“How is she?” Richard asked, his voice cracking.

“She lost a lot of blood, so we had to give her a transfusion.”

“Is she going to be okay?” Harper asked anxiously.

“She’s suffered a trauma, but she should recover from this just fine.”

I continued to watch him, reading his face with every word he said. He proceeded to tell us what he’d had to do to stop her bleeding, but I could tell he still hadn’t given us the news that we were all too scared to ask. I didn’t want her parents to have to ask the question, so I did it for them.

“Dr. Monroe, what about the baby?”

He cleared his throat. “Emilyn had what is called a placental abruption. That means that the placenta was separated from her uterine wall, causing her to lose the amount of blood that she did.” He looked down and then back up to meet my eyes. “When something like that happens, there is nothing that we can do. Without the placenta being attached, the baby has no way to survive without the blood source.”

“What are you saying?” I knew, but I wanted him to say it.

“She lost the baby Finley.”

Tessa gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Richard leaned in and held his wife as she wept in his arms. Grief was written all over his face. Harper stood straight, tears glistening in her eyes but her stance said she was angry. Kyler was motionless, unsure what to do. I didn’t know how to feel.

“Does she know?” I asked.

“No. She was given a general anesthetic so we could operate and remove any remaining tissue from the pregnancy and search her uterus for additional tears.”

“Oh god. I think I’m going to be sick.” Harper suddenly said.

Kyler led her to a waste basket in the corner of the waiting room.

“The good news is we were able to clear everything out. She will make a full recovery, and she shouldn’t have any problem getting pregnant again.” Dr Monroe sounded hopeful but I was barely registering his words.

Emilyn had lost the baby. We’d just been shopping to fill the nursery with baby furniture. All she wanted was to be a mother, and now she’d lost the one thing that gave her joy and helped her through this mess that Weston had created. And she didn’t even fucking know.

“I know this might no help but sometimes knowing can help the grieving process. The baby… would you like to know the sex?”

“Yes.” Tessa sniffled and answered anxiously. “I want to know.”

Em didn’t want to know. She said that it was one of the many great surprises in life. Would it matter now? Maybe Dr. Monroe was right. He could tell us, and if she wanted to know, I’d tell her.

“It was a boy.”

Tessa broke down again, and this time Richard let out a strangled sob. A boy? Em felt so certain it was a girl. She would talk about the baby and refer to it as a girl all the time. This was a shock. Now that I knew, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to anymore. I ran my hands through my hair, yanking on the ends. I felt numb. Any pain was good at this point. I needed to feel something.

“Can we see her?” I asked.

“Of course. She’s resting right now but she should wake up soon. I can only allow two of you at a time since she’s in the ICU. I’ll be around the hospital for the rest of the evening if you have any questions, or if Emilyn needs anything.” Dr. Monroe nodded his head and started to walk away.

“Dr. Monroe?” I stopped him, and he turned to face me. I guided him out of hearing range of everyone else.

“Is there any explanation for why this happened?” I paused. “Like too much stress?”

“Honestly Finley, it could have been a number of things. But the likelihood that it was stress that caused this is slim. It was just something that wasn’t meant to be. That’ll be hard for her accept I know. Just make sure she gets plenty of rest, okay?” He put his hand on my shoulder, before turning to walk back through the double doors.

I decided to let everyone else see her before I did. I needed a few moments to collect myself. I didn’t know if she would be awake when I went in the room and part of me was hoping that she would wake before it was my turn, just so someone else could break the news to her. That was such a pussy thing to think. I should be the one to tell her. She was mine and I loved her. Why had I let her leave the sandwich shop? Why had I even let Val talk to Em? Who the fuck just shows up after I made it abundantly clear I didn’t want to be with them? She was certifiably crazy. Val had followed me out of the shop when I’d chased after my Tiny Girl. She caught up to me when I was on the ground holding a bleeding out Em. She panicked and said she should have never come. I’m not sure if it was the look on my face or the fact that I was screaming at her to leave me the fuck alone, but she turned away with tears in her eyes and left. I’d never spoken to a woman that way, but give me a break, I’d been holding the love of my life in my arms thinking she was dying.

I felt blame engulf me. Everything that had happened was a result of my actions. I was so fucking stupid. I should never have hidden anything from her. I thought I could deal with it on my own, and I didn’t want to give her a reason to doubt me. I had no idea what I would do, or how I would even begin to fix this, but I knew I needed her. I needed Emilyn like I needed air to breathe. I could never walk away from her again, and I was certainly never going to let her walk away from me again.

Emilyn’s parents had been in to see her and they’d both returned with red, swollen eyes. They said she was sleeping soundly. They were going to head home since there wasn’t much they could do. They knew she wouldn’t be alone since I’d made it clear that I wouldn’t be leaving anytime soon. Harper and Ky went in next and came out about thirty minutes later. Harper hugged me tightly and kissed my cheek.

“She’s still asleep. Other than being a little pale, she looks normal.” I hadn’t asked but I think she was just trying to reassure me before I went in the room.

“Come on babe. I’ll take you home.” Ky said to Harper. She let go of me and turned and tucked herself into Kyler’s side. They both walked out the door leaving me to go in alone.

I stood outside her door. My hands shook as I pushed it open and made my way inside. Em was lying on the bed with an IV running out of her arm. I’d expected to see tubes coming out of her, but there weren’t any. She lay there peacefully; her eyes closed. I walked over to her bed and sat down in the chair by her head. Leaning in, I kissed her cool skin. There in the quiet room, with only the subtle sound of a beep recording her pulse, I finally cried. I picked up her hand, holding it to my mouth and I openly wept. I knew she was going to be devastated when she woke. I was so scared to tell her that her son was gone.

I whispered softly over and over again, “I love you Em. You’re my Tiny Girl. Everything will be okay. As long as we are together, everything will be fine.”

My head was in a fog and my whole body felt achy. I wanted to move and yawn and stretch, but for some reason I couldn’t. Was I still sleeping? I lay there trying to get the rest of my body awake and moving. I heard a small sniffling sound right next to me. Then my hand moved. Who was that? I desperately tried to open my eyes but my lids felt so heavy.

“I love you Tiny Girl.”

It was Finn’s voice, so soft. What on earth was going on? I begged my eyes to open. Finn sounded so sad and I just wanted to comfort him. My fingers finally began to comply. I wiggled them, and he must have felt it.

“Em? Em honey, can you hear me?”

I made a slight groaning sound in the back of my throat. Forcing my lids open just a bit and blinking hard, they gradually allowed me to start opening them. Through half-closed eyes I was able to glance around the room. I saw stark white walls in front of me, and a TV hanging near the ceiling. Moving my head in the direction of the hand Finn was holding, I saw him. He looked at me expectantly. His eyes were red and puffy, as if he’d been crying.