BLAIRE

Over the next few days things went from tense to bad to worse. Rush hardly stayed at the mansion. When he did it was short lived. Nan and Kiro always fought and she went off running. Rush was right behind her.

I knew this was the reason we had come here but I hadn’t expected this. Nan was really more of an immature child than I realized. Kiro was an ass. Harlow saw it and she dealt with it. She wasn’t storming around the house yelling about being unloved. She mostly stayed tucked away in her room and read. Every once in a while she would come outside with me when it was warm enough.

I missed Rush. I missed seeing him smile. He wasn’t doing much of that anymore. I had mentioned last night that maybe he needed to give Nan some room to pitch a fit and let her see that he wasn’t going to come running. See how she handled it. He’d gotten frustrated with me. “She’s threatening to kill herself, Blaire. I can’t ignore that. I don’t believe she’d do it either but I still can’t ignore it. Someone has to give a shit. That someone is me. No one else does.”

I hadn’t said anything more after that. He didn’t want to listen to me and I didn’t want him to snap at me. It was wearing on me. The whole situation was.

I was beginning to understand why Harlow hid away. Twice now I’d walked in on Kiro screwing some girl who looked my age. Not a mental picture I wanted. He just did it wherever he pleased. I’d learned to stay the heck away from the game room. That pool table was not used for pool.

A knock on my door broke into my thoughts and for once I was glad. I didn’t want to think about the distance between me and Rush right now. It made me tense. Harlow stuck her head in the room. “Want to go out to the pool with me? Dad isn’t home so no sexcapades are going on out there,” she said with a shy smile.

We had also walked out on Kiro naked in the pool with not one but two girls. That had been awkward. He’d laughed so loudly I was sure his neighbors could hear him. Instead of being embarrassed or ashamed of his behavior he thought it was hilarious.

“Sounds good. I’ll get on my swimsuit and meet you out there,” I told her. Harlow was the only good thing about this place. I was ready to go back to Rosemary and I was ready to have my Rush back instead of this angry uptight one that had taken his place. But I was going to miss Harlow.

I quickly changed into my swimsuit and pulled on my cover-up on before heading down to the pool. It was an elaborate piece of work. The waterfalls and water fountain in the middle were just the icing. The detail and thought that had been put into this pool made it truly look like something out of an exotic rainforest somewhere. It was soothing just to look at.

Harlow was sitting on a lounger reading from her ereader when I got down there. I took the seat beside her and stretched out my legs. Today was the warmest day we had had so far. It was eighty degrees. Crazy considering it was two days until December.

I started to ask Harlow about how they celebrated the holidays when something stopped me.

The cramping was back. I pulled my knees up and cradled my stomach trying real hard not to cry. I had wanted to tell Rush about this after the last time but before I’d had a chance he’d left with Nan again.

“Blaire? Are you okay?” Harlow asked from beside me.

“I’m not sure,” I replied honestly. A tear slipped through and I hated that she was about to see me like this. I wanted to go home.

Harlow moved over to sit on the edge of my lounger and studied me. “Are you hurting?” she asked.

I just nodded. Harlow frowned and glanced around. “Where is Rush?”

“Gone to check on Nan,” I replied as my stomach cramped up again and I winced.

Harlow stood up. “I don’t think pregnant women are supposed to wince and cry from pain. We need to go have you checked on. I can drive you to my doctor. He’s a real big fan of Daddy’s so he’ll see you without an appointment. I’ll call his office on our way.”

I didn’t want to be the one overreacting. So having Harlow do it for me made the decision easier. I nodded and let her take my hand and help me up. “I need to go change clothes first,” I said looking down at the swimsuit and cover up I had just put on.

“You go change and I will too. Then I’ll go pull my car around to the front entrance. I can call my doctor on our way.”

“Thank you,” I replied before heading inside and up to Rush’s room. I thought about calling Rush but changed my mind. He already had one female needing him. This might be nothing more than gas for all I knew. I would call him if the doctor thought I should. No reason to put more stress on him.

The little voice in my head whispered what I didn’t want to admit to myself. “You’re afraid you and the baby won’t come first. You don’t want him to have to choose.”

I pushed the thought away. Changing my bikini bottoms for a pair of panties, I then pulled a sundress on before quickly heading back downstairs. I would feel better after a doctor told me I was okay. Just as I reached the bottom step another pain hit me and I had to grab the railing to hold myself up. The cramping made me whimper.

“You okay?” the concerned tone of Dean’s voice surprised me.

I forced a smile and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay. I’m just going to get checked out at Harlow’s OB/GYN. I’ll be back soon. Tell Rush I’ll call him if I need to.”

“Where’s Rush at?” Dean called out after me as I made my way to the door.

“With Nan,” I replied, then opened the door and went to get in Harlow’s Audi convertible.

Harlow hadn’t been wrong when she said that her doctor would see me right away. We had arrived and the nurse had ushered me back without asking me to fill out paperwork or even sign in.

“I’ll wait out here,” Harlow told me.

I was glad she wasn’t going to come back with me. I liked Harlow but we weren’t close enough for her to accompany me to an examination room just yet.

“Go ahead and take off your bottoms. You can leave your top on. And cover up with the blanket on the table. The doctor will be in in just a moment,” the lady informed me. I nodded and thanked her. Once the door was closed behind her I went into the changing room and slipped my bottoms off.

The red streak in my panties made me pause and take a deep breath. The terror slowly starting to invade my thoughts made breathing difficult. I stood there staring down at my panties wondering if this was normal. If this could be okay. I should have called Rush. I took a moment to pray. I didn’t do it often but right now I needed someone to protect my baby.

After my silent plea, I stepped out of the dressing room, went over to the table and covered up my bare bottom half. A swift knock on the door then a pause before it opened made me feel marginally better. I was going to have help. This doctor would know what to do. I hoped. A much younger than I expected man walked in followed by the nurse who had brought me to the room.

“Miss Wynn, I’m Doctor Sheridan. Harlow told me that you’re experiencing cramps and you’re a long way from your doctor in Florida.”

I nodded. “Yes, sir. I’m also bleeding a little.” The words came out in a choked sob I hadn’t been expecting.

“There now, this could be something as simple as dehydration. Don’t worry it won’t help things,” he said as he took his seat and had me slip my feet up into the stirrups. “What are you doing so far away from home?” he asked as he started to examine me.

“My fiancé and I are here visiting his father,” I explained and left it at that. No reason to tell the man the real reason we were here.

“How do you know Harlow?” he asked.

“My fiancé’s father is Dean Finlay,” I said figuring if the man was a fan of Kiro he’d be able to figure that out easy enough.

He paused. “Really? So this baby we’re checking on in here is Dean Finlay’s grandchild?”

I nodded and wished he’d stop asking so many questions and get on with the exam. I needed to know my baby was okay. He seemed to get more serious about his examination.

“I don’t want to alarm you Miss Wynn but we need to do an ultrasound to check the baby. After that, I want to monitor you and the baby for a couple of hours here in the office. This happens often. I am just taking precautions and making sure all is well. I also want you to drink some fluids for me. Melanie will bring you something to drink once we get finished with the ultrasound. We have a room in the back just for this. It has a comfortable bed. Melanie will dim the lights and play relaxing music while you rest.

He wasn’t admitting me to the hospital. This was a good thing... right? I managed to nod again.

“I’ll have Melanie go tell Harlow what we’re doing in case she wants to go do something else until you call her. Is that alright with you?” he asked.

I had forgotten about Harlow. “Yes, of course. Tell her I said to leave. I’ll let her know when to come back. I don’t want her sitting here all that time.”

The doctor nodded and headed out the door. The nurse who I was assuming was Melanie, helped me up. “Go get your bottoms back on and then I’ll take you to get the ultrasound.”