Her Secret, His Baby. Tanya Michaels

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      Chapter Four

      Garrett had mentally rehearsed different ways this confrontation could play out—from her scoffing at his ludicrous accusation to her tearfully confessing all and begging his forgiveness. But he hadn’t imagined her collapsing.

      Her eyes rolled upward and she crumpled in on herself.

      “Arden!”

      He bolted toward her with just enough time to get his arms around her before she fell. What was he thinking, intimidating a pregnant woman? What if he’d caused harm to her or the baby? He lowered himself to the floor awkwardly, supporting her weight as he cradled her against his chest.

      She blinked up at him, and it was such a relief to see those blue-green eyes open. At least she was conscious, although her chest rose and fell with alarmingly rapid exhalations. “G-Gar—”

      “Shhh. Catch your breath first.” He stroked her hair back from her pale face, feeling like an ogre. If he was right about the baby, then Arden owed him a major apology, but no matter how angry he was, he never would have deliberately hurt her.

      She raised one shaky hand to press against her heart, her expression pained. “Water?”

      He shrugged out of the lightweight denim jacket he’d been wearing, rolling it up as a makeshift pillow beneath her head. There was a water dispenser in the corner of the room, and he half filled a paper cup. “You have a history of fainting?” he asked. Maybe if this was something that happened routinely, he wouldn’t feel like such a bastard.

      “Only twice.” She sipped her water, her words halting. “Overheated camping. Blacked out another time. When...I got bad news.”

      He wasn’t sure whether this technically counted as fainting—had she lost consciousness completely? Was there a chance it would happen again when she was alone? “Should we get you to a doctor?”

      She bit her lip, still struggling to breathe normally. “Probab— Probably overkill, but... The baby.” Her eyes filled with tears, the palpable fear in her gaze knifing through him.

      “Better safe than sorry.” He helped her to her feet, noting her rocky balance.

      “We have to lock up,” she said. “Keys in my purse. Second desk drawer.”

      He got everything she asked for, then helped her out to the truck. She leaned against the seat, eyes closed. There was a lot they needed to say to each other, but it was challenge enough for her to give him rudimentary directions to the hospital.

      The emergency room was fairly empty on a Tuesday afternoon. A mother sat in the far corner trying to coax a little girl to stop crying, and a burly man watched a daytime talk show with one eye while holding some kind of compress over the other. The blonde nurse working the admissions counter gasped softly when she spotted Garrett and Arden.

      “Arden! You okay, hon?”

      “Probably. I feel silly being here, but I think I fainted. Heart beating too fast, got dizzy...”

      “Then you did the right thing by coming in.” The blonde eyed Garrett with blatant curiosity but didn’t ask who he was. “You two have a seat and fill out the forms on this clipboard. Oh, and this one for Obstetrics.” She passed over a pale green sheet of paper.

      Garrett caught sight of a long list of questions. None seemed as crucial as the one looming in his mind. Who the hell is the father?

      “Need any help with those?” he offered.

      “No!” Arden clutched the paperwork to her chest, not meeting his eyes. “I got it.”

      They sat down and she fumbled through her purse, retrieving her license and insurance card. Her hands were shaky as she muttered, “Damn, I hate hospitals.”

      He’d never thought much about them one way or the other. It occurred to him that Will Harlow could be in a hospital bed at this very moment, praying that his biological son agreed to give up a kidney.

      Fury filled him, resentment at the secrets that had been kept. He struggled to keep his voice soft, nonthreatening. “Arden, you owe me an answer.” At least here, if she became overwrought by his questioning, there were medical professionals twenty feet away.

      “I know.” She turned to him, the tears shimmering in her apologetic gaze an unmistakable reply. Still, he couldn’t quite force himself to accept the truth until she added out loud, “It’s you. You’re the baby’s father.”

      Garrett hadn’t thought he could ever be more shocked than when he’d learned about his mother and Will. He’d been wrong. I’m a dad? If he hadn’t retreated to Cielo Peak to cope with the last bombshell a lying woman had dropped on him, he never would have known.

      He clenched his fists against his thighs. “What were you planning to tell the kid? Children should know who their fathers are!”

      The clipboard trembled in her grasp. “To be honest, I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I was already a couple of months pregnant by the time I realized what had happened, and the discovery was mind-blowing. I needed time to adjust.”

      He knew the feeling. But he was too angry to sympathize.

      “Garrett, I—”

      “Someone from Obstetrics is on the way down with a wheelchair.” The blonde admissions nurse walked toward them. “They’ll get you in a real room instead of one of these E.R. cubicles, probably put you on a fetal monitor for an hour or so to make sure the baby’s not in distress. Ask you some questions, maybe take some blood, check for anemia. You want me to contact either of your brothers, hon?”

      “No! СКАЧАТЬ