Delaney laughed and looked over shoulder at me. “Am I teasing you, Mr. Perez?”
I patted her butt and sighed. “You sure as hell are, but I can wait to have you ‘til morning.” I reached the top of the stairs and swung Delaney up in my arms. “Mama and baby need their rest.”
She wound her arms around my neck and laid her head on my shoulder. “Amen to that,” she muttered.
Delaney’s eyes fluttered, and I knew she would fall asleep in my arms right there. “Stay awake two more minutes for me, mama.” I set her by the door of the bathroom, and she quickly did her business.
“I think I can make the walk across the hallway without you carrying me,” she laughed when she opened the door and I was still standing there.
She brushed past me and turned the light on in her room across the hallway. “You do know when my mom comes back, we’re going to have to stay at your house, right?” She shimmied her shorts down her legs and pulled her shirt over her head.
“I know, Del.” I had already talked to Remy and Frankie about it. They didn’t have a problem with Delaney being over more seeing as they were barely at the house anymore. Remy was over at Harlyn's ninety percent of the time, and when we weren’t on the road, Frankie was always with Brooks at his mansion in the ritzy part of Leeds Square. “Frankie plans on moving in with Brooks next month, and Remy is never really at the duplex either.”
“So we’ll have the place to ourselves mostly,” she sighed.
I tossed her one of my shirts, and she slipped it over her head after she took her bra off. She climbed into bed while I got undressed and pulled the covers up to her chin. “My bed smells like you,” she whispered.
I stripped down to my underwear and crawled into bed next to her. “That’s because this is where I belong.”
“Oh, is it?” she laughed.
I gathered in my arms, pulled the covers over both of us, and she relaxed into me. “You gonna tell me this isn’t where I belong?”
She laid her hand on my chest. “No. I’m good with you right where you are.”
“So am I, Del.”
Right here with Del in my arms is exactly where I belonged.
*
Delaney
My eyes snapped open, and a wave of nausea washed over me.
Oh hell.
I hadn’t been nauseated for two weeks, and suddenly, I felt like I was going to upchuck my cookies all over Jay and my bed.
I slid out from under his arm, and as soon as my feet touched the floor, his arm reached out for me. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just have to use the bathroom,” I whispered.
His hand left my back, and I stood. My stomach rolled and sweat beaded on my upper lip. I shuffled to the bathroom, praying I would make it there before my stomach completely revolted.
I flipped the light on in the bathroom and caught a glimpse of my pale and clammy skin before I kneeled in front of the toilet and whipped the seat back.
All the delicious food I had eaten that day came roaring back up.
I heard the door open between gasping for air and felt Jay kneel beside me. “Shh, Del. You’re okay.”
Another wave of nausea hit me, and I wretched again. I dry heaved until everything was out of my stomach and I was fully hugging the toilet while Jay held my hair back. I panted heavily and closed my eyes.
“All done?” he whispered.
“I think so,” I croaked.
Jay gathered me in his arms, turned me from the toilet, and flushed. “Can you stand?” he asked softly.
My legs were weak and felt like Jell-O. “I don’t think so.”
Jay lifted me in his arms, and I felt a sharp cramp in my stomach.
I moaned and clutched my stomach. “Jay,” I gasped.
“Shh, Del. I got you.”
Another sharp pain came, and this time, I felt it all the way to my back. “No, Jay.” He stopped moving, and I looked up into his eyes. “Something's not right.”
*
Chapter Twenty
Jay
“If she wakes up and needs anything, just press the button.” The nurse slipped out of the room, and I sat back in my chair.
Delaney was asleep in the hospital bed, and I was wide awake watching her.
The baby was gone.
The doctor who had first admitted us confirmed the fear we both had as we drove silently to the hospital at one o’clock in the morning.
Delaney had miscarried.
They had done something called a D&C to get everything out of her so she wouldn’t get an infection, and now, she was doped up on some good drugs and sleeping.
I had held her hand the whole time. Promising her everything was going to be fine. That we would get through whatever was happening.
We had made it through, but right now, I had no idea how we were going to be fine.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I numbly pulled it out to see Leelee calling me. A glance at the clock showed it was half past two. “Hello?” I said hoarsely.
“Jaaaaay,” she shouted.
I held the phone from my ear and winced. Leelee was wasted. “I can’t talk, Leelee. Are you okay?”
“I’m drunk, and why can’t you talk? Did I interrupt you and Delaney getting it on?”
I closed my eyes and tried not to get pissed off at Leelee. She had no idea what was going on. “Delaney is sleeping, Leelee.” My voice cracked, and I felt the tears coming. “Can you just call me in the morning?”
“Jay?” Leelee’s tone changed, and she didn’t sound like the same woman who had just said she was drunk.
“Yeah, Lee.”
“Where are you?”
I opened my eyes and looked around the darkened room. “Room twelve nineteen in the Southside State Hospital. Delaney lost the baby.”
My world fully dropped out from under me, and I couldn’t hear a word Leelee said because I was crying too hard to breath, let alone hear.
*
Chapter Twenty-One
Delaney
“Delaney.”
It looked nice outside. The sun was shining and the clouds were fluffy and white.
“Delaney.”
Perfect weather to get a tan while sitting outside reading a book.
“Delaney, look at me.”
I slowly turned my head and looked at Mave.
“They’re releasing you. You’re stable, and there isn’t anything more they can do for you.”
I blinked and turned back to look out the window.
“Honey, you gotta talk. Tell me what’s going on in your head. Jay said you haven’t spoken a word since you woke up.” Mave sounded concerned. She had slipped out of her practiced doctor voice, and I had never heard that happen when she was talking to a patient.
“I lost my baby, Mave. I just want to go home.” My words were dead. Just like my baby I thought I was going to love for the rest of my life.
“You’re gonna be okay, Delaney. It’s gonna take a little bit, but I promise you, once you get some more rest, you’ll start feeling better.”
A sick smile spread across my lips. “I’ll start feeling better that my baby is dead?”