Page 91 of Selfless

“How is she?” I ask, my heart pounding when she stands, and I see tears in her eyes.

“They won’t tell me anything. I’m not family …”

I turn to the nurses’ station. “Ashlyn Whitaker?”

“Are you family?” she asks.

“Her husband,” I lie.

She looks down at her screen. “Room 138 …”

I take off in a mad dash down the hallway, looking for her. I almost pass it in my haste. I yank the curtain back and let out a sigh of relief when I see her sitting up with her legs hanging over the side of the bed. Two police officers stand on the other side of her.

“Ryder?” she asks wide-eyed. “What are you doing here?”

A nurse writes something down on her tablet. “Do you still feel nauseous?” she asks.

“No. I’m better.”

The nurse nods. “The Phenergan is working. I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes.”

As she leaves, I make my way over to her. She looks up at me with her blue eyes, and I place my hands on her face. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. What are you doing here?” She licks her lips nervously.

“Why do you keep asking me that? Why wouldn’t I be here?”

“I called Becca,” she explains.

I frown. “Why didn’t you call me?”

She sighs. “You were busy at work. I didn’t wanna bother you.”

My jaw tightens at the thought of her thinking that calling me at work would be a bother. Instead of telling her that, I ask, “What happened?”

She sighs heavily. “I was on my way to meet her for lunch when my cab was rear ended … A woman hit us—”

“Why didn’t you call Milton to take you?” I interrupt her.

“Why would I call Milton?” she snaps then her face falls. “I’m sorry. It’s just been …”

“I know. No need to apologize.”

“Excuse me, miss, but we have everything that we need,” the officer says, and she nods. “I have all your information and will contact you if I have any more questions.”

They exit her room, and not long after, the nurse returns with the doctor, and I watch her stiffen as if he was going to give us bad news. But he told her everything checked out, and that she would be discharged in the next hour. I made some phone calls to Kelly and told her I wasn’t going to be coming back in for the rest of the day and was taking the following day off as well. Even though he assured me she was fine, I still had a feeling she was hiding something. Either from me or the doctor, I didn’t know.

ASHLYN

I lie in bed wide-eyed, staring up at the ceiling. My heart racing and my mind wandering. Ryder breathes deeply beside me, his body turned away from me.

Unable to fall asleep, I listen to the sound of silence. The curtains are pulled shut, and it’s pitch black. My head is pounding, and I feel sick to my stomach. For more reasons than one.

I’m pregnant!

They told me today at the hospital when I arrived after the incident with the cab. They were taking me for X-rays and asked about the possibility of pregnancy. I started to say no when I realized I never had my period last month, and that wasn’t like me. My body is always like clockwork. They took my urine sample and sure enough.

I had just finished my ultrasound when Ryder walked in. I panicked. I didn’t know what to do or say. I prayed that the doctor didn’t congratulate me because, in all honesty, I didn’t know what to say to Ryder. How could I let this happen? We’ve had unprotected sex so many times. They said I was about eight weeks, yet I couldn’t bring myself to tell him.

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