Page 65 of Arden and the Girl Downstairs

She rolls her eyes at Caleb before lifting her shirt so he can see her stomach. I look over his shoulder at the small incisions from her surgery. I’ve spent hours kissing those scars, trying to make them better—they still make me sad.

I’m not sad about the surgery.

I’m not sad that she’s finally gotten what she needed.

But I’m sad that this beautiful woman has had to endure so much crap.

Those scars are proof of the battle she’s been through.

She should be proud of the fight she put up. Yes, I’m partially the reason she got the result that she got. But I’m just glad I could be the one to step in—and step up—when she needed someone in her corner.

Caleb gently presses on Ella’s stomach, and she lets out a blood-curdling scream.

“Fuck, Caleb!You found it.”

“That wasn’t even that hard.”

“I know, but itfucking hurts.”

Ella doesn’t cuss like this often. When she does, though, it usually grabs the attention of the entire room, and now is no different.

“Lochlan, do we still have the portable ultrasound in the car?” Caleb asks over his shoulder.

Lochlan thinks for a moment. “Yes. I don’t think I took it out.”

I don’t even want to know why they have a portable ultrasound, but I’ll take it right now.

“Ella, do you mind if we do a quick ultrasound? We will not be able to see much because this is just an external ultrasound. But I want to make sure that there’s no free fluid in your stomach, and we might check the ovary to see if that’s what’s going on.”

She nods her agreement.

“I just want to double check, considering it’s only been nine weeks since you’ve had surgery, and there are still complications that can happen. I’m assuming you don’t want to go to the hospital, which is why I was called?”

“You assumed right, doc. There’s no way I’m going to the hospital unless I absolutely have to.”

“Well, you’re in luck because I can administer some morphine for pain relief and some anti-nausea meds to settle your stomach. But if it gets any worse, you will have to go to the hospital.”

“Okay . . . but that won’t happen, right?”

“I can’t make those promises to you, Ella, but we can make you comfortable at home and hopefully it will pass overnight.”

“I’ll take a hopefully.”

Lochlan comes back in with a handheld ultrasound machine and passes it to Caleb. “Do you want me to do the ultrasound?” Lochlan asks.

“No, it’s fine. I’m pretty sure I can manage this. It’s not like I haven’t done it before.”

“Yeah, but I’m the radiographer.”

“You may be the radiographer, but I’ve been trained in emergency medicine, which means I know what to look for.”

“Fine,” Lochlan huffs, and makes his way back over to Mady.

As Caleb pushes the probe onto Ella’s stomach, she cringes. I link my fingers with hers, giving her hand a little squeeze to try and get her to focus on something other than the pain. It won’t help much, but it’s all I can do in the moment.

After a few minutes, Caleb puts everything down and turns back to us. “Good news. I can’t see any fluid.”

“Thank you,” I say to him and breathe a sigh of relief. I know Ella doesn’t want to go to the hospital.

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