Page 9 of Forever His (The Donovans: Secret Son #6)

It was almost eight o’clock so the babysitter should have put Trevor to bed an hour ago, but Trent knew his son.

Very rarely did Trevor fall right to sleep.

He often spent time looking up at the ceiling which had been painted like the night sky with tiny stars that glowed.

It was in contrast to the lighter blue walls that depicted the day sky with all his favored pictures of planes, hung as if they were actually flying through the air.

Trent took the steps slowly, his body tight with tension. He walked down the hallway to his son’s room thinking of seeing his little boy safe and holding him in his arms one more time. He needed that confirmation tonight.

After opening the door, Trent walked inside the room, light from the hallway spilling inside. As he’d expected, Trevor was not sleep. He was laying as still as he could, holding his eyes closed tight, but Trent knew he was awake. He moved to sit on the edge of Trevor’s twin size bed.

For a few seconds he just stared down at his little boy with his milk chocolate complexion and wavy dark hair.

He never thought he’d have a child. Never thought he would be a husband and a father, but look at him now.

The reality was, now Trent never thought he’d ever love anyone or anything as much as he did this little boy and Tia.

He touched a hand to Trevor’s chest to feel his heartbeat and Trent closed his eyes.

His son was alive. In a room down the hall, so was his wife. Alive and well. Safe.

“You came in here to go to sleep, daddy? You can lay down with me if you want,” Trevor said.

Trent opened his eyes to see his son now looking up at him. His expression so earnest and pure, so uncomplicated.

“No buddy, I didn’t come in here to sleep. I was just…just,” his words trailed off.

What was he doing? Was he praying for his son and his wife?

“Megan said I had to sleep but I didn’t want to ‘cause you and mommy weren’t here,” Trevor continued.

Trent nodded. “It’s okay. You can go to sleep when we’re not here. Megan was here to watch over you.”

Trevor shook his head. “She doesn’t have a gun. Not like you do and not like Mr. Apollo and Mr. York do.”

He had a point there. Trent gave him a small smile.

“That’s true, but Mr. Apollo is right outside,” Trent said.

“Megan protects the inside and Mr. Apollo protects the outside?” he asked.

Trent lifted a hand to run over the top of Trevor’s head. “Something like that. Now, you need to get some sleep.”

“I’m not sleepy,” Trever replied quickly.

“I can see that,” Trent told him. “But you have to get up early tomorrow for school, so you should try to close your eyes and sleep.”

“Are you gonna stay here and watch me close my eyes again?”

Trent smiled. “No. I’m going to go in my bedroom and sleep.”

“Jordan’s bedroom is right beside Aunt Camille and Uncle Adam’s. That’s so if he cries they can hear him,” Trevor told Trent.

“Yes, I guess that’s a good idea,” he replied, not sure what he was supposed to say to that statement.

“It is a good idea. But when he’s bigger like Josiah, he’ll have his own room. Then Josiah will be the real big brother,” Trevor continued.

“That sounds about right.”

“Uncle Linc is your big brother and Uncle Adam is your little brother,” Trevor announced as if this was news that needed to be reviewed.

Trent busied his hands by smoothing and then folding the sheet beneath Trevor’s arms. He didn’t like talking about siblings with Trevor, not after his conversation with Tia.

“I don’t call Adam my little brother anymore since he’s almost as tall as I am now.”

“I’m gonna be taller than my little brother,” Trevor announced.

Trent looked pointedly at his son. “You don’t have a little brother.”

“Not yet,” Trevor said. “The stork’s been busy, but he might find time to drop a baby off for us.”

Now Trent was frowning. Had Tia discussed having another child with Trevor? Why would she put that kind of hope in his mind if she wasn’t even pregnant yet?

“Who told you that?” Trent asked.

“Gramma said it when I asked why I didn’t have a little brother.

She said the stork’s been busy lately but he might come to our house later.

You know like Santa comes at Christmastime.

” Trevor sucked on his bottom lip, then released it.

“But if the stork comes he won’t tell us if he’s leaving a brother or a sister. That’s a surprise.”

Trent sighed. So his mother was talking about babies too. Didn’t they know how much danger they were all in?

With a shake of his head to clear those dismal thoughts, Trent leaned forward and kissed Trevor’s cheek.

“No more talk about storks. Time to sleep.”

Trevor pouted as Trent stood. “I mean it this time, buddy. I don’t want to hear any fussing in the morning when it’s time to get up.”

“Boys don’t fuss,” Trevor proclaimed. “Donovan boys don’t anyway. We just get it done.”

Trent had been ready to walk away, but now he stood staring down at his son.

Henry used to tell Trent, Linc and Adam that when they were little.

It was the motto that had propelled Trent’s decision to join the Navy when the rest of the men in his family had their eyes set on being suit and tie businessman.

He was a Donovan man and they just get things done.

How many times had he told himself that over the years?

“You’re absolutely right, Trevor,” Trent told him before reaching down and scooping Trevor up in his arms.

He hugged him tighter than he’d expected but Trevor didn’t seem to mind because he had his arms wrapped securely around Trent’s neck.

“I love you, buddy,” Trent whispered in his son’s ear.

“I love you, dad,” Trevor replied.

When Trent walked back to his bedroom it was with a lighter heart and a better outlook on things. He would find Bailey and he would also find Roslyn Ausby. Their family would survive this just as Tia had said, because he was a Donovan man and they got things done.

It was the moment he walked past their master bathroom door which was ajar that Trent stopped in his tracks. What was that sound?

The shower was running.

Okay, Tia said she was going to take a shower.

But no, there was something else.

With the tips of his fingers on the door Trent pushed it all the way open.

He took tentative steps until he was standing right in front of the glass shower door.

Tia was inside, the water cascading down her naked body.

She had her arms wrapped around herself, her head hung low as she sobbed.

Broken gasps of breath and painful sounding sobs that seemed to come from a deep, dark place.

The sound reached beyond the shower door to grab Trent’s heart like a vice.

He couldn’t breathe, his vision went blurry and his heart slowed until it felt as if it weren’t beating at all.

He hated to see her cry. Had since the very first time he’d watched tears stream down her pretty face.

Without hesitating Trent jerked the door to the shower open and lifted his wife in his arms. He shut off the water and stalked out of the bathroom carrying her to their bed where he sat and cradled her in his lap.

“What is it baby? Did I upset you by what I said? I was wrong, Tia. So very wrong,” Trent spoke as he rocked her.

She’d buried her face in his chest but those damn sobs kept coming, her body jerking in his arms.

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said it. I shouldn’t have been afraid. I love you. Of course I want more children with you. I want us to have a big family, to be happy, to live,” he was saying, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

She was shaking her head, water from her hair slapping against his face, the action was so quick and hard. He looked at her then, moving a hand to her chin he tilted her head until she was looking directly at him.

“I may not be able to get pregnant,” she said, her bottom lip trembling.

“What? No,” he said with a shake of his head. “You’re going to download that ovulation app to my phone and we’re going to make love every time it says we should. You’ll get pregnant or my name isn’t Trent Donovan.”

She cried harder, even though Trent had smiled after his declaration. He was confused and he was wrong, there was obviously something else going on here.

“Talk to me, Tia. Tell me what’s going on with you,” he said, dread building in the pit of his stomach.

“I’m…the doctor said,” she started to say.

“The doctor? What the hell are you talking about?”

More tears. Trent grabbed her by the shoulders then.

“Tell me what the hell you’re talking about!” he yelled.

“I have fibroid tumors,” she blurted out. “Two of them on my uterus. I found out for the first time last year after my annual exam.” She paused and took a deep breath, using the back of her hands to swipe away the tears.

“They were small, less than two inches, so my GYN said not to bother them if they weren’t bothering me. I felt fine, my periods were normal, no problems. Then I went for this year’s exam and she wanted to check them again. So I had another sonogram and found out that they had grown.”

“Wait a minute, wait a minute,” Trent said trying to digest all the words she’d spoken. “You’ve been seeing a doctor about this for over a year.”

She nodded. “I didn’t think it was anything serious. Uterine fibroids are pretty common and my doctor repeatedly told me that as long as they weren’t bothering me or growing too big I would be fine.” She sniffed and sighed.

“But this last time after they’d grown she started to talk about possibly removing them.”

“Okay, they can be removed,” Trent said with relief. “That means there’s a plan and we can get this taken care of.”

Tia shook her head. “Because my mother and her sister also had uterine fibroids that ended up causing so many problems that they both had hysterectomies, my doctor now thinks the safest thing for me to do would be to have a partial hysterectomy as well. That means I wouldn’t ever be able to have another child. ”

Trent could only stare at her. He didn’t know what to say, which was completely out of the norm for him.

“What happens if you don’t have the surgery?” he finally asked, when they’d stared at each other so long his breathing had become labored, just like hers.

“They’ll probably continue to grow. The only thing that would stop growth would be when I go into menopause, and based on when my mother started, that’s a long way off for me.” Another tear rolled down her cheek and Tia continued, “That’s why I want to have another baby now.”

“Won’t a pregnancy complicate the situation?” Trent asked hoping he was getting this right. He was not well versed in things in the medical realm, and certainly not things regarding women.

“It’s possible, but my doctor doesn’t think the tumors are in a location that would prevent me from delivering naturally. If need be, if the tumors grow during the pregnancy, we could schedule a C-section delivery and I could have the tumors removed afterward,” she explained.

Trent remained silent until his thoughts and his emotions were in such turmoil he couldn’t take it any longer. He lifted a hand and cupped Tia’s cheek.

“We’re going to survive this,” he told her, repeating the words she’d told him on the beach.

She nodded, another tear falling. Trent kissed the tear away. “Together, we will get through this,” he whispered once more.