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“He loves you so much,” my mom says with a watery smile. “I’m glad you have him in your life.”

“Me too, Mom. Me too.”

It’s only a couple of minutes later when Max walks in with a beaming smile. All the worry is gone from his face and he looks like my happy Max.

“That was Cobi. They caught Bradley. Cobi said he’ll be by later to take your statement since they’ll need it to formally charge Stanton. They found evidence in his SUV that might bring down the rest of his family.”

“I won’t be safe until they’re all behind bars. If they know I’m the reason they arrested him, they’ll come after me. They won’t care if I just had a baby. In fact, they’ll probably think it will make it easier to get me out of the picture.”

“Don’t worry. You won’t be left alone until you’re safe,” Max grips my hand. “I’m not letting you out of my sight for a long time to come.”

“I guess it’s a good thing I like you then.”

“I guess so.” He winks.

The nurse who was in here earlier comes in with determination on her face. “Your meds should have kicked in by now, so let’s get you up and out of bed.”

While the pain has faded, I know it’s going to hurt getting up and I’m dreading it.

Standing at the side of my bed, she encourages me to move. “The first time will be the hardest and after that, you’ll know what you have to do to get yourself upright.”

Gritting my teeth, I swear I almost crack a tooth as I try to eventually sit up. It’s worse than I imagined, but now that I’m out of bed, I know I won’t have to get back in for a while.

“When will I be discharged?”

The nurse chuckles. “Out of bed once and you’re ready to get out of here.”

It’s true. I don’t like staying in hospitals and I know I’ll get next to no sleep while I’m here.

“You know where the PICU is?” she asks Max with hearts in her eyes.

I narrow them at her, but no one seems to notice. At least I don’t think they do until I look over to my parents and they have cheesy grins on their faces.

Max comes to stand behind me, ready to wheel me to meet our daughter. “Yeah, I know the way.”

“Now that you’re awake, I think we’ll go pick up Beck and take him home with us.” My dad stands and helps my mom up. “If that’s okay with you?”

“Maybe you can have him FaceTime me later.” I want to see my boy.

“How about a phone call?” My mom suggests. “I think if he sees you beat up, he’ll be more worried than he already is.”

While I hate that she’s right. I don’t want to put any more undue stress on him. He’s been through enough and I know it would better to see me in person like this rather than over the phone.

“Your right but call me so I can talk to him.”

“I will, sweetie. Don’t worry. Do you need anything, Max?” she asks.

“I’m good. I might run home to grab a shower and some things for Delilah and then come back.”

“Make sure to eat. You’ve barely eaten anything,” she tells him like she’s his mom. It’s strange having my parents like the man I’m with.

“I will,” he tells her and gives her a small smile.

After both my parents kiss me goodbye, Max leads the way down a couple of long corridors until we’re outside the pediatric intensive care unit. He pushes a button and once he tells them who we are, we’re given the all clear to come in. We put on robes and masks and then scrub our hands.

It feels like forever before a nurse guides us through the area to where our baby’s incubator stands.

“How long does she have to stay in there?” I ask as we near.