Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69775 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 349(@200wpm)___ 279(@250wpm)___ 233(@300wpm)
Eddy stood up from where she was sitting across the room and her eyes widened.
I pushed inside.
Nettie’s eyes came to me, and where I expected relief and excitement to come forth, nothing came but blankness.
“Boone…” Eddy started.
“Who are you?” Nettie frowned. “And why are you up? You look really hurt.”
My stomach sank.
All the way down to my toes.
“I…”
Eddy came to the entrance of the room and pushed me gently outside.
I allowed it.
“You aren’t supposed to be up,” she pointed out.
I just stared at the woman who was mine who didn’t seem to know me.
Eddy sighed. “She has a grade three concussion.”
I had enough medical knowledge in me to know that was the worst you could get.
“Her head, when it hit the side of the car, took a blow. A very bad one. She can’t remember who she is. Let alone who you are.”
I closed my eyes. “Why didn’t y’all tell me?”
“Because you took the worst of it and were confused on your own. The doctor said that to get your heart rate up would be bad, so we decided collectively not to tell you.” Eddy paused. “We were hoping that she would get herself turned around…but so far that hasn’t been the case.”
“Does she know that she’s married? That she’s pregnant?”
“She knows.” Eddy paused. “I told her about you. But the doctors don’t want to push her too far.”
I felt sick.
Literally, I was going to throw up.
I stumbled back, and Eddy caught me before I could go down on my ass.
“You shouldn’t be out of bed,” she said gently.
I closed my eyes and scanned my brain for what I should do.
“Can I go in there and see her?”
“You can.” Eddy paused. “But Boone, she doesn’t remember. She gets flustered easily, and she can’t have any movement right now. They want her still for at least another three days. If she gets riled, you’ll have to leave.”
Gut churning, I nodded.
When I walked into the room, she was finished with the Jell-O.
She had her gown up over her belly and she was placing one hand over it.
I could see the baby kicking inside of her, pressing against her hand.
“Is the baby okay?” I asked.
Nettie looked up. “They say that she’s fine. Are you the baby’s father?”
Another kick to the gut.
“The father and your husband,” I murmured quietly.
She nodded. “My sister,”—she air-quoted with her fingers—“told me. If she didn’t look exactly like me, I might not have believed her.”
I crossed to where Eddy had once been sitting, then dragged the chair across the room so that I was closer.
She watched me do it with no expression on her face.
That expressionless face turned to sympathy when I winced as I sat.
Everything, and I do mean everything, hurt.
My head. My shoulders. By legs. My toes. There wasn’t a single piece of me that hadn’t taken to pain of some sort.
“What took you so long to come see me?” she asked bluntly.
I wanted to scrub at my face.
Instead I clenched my fists on my knees and said, “I was sedated yesterday. I kept trying to get up, and they didn’t want me to move. So they forced me to stay in bed by sedating me. Today, I woke up, and no one would tell me anything about you. I pretended to swallow the pill that would keep me somewhat under control and spat it out the moment the nurse was out of the room. When the nurses weren’t paying attention to me anymore, I came this way. I’m sorry I didn’t get here sooner.”
“It’s okay.” She gestured toward my arm. “What happened?”
“We were in a car wreck,” I answered. “The truck hit my side. Dislocated shoulder and hip.”
“Oh.” She pressed her hands to the side of her face. “That explains this.”
I swallowed hard.
“Are we happily married, Boone?”
I cleared my throat. “So happy it hurts.”
She smiled. “Maybe you can tell me everything.”
Twenty-Four
Becoming a parent means being prepared to kill the spider. I’m not sure if I can do that.
—Nettie to Boone
Nettie
I had no memory of my entire life.
If that wasn’t crazy as hell, I didn’t know what was.
Even crazier, I was currently in the car with a man who’d not only gotten me pregnant, but also married me.
The first time he’d walked into my hospital room, I’d seen him and been flabbergasted. I’d nearly sucked red Jell-O down my windpipe.
As it was, that Jell-O had melted in my wide-open mouth as I took the man in.
The woman in my room, my sister apparently, had told me about him. She’d told me that he was a great guy and that he was the love of my life. Had been so since I was fourteen and he’d walked into the cottage that I’d been standing in at the time.
I could see why I’d been enamored with the man.
He was tall, dark, and had eyes so brown that they reminded me of dark chocolate.