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Chapter Thirty-Five

Eva

I try to get rest like I told my parents I needed, but it’s impossible. All I can think about is whether I should text Roman. Maybe I can ask him to come back so we can talk about this.

I know what Walker said was wrong, but it’s nothing we can’t figure out. We knew he was going to react this way. I’m sure my pregnancy and landing in the hospital didn’t help in delivering the news.

It’s like the universe is working against us. I lean back and close my eyes, willing my body to calm down enough to get some rest.

A sudden noise from my left startles me.

“Sorry,” Roman whispers next to me in the chair. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”

“I … wasn’t sleeping,” I answer slowly. “Where did you go?”

“I just wanted to give you guys some space. It was a little crowded in here for a bit.”

“Jessie said she saw you walk outside.”

“Yeah. I needed some fresh air.”

He turns his head, and all the air leaves my lungs.

“What happened to your face?”

He touches his cheek. “Oh, it’s nothing.”

That is not nothing. It’s swollen and red.

“Did Walker do that to you?” I grit through my teeth.

“It’s fine, Eva. I deserved it.”

“No, Roman, you did not deserve that. I’m going to kill him.”

“Hey, hey.” He moves to sit on my bed. “Don’t worry about me. It doesn’t matter what my face looks like or how I got the bruise. What matters is you and the baby.”

He places his hand on my belly for the first time. My breath catches in my throat. Not because of the warmth of his hand, but because of what it means.

He isn’t just touching me. He is touching us. Choosing us.

Even if we never figure it out between the two of us, he is showing me that he wants our baby.

It means everything.

“You should get some rest. I’ll be by your side. I promise I’m not going anywhere.”

“Okay.” I lift my eyes, guarded but hopeful.

This time, when I close my eyes, I feel the calm in my body that only Roman can provide. I drift off quickly.

When I wake, the sun is going down. It takes a moment to gather myself. Roman is sitting in the chair, looking at his phone, exactly where he said he would be.

I realize that it’s been a hell of a day for him too. He must be exhausted.

“Roman,” I state in a groggy voice.

He places his phone down instantly. “Hey. How was your nap?”

“Mmm … good. I feel much better. How long was I out?”

He looks down at his watch. “Three hours, I think.”

“Oh shoot. Jessie and Walker. They went downstairs but were going to come back.”

“Jessie came back up with Walker behind her. I told her they could leave. I’m not going anywhere, and if he can’t behave himself, he can’t come back in. I’m sorry, Eva. I know he’s your brother, but I’m not going to leave every time he wants to see you.”

“You shouldn’t have to.”

“Right now, let’s just have some dinner. I’m having someone deliver food for us. We’ll relax and get a good night’s sleep. That’s all that matters right now.”

“Wasn’t the final walk-through of the lobby today?” I ask, realizing how big that was.

“I canceled it.”

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“My work isn’t very important. I’m not a doctor. I absolutely had to do that.”

I smile at him, feeling like there has already been a big shift since he found out about the baby. I go back to the man I met in my interview. He was so cold. These are not words that he would have spoken at the time.

A knock at the door pulls my attention.

“Dinner’s here,” he announces as he walks to the door and grabs two large paper bags from the man.

He walks back to me, but I’m still trying to figure out what just happened.

“How did that guy get in here? And are we allowed to have food delivered right to the room?”

“You ask too many questions.”

I chuckle as he dodges my question. “You pulled strings.”

He pulls the rolling table up to me and begins to place a container of food in front of me. It smells too amazing to worry about how the hell he got the permission to have it delivered directly here or who that person was.

“Wow.”

He keeps putting more on the table until it is completely filled.

“What did you order? This is enough for the entire floor.”

“I needed to make sure my girl and my baby were fed.”

My heart flutters in my chest. I’ll never get tired of hearing him talk about me and our baby like this. The hope I had just triples.

“There is steak. Chicken. Pasta. Bread. Cheesecake.” He continues as he opens several more. “What will it be?”

“Steak … and cheesecake.”

“My kind of girl.” He pulls the other food off the table, then joins me on the bed with his chicken.

“Do you want the TV on?” he asks casually.

I shrug my shoulders. “Yeah, that sounds good.”

He puts on a rerun of a sitcom, and we both sit on the bed as we watch and eat. It feels like we are back in my apartment, just hanging out together.

Eventually, after we’ve devoured way too much food and I see his eyes getting heavy, I nudge him.

“Hey, where are you going to sleep tonight?” I whisper.

He looks over at the chair. “They said that can turn into a bed somehow.”

I look skeptically at the cold leather chair. “It doesn’t look comfortable.”

He laughs. “I don’t think it was made for comfort.”

He stands up and drags an ottoman over to the chair, then sits down and leans the back of the chair down. There’s a pillow and blanket behind him on the edge of the windowsill.

“Come on.” I fix my gaze on him. “There is no way you’re going to fit on that.”

He makes a big, dramatic show as he lies down and covers himself with the blanket. “Snug as a bug.”

“Your feet are hanging off of the ottoman.”

“I am perfectly cozy on my chair. Now, get some sleep. Let me know if you need anything.”

I sigh, but don’t exactly have any better alternatives. I’m currently hooked up to machines and have my IV. I don’t foresee a safe way for us to squeeze in my bed all night.

“Good night,” I whisper.

“Good night, you two.”

A few tears escape at his words.

My eyes squint open as the early morning sun shines through the large hospital room window.

I crane my neck to look over at Roman. He’s typing away on his phone, the pillow and blanket back on the windowsill as he sits up straight in the chair.

“You’re up,” I state as I watch him.

He puts his phone down immediately. “Bright and early. Can I get you anything? Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

I groan. “Mmm … both. What am I allowed to have? Is a decaf coffee okay?”

“Let me go find the nurse. I’ll be right back.”

He comes back ten minutes later with two coffees in hand and a brown paper bag. My eyes light up.

“Your decaf coffee and two bagels.” He places the bag in front of me, then pulls out sugar and creamer. “I didn’t know how you took your coffee,” he admits, sounding slightly upset about it.

“Just like this.” I smile, then take a sip. “Thank you so much. They said coffee was okay?”

He nods as he starts to smear cream cheese on our bagels. “You are just being monitored now, so you don’t have a restrictive diet.”

Several hours later, the nurse comes in and takes my blood work again. Roman and I remain quiet the entire time. We were living in a little bubble the last twelve hours, not choosing to face this part.

She tells me it’ll take a couple of hours for the blood work to come back and that my doctor will talk to me about the results afterward.

The rest of the day, worry is in the forefront of my mind. I continue to text and update Walker, Jessie, and my parents. Roman updates his mother, who he told me stopped by yesterday.

“You’re not mad that I told her?” he asks as he sits in the chair with the television on in the background.

“Not at all. You need someone to lean on during all of this too.”

“Eva, good to see you again,” Dr. Bryant says as she walks in the room, abruptly ending the conversation with Roman.

I smile at her. My body begins to sweat as the nerves settle back in. “Good to see you too.”

“I have the blood work back from the lab.”

Roman stands up and sits next to me. I reach for his hand and squeeze it tight, looking for any kind of comfort that I can grasp on to.

“Your hormone levels have increased in the last twenty-four hours. That is a very positive sign. It means the pregnancy appears to be progressing.”

Roman and I both exhale as I watch his shoulders sink with relief.

I cover my mouth with my hands. “Oh, thank God,” I whisper.

“We still would like to keep you here for another night to monitor and make sure you are healing properly. If everything checks out, I’ll sign your release tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” Roman tells the doctor.

She nods her head. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

The moment we’re alone, he grabs my hand and kisses it. “I told you everything was going to be okay.”

My chest shakes with laughter. “You were just as scared as I was. You had no idea if everything was going to be okay.”

“I think I kept it together pretty well. Don’t rain on my parade.”

I pout my lips, loving how honest he’s being. “Hey, I really couldn’t have done it without you.”

And those words are the truth. His presence alone was enough to calm my nerves.

And we’re going to have a baby together. He told me he loved me.

Maybe it was the fear talking. Maybe he meant it. But he said it, and that has to mean something.

I don’t know what tomorrow will look like. We have so many things unsaid, undone, uncertain. But there’s still that glimmer of hope.

Could this be the beginning of something real?