The Things I Do for You (The Alexanders) (25 page)

“I knew there had to be more to the story. I didn’t want to believe what he said but I had to ask
.
”

Nick sighed. He was suddenly very tired. “I wish you hadn’t needed to ask. I wish you’d known that I wouldn’t intentionally do something like that without even having to hear me tell you.”

Raina’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right. You’ve done nothing but be my champion and at the first opportunity I’m here interrogating you like you’re some criminal.”

“I’m not blaming you, sweets. I know exactly who’s to blame here. Anyone would have asked the question. Especially given my past. I just can’t wait for the day when you trust me so implicitly that nothing can shake you.”

“I do trust you, Nick. It’s just my hormones. This baby is making me exhausted and paranoid. I know I can’t trust anything Steven says. He’s just vindictive.”

Nick squeezed her arms. “You can’t always assume the worst of me. I’m doing the best I can.”
 

“Sometimes this all seems too good to be true. I think that I must be missing something huge. That you haven’t really changed, you aren’t really this great, upstanding, moral guy who just wanted to marry me because he loves me. In my world, when things are going too well, there’s always a catch.”
 

“There is no catch. There’s just us. Our love is what we make it.”
 

“It makes me nervous when things are too perfect.”

“I
never
said it was perfect. I’m still the guy who leaves his shoes in the middle of the floor and squeezes the toothpaste in the middle. You still drive me crazy with that teenybopper music and of course, let’s not forget the Monster Muffins. Neither of us is perfect. But we can be perfect for each other. Isn’t that enough?”

Raina nodded. Her hand came up to her forehead and she rubbed her temple.
 

“Are you all right?”

“I’ve had this stupid headache since yesterday. It probably doesn’t help that I’m still barfing so much. I really thought this morning sickness would have passed by now. I’m not sure why they call it morning sickness. It’s more like all-the-time sickness.”

Just then Kay’s voice blared through the speaker on his desk. “Mr. Alexander. Mr. Simmons is here to see you.”
 

Nick cursed under his breath. “I forgot that Matt was coming by to show me some of the listings he found for condos. He’s finally narrowed down the area he wants to live in. I can cancel, though. He’ll understand.”

He offered her his arm but she waved him away as she stood. “No, don’t do that. He’s come all the way up here to see you. We can talk more at home. I should really go home and rest.”

“Okay, I’ll see you tonight.”

He walked over to his desk and hit the intercom. “Kay, you can send Matt to the conference room. I’ll be there in a minute.”

*
 
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*
 
*
 
*

MATT CURSED HIS forgetfulness as he skipped down the stairs of Nick’s building. He was supposed to be bringing Nick the new listings he’d found and he’d conveniently left them on the front seat of his truck.
 

He figured Nick had to be as tired of his house-hunting search as he was. They’d been looking for condos since summertime and he still hadn’t found one he liked. They were all either too expensive or didn’t have the features he wanted.

I think you have commitment issues, buddy.

It was something his sister would say. Not that he disagreed. He was used to going where Uncle Sam told him to go. It was hard to get used to the idea that his life was his own again.

He pulled open the heavy metal door leading to the parking garage. A young woman sat on the edge of the curb, her head in her hands.

“Miss? Are you all right?”

When she raised her head, Matt rushed forward. “Raina, what’s wrong?”

She blinked at him a few times, then said, “I don’t feel so good. I think I’m going to be sick.”

Matt instantly sprang into battle awareness. He looked at her eyes to see if her pupils were dilated. Her skin was flushed, but that was to be expected if she was about to throw up.

“Okay, let’s get you to the hospital. My truck is right here.”

Raina shook her head. “No, I can’t move yet. It’s worse when I move. That’s why I sat down.” She closed her eyes suddenly and started breathing through her mouth. “It smells like burnt rubber down here.”

Matt didn’t smell anything but he kept that thought to himself. “Okay. Let’s just take it easy. Can you move yet? Are you still dizzy?”

After what seemed like a million years, Raina nodded. “A little. My head hurts.”

Matt looked at his truck just a few feet away. “Raina, how about you let me carry you? We really need to get you to the hospital.”

Finally she nodded. She stood slowly and he picked her up. She was light, too light for her height. He carried her swiftly to the truck and hit the automatic opener on his keychain. He shoved the papers on the seat in the back and helped her climb in. As he rounded the car to the driver’s side, he pulled out his cell phone and called Nick. It went to voicemail so he left a quick message.

“Hey, man, I found Raina down here. She looks pretty bad so I’m taking her to the hospital. Meet us there.”

He fired up his truck. Raina jumped at the loud roar of the engine. “Sorry. I’m sure that’s not helping your headache any.”

“No, it just startled me. I’m sure I’m fine. I just got dizzy. I probably just need to lie down.”

He pulled out of the parking garage and raced through the streets until they reached New Haven General. “Either way, we’re going to get you checked out just in case.”
 

He left his car parked at the curb of the emergency entrance and then jumped out. Raina already had the door open by the time he got around to her side.
 

“Here, take my arm.” He led her through the automatic doors and up to the nurse sitting at the reception desk. He leaned over and said, “She’s pregnant and she’s having dizzy spells. I found her collapsed on the ground.”

The nurse pushed a form across the desk along with a pen. “Fill this out and we’ll see what’s going on.” Raina picked up the pen, then before she could write anything, she slumped against the counter.

“Whoa!” Matt looped a hand around her waist and held her upright so she wouldn’t fall over.

“She’s going down!” The nurse jumped up and ran around to the desk. Before he knew what was happening they were surrounded by nurses and Raina was being helped into a wheelchair.
 

“Are you her husband?” the nurse on his left asked.

He shook his head. “He’s on his way.”

“We’re going to take her back now.”

Matt watched helplessly as Raina was wheeled away. He pulled out his cell phone and called Nick again. When it went to voicemail, he hung up. Then he called the main office line and left a message with Kaylee, who promised to look for him.
 

“Where are you, Nick?”

“WE JUST KEEP ending up here, don’t we? What is it about us and hospitals? It’s like we have bad karma.”

Ridley sat gingerly on the edge of Raina’s hospital bed. After her embarrassing fainting incident, she’d been examined by one of the emergency doctors on call. They’d drawn blood and were running tests. But they’d already determined that she was severely dehydrated. They’d hooked her up to an IV bag of fluids to try to get her electrolytes back in the normal range.

Apparently all the throwing up she’d been doing
wasn’t
normal. But at least it didn’t seem to have hurt the baby. That was all she was holding on to at the moment.
 

“I know. This is getting to be a habit. One I will be happy to break.” She poked at the tube in her arm. It was positioned so that no matter how she moved, it tugged at her skin and made her uncomfortable.
 

It was truly a cruel twist of fate for her to have so many medical issues considering how much she hated hospitals. They were just harbingers of germs. Whose bright idea was it anyway to put all the sick people in the same place? She felt like she was going to be permanently contaminated by the time the doctor returned to release her.
 

Or at least she could only hope he would release her. She stopped messing with the tube in her arm. If whatever was in that bag could help her get better faster, then she was all for it.
 

“I’m just glad Matt was there. I hate to think what could have happened if he hadn’t found you.” Ridley’s voice brought her out of her daydreaming.
 

“I know. Can you go check and see if he’s still here? I want to say thank you.” Raina also wanted to apologize for being difficult. He’d only been trying to help her and she was pretty sure she’d snapped at him.
 

Ridley left briefly and Raina used the time to close her eyes and rest her head. It was nice to finally understand why she was so tired. She’d figured it was just part of being pregnant. It had made her feel incredibly guilty because after all the time, stress, and worry that had gone into getting pregnant, she’d expected to enjoy it. To be glowing and healthy and excited.
 

Instead she’d just been barfing and miserable and sick.
 

At least there was something she could do now that would hopefully make her feel better.
 

Ridley came back in the room, Nick trailing behind her. As soon as he saw her, he pushed past Ridley and strode to the side of the bed.

“I came as soon as I got Matt’s message. What happened? Are you okay?” He turned to Ridley. “Is she okay?”

“They said she’s dehydrated. She’s going to be just fine after she gets some vitamins and nutrients in her.” Ridley leaned over the side of the bed and kissed Raina on the forehead. “Now that I know you’re in good hands, I’m going to give the rest of the family a call and let them know you’re okay.”

“Thanks, Ridley. I should have called on the way here but I wasn’t even thinking.” Nick took the seat next to her bed. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here sooner.”

“Where were you, Nick?”

“I went to get a soda from the vending machine and then I was in the conference room waiting for Matt. I didn’t realize I left my phone on my desk. I waited for him to come back for about fifteen minutes before I went back to my office. Kay finally found me.”
 

“I was so scared something was wrong with the baby,” she admitted finally, giving voice to the fears she hadn’t wanted to say aloud.

“Did the doctors say the baby was in any danger?” He placed a hand over her abdomen.
 

She wasn’t showing at all yet and hadn’t gained any weight. She’d actually lost weight. It was no wonder, considering she hadn’t held down a full meal in over a month.

“Everything seems to be fine. The doctor is going to come back in a while to give me the results of the blood work. I think they’re going to give me something to help with the nausea, too. I feel like such an idiot. Dr. Waters told me to report any problems I had, but I just thought throwing up was part of being pregnant. I hope I haven’t starved our baby.”

“It’s not your fault, Raina. You couldn’t know what’s normal or not. At least we’ll know something soon.” His phone beeped and he pulled it out. “I wonder if this is Mom. Once everyone hears what happened, you’ll probably have more visitors than you really want.”

Raina ran a hand over her hair self-consciously. “Why is it that when people most want to visit you is also the time when you look your worst?”

“You look beautiful.”

“Nick, I want to tell you something.”
 

Nick put his phone down and pulled his chair closer.
 

“I love you,” she whispered. “I’m tired of dancing around it and not being brave enough to say it. You’ve always been honest with me, even when it wasn’t easy for you. How can I be any less brave for you? So, I love you. I love you so much.”

He looked like he was in shock by the end of her little speech. His mouth fell open and he let out a little cough.

“You’re going to make me cry in public, you know that?” He laughed softly.
 

She leaned to the edge of the hospital bed so she could be as close to him as possible. He leaned against the metal frame and pressed his forehead to hers.
 

“No more I
think
I love you?”

She grinned up at him. “Definitely not.”

*
 
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NICK SAT ON the edge of Raina’s bed and watched as she tried to braid her long hair over her shoulder. If she felt well enough to be worried about her appearance, he figured she must be recovering quickly.

“I still can’t believe that Steven made up all those lies. He deliberately led me to believe that you tried to seduce his wife away from him. He never mentioned that you had no idea she was married.”

“I think it makes him feel better to blame someone else,” Nick replied.
 

“What if Steven hadn’t been divorced when I met him but hadn’t told me? That could have happened just as easily to me.” Raina reached out and grabbed his hand. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you he’d been calling. I just didn’t want to upset you or make you think you couldn’t trust me. He’s not the one I want. He never was. Are you mad at me?”

“I’m not upset with you. I’m just upset that you didn’t feel you could tell me. I don’t want you to keep anything from me.”

“I won’t. I’ve learned my lesson. I know you wouldn’t keep secrets from me, either. Especially about something as big as finances.”