“Kitten, you were right. Ella is alive. You sister is alive, and she is looking for you.”
I pry my eyes open to study Ivan’s face. Did he really just say that? Is he lying? Is he just saying this to keep me awake?
“Ella?” My throat feels dry.
“Yes, Kitten, you were right all along, and I’m a fucking idiot for not believing you. Ella was at the auction just like you said. She was there to rescue you.” I can see the remorse in Ivan’s gaze. I want to ask him a million more questions. How does he know these things? How did Ella know where I was and where is she right now? Before I can get the first question out, the car comes to a sudden stop. I peel myself from Ivan’s chest and look out the window and realize that we are at the entrance of the emergency room.
“I’ll tell you everything as soon as we’re done getting you checked over with the doctor, okay?”
“Okay,” I whisper and let Ivan carry me inside.
The next two hours are filled with such a long list of tests that I start to feel like a guinea pig in a laboratory. The official diagnosis is as I expected, a concussion, but of course, the doctor wants to keep me here overnight just to make sure I don’t have any issues, and Ivan reluctantly agrees.
Roman somehow got the nurse to admit me under a fake name. I’m not sure how he did it but I’m sure a large sum of cash was involved, either that, or he used other persuasive ways. I don’t know and I won’t get to ask him because he left shortly after he took care of the paperwork, no doubt to clean up the mess left behind in his house.
Right after they bring me in a tray of food for dinner, the door softly opens and a petite woman walks in. “Hi, Rose, I’m Lindsey, the night shift nurse. I’ll be taking care of you tonight.”
I give her a smile and watch her open the folder she brought in.
“Oh, lord, you slipped in the shower and hit your head? I swear, I don’t understand how we can send people to the moon but they can’t make it so you don’t break your neck in a tub when showering.” Her comment makes me giggle, but when I look over at Ivan’s face, he is still emotionless.
“Well, one good thing about this is that you are still early in your pregnancy, so the fall you took shouldn’t have any effect on your growing baby.”
I blink slowly, very slowly, unsure of what I just heard her say. She keeps on talking, but I don’t understand or hear another word she says.
All I hear is the word pregnancy. My first thought is that she’s got the wrong folder, wrong information or that maybe she entered the wrong room or that she is reading the test results wrong, but the more I think about it, the more I realize that I have all the symptoms.
The sleepiness, the hunger, the sudden nausea. I press a hand to my head. Stupid. I’m so stupid. I feel so dumb for not having put one and one together myself.
“Pregnant? She’s pregnant?” Ivan asks the nurse. I can't tell what he's thinking or feeling. His facial expressions are skewed.
“Yes…” She pauses, looking up at him from the folder in her hands. “Wait, you didn't know?” The nurse looks at us with confusion.
Ivan pushes up from his seat and walks over to me, taking my hand into his. I’m assaulted with a thousand different emotions. Is Ivan going to want to keep the baby? I can’t imagine he would want me to get an abortion or give up the baby, but I don’t know at this point, not without knowing his thoughts.
“My apologies, truly, I thought you knew or at least someone would have told you by now. According to your blood results, you are early in your pregnancy. Maybe five or six weeks. The only real concern is that you have low iron, so if you’ve been feeling tired often, that is why. Taking a prenatal vitamin will help with that.”
Ivan’s eyes pierce mine, and he doesn’t even look over at the nurse when he speaks. “Can you please leave us for a little while?”
“Of course,” she murmurs and walks out of the room, closing the door behind her. Once we’re left alone, I start to shake, afraid of what Ivan is going to say, of what we’re going to do.
“Why are you shaking, Kitten?”
“I-I don’t know what you are going to say to me next. I’m scared you not going to want this… want me with a baby.”
He tips my chin up to look at him. “Do you really think that I’m going to make you get rid of our baby?”
My heart bursts inside my chest when I hear him say our. “You mean you don’t want me to get an abortion?” I hate the way my voice sounds, like I’m afraid or something.
Ivan gives me a sour look. “Fuck, no. When I sunk deep inside you without a condom, I knew the consequences.”
“Then… then that means we’re going to have a baby…” My voice shakes, and Ivan smirks at me, happiness twinkling in his gray eyes.
“It sure does, Kitten. We’re going to have babies.”
“Babies?” I ask, confused, as he leans down, bringing his lips to mine. I release his hand and grip onto his shirt, wanting him, no needing him closer.
He grins. “Yes, I want you to be swollen with my babies... not one, not even two... I want us to have a full fucking house, Kitten.”
I swallow around the ball of excitement and fear forming in my throat. “You want to stay with me? After everything that happened?”
Ivan doesn’t answer me, he merely pulls me into his chest, kissing me with a passion, with a need that is unyielding. Our lips fit together like two puzzle pieces, and I mold into him, wanting to crawl deep inside of him. He pulls away just a little, our faces still so close than our noses are touching.
“I could ask you the same. Do you still want me after everything?”
“Always!” I lean into him again, continuing to kiss him like I can’t get enough of him.
He breaks the kiss a moment later, and I suck in a greedy breath, my insides shaky, my body reacting to him in the only way it knows how, with pure unbridled need. He brushes a few strands of hair from my face and cups me by the cheek, his thumb caressing my flesh, making me lean into his touch.
“We had a fight, Violet, and people say stuff they don’t mean when they fight. We’ll have many fights in this life, but that doesn’t mean I’m ever letting you go. You’re mine forever... for-fucking-ever. Nothing you ever say to me will make me walk away from you. Understand?”
I feel myself nodding without even thinking, because I know he’s telling the truth. No matter what, Ivan will be mine and I will be his. We’ve fought through the darkness together and found light on the other side. “I love you,” I whisper, nuzzling into his hand.
“I love you, too, Kitten. Now are you ready for me to tell you about your sister?”
“Yes!” Fear and excitement zing through me. I can’t imagine what she’s been through trying to find me. The fear she’s felt well wondering if I’m still alive.
“She’s alive. I don’t know if she’s doing okay or not. I didn’t get those details but from the sounds of it, she’s fine. She’s been looking for you and showed up at the auction with the intent to find you.” Shame fills Ivan’s features. “I should have believed you, and I’m sorry for that. I will never second guess you again.”