Page 80 of Talk About… Secrets
A loud knock startled us out of our trance as Dr. Clark walked in. Her face was calm, but sober.
“The good news is she’s stable. The bad is that I’m genuinely not sure yet what happened. Grace is apparently exhausted. She’s not on sedation, she’s just resting. We’ve got her on some IV fluids because she was dehydrated.”
I opened my mouth to protest, we’d been making sure Grace had plenty of fluids, but she gave me a placating smile.
“You’d be surprised how much a baby feeds off of its mother. They’ll leech the calcium from your teeth and make them brittle. I guarantee you could’ve given her as much water as possible and this still could happen from time to time.”
I nodded, swallowing hard. The thought of our omega and baby in danger had me ready to do anything to fix it.
“Has anything stressful been going on? Sometimes stress, when exacerbated by pregnancy, can create a not-so-fun combination.”
My mind immediately flared to the package we received and the comments Grace had been getting online. But nothing that seemed like it would lead tothislevel of stress—and I told her as much.
“We’ve had a few things pop up here and there, but she’s handled it all well. She was literally just talking to her sister and walking into a shop for baby clothes. We were all working, and she’d just texted that she was going to do a little shopping in town. She never mentioned feeling bad, either.”
“We’re going to have to have one of us with her at all times from now on,” Cade said.
“As much as I want to argue about hovering and how stressful that can be for your omega, I honestly think it might be a good idea. At least until we can get to the bottom of this. We’rerunning some blood work now to see if she’s deficient in any vitamins. But as far as I know, she’s been taking her prenatals every day, drinking fluids, eating well, no major morning sickness, correct? We just had an appointment last week.”
“Everything seemed fine,” Drew said. I might have been wrapped up in work during the day, but despite us working hard at the new location, we were all very good about leaving work at work and focusing on Grace and our pack at home.
I sat down heavily in the chair, scooting it closer so I could hold her small hand in mine. The one without the IV.
“At this point, her fluids are looking better. We’re going to wait a little bit more on some tests, but the baby is strong. That heartbeat? It’s telling you she’s doing everything right.”
Dr. Clark walked out, leaving us alone with our omega and our thoughts.
“Gracie… I need you to wake up and reassure us that you’re all right,” Drew begged. Now that we were all bonded, I could feel their worry rising like a wave in my chest.
“We’re going to need to be careful with the bond,” I said. “We don’t need to give her our stress by accident.” I tried my best to shield her from the horror of watching her on that hospital bed, breathing steadily, but looking so frail.
There was a strange noise before her blood pressure cuff began to inflate. That had Grace rousing, her eyelids fluttering open before she startled.
We all moved as one, reaching out, settling our hands on her. Drew and Beckett rumbled a low purr to calm her.
She settled back against the pillow, blinking rapidly as it likely all came back to her.
“I don’t even remember getting here. I was just shopping, and I got so light-headed. I couldn’t make sense of what was happening. I couldn’t even talk to them.”
“Hey, it’s okay. Your sister called us, and the shop called 911. You’re safe. The baby is all right. Listen to that heartbeat,” I said, my voice soft and soothing.
She gripped my hand and closed her eyes for a second. We all went quiet as the steadythump-thump-thumpof the baby’s heartbeat echoed from the monitor.
With that, she opened her eyes. “Thank god. I was so scared.”
“I’m sorry we weren’t there with you, Gracie. But one of us will be with you all the time now, just in case,” Drew promised with tears glistening in his eyes. The thought of losing her was affecting us all.
She didn’t even fight us on it. “Do you think they’re going to put me on bed rest?”
“They might. At least we’ve got the old man here to stay home with you at home when we can’t,” I said, grinning at Drew.
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” he replied, not even rising to the teasing.
“You scared us, muse,” Cade said, his hand running up and down her leg, the only part of her he could reach.
“Scared me, too,” she admitted. “Hailey’s pregnant, too. She’s just as far along as we are. They’re going to be cousins the same age.” She chuckled, then sighed softly. I had a feeling she was really missing her sister. Maybe it was time for us to step in and give Hailey a call to check in. At least a visit might help.
“Speaking of your sister, I really need to call them and let them know you’re awake and okay. They’re running blood tests, but the doctor said the baby’s fine,” Beckett muttered.
