Page 148 of Reaper and Ruin

Saint View Hospital was a hive of activity, and a bunch of staff came out to meet Whip’s ambulance, a handful of them whisking him away on a gurney. Levi jogged after them until they refused to allow him to go any farther.

Worry creased his brow when he returned to us, but he assured me the paramedics had said all of Whip’s injuries were superficial, but they would probably take him into surgery to remove the pieces of shrapnel from his skin and stitch him up, since there were so many of them.

Once I was inside the emergency department and settled in a bed, a nurse came over and smiled at me warmly. “Hi, Violet. I’m Willa. I’m a friend of Kara and Hawk’s. They called to tell me I needed to give you the VIP treatment.”

I shook my head, not wanting to make a fuss. “You really don’t need to do that. I’m fine apart from a sprained ankle and some cuts and bruises.” I didn’t mention the mental trauma and the unsettling realization that I’d killed two people without regret. But they were things I could unpack with Grayson later. I needed the hospital only for one thing. “It’s just, I’m pregnant.”

She smiled softly. She had pretty horrific scarring on her neck that disappeared beneath the collar of her shirt, and I wondered how much time she’d spent in a hospital bed just like this one having that treated.

“Do you know how far along?” she asked.

I shook my head. “We only just found out. So not far, probably?”

She grabbed a stool and a portable ultrasound machine from across the hall, pulling both over to my bedside. “That’s okay.We can have a quick look to set your mind at ease while we wait for the doctors to come see you.”

I put my hand up, motioning for her to stop. “Can I ask you something first? If the baby was hurt when I fell, and I’m miscarrying, is there anything you can do to stop it?”

Willa pressed her lips together. “Assuming you’re as early as you think you are? No, probably not. Are you having cramping or any other sort of pain?”

Her words confirmed my suspicions. “No, nothing like that,” I assured her. I bit my lip. “This is going to sound really odd, but I don’t want to do the ultrasound until Whip—I mean, Wyatt—is here.”

Willa smiled at me. “Oh, he’s the father? That’s totally understandable.” She glanced at X and Levi. “You two are her friends, then?”

I had no idea how to tell someone that no, they weren’t my friends. And Levi had already started nodding, clearly not wanting to start an uncomfortable conversation.

But something inside me needed this woman to know that no, these men weren’t my friends. They were my family. “No,” I shook my head. “They’re the baby’s fathers too.”

I knew I didn’t have to explain myself to a complete stranger, but something in me wanted her to understand. “I love them.” I shrugged. “All three of them.”

Willa patted my hand. “Oh, I’m very familiar with unconventional relationships, sweetie. You don’t need to explain. My son, Colt, has been in a relationship with a woman and two other men since he was in high school.” She smiled proudly. “My two grandchildren are a result of that love, so you’ll get no judgment from me.” She put the ultrasound wand back in the machine. “You all just sit tight until your partner is cleaned up, and then we’ll have a search around and see if we can find a little heartbeat for you all to hear.”

Later that night, Whip sat in a wheelchair on my left, his leg covered in strips of fresh white bandage. X sat to my right, holding my hand so tight I thought I might end up needing an ultrasound on that to check for internal damage. Levi was next to him, his hand resting on my thigh buried beneath hospital blankets. His leg bounced nervously, and all three of them were fixated on Willa as she nudged Whip’s chair over a little so she could get the ultrasound machine where it needed to be.

Despite the three men around me, all twitching and barely breathing, it was me Willa turned to. “You ready?”

My heart thumped against my rib cage. My brain whispered threats that I wasn’t ready at all.

But I hadn’t been ready for Will and Ari to walk into my life either, and yet I hadn’t hesitated in saying yes to giving them a home. I hadn’t been ready for three men to love me, and yet opening myself up to them and a lifestyle that society wouldn’t accept had been the best thing I’d ever done.

So I nodded at Willa.

I was ready to be pregnant. To grow a baby we’d made with love and to raise it.

After everything else we’d been through, this seemed like the most natural, easiest thing in the world.

I closed my eyes and squeezed X’s hand.

“Please be okay. Please be okay,” he murmured.

My heart freaking shattered for him. He wanted this so much.

Willa pressed the gooped-up wand to my belly, and for an agonizingly long minute, nothing happened. I stared at thescreen, not having any clue what I was seeing. Willa moved the wand around, poking and prodding me, her poker face better than anything I’d ever seen, her expression giving away absolutely nothing.

Until she glanced over at me and smiled. “Want to hear the heartbeat now?”

I widened my eyes. “There is one?”

She nodded. She flicked something on her machine, and the most glorious sound filled the little curtained-off cubicle.