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Someone was holding my hand.

Machines were beeping around me—calmer than the last time I heard them.

Shockwaves of pain no longer coursed through my body. A stiff soreness had settled in its place.

I could open my eyes now, but barely.

As I tried, the blurry outline of a figure sitting next to me came into view. I turned my head, trying to open my eyes wider, but it was like a magnet kept pulling them shut.

Footsteps entered the room. I couldn’t see who it was, but the voice was unmistakable. Jace.

“What did the doctors say?” he asked the figure sitting next to me.

“He said she’ll wake up in her own time. We just have to wait and see what her body wants to do.”

Colt.

I tried to move my hand towards him, to signal that I knew that he was there—but nothing happened.

His voice cracked. Raw. Grief-strained. Colt had been crying .

Hell, maybe he still was. Hard to tell.

“It’s going to be okay, man. Ellie is strong as hell. She’ll wake up soon. You know she’d never go down without a fight.”

“I love her so much, Jace. More than anything in this world. If I lose her, it will break me.”

He was definitely crying now.

I tried to so hard to wake my body, to make it do something. I drew in a deep breath, willing my heavy limbs to respond, to move something—a finger, my hand, anything. Even the smallest twitch would tell Colt I was still here, still fighting. That he’d never lose me, not like this.

After a moment of concentration that feeled like an eternity, I managed to move my fingers, then my hand, then my wrist. I wrapped my fingers around Colt’s hand where it rested on the blanket over my stomach.

Even drifting in and out of consciousness, I could feel his thumb tracing gentle circles there.

Colt’s hand twitched when I wrapped my fingers around it.

“Ellie?”

My eyes weren’t as heavy as before; I could open them a bit more—progress.

Colt’s blurry outline stood and leaned in, his face just a few inches from mine.

“I’m right here, Ellie. You can do it baby, please wake up for me.” He pressed a soft kiss to my cheek. “Show me your beautiful hazel eyes.”

I struggled to lift my heavy eyelids. A few long seconds later, they fluttered open, my vision still a little blurry, but starting to focus on everything around me .

Nurses entered the room, each heading to a different machine as if they’d done it a hundred times. I could see Jace’s outline as he left the room to give them more space.

Colt’s hand rested on top of my head, trailing his fingers through my hair. His other hand was on my stomach, his thumb still massaging a gentle circle.

I gripped his forearm, wanting to hold on forever.

“What happened?” I asked. The events of the past twenty-four hours were coming back to me in puzzle pieces I couldn’t quite put together.

“Jason tracked you down and ran you off the road.”

The heart monitor beeped faster. Colt immediately placed his hand behind my neck, squeezing gently.

“It’s okay, Ellie. They found him, and he’s going to jail for the rest of his life.”

A deep breath escaped my lungs as the machine went back to a normal rhythm.

I looked down, my gaze catching on Colt’s knuckles—raw, red, caked with dried blood.

“What happened?” I asked, my voice hoarse.

I brushed my thumb across his knuckles, wanting to erase the pain.

“When the doctors released Jason and Liam arrested him, I couldn’t hold back anymore. He almost took you guys from me. I was ready to kill him with my bare hands, but Jace pulled me off him.”

You guys?

The moments leading up to the crash were still hazy. I didn’t remember having anyone in the car with me .

I mentally retraced my steps, replaying each memory one by one from the start.

I’d gotten into my car at the guesthouse. Traveled down the highway on my way to work. Called Colt when an aggressive driver tailed me. Dropped my phone when I realized it was Jason.

I’d been alone in that car. I was pretty sure of it.

After a few more seconds of remembering, I was positive. No one had been in the car with me.

“You guys ? Was someone in the car with me?”

Colt sat beside me on the bed, looking at me like he never loved me more than he did now.

He pulled something from his back pocket, unraveling it and holding it up. A row of pictures. They were black and white and very fuzzy, not like pictures from a camera.

“Ellie, I need to tell you something.”

Colt held the wide strip of paper, pointing to a small gray spot in the middle of one of the images.

“You’re pregnant.”

My mind shifted back to the vision—or whatever it was—that I’d had when I first arrived at the hospital. Everything had been dark. There’d been yelling. Then a soft, warm light had broken through, and a baby had come down, wrapped in a small blanket.

I studied the ultrasound pictures a few moments longer, letting Colt’s words settle into my brain.

I’m pregnant.

Was Colt happy about it or not? His tone gave nothing away, and that terrified me. I wanted to cry, but I must’ve been too shocked, because despite everything, the tears never came .

Colt stared at me, waiting for my response. And I realized I hadn’t said anything.

I wasn’t sure what to say.

What if Colt never wanted kids? What if he wasn’t happy about the baby?

We had never spoken about that aspect of our future. Hell, we just moved in together. What if this was too much, too fast?

“Colt, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to trap you like this. I swear, I took my birth control like I always do. I don’t know…” I shook my head.

In one quick motion, Colt knelt beside the hospital bed and held my hand.

What if he’s about to try to let me down easy? Tell me this is too much for him.

My stomach roiled, and I thought I might throw up, but I don’t.

“Ellie,” he said, meeting my eyes. “Don’t you even think for one second that this changes my mind about you or anything else.” He took a deep breath, then continued.

“I know I haven’t told you this yet, but I love you.

Gosh, El, I love you so damn much. And sitting here knowing you’re growing our baby inside of you?

Well, that makes me the happiest I’ve ever been, and I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure you and this baby never have to want for anything.

Whatever you want, whatever you need, just say the word and I’ll give it to you, Ellie. ”

Tears streamed down my face, and relief coursed through my body as he said those beautiful words.

“Colt,” I said, wiping my eyes. “Coming back to Silver Creek… It made me realize all I’ve ever ne eded was you. You’re it for me, Colt, forever. I love you, too.”

Colt rose to his feet, bent over to kiss the tears from my cheeks, then placed another gentle kiss on my stomach.

As he did, Jace walked in, looking back and forth between Colt and me. He clapped his hands together in excitement, wearing the biggest grin.

“Hell yeah. I’m gonna be an uncle!”