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“Hey, boy.” I gently patted his head. As I lifted my arm, I was shocked to find I was hooked up to an IV. What the hell did I miss?
“You’re alive.” Grim was suddenly in the doorway, arms crossed, looking powerful as always. “It only took you two days to come back to me.”
“I’ve been out for two days?”
He moved into the room and sat on the bed next to me. “You have hyperemesis gravidarum.” I pinched my brows, confused as to what that meant. “Which means it’s not just the baby making you sick. This is more than ordinary morning sickness. So, for now, we are to watch you closely, and get your body strong again with this.” He pointed to the IV fluids. “And if you continue to lie to me,” he glared, “and not eat, then I’ll be forced to handcuff you to our bed until you go into labor.”
“I bet you’d love that,” I teased, but he didn’t find it funny. “Sorry. I thought if I told you, you’d force me to stop.”
“I would have.”
“Grim,” I pulled his hand so he’d come closer, “all of this is very new, and I’m not used to being less than a hundred percent all the time. So, I tried to muster through it. I wasn’t going to wimp out.”
“Kenna.” He shook his head, but I held up a hand.
“No, wait. Honestly, how was I to know I had hyper-whatchacallit?”
“Hyperemesis gravidarum,” he carefully pronounced.
“Yeah, that. Anyway, I see now that ignoring it isn’t going to work.”
“Doc says it happens sometimes during pregnancy, and it can be serious if we aren’t careful. You need to eat better and take some meds he recommended.”
“I’m thrilled for this little guy,” I rubbed my tummy, “but there’s so much going on, and sometimes I forget that it’s just—" My eyes flooded, and I fought hard to keep the tears back.
“Just?” He caught a tear as one escaped.
“Just not me anymore. I’m so used to being in survival mode, or on the defense, that I think I can handle it all.”
“You’re strong, Kenna. No one can say otherwise, but you need to lean on me now. We can get through this together.”
“I know.” I sniffed and lowered some of my walls that had shot up. Leal huffed and eyed us both, clearly unhappy to be disturbed by our conversation. “Are they always this way with you when no one’s around?” I stroked Leal’s head.
“We have our moments in private.” He rubbed Leal’s ear, and Zhar jumped up for his share of the attention. They were similar in appearance, but Zahr was slightly lighter and a lot more of a baby than Leal who tries to play the big brother role. “I’ve always tried to keep them at arm’s length because they need to know who’s the boss. They are, after all, a security tool,” he shook his head, “then you came along and made them into big babies.”
“Loving them isn’t going to make them any less protective.”
He cleared his throat. “Loving them, especially in public, shows vulnerability.”
“A vulnerability in you or them?”
He thought for a moment. “Both.”
“Is that why you—” I stopped myself when I suddenly felt exhaustion sweep over me.
I eyed Grim, who had stopped rubbing. “Say it,” he ordered.
“Nothing.” I decided not to say what was on my mind. He reached over my head and wiggled the handcuffs. “Fine. It just occurred to me that you haven’t shared the news about us to Jenelle.” I eyed him. “Have you?”
“Not exactly, but?—”
“But you insist I wear the iceberg that hit the Titanic.” I held up my ring.
“You don’t like it?”
“Of course, I love it,” I reassured him, “but it makes me think you want her to find out through me, instead of through you.”
He didn’t like that; his face turned to stone. “Are you calling me out?”
