Page 86 of Hateful Union

What the fuck is going on?

Christian stays a few car lengths behind her and we follow her until she stops at the hospital. I’m out of the car before she can even reach the door to enter. “Baby,” I say as I slide my hand around her waist. “What’s going on?”

She sighs heavily and turns to face me. Her eyes are red, puffy, and filled with tears. “Go away, Malcolm.” There’s pain in her voice and it fucking guts me to hear.

She pulls away from me and I follow behind her as she walks into the emergency room of the hospital. I can’t hear what she says as she checks herself in, her voice is too low.

We take a seat and wait for her to be called. She’s silent. Not a fucking word said and I’m losing my mind as each minute passes.

“Raylee, you’re fucking scaring me, what’s going on?” I ask after ten minutes of being ignored.

“Mrs. Gallagher?” A heavily accented woman calls out and Raylee gets to her feet. I’ll be fucking damned if I’m staying behind.

“Mrs. Gallagher, you’re bleeding, correct?” The woman says to her, her Spanish accent is thick and a little hard to understand.

Bleeding? Where? I glance at my wife and see the utter devastation in her eyes.

Raylee coughs, clearing her throat. “Yes, I got sharp pain and when I went to the bathroom, I was bleeding.”

The doctor nods, seemingly understanding what Raylee’s telling her. Whereas I’m even further confused than I was when I arrived here.

The doctor instructs Raylee to climb up onto the gurney and starts asking questions like it’s a fucking rapid fire round. But then I hear the words. “How far along are you?”

Which has my gut clenching and my heart sinking.

“Six weeks,” my beautiful wife replies.

My knees go weak and I grab a hold of the chair and lower myself into it.Fuck.

The doctor instructs Raylee to lie down and then she begins her ultrasound. I reach out for my wife’s hand and I’m fucking relieved that she takes it. She needs me to be here for her, she needs my support.

The doctor’s silent as she does the ultrasound and Raylee cries, silently weeping. It fucking kills me. Nothing can gut me quicker than the sight of my wife’s tears.

“What’s happening?” I demand, barking at the woman that’s not said a fucking word since she began.

She explains that she’s checking to make sure that everything’s okay, but assures us the baby is alive.

I’ve never felt as relieved as I do at that moment. Tears prick the backs of my eyes and I breathe a little deeper.

“Then why is she bleeding?” I question as soon as I’m able to control myself.

“We need to take some blood and find out the cause. But, right now, the best thing is to keep her calm.”

Something that I haven’t been doing.

The doctor finishes up the scan and takes Raylee’s blood, she assures us she’ll be back soon.

“I’m so fucking sorry, baby,” I whisper to her, my forehead pressed against hers once the doctor has left the room. “This is all my fault.”

She sobs against me and I fucking hate that we’re at this point. A stage where we’re so distant, it feels as though there’s a fucking world between us.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were in pain?” I ask softly not wanting to upset her even more.

“You were leaving,” she hiccups as her body wracks with sobs. “It came out of nowhere.”

“Christ, baby, do you think I’m that much of a monster that I’d have left if you were in pain?”

“But you did,” she hisses at me. “You didn’t give a fuck that your actions led to my distress, never mind that I was in pain from the pregnancy. You knowingly left, when I was hurting and Mal, that’s something I’m not sure I can forgive.”

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