Page 131 of Billion-Dollar Attitudes

"Are you feeling better now?" I put my hands on her shoulders and gently pressed her away so I could see her face.

"Maybe... maybe now that you are here." She sniffed, wiping the tears from her eyes. Then she glanced over at the flowers strewn across the bed with the teddy bear in the middle of a pink mess of petals.

Then, Marcie stood, nodding before closing the door behind her as I gathered the tulips. "These are for you, sweetheart. You told me pink was your favorite color.”

"I love them." Ariel buried her face in the bouquet as she squeezed the bear to her chest. "God, I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too."

She grabbed my hand. "They say I'm depressed and have to take meds for it."

I pulled her close again. "No wonder after what's been going on."

"Are you depressed too, Guy? Actually, it's hard to believe you're not!"

She met my gaze. "Yeah, I think I'm somewhat depressed, and I know I'm lonely as hell."

Ariel squeezed me tightly and whispered, "I need to clear something up with you." She sat on the side of the hospital bed and pulled me down beside her, holding my hand.

"You remember when we were... together at your place and you wanted to use a condom?" Ariel looked down at our hands. "Well, I lied to you. I'm not sure why I did it... Okay, yes, I am. I didn't want my first time to... I wanted to feel you inside me without a barrier."

I held my breath, bracing for what was to come. "Sure... Honestly, I wanted the same. But..."

Ariel covered her face with her hands. "I got pregnant. Can you believe that on the first time?"

Excitement filled my chest. I was ready to take Ariel in my arms and gently swing her around, but something told me to wait... she was in the hospital for a reason. "And something went wrong?"

"Oh, Guy, I'm so confused." Then she spoke through her sobs. "First, I didn't have a clue I was pregnant until the other day when Marcie rushed me here with a terrible pain in my stomach. That's when I found out.... and it was ectopic... and I already had a bad infection from it."

"An ectopic pregnancy?" My brow furrowed. I had never heard of such a thing.

"Yes, it's when the egg implants itself outside of the uterus." Ariel took a deep breath and continued. "So they had to do surgery... and they couldn't save the baby." Tears rolled down her cheeks as she spoke. "I'm so sorry, Guy. I didn't have the nerve to tell you in the first place."

I wrapped my arms around her, letting her cry on my shoulder. I wanted to be strong for her, but I was fighting back tears of my own.

"The doctors say it will be hard for me to get pregnant again." She sniffed.

"Well, all I can say is that I'm glad I'm here. Now you don't have to go through this on your own anymore."

Chapter Twenty-One

Ariel

Four Weeks Later

Christmas Eve

"No, put the snowman ornament next to the drummer boy!" I pointed to the empty spot on the Christmas tree.

"Okay, okay... bossy." Guy teased. "Why don't you make me another eggnog... heavy on the nog and light on the egg?"

"Got it! Translation… heavy on the rum." I giggled as I walked into the kitchen.

Guy followed me, wrapping his arms around my waist. I made a big show measuring the perfect mix of rum and eggnog in his holiday mug and made another for myself. "So, what do you want for Christmas?" he asked, nuzzling my neck.

I faked a gasp, pressing against him. "Are you telling me you haven't bought me anything yet?"

Guy chuckled. "I thought I'd wait and see what Santa brings you first."

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