retch some more.

“Yes, I can see that you’re in top form,” Jules replies drily.

“Don’t be a bitch.”

“Nat, I’m worried.  You can’t stop throwing up.”

“I don’t have anything left to throw up.”

“Yet you’re still dry heaving.  This isn’t normal, even for the flu.  You don’t have a fever.”

My abs are starting to ache as I continue to heave over the toilet.

“Nat, don’t make me call my mother.”

“She’ll side with me,” I reply.

“Fine, I’ll call Luke.”

“No, he can’t do anything from LA anyway.”

More heaving.  God, there’s nothing left in me!  What is wrong with me?

“Okay, Nat…get in the goddamn car.  Here’s a bucket.”  Jules shoves a big plastic bowl under my face and helps me to my feet.  “An hour of uncontrollable barfing is too much.  You’re probably dehydrated.”

She helps me into the car and takes me to a nearby hospital emergency room.  Surprisingly, it’s fairly quiet, and I’m processed through triage and into a room quickly.  I’m thankful that Jules is with me to give them my personal information. I can’t stop heaving long enough to form a sentence.

I manage to give a urine sample and change into a hospital gown.

“Natalie, I’m Mo.  I’ll be your nurse today.  Put this pill under your tongue.  It’s called Zofran, and it’ll help the nausea.”  I gratefully accept the medicine from the kind, petite nurse and take a deep breath. 

“Let’s get another set of vitals.”  Mo smiles and takes my temperature, blood pressure and heart rate.

“Everything is normal.  That’s a good sign.  Dr. Anderson will be here in a few moments.”

“Thank you.”  Jules pulls a chair up next to me, and my phone starts to ring.  It’s Luke.

“Hello?”

“Hey, baby, I’m at the hotel.  Everything okay?”

“Yes, everything’s fine.  I’m just hanging out with Jules.”

Jules’ eyes go round, and she mouths,
What the fuck are you doing?
  I brush her off.

“Okay, good.  I’m heading back out to my first meeting.  I’ll text you when I can.”

“All right, have a good meeting.  I love you.”

“I love you, too.”  I hear the smile in his voice as he hangs up.

“Natalie…”

“Stop.  He can’t do anything from LA.  There’s no need to worry him.  He’ll be home tomorrow anyway.”

“He should know that you’re in the emergency room.” 

God, she’s stubborn.

“That pill they gave me is helping with the puking.  They’ll probably just send me home.”

“Knock, knock.”  A small blond woman pokes her head through the door.  “I’m Dr. Anderson.  I hear you’re not feeling well, Natalie.”

“I’ve been throwing up for about the last hour and a half.”

“Has it been steady, or does it come and go?”

“Steady.  Couldn’t breathe until the nurse gave me that anti-nausea pill.”

“Any other symptoms like diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain?”  She is jotting down notes in my chart as we talk.

“No, just the vomiting.  I was a little nauseous early this morning, but I thought it was just nerves.  Then the vomiting started.”

“Okay, well, it sounds like we’ve got that stabilized.”  She pushes on the skin on my hands and looks in my mouth and nose.  “You’re pretty well dehydrated, so I want to start an IV and get some fluids going. We’ll take some blood and run your urine and see what we see, okay?”  She smiles down at me kindly.

“Okay.  Will I be able to go home today?”

“Most likely.  Let’s get some test results, and I’ll be back in a little while.”

“See?” I say to Jules after the doctor leaves.  “I’ve probably just got the flu.”

Nurse Mo bustles back into the room and starts my IV.

“Oh, no, I’m outta here!”  Jules jumps up and runs out of the room. 

I smirk at Mo. “She hates needles the way most of us hate spiders.”

Mo laughs, draws some blood and bustles back out again, leaving me with Jules.

“How are you feeling?” she asks.

“Better.  Still a tiny bit queasy, but I don’t feel like I’m going to throw up anymore.”

“Good.  You were starting to scare me.”

We sit in companionable silence for a while, both of us checking our phones and watching a bit of TV.  We wait a really long time, about two hours, before we see the doctor again.

“I’m sorry for the wait.  I had a few blood tests that I wanted to run, and they can take a little time.”  She pulls a chair up next to me, and it looks like she’s settling in for a long chat.

Shit, what’s wrong with me?

“I have some good news and some news that could go either way, depending on how you choose to look at it.”

“Okay.  I’ll take the good news first, please.”

“You’re very healthy.  All of your vitals are normal, and your labs all came back completely fine.”

“Good.”

“Except, and here’s the other news, you’re pregnant.”

I hear Jules gasp beside me, but I don’t understand.

“What did you say?”

“You’re pregnant.”

“No, that’s impossible.”  I shake my head adamantly.  There must be some mistake.

“Oh?”  The doctor raises an eyebrow.  “Why is that?”

“I’m on the Pill.  I never, ever miss a pill.  Never.  I’m The Pill Nazi.”

“The Pill can be very effective at preventing pregnancy, but just like all birth control, it can fail.”

“No, if I take it the right way, which I do, I won’t get pregnant.”

I see Jules pick up her phone and start tapping the screen voraciously while the doctor smiles patiently at me and pats my leg.

“Natalie, the Pill is ninety-nine percent effective when taken correctly.  There is a one percent chance that it can fail, and it seems that you are that one percent.”

“What?!”  The world starts to fall away from beneath me.

“She’s right, Nat.”  Jules shoves her phone in my face.  “Never mind that you have an educated MD right here telling you this, but WebMD concurs.  Ninety-nine percent effective.”

“I take it this is bad news?” Dr. Anderson asks.

I look at Jules, and she looks as shocked as I feel.  “I don’t know.”

The doctor looks at my ring and smiles broadly.  “Maybe it’s just a shock.  We ran both your urine and blood to confirm.  I’d like to do an ultrasound to determine how far along you are.”

Nurse Mo steps out of the room and returns with a little ultrasound machine on wheels.  Instead of putting a probe on my flat belly, the doctor has me put my feet in the stirrups so she can use a vaginal probe.

“The baby is too small to see with the external probe,” she explains.

Baby? 
Oh. God.

The nurse turns out the light, and we all look at the screen of the machine.  Suddenly, there is a little black circle, about the size of a quarter, and inside is a flutter.

“There we are!”  Dr. Anderson smiles.  “I’d say you’re at about six weeks along.”

Jules grabs my hand, and we stare at the screen in awe.

“Is that the heart?” I ask, pointing to the fluttering on the screen.

“Yep.  It’s hard to make out much more on this machine, but the black area is the amniotic fluid, and that flutter is the heart.  You’re nausea and vomiting is something we call hyperemesis gravidarum.  It’s morning sickness times a hundred.  You’ll probably be pretty nauseated during this pregnancy, so I’ll prescribe you some anti-nausea meds to use at home.  They won’t affect the baby.  Also, stop the Pill immediately, start taking some prenatal vitamins with folic acid and make an appointment with your OB doctor in the next four weeks.”

She hits a button on the machine, and a photo of the ultrasound prints out.

“Here, something for you to show off.”  She winks at me.  “We’re going to keep you for a while, push another bag of fluids and make sure your vomiting is under control, and then you can go home.”

“Okay.”

She leaves, and Jules and I just stare at each other.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“No.”  I feel numb.

“I love your ring.  The picture you texted me Saturday night didn’t do it justice.”

“Thanks.”

“Okay, let’s talk about this rationally.”  Jules takes my hand in hers and looks me in the eye.  “He loves you.”

“He’ll think I’m trying to trap him.”

She laughs—
laughs
—and squeezes my hand.  “Natalie, that won’t even cross his mind.”

“His family will think that.”

“Who gives a fuck?”

“He just barely proposed.”

“Now you’re just babbling.  Natalie, look at me.”

“It’s too soon.”  My eyes fill as they find hers.  Thank God she’s here with me.  “We just met. We’re still learning each other, Jules.  We’ve been engaged for less than a week.  It’s too soon.”

The tears come in earnest as my phone rings again.  I send it straight to voice mail.

“Nat, you have to talk to him.”

“I’m not telling him this over the phone.”

“No, he’ll worry if you don’t answer the phone, silly.”  My phone rings again, but I’m crying too hard now to answer it.

“You answer.  Tell him I’m in the bathroom or something.”

“Natalie’s phone,” Jules answers.  “No, sorry, Luke, she’s in the bathroom.  Want me to have her call you back?  Uh huh.  Oh, okay, I’ll tell her.  Bye.”

“Well?” I ask when she hangs up.

“He’s going into another meeting, but he’ll call you later.”

“Good.”  I let my head fall against the bed.  “Oh God, what am I going to do?”

“What are you talking about?  You and Luke are going to be parents.”  Jules takes my hand again.  “Nat, you’ll be awesome parents.”

“It’s too soon,” I whisper and put both hands over my face and weep.

Chapter Thirty-Two

My crying jag subsides, and I take a deep breath as Nurse Mo returns to change my IV bag.