“I needed a second story anyhow. The place was too small,” I say defensively.
“She made her choice. If she wanted to be found, she would have been,” Jodie says.
I shake my head. “No. You don’t know her like I do.”
“You knew here for like, four hours,” Jasper says.
I smirk, leaving cash on the bar. “You wait,” I say to him. “You wait until you find the girl of your goddamn dreams. You’ll chase her the same way I’m chasing Rainey now.”
In my truck, I turn on the radio. First song that’s playing is the Beatles’ Here Comes the Sun and if that isn’t a goddamn sign, I don’t know what is.
“I’m coming, baby.” I drive down the highway, my heart beating hard as I consider the implications. Consider the idea that this really is Rainey.
She might never wake up.
And then I consider the other thing Jasper said.
She’s pregnant. Eight months pregnant.
I do the math.
There is no doubt in my mind this woman is Rainey.
And that this baby is mine.
When I get to the hospital, I ask a nurse at the first desk I see for help.
“What’s the problem, exactly?”
“The woman who was flown here, last night? I think she’s… I think she’s carrying my baby.”
The nurse’s eyes go wide, and she tells me she will be right back. I pace the linoleum floor, praying that by following my heart I will have Rainey back in my life… in my arms. It’s all I want, all I need.
Finally, a doctor finds me and tells me to follow him. “You know the patient?”
“I think I do.”
“Well, she woke up an hour ago,” he says, guiding me through the hospital to labor and delivery. “Labor brought her out of the coma. Which is a miracle. But she’s struggling, and so is the baby. She says she was on her way to Fox Hollow to find a man—”
I cut him off as we reach a door with her name on it — Rainey Larson. Larson. I hadn’t known her last name — but soon enough it will be my name she takes.
“I have to see her.”
He lets me pass, and I enter the hospital room.
My heart stops when I see her. Her eyes filled with tears, her belly swollen with child, struggling through a contraction. She grips the bed’s railing.
“Rainey.” I move toward her and her eyes find mine.
“Reed. How… how did you get here so fast? They already called you?”
I shake my head. “I head a woman was brought here… found in Fox Hollow… and I knew. Knew it was you.”
“I’m so sorry I left,” she cries, then she drops her head back in pain as another contraction grips her body. I take her hand.
“I’m here now. We are together.”
“It’s your baby, Reed. I tried to find you sooner but…” She screams as the pain barrels through her. The doctor positions himself at the foot of the bed, and the nurses prep the room. Something changes.
“It’s time to push, Rainey. You’re almost there,” the doctor tells her.
I let her grab hold of me as the pain ripples through her, and I tell her I’ve got her. That she isn’t alone.
“I’m right here, Rainey. Right here.”
And then, with panting and a cry that sets me on edge, the woman of my dreams pushes hard, harder, until our baby emerges.
A cry rings loud, a baby brought into the world. Our child. A girl. Tears fill my eyes and Rainey shakes with exhaustion as a nurse places the baby on her chest.
“I’m so glad you found me.”
“We were meant to be, Rainey,” I say.
Tears fall down her cheeks, and I wipe them away. “I shouldn’t have left,” she sobs. “I didn’t think I had a choice.”
“It’s okay. You’re okay now,” I tell her.
But she shakes her head, kissing the top of the baby’s head. “No, Reed. I’m not. None of us are.”
Rainey
The baby is premature by a month, but she is breathing on her own, and they are letting us hold her a bit even though she has to sleep somewhere else.
Reed stays by my side all night, asking if I need anything — he is here for me in all the right ways.
But once I tell him the truth, he will never look at me the same way.
“Where were you all these months?” he asks, kissing the top of the baby’s head. We haven’t named her yet, or even talked about it. There is still so much to figure out.
“I’ve spent the last four months trying to get back here. To you.” I’m lying in a hospital bed, and in some ways, I want to stay put forever. As long as I am here, my brother won’t find me. “I tried to run away from Tim but his girlfriend Carly-Anne ratted me out.”
“Why didn’t you call? I could have helped.”
“Once Tim realized what I was up to, that I was pregnant, he got us a place to live in Kansas City and basically put me on house arrest.”
“Why did he care? Why not just let you come here if that’s what you wanted?”
I swallow, scared. My body has been spent, my heart exhausted. “Because he didn’t trust me not to tell you everything.”
“Tell me what?” Reed asks. Just then, a nurse comes in and checks my vitals, then takes the baby away to sleep. Reed and I hold a silent conversation while she is here — he wants to know the whole story. He wants me to trust him.
I want to… but I don’t want him to get hurt.
“I’m here for you,” he tells me when we’re alone again. “Trust me. I want to keep you and our baby protected. It’s the only thing that matters. But I can’t do that if you don’t tell me the truth.”
I press my lips together. “Reed, I want you to look at me and see
