“I’m fine,” she lied. “Just tired, I guess.”
His eyes were worried, but he smiled at her just the same. “Not surprising. And now that the show’s over, I’ll take you home. You should be getting some rest anyway.”
She loved the way he wanted to take care of her. She only wished it was because he loved her.
“Probably a good idea,” she said, suddenly so fatigued she didn’t know if she could stay upright another ten minutes.
They said their goodbyes and left the private room to walk along the hospital corridor. In the middle of the night, the lights in the hallways seemed harsh. A baby wailed in the distance and two nurses huddled behind a counter, looking over a chart. Machines beeped, families paced the corridors and the sounds of their shoes clicked loudly against the linoleum.
Travis took Julie’s hand in his and tried to find his equilibrium again. He’d lost it sometime during the long night they’d just passed. Watching Adam, usually a rock of emotional calm, turn into a harried, frantic man standing on the edge of panic had warned Travis of exactly what awaited him in just a few short months. He’d felt Adam’s nerves, experienced the fear right along with him and then the amazing joy that had followed all the terror.
And staring down into the face of that tiny, beautiful baby girl, Travis had felt something else. Something he hadn’t expected to hit him so hard. Something he was still dealing with.
Love.
Rich and full and complicated. The baby had been alive less than an hour and already, it was as if she’d always been here. She was a King. His brother’s daughter. Travis knew that if it came to it, he would lay down his own life for that child.
So, he had to wonder, how much bigger would the feelings be for his own baby? He couldn’t even imagine emotions that huge.
“Quite a night,” he said as he stabbed the elevator button.
Julie nodded. “Gina was amazing.”
“She was.” Travis tucked a strand of dark red hair behind Julie’s ear and indulged himself by then cupping her cheek in his palm. “You are, too.”
She laughed shortly. “I haven’t done anything yet.”
He shook his head and laid one hand against her belly. “Haven’t you? You’re making a child, Julie.”
“Travis,” she said as the elevator dinged and the doors swished open. “Are you okay?”
He wasn’t sure. He only knew that as he looked down into those green eyes that had haunted him from their very first night together, that he was feeling something different. Something…
“Yeah. I’m fine.” He took her elbow and steered her into the elevator for the short ride from the second floor to the first. He pushed the down button, the doors closed and a moment later, the world dropped out from beneath their feet.
Julie’s scream seemed to echo forever.
Only seconds later, though it felt like hours, Travis picked himself up off the elevator floor and crawled to where Julie lay sprawled in a corner. The elevator hadn’t dropped all that far. Just the one floor. But the jolting crash had sounded like a sonic boom and had clearly stunned her.
Dust drifted down from the ceiling and the elevator light flickered wildly.
Travis’s head hurt, his body ached and nothing was more important to him than reaching Julie. Her eyes fluttered open when he called her name.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know,” he muttered, running his hands up and down her body, checking for breaks, for bruises. “Are you hurt? Can you move?”
“Everything hurts,” she said, her voice catching in a way that tore at Travis’s chest. “But I think I can move.”
He held her as she shifted to sit upright, back braced against the wall. She lifted one hand to her forehead and a jolt of pure fear ripped through him when he saw a tiny rivulet of blood rolling along her skin.
“You’re bleeding,” he muttered and quickly patted his pockets for something to stop it with, even knowing he didn’t usually carry a handkerchief tucked into his jeans pockets.
“Oh, boy,” she whispered and rested her head against the wall. “My ears are ringing, too.”
“That’s the alarm,” he said, glancing up and over his shoulder as if he could see the source of the sound and shut it down with the force of his will alone.
“That’s good.” She laughed a little, hissed in a breath and then gasped.
“What?” he demanded. “What is it? What’s wrong?”
She lifted her gaze to his and in the flickering of the overhead light, shadows filled her green eyes and glistened in the sheen of unshed tears. Grabbing his hand, she held on tight and whispered, “I think something’s wrong. With the baby.”
The overhead light flickered again and went out, plunging them into blackness.
Hours later, Julie hurt all over.
It turned out that the elevator cable was frayed and had given way. Thankfully, they’d only fallen one floor. If they’d been on the fourth floor when the elevator had dropped, things might have been different for them. As it was, Travis had a few bruises but was mostly unscathed by the accident. Julie was still waiting to find out exactly how badly she’d been injured.
But the aches and pains in her legs and arms didn’t worry Julie. The only thing bothering her now was the cramping that had her praying frantically for the safety of her child. It had taken what felt like forever for the Birkfield fire department to arrive and extricate them from the elevator car. Through it all, Travis had been there, holding her, talking to her, trying to ease her fears while they sat huddled in the dark together.
When they were finally free, Julie had been whisked off to be examined. The doctors had run tests and taken blood and now had her hooked up to an IV that made her feel as though fear was filling her, one drip at a time.
Why did she need the IV? Was the baby still with her? Had it already given up its tenuous hold on life and was even now sliding free of her body?
Tears filled her throat, choking her, making each breath a victory. Dread and worry were her constant companions. She’d been so happy earlier, enjoying the celebration of new life with the rest of the King family. Now, everything was different.
Here in her lovely, private hospital room on the medical floor, there were no babies’ cries to comfort her. Only the silence of night broken occasionally by the conversations of nurses. Travis had gone—at her insistence—to tell Adam and Gina what was happening, leaving Julie alone, trapped in her bed, waiting to hear if her child would live or die.