Page 58 of Stone Vows

“This is my first full season. They drafted me when I was a junior at UNC. I started with their single-A team in Tampa, and then I was lucky enough to skip right to triple-A out in Las Vegas where I played until they called me up late last summer. It’s been a wild ride.”

“Wow, you’ve moved around a lot,” I say.

“I go where they tell me. But I really like New York, so I hope they’ll let me stay.”

“Based on what I’ve seen, they’d be fools not to. You’re a great player.”

“Thanks. I’ve worked my whole life to get here,” he says.

I nod. “I know what you mean.”

We step into the elevators and I hit the button for the seventh floor. “Well, for being so new, you seem to have quite a following.” I nod back to the kids in the atrium. “And my patient, Elizabeth, she seems to know all about you. She won’t let any of the staff do procedures if you’re in a game or being featured on the highlights.”

He laughs. “I’m really just happy to do what I can. It’s surreal. It’s everything I dreamed of since I was a kid. The only thing missing is . . .”

He looks down at the elevator floor and blows out a breath.

“Is what?” I ask.

He shrugs. “People to share it with,” he says. “Family.”

“I guess with your sudden fame, you have to be careful, huh? But, hey, you’re way too young to consider settling down with a family. What are you, twenty-four?”

“Twenty-three,” he says.

The elevator dings and the doors open as we reach the seventh floor. I find myself getting excited knowing I’m about to blow Elizabeth’s mind when I walk in her room with Caden Kessler. I wonder what she’ll do.

I’m glad she’ll be lying in bed, otherwise she might faint. I can’t wait to see the look on her face. That smile that makes her eyes light up. That blush that reddens her cheeks and neck. Damn, I love making that woman happy.

Caden gets recognized by one of the nurses and we stop so he can say hello. I look down the hall into Elizabeth’s open doorway, my heart pounding with excitement.

I catch a glimpse of movement, her pink pajamas slowly moving past the doorway as she makes her way to the bathroom. She looks up and catches my eyes.

She smiles.

Caden laughs behind me and I start to turn around to see what’s so funny when I see Elizabeth’s face become filled with fear. She puts a hand on her belly and closes the door. Before I have a chance to process it, the call light for her room goes off at the nurses’ station.

Oh, shit.Maybe her water broke.

“Wait here,” I say to Caden, right before I race down the hall alongside Abby.

I burst into her room to find the bed empty. I walk to the bathroom. “Elizabeth!” I shout through the door. “Are you okay? What is it?”

I hear her faint sobs though the door.

“I . . . I don’t feel very good.”

“Are you bleeding? Did your water break?” My heart is pounding thinking of what is happening on the other side of this door. “Can we come in?”

“Who’s out there with you?” she asks.

“It’s just Abby and me,” I tell her. “What’s wrong?”

I hear the water turn on and then off. Then she cracks the door and looks out at us. “I’m not bleeding. But I don’t feel well. My stomach hurts. Maybe I ate something bad. I don’t know. But I’m sick. I think I need to lie down and sleep.”

“You need to come out and let us check you over, Elizabeth.” I turn to Abby. “Please go get the ultrasound machine.”

“Can you shut the door, please?” Elizabeth asks her, wiping the corner of her eye. “I look a mess. I don’t want anyone to see.”

---