Page 35 of Menace

Rider just nodded, his full attention on me.

He held my hand as the doc moved the wand over my bump and repeatedly over a spot to the left hand side. She hummed several times before handing the wand to the technician.

“This is what we have. The fall has caused the placenta to partially detach from the wall of the uterus, and that is the cause of the bleeding we’re seeing. If the medications don’t stop the bleeding and baby goes into distress we’re going to have to take him out. He’s a big strong boy and as you’re so close to the due date he will most probably spend minimal time in NICU once he’s born.”

She opened her mouth to say more but Rider interrupted her.

“Was he hurt in anyway by the fall?”

She smiled. “No, not at all. He is very well protected in his amniotic sac.”

“Okay, and Harper? How is this going to impact her?” He asked with a worried look down at me before looking back at the doc.

“Harper is not at risk at this time but we do need to stop the bleeding. I’ve put her on medications for the bleeding. We’ll give them time to do their job and then evaluate. We’ll be monitoring her progress. If I don’t see an improvement we’ll do the surgery.” She smiled at him then patted my free hand. “I want you to try and relax and let the medications do its work. I’ll be back in an hour to check on you.”

With that she left and the technician and the nurse shortly after.

Rider closed the door and came back to the bed, taking my hand in his.

“Tell me, how the fuck did this happen?”

“I was pushed.”

His entire body stilled, he became a statue standing next to the bed.

“What?”

The question seemed to come from deep in his chest coming out in a guttural growl.

“I craved hot chocolate and was on my way down to the kitchen when that slut pushed me down the stairs. I was able to grab onto the railings but only once I had bounced down several stairs. I think I must have screamed blue murder because the next thing I knew all the guys were there. Asa threw out orders like a general and then brought me here.” I finished on a flinch when I tried to move. My hip and back hurt when I moved.

“I see.” He said. Then changed the subject.

“I want you to have the surgery. I don’t want you going through hours of labour with the state your back is in. You will be in excruciating pain.”

I nodded. “You’re right. If the meds don’t do the job I’ll have the surgery. I’m not going to insist on natural birth and put both of us at risk. That would be stupid and we’d already talked about surgery because he’s so big.” I winced as a dull pain moved through my lower back. “I want you with me, I don’t want to be alone.”

“I don’t know if they’ll allow me in the operating room, Harp.”

“We do the epidural thing. I spoke to my doc about it because I wanted you to be there.”

“Okay, we’ll talk to the doc when she comes to check on you.”

Rider sat at the side of my bed, holding my hand and talking to me softly but the minute the door opened and the doc walked in he stood up.

One examination later and the plans were in place for the birth of my boy.

Instead of being born on September 24thhe was now going to be born almost six weeks early. My boy was going to come into the world in August, the fifteenth to be exact. For some reason I thought about his star sign.

He was going to be a Leo now instead of a Libra. I wondered if that mattered.

Everything became a blur from then on.

I was given an epidural and they took Rider off to get him ready while the nurses prepped me.

What felt like hours later I found myself on the operating table, a piece of blue cloth strapped across my body in front of me.

The anaesthesiologist was on one side of me and Rider on the other. Both were dressed in blue scrubs with hats and masks on.

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