Page 33 of Falling for You (Balsam Cliffs #2)

“He said he got a sharp pain in his chest, then his left side went numb. He stumbled a bit and she landed on the floor, underneath him. It wasn’t a hard fall, he still had her in his arms but the ambulance is taking both of them!” More sobs from her end.

“Text me the hospital, I’ll be there as soon as I can.” I hang up the phone as both Emma and I run out to the car with our shoes dangling from our hands.

In record time, I’m in the truck and have it started.

“What happened?” I can tell even in the dark that her eyes are wide with fear.

“I don’t really know all the details beyond Wayne felt his left side go numb, and he fell while holding Olivia. Go into my phone and plug the hospital in please.”

I tear out of the driveway and down the road toward the direction of the Ryans’ home, assuming the hospital would be close by.

“I texted the family chat.”

“Oh good. Did anyone answer? Like Wyatt, who could give a police escort?” I snort at my half joke. But, I would absolutely take it if he offered.

“Not yet.” She feverishly types away, presumably another text to the group chat.

“Fuck we’re so far away.” I hop on the highway, finally able to go faster than is necessary.

“Rome, what if she’s not okay?”

She fidgets with her phone in her lap, flipping it over, causing the light to flash in the darkness of the cab as it turns each time to face us.

“She has to be.” I won’t even entertain the idea that she isn’t.

Emma just nods, going back to staring out the window.

When we are about five minutes away from the hospital, she gets the first text returned on her phone.

“Mom and Pops are on their way. Wyatt is going on shift, but said to call if we need him. Mom is going to pop into the inn to let Violet know, she probably doesn’t have her phone while she’s baking early in the morning. And someone will be there to get Fi.”

“I guess I should probably text Eve too. Update her.”

“I’ll do it.” She picks up her phone again.

I pull into the parking lot of the hospital’s emergency department twenty minutes sooner than the GPS told us and take the first spot I can find.

I shut off the truck, and run around to let Emma out. I grasp her hand in mine, holding on tightly.

I’m not ready if we’re about to get bad news.

We run in and give the woman at the front desk our names and who we’re here for. She directs us to a small curtained off room. We push the curtain back and find Olivia with a nurse, not Diane.

“Excuse me, do you know where the Ryans are?” I ask, trying to keep my anger in check because it isn’t this nurse’s fault that Diane and Wayne are failing my baby girl.

She points me in the right direction but Emma is already in the chair next to Olivia’s bed.

I stalk off to find Diane, ready to rip her a new one for leaving a baby on her own. When I get to the room I was directed to, I peer through the curtain and see Diane holding Wayne’s hand as the doctor talks.

Not wanting to interrupt, I walk back to Olivia’s room. “They were with the doctor, could you please let them know we are here when they are done?”

The nurse nods. “I’ll get Dr. Williams for you.”

I rush over to Emma and Olivia. “Can we hold her?”

“She said not yet, not until the doctor gives us the okay. At least Diane told them we were coming and that they were free to discuss things with you.”

I sit opposite Emma on the other side of the bed, holding Olivia’s other hand. She isn’t crying but she wasn’t excited to see either of us. No raspberries. No cooing. She’s just laying there with a pout on her face.

“It is killing me to not pull her into my arms and snuggle her close.” The tears in her eyes are unshed but glistening as they well up looking at Olivia.

There’s a knock at the door. “Excuse me, are you Mr. Thomas?”

“Yes, yes I am. What is wrong with Olivia?” I jump out of my seat to meet the doctor at the end of the hospital bed.

He reaches out to shake my hand. “Olivia should be alright. She doesn’t appear to have any injuries. I think she could probably use some physical contact right now, but there are no broken bones, no concussion.”

Both Emma and I release a breath. “Thank God. What do we need to do next?”

“She should be all set to be discharged in just a few more hours. We just want to keep an eye on her for a bit, make sure nothing comes up, but I’d say you should be out of here just after breakfast.” He offers us a smile, but the turmoil swirling in the pit of my stomach is threatening to come back up.

How the fuck could Diane not be in here with her baby granddaughter?

“Roman?” A meek voice sounds from the hallway.

“What?” I ask angrily.

Emma places a hand on my arm. When I look at her she gives me a look with raised eyebrows that says be kind.

I take a deep breath, “I’m sorry, Diane. How is Wayne doing?”

“He has unstable angina. It can be the start of a heart attack so he will need to be admitted. He will be getting a lot of tests, and most likely a procedure to unblock the clogged arteries in his heart.” She tries to hold back the tears forming in her eyes.

“I’m so sorry, Diane.” Emma reaches out, placing her hand this time on Diane’s, before she pulls her in for a hug.

I don’t understand how she’s so empathetic to her. I mean, I get it, it’s scary. But so is keeping my daughter from me. My anger is overshadowing my ability to be empathetic.

I lean down, pulling Olivia from the bed and cuddling her while Emma deals with Diane.

“Hey beautiful, Livvy Girl.” I nuzzle my nose with hers. “Daddy missed you so much.”

This time I get a smile from her as she grasps my beard with her little hands.

I reach out to run my finger down her cheek, but she tries to latch on to my finger. “Are you hungry? Let’s get you something to eat.” I press the call button on the side of her bed, and turn my attention back to the women while we wait for the nurse.

“Diane, does she have anything here?”

She looks at me, the realization that she hasn’t taken care of her granddaughter at all finally hits her as she collapses into the chair letting the tears fall.

My eyes widen as I take in the scene. I didn’t mean to push her over the edge like this.

“I’m an awful grandmother! I didn’t even think to bring her anything!” She drops her head in her hands as the nurse comes in, taking in the scene in front of me.

“How can I help?” She smiles at me seeing that I’m snuggling Olivia and she isn’t left alone on the bed anymore.

“I think that someone is hungry, but we don’t have any formula for her. Is there a way to get something? And maybe some diapers?”

“Of course, let me go see what I can find for you.”

She disappears back through the curtain and my attention is once again brought back to Diane.

“Roman, I’m so sorry that we’ve done this to you. It obviously was the wrong thing to do. Please forgive me.”

I can’t forgive her right now. “What is your plan?”

“You need to have Olivia with you. You deserve to have her with you.”

“Permanently?” I ask.

“Yes. We can’t care for her properly. Especially not with Wayne’s recovery. It’s not like we have anyone to help us.”

“I never wanted to keep her from you guys. You were always welcome to be a part of her life.”

She hangs her head this time, looking genuinely ashamed. “I know. I’m so sorry. We were wrong and there’s nothing I can do to take that back. I can only hope that you’ll continue to let us be a part of her life moving forward.”

Again, I don’t respond. I don’t trust them. Call me heartless for denying her reassurance at this moment, but I don’t owe it to her.

“I’ll have my lawyer contact yours in the morning for a permanent custody agreement to be arranged.”

I’m relieved I don’t have to answer her because the nurse comes back in with the items I requested.

“So we have this formula we provide new babies, and unfortunately no diapers, but we do have these that I can use to make a cloth diaper?” She holds out all the items in a tub for me to see.

“Oh good, this is the formula we use.” I’m relieved that Olivia will be able to eat at least. “Thank you so much, I think I’ll run out to get some diapers after she eats.”

I reach into the tub taking one of the small bottles out. She places the tub on the bed next to me so I can take as many as we need.

Screwing the nipple onto the bottle one handed is harder than it looks, but I relish in the busy task while Emma keeps Diane talking with her focus on her instead of me. I don’t have it in me right now and I’m glad that she notices that.

“Here you go, Livvy Girl.” I place the bottle at her lips and she greedily starts sucking it down.

The curtain ripped open suddenly. “We’re here! Is she okay?”

Anna and Nathan appear in front of me. “Yeah, Mimi K. She’s okay. Just hungry.”

“Oh good. I stopped by your house, which was not locked by the way, and so I just let myself in to pack her a bag. I figured maybe she wouldn’t have one.”

She places a diaper bag on the bed, unzipping it and continuing to ignore anyone else in the room besides Olivia. “I brought her blankie. And favorite pajamas, stuffie, and some bottles.”

“Oh please tell me you threw some diapers in there, and I might ignore the fact that you were breaking and entering.” I grin at her. “Wyatt would have a field day with that report.”

“Oh, you hush. I didn’t break and enter because like I said you didn’t lock up, or shut the door for that matter! You’re lucky Fi is such a good girl!” She pulls out a diaper and wipes. I’ve never felt so relieved.

I stand, and hug her one armed. “You’re the best.” I place a kiss on her cheek.

“Great. Thanks. Give me that baby girl. It’s been too long without her sweet baby smell.”

I let her take Olivia from me while she finishes her bottle so I can walk over to join Emma and Diane.

“Thank you, Diane. I will let you know when we are being discharged. We’ll come say goodbye and you can text me when you all are home from the hospital.” I give her a curt nod as she stands.

She walks over to pull the curtain aside to leave, looking back at me. “Again, Roman, I’ll never be able to tell you how sorry I am. I will sign whatever your lawyer needs signed, just please don’t keep us out.”

This time she doesn’t wait for my rejection and leaves quietly.

“Roman Thomas.” Emma stares at me pointedly.

“What?”

“Could you have been any ruder? That woman’s husband is being admitted to the hospital, you could have shown an ounce of empathy.” She crosses her arms across her chest.

“No, he absolutely did not need to! This is his baby girl!” Anna whisper-yells.

Emma throws her hands in the air. “I get it! I do! But if that was Roman, I’d be devastated!”

Anna and I exchange glances until Emma realizes she won’t win this battle.

A few hours later, we were finally discharged and headed home with our baby girl. No matter how it happened, I’m so glad that she’s coming home with us now rather than in six months like the timeline Emma found suggested.

“Mom wants to know if we want to swing by the inn for food or just go home and they’ll bring food?” She chews her bottom lip with worry.

We’ve agreed to disagree about my behavior toward Diane in the hospital and haven’t spoken much since. My emotions are too high and I don’t want to fight with her over something like this.

“It’s entirely up to you, Sunshine. I don’t mind either way.”

“Let’s go to the inn, if they come to us, everyone will come, and then they’ll be there forever, and I’ll have to clean the house. I just want to go home and lay with you and our girl.

I reach over to squeeze her thigh, “You got it.”

Even with this disagreement looming over us, and the thought that I might have to see Hunter, I’ve never been so happy as I am right now to have my girls back together.