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Mom holding my hand after she flew out of the bakery and never letting go.
Not even in the ambulance.
I was given every test imaginable, but none of them calmed me down until they hooked me up to the fetal monitor and let me hear the heartbeat.
My baby’s heartbeat.
Fast and strong and still there.
Still. There.
That sound and everything it represented scared me to death in Kenzie’s office.
The whole thing. The pregnancy. The baby. The lack of Callen. All of it.
But my God, barely an hour later, it wasn’t until the minute that beautiful little galloping beat came through the machine that I knew I was okay. Everything was going to be okay. I can figure this out, and I’ll never complain about this pregnancy again because my little pomegranate is okay.
I may not have planned it, but I want this baby.
Even if it took me nearly losing it to realize that.
I hadn’t been at my parents’ house long when I heard Callen’s voice.
I thought I was dreaming at first. As much as I hate to admit it, I just wanted Callen all day today. At Kenzie’s. At the hospital. I wanted him there with me. With us. But the dream of him may have been easier than this... whateverthisis.
“Daddy?” I ask again with a shaking voice to match my shaking body. “What’s he talking about?”
My mother meets me at the bottom of the stairs before Callen can get to me, but his eyes carry the weight of the world with them as they look over every inch of me. They settle on the scrapes and bruises on my face, and I watch him physically break, wishing it didn’t bother me.
Mom blocks Callen. “Are you feeling okay?”
I nod and glance at my father, who’s standing silently across the room, before stepping in front of Callen. I don’t need to be protected. Not from him. If I survived him leaving, I can survive whatever the hell he’s doing here. “What do you mean you broke me so I’d be okay?”
He raises his hands toward my face, and I jerk away. “No. You don’t get to touch me.”
A bruise is blooming on his chin, and I want to kill my brother.
No matter how angry I am, I don’t want to see him hurt. Not by Maddox.
“Caitie...” Callen’s voice...that voice. God, how I’ve wanted to hear my name on his lips for months.
But not now and not like this.
“Will one of you answer me?” I channel all the anger and fear I’ve been holding on to. “Now.”
My mother wraps her arm around my waist, as if carrying my weight for me. “I think that’s a really good idea.” She looks at my father in a way I’ve never seen before. “Care to fill in the blanks?”
The room stays silent for far too long before he clears his throat.
“I did what was best for you, principessa.”
It’s like a bubble pops and sucks all the oxygen from the room.
“What did you do, Sam?” Mom’s voice is so calm, it’s frightening. She’s never questioned my father before. Not in front of me and my brothers. Not once.
Dad crosses the room, careful not to step on the shards of crystal and wood, and stops in front of me, and I know the look on his face. I know the stress in his eyes. This is all business-related. This wasn’t about Callen. This was about me. “I did what was best for you. I did what I had to do. What I’ve always done. And to keep you safe, I’d do it again.”
“Oh, Sam.” Mom stiffens beside me. “Tell me you didn’t.”
