Page 16 of Stone Vows

“We’re going to be spending a lot of time together, Elizabeth, considering I’m your babysitter and all,” I say with a wink. “So how about when no one else is around, you just call me Kyle.”

“Kyle.” She tries out my name and I find that I like the way it rolls off her lips.

“Yes. And what should I call you? I mean, what do your friends call you? Liz, Beth, Lizzy?”

For a second, she looks like I asked her to explain quantum physics. “Uh . . .”

“Elizabeth,” I say, making my own choice in the matter. “Do you have a home?”

She seems scared, protective of any personal details. Protective of her name even. She doesn’t look homeless, yet everything points to it.

“Of course I do,” she says, shifting uncomfortably in the bed. Her movement dislodges the fetal monitor and I walk around the bed and reposition it on her belly.

“I saw you this morning, walking some dogs,” I say.

She puts her hands on her round stomach, looking guilty. “I did this, didn’t I?”

“It doesn’t matter how it happened. You could have started bleeding again even if you’d been in bed all week. No point in beating yourself up about it now. Maybe it’s fate; a blessing in disguise, you being here. It gives you and your baby the best chance at a healthy delivery.”

“Do you believe in that? In fate?” she asks.

I think of my friends, Griffin and Skylar Pearce and the horrifying experience they had to go through to get where they are today. I think of the chance meeting that brought Chad and Mallory back together after nine years apart.

I nod. “Yeah, I think I do.”

Her lips fold together thoughtfully. “So, you think the things we go through are all just a way of getting us to where we need to be?”

There is so much more to her question than she’s asking. Then again, she could just be referring to her having to be here, and I’m reading way too much into it.

I shrug. “I never really thought of it like that, but yes, I think that. I think exactly that.”

The smile she wore earlier returns to her face and I get the feeling this girl is not hard to please. And my urge to please her is uncharacteristically strong.

I make a mental note to call Mallory tomorrow. Elizabeth is pregnant and alone. She will be cooped up here for weeks. She needs a friend. And who better than my sister-in-law, who not only volunteers at an organization that helps pregnant girls, but who herself is pregnant. It’s the perfect solution.

I roll the ultrasound machine over to her bedside. “I know you had one downstairs, but now that you’ve been admitted, we’re going to do another one for a baseline.”

“Do as many as you want,” she says, excitedly. “I love watching him or her wiggle around in there.”

“Him or her,” I say. “So, you don’t want to know the baby’s sex?”

“No! Please don’t tell me. There are so few mysteries in life. I just really want to be surprised.”

I smile, pulling a sharpie out of my pocket to make a big bold note on the front flap of her chart. You never know what intern might walk in here and spoil it for her.

Just as I’m finishing up the ultrasound, Abby walks in with a tray of food. I look at my watch and see it’s almost nine o’clock. I laugh. “Pregnancy craving?” I ask Elizabeth.

“No. I didn’t get a chance to eat earlier.” She rubs her belly. “This one’s hungry.”

“I’ll leave you to your dinner then.” I nod to the TV. “And your ESPN. I’ll see you tomorrow, Elizabeth.”

“See you tomorrow, Kyle . . . er, Dr. Stone.” She looks over at Abby to see if she noticed the slip. She did.

When I walk out into the hallway, I think about what she said about not eating earlier. Did she not eat because she was bleeding? Or was it because she didn’t have any food?

I try not to think of a pregnant woman, who may or may not have enough food to eat, in the home that she may or may not even have.

Then, before I realize I’m doing it, I end up detouring to the billing office. Because, just like the rest of the hospital, even they have a night shift.

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