He took a deep steadying breath. But now the ring meant so much more. Now the wedding band symbolized his love for Haley and his steadfast determination to make their arrangement—their marriage—permanent.
He just prayed to God that he had the chance to give it to her.
Chapter Ten
A n hour after seeing the medical staff roll Haley’s bed out of the treatment room for her MRI, Luke sat in the waiting room wondering what the hell was going on. The test seemed to be taking forever and the longer it took, the more worried he became.
“Mr. Garnier, if you’ll follow me, we’ll step into the consultation room to discuss your wife’s test results and her prognosis,” Dr. Milford said, motioning for Luke to follow him.
Lost in his own misery, Luke hadn’t even noticed the man’s approach. Jumping to his feet, he followed the man into the room and when the doctor closed the door behind them, sank into one of the chairs lining the consultation room wall.
“Is Haley going to be all right?” Luke asked without waiting for the doctor to speak.
“The MRI showed that your wife has a concussion, which we knew,” Dr. Milford reported, sitting in a chair across from Luke. “And I’m relieved by the fact that we found no signs of bleeding in the brain and only a slight swelling.”
“Has she regained consciousness?” Luke inquired, praying that she had.
Dr. Milford nodded. “She came to as we were taking her for the MRI.”
“Thank God.” Weak with relief, Luke drew some much needed air into his lungs. “How is she feeling now?”
“She’s complaining of a headache, but that’s common with a concussion and nothing to be overly alarmed about.” He glanced at the chart in his hand. “We did have to close the wound at her temple with a couple of sutures and I want to keep her overnight for observation, but I see no reason she can’t go home tomorrow—as long as she takes it easy for a few days, gets plenty of rest and has someone with her to watch for signs of complications.”
“When can I see her?” Luke requested, rising to his feet. He needed to see for himself that Haley was really going to be all right.
“There’s something else, Mr. Garnier,” Dr. Milford added, his expression unreadable.
Unsure of what the doctor was going to say, Luke sank back down in the chair. “Is it something serious?”
Dr. Milford shook his head. “It’s routine when someone is brought to the hospital to do a complete blood workup on the patient. Your wife’s blood tests show that she is indeed pregnant, which could very well account for the fainting that caused her fall.”
“Is that unusual?” Luke interjected, trying to remember what he’d read on the Internet about the first few weeks of a woman’s pregnancy.
“It’s not uncommon for some women in their first trimester to have bouts of light-headedness,” the doctor reassured, finally smiling.
Luke should have been ecstatic at the news that he and Haley had been successful, but at the moment, he was too relieved to give it a lot of thought. Just knowing that she was going to recover was all he could ask for.
“Anything else?” he asked.
Dr. Milford shook his head as he rose to leave. “Everything else checks out fine. She’s in excellent health and I don’t anticipate any further problems.”
Thanking him, Luke shook the doctor’s hand, then hurried down the hall toward Haley’s room. There was so much he needed to say to her, so many things he wanted to explain. But it would have to wait until after he took her home. Besides the fact that she needed her rest, he needed time to make a few plans that he hoped would convince her of his sincerity when he told her how much he loved her and asked that she give him—and their marriage—a second chance.
As Haley waited for Luke to open the front door, then stepped back for her to enter the foyer of his mansion, hopelessness filled her all the way to her soul. He hadn’t said more than a handful of words to her since arriving at the hospital to bring her home and the unfamiliar tension between them was about to kill her.
One of the nurses had told her that Luke spent the entire night in the chair beside her bed and commented about how devoted he was and how much he loved her. But he hadn’t been there when she’d wakened that morning and he’d only arrived at the hospital a few minutes before the final release papers were signed. And if that wasn’t enough evidence that the problems between them were insurmountable, the fact that he hadn’t once mentioned her pregnancy was.
“Do you feel like being up and about or do you need to lie down for a while?” he asked solicitously.
“No, I’d rather stay up for a while, if you don’t mind.”
“Whatever you feel like doing is fine.” He led the way into the den, then standing there looking at her as if he was unsure of what to say next, he inquired, “How’s your headache?”
“It’s almost gone.”
“That’s good.” Falling silent, he looked like he’d prefer to be anywhere else but in her presence.
“Luke, we have to stop this,” she began, unable to bear another second of the strained tension between them.
Their overly polite conversation was driving her nuts. They were two strangers exchanging pleasantries, not a man and woman who had lived and loved together for the past month. And who now needed to discuss the fact that their marriage was at an end.
“I couldn’t agree more. It’s time we got everything out in the open and things settled between us.” He pointed toward the chairs in front of the fireplace. “You’re supposed to be taking it easy.”
Lowering into one of the plush armchairs, she waited for him to sit down. When he remained standing, she gazed up at the man she still loved with all of her heart. She’d told herself that loving him the way she did would be enough for her, that it didn’t matter if he couldn’t care as deeply for her as she did him. But she had only been fooling herself. She wanted—needed—his love in return.
Unfortunately, Luke wasn’t willing to open himself up to that type of relationship. And she’d come to the realization that she couldn’t settle for less.
She took a deep breath. “We both know that there were a lot of things left unsaid last night.”
He nodded as he leaned his shoulder against the fireplace and crossed his arms over his wide chest. “Where do you think we should start?”
“I should probably begin by telling you that I’m sorry, Luke. None of this is your fault. I accept full responsibility for making such a mess of things.” She stared at her hands clenched into a tight knot in her lap. “You were right last night when you said you’d held up your end of the bargain. You’ve done everything I asked.”