Page 21 of Guarded

She took several deep, shaky breaths, then slowly relaxed her grip on his shoulders and let go. Matt released her and straightened, smoothed her hair back from her forehead. She was so incredibly strong. Too strong, sometimes. It was hard for her to let herself lean on anyone, even him. He didn’t ever want her to hesitate to lean on him if she needed him. “Let’s just take this one step at a time together, okay?”

She nodded. Still wouldn’t look at him.

Matt took her hand again just as the door opened and the doctor walked in. “Everything looks good with baby,” she said with a smile.

Oh, thank God.Matt exhaled in acute relief and lowered himself into the chair, finally able to take a full breath for the first time since he’d seen all the blood on their bedroom floor. “Has the bleeding stopped?”

“For now it has. The placenta shows a slight tear close to the cervical os. As the third trimester progresses the placenta usually moves upward with the growth of the uterus, but for some reason it hasn’t with your wife.” The doctor looked at Briar. “I’d like to keep you in here for at least a week, to monitor the situation. We’ve got your blood typed and matched at the blood bank, just in case there’s any more bleeding and we need to transfuse you.”

“What would happen then?” Briar asked.

“If it’s light, we’ll keep you in here for further observation. If it’s heavy enough to jeopardize the baby’s safety, then you might be looking at another transfusion or even an emergency C-section.”

Briar put a hand to the mound of her belly and shot a worried look at Matt. “It’s too early.”

“But,” the doctor added quickly, “in most cases the placenta will move away from the cervix in the coming weeks. Until that happens, you’ll be on strict bed rest, whether it’s here, or, if I feel it’s safe for you, at home. It’s too soon to talk about that right now, though, so in the meantime we’ll keep checking to ensure the bleeding is stopped and make you as comfortable as we can. But as I said, baby is doing great.”

“Okay,” Briar said, and let out a deep breath, her face full of relief. “That’s good news.”

The doctor reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “Yes. Now I’m going to order you some supper and let you rest.”

When the doc left Briar turned her head and gave him a weary smile. “I feel like I can finally breathe again.”

“Me too,” he agreed, and leaned over to kiss her gently. He was so damn grateful for the immediate danger to be over. “Love you.”

She curled a hand behind his nape, squeezed. “Love you too.”

After dinner a nurse came in to check Briar’s pad and clean her up a bit. Matt stepped out into the hallway to give them some privacy, glanced up when he noticed rapid footsteps approaching him. He broke into a smile when he saw Trinity hurrying toward him. “Hey, glad you’re here.”

She didn’t slow, a concerned frown stamped on her face. “What’s happened? Is she okay? What about the baby?”

“They’re okay for now.” He brought her up to speed.

“Well thank God for that. What’s going on down in North Carolina?” she asked. “Brody just got called into HQ when I was on my way out.”

Her fiancé Brody Colebrook, one of Matt’s sniper team leaders. “Blue Team’s being placed on alert.”

She searched his eyes. “What about you? Are you going if they deploy?”

“I’m staying here. Don’t say anything about the situation to Briar. She’ll tell me to go now that everything seems to be calming down with her, and that’s not happening.”

“I won’t.”

“Thanks. Would you be able to swing by our place and pack her a bag later? She’ll need some things if they’re keeping her in here for a week.”

“Of course, no problem.”

“Thanks.” He waited until the nurse exited Briar’s room before holding the door for Trinity.

Lying flat on her back, Briar’s face lit up when she saw her oldest friend. “What are you doing here?”

“Matt called me,” she said, leaning over to hug Briar, then straightened to examine her. “You really okay?”

“Yes. Not gonna lie, though, that was scary as hell. I think we dodged a bullet.”

“What’s the latest sitrep?” Matt asked.

“No new bleeding, just a few small clots. We’re still good.”

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