Page 40 of A Brilliant Spring

“No…what happened to me? Is the baby okay?” The nurse offers me a sweet smile and places her bony, wrinkly fingers on my forearm.

“The baby is just fine. It was in distress earlier when you got here — between the crash, your levels of distress, and the stress triggering early labour, it sent your body into a tizzy, making that little one go bananas. But the doctors got everything back to normal, and it looks like you’re in the clear. We’re just going to keep you a few days to make sure everything is all right.”

A huge crushing weight lifts off me as I hear her words. The baby is okay. My heart squeezes with happiness as I rub my little belly.

“There’s a bit of swelling and some internal bruising from the crash, but there’s nothing to worry about.” The nurse walks over to the table by the door, grabs my purse, and walks it over to me, resting it beside me on the bed. “Your phone’s been going a bit crazy, all these text messages from a guy named Rhys. Apologies, but we did have to check it to get an emergency contact. We called your parents and they’re on their way.” She asks me again if I’m okay before leaving me in peace and quiet.

Extracting my phone out of my purse I see about twenty missed text messages from Rhys. The last few are pretty awful.

Rhys: Fuck you, Riley. You can’t do this to me. You can’t ignore me and shut me out. I’m the baby’s father.

Rhys: God damnit, Riley. If you don’t answer me, so help me God I am going to come over to your place and knock down the fucking door.

Rhys: Why aren’t you answering me? Where the fuck are you? You’re not home. You should be home by now, you work in the morning.

I check the time and it’s still in the early hours of the morning, about 7 AM. The last message from him is different, and only from an hour ago.

Rhys: Please, Riley. Let me know you’re at least okay…

I type out a quick reply to Rhys.

Me: Sorry. I don’t appreciate all those messages you sent. Elissa and I were in an accident on the way back into town…we’re at the hospital. I’ll talk to you when I have a chance.

The message appears to be read instantly. Dots appear and disappear as I wait for him to respond, but it never comes.

•••

An hour later, the nurse walks in with my mom and dad following close behind her. Tears well in my eyes and I try to hold them back when I see them. My mother’s face is white as a ghost and splotchy from crying. My father’s eyes are bloodshot, and his bottom lip is quivering like a leaf in the wind. When our eyes meet, we all break down and sob together, and the nurse bows out of the room.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” my mother sobs. “I was so worried about you and the baby!” She collapses her body on top of mine, surrounding me in an embrace. Tears pour down her face, wetting my hospital gown. My father grunts from behind her, wiping his eyes before he walks over to the other side of my bed and grabs my hand.

Suddenly, a pounding set of footsteps comes racing down the hallway, and a familiar voice that tugs at my heartstrings yells my name. “Riley! Riley?!” A flash passes by my room, and then I hear backtracking, and…it’s Rhys. He’s doubled over in the doorway, heaving massive breaths. His jet-black hair is chaotic, sticking up everywhere. His face is flushed and his eyes are full of worry. “Riley!” He barrels into the room, throws himself over to me — slightly wedging my mother out of the way — and crashes to his knees. His eyes are full of tears and unsaid emotions. “Are you okay? Is the baby okay?” I nod my head, my mouth fails to say anything. I think I’m in shock. I didn’t think he’d show up here when I sent him that message.

“Baby,” he cries. His hands cup my face as he presses his forehead to mine. “Baby, I am so sorry. For everything. I was a dick, and I know it. I was just hurt and dealing with the stress of the company. And I know it’s no excuse, but I fucking love you, baby. I am so incredibly sorry. I’ll spend the rest of my life making it up to you and the baby, I promise.” Tears are streaming down my face, and I can’t explain how happy I feel in this moment to hear those words. He pulls away from me and digs in his pocket, then pulls out a tiny leather box. My heart leaps in my chest. What the fuck is he doing? “Riley Mikayla Jaimeson, I need you in my life. And I’m so sorry it took me so long to stop being such a jerk. I promise to love you and our baby. I can’t imagine my life without you, and I can’t believe I almost lost you. Both of you. I need you, Riles. Please, please forgive me. And please marry me.”

He opens the box, and my mother gasps. Sitting in the middle of the cushion is a white gold band embedded with tiny little diamonds. At the centre of the ring, a one-carat diamond sits boldly, glimmering brilliantly under the terrible fluorescent lighting. My breath hitches. I am completely speechless.

My eyes find his, and they’re pleading with me, begging me to say yes. And, in this moment, I want nothing more than to be his wife.

“Yes,” I whisper.

Chapter

Thirty-Six

Riley

Rhys’ mouth crashes down on mine and my heart swells with so much love, I feel like I could burst. He breaks the kiss, extracts the tiny trinket out of the box, and tosses the box onto the bed. He grabs my hand, placing soft, delicate kisses on the inside of my wrist before turning my hand around and sliding the ring onto my finger.

“A perfect fit,” he whispers. His mouth fuses to mine, and he pushes his tongue through my lips, and they dance together. His hand slides up my face and tangles into my hair. A deep clearing of the throat rumbles behind us, and we hastily break the kiss. My father is standing there, looking like he’s ready to kill Rhys. There’s fire burning behind his eyes, his face is red, and his arms are locked together across his chest.

“Uh, Mr. Jaimeson, sir. I didn’t see you there,” Rhys stutters as he clambers to his feet. He sticks out a hand for my dad to shake, but he just looks at Rhys’ hand and scoffs. Rhys turns to look at me, silently asking me what to do, and eventually lets his hand drop. The nurse walks back into the room, cheerily talking as she enters.

“Well, Riley! I’ve got news about your friend —” She skitters to a halt. “Oh, you’ve got another visitor. Well, nice to meet you.” But I’m no longer paying attention to anything else. I perk right up.

“What about Elissa?” The nurse looks from Rhys and my family to me and her face softens a bit. My heart drops to my feet.

“Well, she’s okay. She’s in the ICU. She has a few bruised ribs, but she hit her head hard a few times, and there’s…well, there’s some swelling. The doctors had to induce a coma to give her brain time to heal.”

---