Page 9 of The Nicolaides Baby

Her heart nearly stopped. “How…how bad?”

“Sierra’s in surgery. The shock of the accident caused her to go into premature labor. They’re delivering her baby by emergency Cesarean section as we speak.”

“Oh my God.”

“I would’ve called you sooner, but we were only notified less than twenty minutes ago.”

“And Andreas?”

Silence met her question again. A silence broken only by Leo’s pain-filled groan.

“Andreas is…” His voice broke. “He’s gone.”

“No…” Tears she had been holding at bay fell down her face. Images of Andreas’s face the first time she’d met him and how he’d only had eyes for her sister flashed through her mind—the look of love he’d had for Sierra at their ceremony and all the times after when they’d visited her here in the States. “Leo… I… I don’t even know what to say.” Her heart broke for him. Leo and his brother had been close. She couldn’t imagine the loss he was feeling. And, God, her sister. She was going to be devastated. “Does Sierra know?”

“She hadn’t regained consciousness before the surgery.”

Rowan let that sink in while another telling silence followed and fresh tears threatened.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“When the delivery van rammed the driver’s side of their car, Andreas…” He took in a harsh breath. “Andreas was killed instantly. The impact was so great, Sierra’s head smashed into the passenger side window.” He paused again. “She’s suffered massive head injuries.”

Rowan stood up and wiped her face. “I’m coming.”

“I know. I have a private jet ready at the nearest airport to you. A car will be waiting for you when you get home to take you there.”

She stared at the picture of the staff hanging on the wall and picked out her own smiling face.

Nothing will ever be the same.

“Rowan?”

“I’m here.” She gripped the phone tight. “Thank you for thinking of me.”

“What else would I do.” He cleared his throat again. “I’ll see you when you arrive.”

It didn’t take long for her to speak with the principal who assured her that her class would be taken care of. The short drive to Mara’s daycare took only ten minutes. Mara hadn’t been happy with how hard Rowan had hugged her, but she couldn’t help herself. She’d held her tightly all the way to the car and then put her in her car seat before trying to concentrate on the road on the way home. If she tried, she could almost imagine it was like any other day with her daughter’s nonstop questions and talking. Soon, she was pulling up to her house where a limo waited out front.

Within an hour and a half, she and Mara were in the air. Thankfully her daughter was doing well after the initial takeoff and was playing in the wide aisle with some of the toys she’d brought for her. How she would do after eleven hours was another thing. Hopefully she would sleep during most of it.

She fidgeted in her seat. Should she call? The plane was fully staffed, and she was sure they’d have a phone for her, but…

No. She gripped her armrests. She didn’t need to add her worry onto what Leo and his family were going through at the moment.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax, but all the excuses she’d used for not visiting her sister over the years bombarded her—her own pregnancy, Mara being too young, work…

Sure, Sierra and Andreas had traveled to the States once or twice a year and usually stayed a week at a time, but Rowan could have spent months with them during the summer if she’d chosen to do so. But she hadn’t. She also hadn’t dared tell Sierra the true reason, because that would have raised a whole’notherset of problems.

She’d have had to explain why she couldn’t face Leo.

And because of that, she’d wasted precious time she and Mara could have spent with her. Rowan smiled at how much Sierra loved Mara—not to mention how much she spoiled her daughter with, well,everything, when she visited, saying she was practicing on Mara until she had a child of her own.

But it had taken a while for Sierra and Andreas to get pregnant, even though they’d started trying right away. The Skype she’d gotten from her sister with the news she was finally expecting had been full of laughter, tears, and Sierra making Rowan promise to come over when the baby was born. Andreas’s goofily grinning face had even popped onto the screen, with him saying he’d send Leo after her if she didn’t get her butt over there. She hadn’t reacted to his playful threat, but it had driven home why she’d stayed away.

Now…

She closed her eyes even tighter to keep from crying again over the loss of Andreas.

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