Page 115 of Hidden By His Side

Instead, she remembered the flash of headlights passing so fast below her on that bridge.

Ramiro had done the wrong thing that night. He should have let her jump.

Ramiro felt like a boulder had crushed him, but the feeling faded when he opened his eyes and saw Summer.

She was right in front of him. She was crying, the tears silent and shimmering in her blue eyes, but she was there.

“I’m here,” he rasped, reaching for her with his bandaged but numb hand.

Summer flinched away, making him freeze, ice piercing his chest. Her tears fell faster.

“Sorry. I’m sorry,” she whispered, the words cut by a sob.

Her apology ripped him open. “No,” he choked out. “Don’t be sorry.”

She moved closer, reaching for him. “Please. I need you.”

His arm wrapped around her, and then she was pressed against him. He held her close, as tight as he dared, and she buried her face in his neck. Her tears there felt familiar. Holding her through them never got easier.

He realized he probably shouldn’t have moved her, but it was too late for that. “The baby?” he asked thickly.

Summer cried harder.

Tears rose in Ramiro’s eyes, and he pressed them into her hair. He might never get to hold her daughter. There would be a permanent hole inside him if that were true.

But he got to hold Summer. She was hurting, but she was there with him, despite him not deserving it.

“I’m sorry,” he cried into her hair. “They hurt you. I’m so sorry I didn’t get there in time.”

Her body curled into his as if she could hide inside it and disappear. He couldn’t let her disappear, but he also couldn’t take away her pain. All he could do was hold her and let her cry.

The nurse wasn’t happy when she found Summer in Ramiro’s arms. Summer tuned her out, clinging to him even tighter.

His hand cupped her face as he lifted it. Her face was a mess, puffy from crying and from all the times they’d hit her. She blocked the thought.

“I’m here,” Ramiro reminded her. “I’m going to be here, but let’s let them listen to the baby.”

Summer blinked as the words penetrated. “But isn’t the baby—” The word choked in her throat. She didn’t want to say it. “I was bleeding,” she whispered instead.

“Let me call the doctors,” the nurse said.

Ramiro moved her back to her own bed before they arrived. He covered her jittery hand with one of his own as the doctors talked. There was more than one.

Blunt abdominal trauma—that’s what they called the kicks to her stomach. Kicks she’d lost track of before she’d curled into herself so they couldn’t do it. Then their kicks had fallen on her legs and arms instead.

She forced herself to focus on the doctors’ words, but none of them sounded good. Placental abruption, ruptures, and embolisms were all things they’d been worried about, but they’d examined her, and none of those things had happened. Anger spiked that they’d even brought them up if they weren’t important, but she swallowed it down. Anger was no good. She shouldn’t feel that way.

“You did hemorrhage. We were able to stop the bleeding, and from what we can tell, there was no permanent damage to the fetus. We’d like to monitor the heartbeat for another twenty-four hours, but if the rhythm remains steady, the possibility of miscarriage is unlikely.”

Summer’s hand moved to her stomach, stroking over the bump. The baby was still there.

“The bleeding—” The doctor’s gaze shifted to Ramiro before moving back to her. “We can discuss this privately, if you prefer.”

Summer was scared to hear what they had to say alone, but she was also scared for Ramiro to hear it. His hand tightened on hers. “Need me to leave?”

She stared down at his hand and shook her head. “Please, don’t go.”

“That’s fine,” the doctor soothed. “He can stay.”

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