Falling Hard (Hidden Secrets Book 6) (21 page)

“How,” I cleared my throat as I handed back the pictures to him. “How did you know that I was your son and not just some crazy person?”

“Because this beautiful woman here sent me a picture of you and I could see myself right away. I always thought you’d be a spitting image of me, you were as a baby,” he smiled.

“What are you wanting out of this meeting?”

“Whatever you will give me, son… Uh, sorry. Nathan.”

“Do, uh, do you have a family?”

“Sadly no, apparently women don’t find it sexy when your focus is searching for a son that according to all records, doesn’t exist. They think that you’re insane.”

I gave a sad laugh/snort.

“You do have a cousin though, but sadly I don’t know where he is either. My sister wasn’t exactly the best mom. She got involved with a married man and then was surprised that he went back to his wife. Gave the poor kid a horrible name…”

“Danger Mitchell?” Kristy and I both asked and I couldn’t help the smile that started to spread on my face.

“Yes. Do you guys know him?”

“Yes,” I said. “Okay let me give you the cliff notes version. Jason Gold is my best friend and brother. His family took me in. He met and later married a woman named Kayla Williams. She has a brother named Jackson Williams who married a woman named Shannon Mitchell who shortly after getting engaged found out she had a brother named Danger. Since then he’s been a thorn in my side. We butt heads but recently he saved my life when an Australian gang leader tried to kill me. Then he went and brought my girl back to me.” I squeezed her hand, she smiled at me.

“Wow, small world in deed. I’d really love to see him too. His mother kind of went off the deep end and I cut my ties with her. That wasn’t fair to Danger, but he wasn’t in a good place at that time either.”

* * *

Because of my beautiful amazing woman, all the pieces of my life have fallen in place and I’m whole once again. It took some time and many obstacles, but for the first time in my life I know exactly where I’m headed and who I’m headed there with.  My life will only get better from here with my beautiful girl by my side.

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Kristy

“Where are you at babe?” Nathan yelled just before I heard the door slammed.

“I’m upstairs.”

My hands were sweating and my heart frantically beat against my chest. My lymph nodes were still swollen and last night while making love Nate felt one. So today he urged me to go to the doctors. I’ve already been and I know what’s going on. I guess now I must tell him what’s going on. 

“You won’t believe… What’s wrong?”

He sat next to me on the bed and I couldn’t look at him. My heart was breaking and I was worried if I should have taken Jackson and Danger’s advice before and told him sooner. But he was so excited about the baby and I was excited that he woke up.

“I should have told you sooner, I know that,” I said softly.

Nate takes my hand, kisses it gently, “What’s wrong?”

“When Jackson came and got me for the bloodwork and I found out I was pregnant… I found out that it showed I had Lupus. They wanted to do a biopsy, but I declined.”

Nate was quiet for a long while. The longer he was quiet the more tears built in my eyes. He was mad at me. He had every right to be too. But there’s no way I was letting anything happen to our baby.

“Why,” he cleared his throat. “Why haven’t you told me about this until now?”

“Because you weren’t talking to me. It doesn’t matter though. I’m not risking our baby.”

“Isn’t there complications with just having Lupus and being pregnant? How can you make a decision like this without talking to me first? I thought we were a team, but I guess it was only a team on my end or when it suited you,” Nate practically hissed at me.

I stood up from bed and looked at him shocked. “Now wait just a minute. That was wrong and you know it. I’ve always thought of us as a team. This decision was mine and mine alone. It’s my life and I’m the one carrying this baby…”

Nate stands quickly and roars, “My baby! That’s just as much my child as it is yours. And did you ever stop to think how I’d feel in all this?”

When the tears started to fall down my cheeks, he huffed loudly and stormed out. I collapsed onto the bed in tears. I knew he’d be mad, but I didn’t expect this. This amount of anger shocked me.

Reaching over I grabbed the phone, I called the one person that I knew could handle him right now.

“What’s up?”

“I told Nate about everything. He’s pissed and stormed off.”

“Okay. I’ll leave a note and go find him. He’s hurting Kristy. If he said anything that…”

“No he didn’t, it’s just the amount of anger that’s upset me. And him walking away from me…”

“He’ll be back, but I’ll make sure he’s okay until then. Okay?”

“Thank you Danger.”

I hung up the phone and hoped like hell that Danger found Nate. Just then my phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Becca’s in the hospital having an emergency c-section. Her blood pressure bottomed out and the baby is in danger. I wanted to call and keep you updated on everything.”

“Oh God, should I get a flight back home?”

“No, we are in the states. We were coming to surprise you. We had just checked into the hotel and…”

“I’m on my way Aaron. Please be watching for me.”

Without waiting any longer, I threw on some clothes and shoes and ran out the door. While I waited for the bus, I tried to call Nate, but he didn’t answer. Just as I was about to text, I hear a bus approaching.

The bus trip here was about twenty minutes, but finally I made it. It seemed like just yesterday that I was here wondering if Nate was going to live or die. It filled me with a bit of anxiety walking in. But the minute I walked off the elevator and saw my family, those thoughts vanished.

Mum looked up with tears in her eyes. “Krissy, how’d you know we were here?”

“Aaron called me,” I answered as I hugged her. “Any updates?”

“Nothing yet sweetie,” Dad answered as he hugged me.

Looking around the waiting room, I turned confused. “Where’s Aaron?”

“He went to get your dad something to eat. He’s not ate since we left Oz.”

“Well, you know how bad that airplane food is,” Dad complained as he scrunched up his nose.

We walked over to the seats and sat down talking. Mum and Dad told me everything about Rebecca. They’d gotten a call telling them that she was lost and didn’t know where she was at. After hours of searching they finally found her and brought her home. She was sick and they nursed her back to health. Rebecca requested to see me and they came here to surprise me.

Aaron brought food for everyone. He sat next to me with Lily sitting on the other side. We all huddled around each other, praying for the best results. I don’t know how long I’d been there when the doctor finally came in.

“Rebecca Reeves’ family?”

“Yes,” Mum croaks out.

“Would you like to see the baby?” The doctor asked with what looked like a forced smile on his face.

“I want to know how my daughter is doing first,” Dad demanded.

The smile fell and the doctor took a deep breath. “I’m sorry, but she didn’t make it.”

“She… what?” Mum asked before she screamed and started to cry.

Tears streamed down my face as I asked to see my nephew. It wasn’t that I didn’t care about losing my sister, but the one that needed someone most was my nephew.

Within a few minutes later, I sat waiting for them to bring in my nephew. My hands were shaking. Wiping my hands on my legs for the fourth time, the door finally opens.

“Ms. Reeves?”

“Yes, ma’am. Is… Is that my nephew?” I asked as she brought in a tightly wrapped bundle.

“It is. Please be care of the tubes. He’s unable to eat on his own and his breathing is erratic,” the nurse explains as she sets my very tiny nephew into my arms.

Staring down at the little guy, my eyes mist over. He’s so tiny. Honestly, I feel like I’m going to break him as I hold him.

“Hi little guy. I’m your Aunt,” I sobbed.

His skin was a bit yellow and looked as if to almost hang off him. Even with the tubes and all that, he was so adorable. He resembled Becs to a ‘T’.

“I’m going to protect you. No one will hurt you,” I whispered.

I was only allowed fifteen minutes with him before they took him back to the NICU. My heart broke even more as they took him from my arms. He has no mother or father. What will happen with him?

Making my way back out to the waiting room, Aaron ran up to me just as I rounded the corner.

“Are you okay?”

“He’s so tiny. What’s going to happen to him?”

“Mum and Dad have legal guardianship,” he stated.

Turning to Mum and Dad, I spoke before I over thought about it. “Mum, I want to keep him. Let me take care of him. Please.”

“Baby, you’re about to…”

“Please. I owe it to Rebecca. It’s my fault they suffered so much. Please.” Another tear slipped from my eye as I begged them.

“Do you think Nate will want that?”

“This is my nephew, my choice. Please Mum. Please. He could stay here with me away from the rats that he’s actually related to. Please.”

“But… Let us think about it okay?”

“Okay,” I said a little deflated.

“Krissy, can I talk to you for a minute?” Aaron asked after a moment.

We walked away from the group. Aaron looked out a window and stared out over the hospital parking lot. The longer he looked out the window and not talking, the more agitated I got.

“Did you just call me over here to have company to stare out the window?”

“Have you told Mum and Dad that you have Lupus?”

My head snapped back at the subtle anger in his soft spoken words. He doesn’t even turn to face me. Instead, he continued to stare out the window as if nothing he hadn’t just snapped at me.

“No because I don’t know that I do.”

“And when do you plan on figuring it out?”

“I might consider doing the biopsy after the baby’s born, but I just don’t want that tainting this moment in my life,” I explained for the second time today.

Finally he turned to face me. “So you’re able to push it out of your mind right now? Because I can’t. I’ve been thinking about it since you told me. Every night I fall asleep, I think about it. I worry about it. How are you not already tainting it? Tell me something. Nate’s okay with your decision? Nate doesn’t worry about what could happen to you?”

“This isn’t Nate’s decision. This is mine. Why can’t anyone understand that?”

“It is your decision in the end, but why is it that you won’t even consider Nate into the decision? He’s the man that will be left behind with your baby and a broken man if you were to die. Did that factor into
your
decision?”

That hit me hard because I hadn’t thought about that. “Oh my God, I’m so selfish,” I whispered as I collapsed down to the chair.

“You’re not selfish, just caught up in your pain. You’ve been just you for so long, Kris. But you aren’t alone anymore. You have a man that would die for you and almost did. I think you need to go home and talk to him. Don’t you?”

Nodding my head, I hugged my brother and asked them to let Mum and Dad know I was heading home. Hurrying outside, I hailed a cab and headed home.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Nate

Tonight has not turned out the way I anticipated it. When I walked into our house tonight, I wanted to tell her that I’d taken Jason up on his offer for a plot of land out on his property and Nick agreed to design and build our home. But instead, I’m being told that the love of my life may be dying and my opinion doesn’t matter.

When I jumped into my car, I had no clue where I was headed. Honestly, I just needed to get away before I said something that I’d regret later. But yet when I put my car in park, I was sitting outside Jackson’s house. On autopilot, I walked up to the porch and rang the bell.

“Hey Na…” Jackson started to answer, but I cut him off with a punch.

Shannon screamed from behind him. Looking at Jackson, I hissed. “You didn’t think I needed to know?”

“Didn’t need to know what?” Shannon asked, but I didn’t pay attention to her.

My fist connected with his face again. Jackson fought back this time. How long we were going at it, I just don’t know. But soon I was being pulled back by Danger and Jason was holding Jackson.

“What the hell is going on here?” Jason yelled.

“This asshole felt he didn’t need to that my girlfriend could be dying.”

“What?” Shannon gasped.

The anger left me then and sadness took its place. Sagging in Danger’s arms, he let me go.

“I can’t lose her Jack. Not when I just found her.”

Sitting down on the porch, I lean my head back against the side of the house. Jackson sat down next to me.

“You may not be. She refuses to have the biopsy done. I think she’s afraid to be told she’s dying. Whether she gets it done or not, if she has Lupus, the outcome is still the same. But if she did, she could find relief.”

“Why does she need the biopsy if you’ve already done the blood test?”

“Because there’s always a chance of a false positive. She could have been sick at the time and threw off the results. This is why I’ve been trying to push her to get the test done. She won’t listen.”

“Wait, I’m trying to play catch up here. I thought that Kristy was pregnant,” Shannon acted confused.

“She is baby,” Jackson said smiling up at Shannon.

“I’m going to go. I need to talk to Kristy.”

Without waiting for any responses, I jumped into my car and took off. Before I could even blink, I was back at the house.

“Kristy,” I called as I ran into the bedroom.

Urgently checking each room, I began to panic. When I found the house empty, I ran back out to my car and searched for her. All kinds of thoughts were running through my head. Top of which is that Chain got her.

After a couple hours of searching, I drove back home and paced the living room. “Where the hell are you?”

Just then the front door opened and I froze. Staring at the doorway, I waited for whoever to come in. When Kristy appeared in the doorway, we stared at each other for a moment.

“Nate, I…”

The minute she said my name, my feet moved and I quickly gathered her in my arms, kissing her like my life depended on it. Pushing her against the door frame, I lifted her up on my hips and anchor my hands in her hair.

She moaned, pulling at my shirt. “Nate,” she breathed.

“I love you, Kristy. I’m sorry I yelled, but I don’t want to lose you. You are my world and if I lose you, I lose all I have to live for. I know you may not want to know, but baby… I
need
to know. Please, baby,” I begged through kisses.

“Yes, Nate. Yes, I’ll have the biopsy. As long as they tell me no harm will come to our baby.”

“Agreed,” I murmured right before sealing my lips over hers.

* * *

“Promise me, Jackson. You’re sure he knows what he’s doing and my girl and baby will be okay?”

“I promise you, Nate,” Jack assured me.

Being unable to control the situation, I was a nervous wreck. While I was with Kristy, I kept calm. At that point, I had no choice. I knew Kristy was scared shitless, so I didn’t need to add to it. But not that she’s out of sight, all my nerves are snapping.

“Nate, calm down,” Jack chuckled. “They are giving her local anesthesia, so the baby is fine. It’s simple procedure. Everything will be fine.”

Sitting down in the seat, I run my hand through my hair. Standing back up, I walked back and forth for a moment before turning to Jack.

“What if it comes back positive or whatever it says?”

“Then you’ll handle that as it comes. You can’t keep stressing over the what ifs. You’ll give yourself a heart attack for sure.”

Nodding my head, I looked out the window and prayed to God to keep them safe. It didn’t matter to me where life took me, but I did know that as long as Kristy was with me everything will be just fine.

Soon, I was being led back to Kristy. She smiles at me weakly. “Now there’s the man I wanted to see.”

Kissing her belly first, I kissed her soundly. “I love you,” I whispered.

“Oh I see, you’re just with me for my belly aren’t you?”

“I love you,” I said again.

She cupped my face in her hands, “I love you too.

* * *

“It feels like we are taking up residence in doctor offices lately,” Kristy groaned as we sat in yet another doctor’s office.

This one however was yet to be determined good or bad appointment. We are getting the results of her biopsy today. We insisted that Jackson give us the results. It wasn’t because we didn’t trust the surgeon, but because we knew that Jack wouldn’t dick us around with technical talk.

“Sorry to keep you waiting,” Jack said as he walked into the office. “How you feeling today, Kristy?”

“Jax, you’re my brother and I love ya, but damn it we need to know what the results are,” I blurted out.

Kristy started laughing next to me. The nerves were plain in her laughter.

“Well, I’m not going to keep you wondering. It came back negative,” Jackson smiled.

“What,” we breathed in unison.

“Kristy, you do
not
have Lupus.”

“Oh my God,” I breathed. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” Jackson laughed.

“YES!”

Jumping up, I pulled her into my arms and spun her around. This has to be the happiest day of my life.

“Nate, I’m fine. I’m going to be okay. Right?”

“Yes! You’re stuck with me forever now baby and that sentence was just extended,” I beamed.

“I love you,” she breathed through her tears.

“I love you more,” I replied before kissing her.

My heart began to beat again and all the weight left my shoulders. The future that I saw that was once tainted by the possibility of losing her, is now bright and happy. It was ours to build and I planned on giving her everything her heart desires.

Let the good rain down now.