Page 78 of No Going Back
Griffin took one step in, pulling the curtain closed behind him. “Hey.”
This wasn’t how he planned to see her again. Nothing was ready. Not the house, not the sunroom, not the ring, not him. But there was no way he couldn’t come to make sure she was okay. To see it with his own eyes.
He would’ve driven himself crazy otherwise.
Dianna motioned to the chair tucked close to her bed with the cracker still pinched between her fingers. “You want to sit down?”
He nodded, hesitating another second before moving to her bedside, his steps heavy and hard. He lowered into the chair, gripping the arms tight, not really sure what to do next.
He had a whole vision of how he was supposed to convince her to come back to him and this wasn’t it. “I—”
“I’m pregnant.” She cut him off, blurting out the words and leaving them hanging in the air.
He sat for a second, trying to digest what she said. “You’re pregnant?”
Dianna’s eyes moved over his face and she slowly nodded. “Yes.” She picked up a strip of images from beside her on the bed and passed them his way. “They said about eight weeks.”
Griffin took the pictures—theultrasoundpictures—being careful not to hold them too tightly.
“I know things are weird between us right now.” Dianna paused. “I just wanted to tell you right away since—” She reached up to slide one hand down her hair, smoothing over the tangled mess. “I just knew you would want to know right away.”
Griffin stared at the black-and-white blobs in front of him, straining to pick out anything identifiable. “This is our baby?”
Dianna softly smiled, reaching out to point at the center of one image. “You can’t really tell, but that little thing that looks like a bean is the baby.”
“Our baby.” He couldn’t keep himself from correcting her.
Dianna nodded. “Our baby.”
It was barely more than a blip on the screen but had the power to change everything. Once again his whole life was turning upside down. Everything he thought he knew—the future he’d been working so hard to plan out—had changed again.
“How are you feeling about this?” Dianna’s question was loaded and he knew that.
If he didn’t answer this the right way there might not be any going back. Any repairing the damage he’d already done.
“Happy.” It was the simplest and most obvious of the emotions he was currently experiencing. “Scared.” Griffin lifted his eyes to where she sat in the hospital bed, looking weak and pale. “Worried.”
“They promised me the baby’s okay. I just got a little dehydrated from the nausea.” Dianna tried to explain, but she was only picking up half his concerns.
“I’m not just worried about the baby, Di. I’m worried about you too.” He reached for her hand but caught himself. He didn’t get to touch her. Not yet. “I didn’t know you were feeling so bad.”
Finding out Dianna had been suffering alone threatened to drag him back down into the cycle of guilt and self-destruction he’d been spiraling through his whole life. And while he’d been working hard to move forward—to be better—this was pushing him to his limits.
“You couldn’t have known.” Dianna slid her fingers across his, offering the touch he was so desperate for.
Griffin latched onto the contact, lacing his fingers between hers before lifting her hand to his mouth so he could rest his lips against her soft skin. “I don’t know what to apologize for first.”
Dianna’s lips barely twitched. “Probably for having such a weak pullout game.”
She was teasing him. Trying to lighten the situation with a joke that would be remarkably well-timed under different circumstances. Or maybe just with a different man.
Griffin shook his head. “I won’t apologize for that.” His eyes dropped down to the ultrasound photos still gripped tight in his hand. “Not ever.”
He came here unprepared for so many things. He wasn’t ready to show Dianna how much he’d changed. He wasn’t ready to show her all he’d done to create a life that included her. But he was ready for this. Ready for the opportunity to be a dad from day one.
A nurse whipped back the curtain, giving Dianna a bright smile. “Feeling better?”
Dianna nodded, dutifully taking another bite of her cracker. “I don’t feel like I’m going to barf up everything in my stomach, so yes.”
