Page 21 of Stalked

But the driver put the car in Reverse and began speeding at Steve. The vehicle hit him and knocked him backward.

“Steve!” Rosalyn screamed from where she lay on the ground.

He sat up and got one shot off, but when the car sped toward him again, he had to stop and roll to the side out of the way. He began firing again.

Rosalyn scooted herself back, unsure what the car would do. But thankfully, it sped off.

Steve ran over to her and placed his hands over hers on her stomach. “Are you okay? I’m sorry I hit you so hard.”

Her heart was still racing but she didn’t think she was injured. “Better you than the car. I’m fine. And I’m pretty sure the baby is okay. You took the brunt of the fall.”

The manager ran out of the office. “Oh my gosh, are you guys all right? I just called 911. That guy had to have been drunk.”

Two other people ran out from the building. “We saw the whole thing. Did anybody get the license plate?”

They all began to talk over each other.

Rosalyn tuned them out and started to stand up, but Steve’s hands kept her gently on the ground. “Just stay there, okay? There’s an ambulance coming. Let’s just be safe and wait.”

She nodded. Her heart still beat erratically but otherwise she didn’t feel too bad. But Steve was right—better to let them check her out, just in case.

“Damn drunk driver. You guys are lucky to be alive,” the manager said. “I mean, the way he reversed like that? Couldn’t figure out which way was forward.”

Rosalyn looked over at Steve. His eyes said the same thing as hers. That had been no drunk driver.

“Are you okay?” she asked him. “You’re the one who got hit by the car.”

He let out a small groan as he sat down on the asphalt beside her. “Yeah, nothing broken, I’m pretty sure.”

Activity buzzed around them, but Rosalyn and Steve just sat in silence. His hand was never far from her stomach. Soon the ambulance and police showed up. Rosalyn was assisted onto the stretcher and put inside the ambulance while Steve talked to the cops.

She didn’t know exactly what he said to them, but within minutes the ambulance was on its way and Steve was riding beside her. He left her side only when they arrived at the hospital, to talk to some member of the staff.

Again, Rosalyn couldn’t hear but twenty minutes later she was being seen by the hospital’s chief OB-GYN physician even though it was nearly ten o’clock at night. Dr. Puglisi had her hooked up to an ultrasound machine as soon as she heard what happened.

“There,” Dr. Puglisi said, pointing to the monitor. “Good, strong heartbeat. Baby is absolutely fine.”

Tears poured down Rosalyn’s cheeks as she grabbed Steve’s hand beside her. “Thank God.”

“A woman’s body is pretty amazing at protecting the fetus growing inside it. It generally takes more than a fall to cause real problems.” Dr. Puglisi moved the ultrasound wand. “Do you know the gender of the baby?”

Rosalyn shook her head. “Not yet. It was scheduled for my next appointment.”

“Would you like to know?”

Rosalyn looked over at Steve but he just shrugged. “That’s completely up to you.”

She tried not to show the hurt she felt by his nonchalance but knew she couldn’t blame Steve. It was too soon.

Rosalyn turned back to the doctor. “Yes, I’d like to know, if you can tell.”

The doctor smiled. “Congratulations—your strong resilient baby is a boy.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

He was going to have a son.

Dr. Puglisi had run a number of tests on Rosalyn, just to double-check that everything was okay. That she was healthy, the baby was healthy and nothing was going to creep up on them unawares.

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