Page 58 of Capitally Unexpected

I do as he says. Charlotte and Hayden climb in after me and Duncan climbs in the front seat.

“Five hundred if you can get us to George Washington Hospital in twenty minutes.” A horn honks as the driver swerves into traffic, cutting off a city bus. “Alive,” Duncan adds icily, but not clinging to the oh-shit handle like the rest of us.

I try calling Michelle, but it goes straight to voicemail. “Can you get ahold of Jax?” I half yell, not sure who I’m asking.

“I’ll keep trying her, but I’m getting voicemail too. Maybe they made them turn their phones off.” Charlotte reaches across Hayden to squeeze my hand. “It’s going to be okay.”

“Are you sure?” I’m okay if she lies to me at this moment.

“I wish I was. But we’re here with you, whatever’s next.”

Hayden puts his hand on top of both of ours. I flashback to when he would crawl into my bed in the weeks after Mom died and cry. I’d hold his hand until he fell asleep, and that’s when I would cry. I wonder if he ever knew? We probably haven’t had a reason to hold hands since. I meet his eyes, and this time his are dry, while mine aren’t. “I don’t know what happened on that cruise ship, but you’re going to fix it. Today.”

He doesn’t wait for me to respond, but turns to face the windshield. He’s right. I’ve learned to not trust my gut over the years but decide to throw out the old playbook. I’m going to get the chance to make it right. I know it.

We bust into the emergency department nineteen minutes after leaving Duncan’s office building.

I approach the desk, waiting my turn. My weight shifts from foot to foot, trying to breathe deep and remind myself my crisis does not mean any more than the people’s in front of me.

“How can I help you?” A dark-skinned woman named Brenda blinks up at me.

“Uh, hi. My name is Hunter Brandt. My . . . my ...” I stumble over my words as Brenda continues to look less and less impressed with me. “I’m looking for Michelle Lewis. She arrived about an hour ago, with cramping and spotting. Do you know where she is? Can I see her?”

The clack of the keys on Brenda’s keyboard is her only response to my question.

“Hmm,” she says, and my heart falls into my stomach. Did Michelle tell them to not let me back? I can’t believe how royally I fucked this up.

“I see Ms. Lewis put you on the approved persons list. Take this”—she hands me a visitor’s badge I hadn’t noticed her printing out—“and go through those double doors. She’s in bay thirteen.”

“Thank you,” I say, my heart back firmly in my chest, beating at a rate that seems to indicate I may need a bed myself before this ordeal is over.

She looks down her nose at me from two feet below my eye level. “Get moving, young man.”

I spring into action, waving over my shoulder at Hayden, Duncan, and Charlotte. The double doors open slowly. Losing my patience, I squeeze myself through the crack once it’s large enough for a human and scan the walls for some sort of way finding.

“Can I help you?” A male nurse in navy scrubs stops next to me.

“Hunter! Down here.” I turn to the sound of my name and see Jax waving at me from down the hallway.

“I’m good now, thanks.” I turn away from the nurse and make my way to where Jax stands outside what looks like a large, windowed wall, curtains drawn inside the room created by the dividers, so I can’t see inside.

“How is she? She’s in there? Do they know if she’s okay? How’s Cumulus?” My words come out in a rush.

“Breathe, Hunt.” I take a deep inhale, aware we both hear how shaky it sounded going into my lungs.

“They’re examining her now. They had me step outside for the internal exam and ultrasound. I’m really glad you made it.”

“Me too. Fuck, we were supposed to work on the nursery today. I should have been here from the beginning.”

“Why weren’t you? What’s going on with you two? Michelle wouldn’t give me anything, and I didn’t want to press her given”—she waves her hands at our surroundings—“everything. You all have been cryptic ever since the cruise.”

It comes pouring out of me. “I fucked everything up. We got kicked off the ship because Michelle was too pregnant to be on a cruise, and I signed the waivers for us without reading them. She got really seasick and dehydrated. She could have died, Jax, and I would have no one to blame but myself because I wanted to be the Prince Charming type and whisk her away on this big adventure. I’m not Prince Charming. I’m the toad, warts and all. I can’t take care of a grown woman. What business do I have being a father? So, I’ve thrown myself into the app and my business. I want to have a chance of giving them something they need. A secure financial future.”

Jax crosses her arms and sizes me up. “You know, we don’t know each other very well, Hunter, but I’m going to be frank with you. What you just said sounds like some scared chickenshit. Yes, things could have gone medically sideways, but it didn’t. Michelle doesn’t want your money, she wants you. She needs someone she can count on, to stick with her. So, if you can’t do that, if you’re going to phone it in with your bank account and nothing else, then you need to turn around and walk yourself out of here.” Her eyebrow raises in a move clearly meant to say “your move.”

“What if I’m not good enough for her?” I whisper, mydeepest fear tumbling out to my brother’s partner, surrounded by the beeps and whirs of hospital equipment.

“Does she make you want to be better?”

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