Page 211 of Nanny and the Beast

A familiar woman enters the room.

"You're awake," she says, smiling at me. It's Nurse Santos, the young nurse who was taking care of my grandmother before.

"Hi, Tessa," I whisper. My tongue feels like cotton in my mouth.

She glances over at Klaus, who's still asleep next to me.

"He's cute," she says. "He refused to leave your side the entire night. And he watched us like a hawk while we took blood samples to check for carbon monoxide poisoning."

My heart starts racing in my chest. It always does whenever I let myself hope that Klaus loves me the same way I love him.

But it's all tainted now.

It felt wholesome for a little while, but we're not meant to be together. We belong in different worlds.

"We're not together," I say.

"Oh?" Tessa says.

"He's my boss." I swallow. "Nothing else."

Tessa glances at his hand over mine. Even though he's asleep, he's still holding me possessively. He's holding me like I mean something to him even though I know that's not true.

"I saw your grandmother," Tessa says. "I'm so happy to see her doing well."

I smile. "Yeah, she made a quick recovery."

"So have you," Tessa says. "Your oxygen levels were critically low when you arrived. We've been giving you oxygen and monitoring your vitals all night. There are a few more tests that need to be done, but I went ahead and canceled the chest X-rayfor obvious reasons. We'll watch you for a few more hours and discharge you in the morning."

I become fixated on one of the things she says.

"What obvious reasons?" I ask.

"Sorry?" she says, adjusting my IV.

"You said that the chest X-ray was canceled for obvious reasons," I say.

"Yes, because of the baby," she says.

I feel lightheaded as I stare up at her.

"You didn't know that you were pregnant?" she asks.

The hand over mine tightens. I glance over at Klaus to see that he's awake now. His eyes are on me, and he's heard every word Tessa just said.

Tessa glances between the two of us.

"I'll give you two some privacy," she says.

Klaus removes his hand from over mine. Suddenly, I feel cold in this thin hospital gown.

"Is it mine?" he asks.

There's a new intensity in his eyes as he watches me. When his words sink in, it feels like a slap to the face.

"Answer me, Emma," he says. "Is the baby mine?"

I can't believe he's even asking me this.

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