Page 67 of The Unseen (Echoes from the Past #5)
FIFTY-FOUR
“You look like hell,” Quinn said as she pulled a chair closer to Rhys’s bed.
“I feel like hell. They pumped my stomach.” Even though Rhys’s voice was hoarse from having a tube down his throat, he still managed to sound peevish.
He really did look awful. His skin was a unique shade of gray-green, and his eyes were bloodshot and puffy.
He was still hooked up to an IV and the polka-dot hospital gown wasn’t doing him any favors.
“Rhys, how could you?” Quinn asked gently. “If I hadn’t found you…”
“I wasn’t trying to top myself, if that’s what you’re thinking,” Rhys protested. “Please tell me you didn’t tell Rhiannan. I don’t want anyone at the office to know.”
“I told her you’re ill and will ring her tomorrow.”
Rhys nodded his thanks.
“How about a little juice?” Quinn held up a box of apple juice to Rhys’s lips, and he obediently took a long pull. “Rhys, where’s Haley?”
“Gone.”
Quinn didn’t persist. If he wanted to tell her what had happened, he would.
Rhys let out a painful breath and sat up a little, his gaze fixed on the window behind Quinn. If he was trying to regain his composure, he failed utterly. Silent tears slid down his cheeks and he pressed the heels of his palms to his eyes, rubbing them angrily.
“Rhys,” Quinn began, but he shook his head, not ready to talk.
They remained like that for a few minutes, a silent tableau of a grieving man and an anxious woman. Rhys finally sniffed and removed the hands from his face. He looked miserable, but at least he was no longer crying.
“I’m sorry,” he mumbled.
“You have nothing to be sorry for.”
“I don’t normally go to pieces in front of people.”
“No, you don’t.”
Rhys used the back of his hand to wipe his moist cheeks.
“Haley miscarried on Friday. She was jogging when she began to bleed, and then the pains came. A kind passerby called an ambulance, so she got to the hospital quickly, but it was too late. By the time I got there the baby was gone. Incinerated.”
“Incinerated?”
“That’s what Haley decided. She didn’t want to name her or even bury her. She wanted her incinerated, like a piece of rubbish.”
“Oh, Rhys.”
Rhys rubbed his eyes again. He looked so heartbroken, Quinn wanted to gather him into her arms and hold him, but thought the gesture might embarrass him. “When we returned home from the hospital, she said she was leaving.”
“Rhys, she was in shock. She wasn’t thinking clearly. She’ll come back. You can try again, in time.”
Rhys shook his head and sniffled loudly.
“She’s not coming back, Quinn. She said she was glad the baby was gone.
She’d realized she wasn’t ready to be a mother, and she certainly didn’t want me for her child’s father.
She said I’m old-fashioned and controlling and all I wanted was a millennial version of my own mother, who’d put all her dreams on hold to wipe snotty noses and change nappies. ”
“She was just lashing out,” Quinn replied.
Rhys bowed his head, staring at his IV needle as if it might have all the answers.
“She said she wasn’t even sure the baby was mine,” he confessed.
He tried to sound matter-of-fact but couldn’t mask the unbearable pain behind the words.
He looked like he was about to cry again.
“She thought I’d give the child a better life than the other guy, who’s a bartender or some such. She never loved me, Quinn.”
“Rhys…”
“Please don’t say anything. I’ve heard it all from my mother and my brother. And even from Rhiannan, who tried to warn me about Haley.”
“Rhys, the only thing I’m going to say is that I’m here for you. Whatever you need, all you have to do is ask.”
Rhys reached out and took Quinn’s hand. “I couldn’t sleep. My mind kept going over everything, searching for signs I’d missed. Imagining what life would have been like had it all turned out differently. I was only trying to get some sleep.”
Quinn nodded. “I understand.”
“I never meant to…”
“I know.”
“I’d never felt so alone. There was no one I could confide in, no one I could call,” Rhys confessed. “I didn’t want to upset my mum, and Owain would have said, ‘I told you so.’ He’s good at that. Got to love older brothers.”
“You could have called me.” Quinn moved from the chair to Rhys’s bed and wedged herself in next to him. She wrapped her arm around him, and he rested his head on her shoulder. She didn’t say anything, but just held him for a long time, allowing him to grieve .
“She was supposed to come home with me for Christmas, to meet my family,” Rhys finally said.
“Come to Berwick with us. We’ll have a lovely, peaceful Christmas. I won’t allow you to be on your own.”
Rhys shook his head. “Thank you, but I already told my mum I’m coming home.
She’s expecting me. Don’t worry; she’ll set me to rights.
She’ll lock me in the kitchen and make me bake mince pies for the whole town.
And if that doesn’t do it, after spending a week with my nieces and nephews, I’ll remember that kids are annoying brats and I’ve had a lucky escape. ”
“I can always lend you a squalling infant for a few hours.”
Rhys smiled. “I knew I could count on you.”
“Always.”
“Quinn, thank you.”
“For what?”
“For caring. Now, go home to your children. I’ll be all right.”
“Is there anyone you’d like me to call?”
Rhys shook his head. “I’d rather keep this little episode to myself, if it’s all the same to you.”
“Just text Rhiannan and tell her you’re on the mend. That poor woman is utterly besotted with you.”
“She can’t help herself, I suppose. I’m quite the catch,” he added with a sad little grin. “I do like her. Too bad it’s no longer acceptable to shag one’s secretary.”
“Political correctness is a bitch,” Quinn agreed, getting a chuckle out of Rhys. This was the old Rhys, the one she knew and loved. She gave him a motherly kiss on the forehead. “I’ll see you later. Ring me if you need anything.”
“Will do.”