If Forever Comes (Take This Regret #2)(11)
Author: A.L. Jackson

“I hate that you’re going through this,” I murmured as I flipped the cloth around and ran it over the back of her neck.

For a moment she sagged, a moment’s reprieve, before another roll of nausea hit her. She pitched forward. She strained, every muscle in her body stretched thin, her stomach constricting as she gagged. Nothing came up except for the agonized moan that tore from her throat. A stream of tears slicked down her face, cries she couldn’t contain.

I brushed the bangs from her face and placed a supporting hand at the base of her head. “Is there anything I can do?”

She swallowed hard. Her voice was all raspy, like maybe it was hard just to speak. “Just don’t leave me.”

A smile fluttered at my mouth, and my thumb caressed the soft skin of her cheek. “I’m not going anywhere, baby.”

I’d barely left her side in two days. I’d stood, or rather knelt beside her, when the effects of the pregnancy had suddenly taken hold. It’d seemed almost a shock because, two nights ago, we’d gone to sleep with her feeling completely fine—feeling good was what she’d said—and it wasn’t four hours later that she’d jumped out of bed in the early hours of the morning. Shocked from sleep and gripped by fear, I fumbled out of the tangled sheets and rushed into the bathroom where I found her on the floor, her body sick with the strain the child growing within her caused.

In the last two days, it hadn’t let up.

Honestly, it scared me, watching her suffer this way. In the few minutes I’d found to sneak away, I’d been on my phone, researching if this was normal, and if it was, what we could do about it.

Of course, there was no shortage of suggestions, a mess of folklore and superstition that I wasn’t about to test out on my future wife. Dotted in between were the few remedies that possibly seemed legitimate.

But basically, we had to wait it out.

She frowned. “Don’t look at me like that.”

I felt one form in return. “How am I looking at you?”

She almost smiled. “Like if I throw up one more time, you might have a meltdown.”

I chuckled lightly. “That obvious, huh?”

This time, she managed a smile, and she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “It’s really not as bad this time, Christian,” she mumbled in what I could only assume was supposed to be some kind of reassurance.

It did nothing to allay my concern, only inflamed the residual guilt that would haunt me for the rest of my life.

Seeing her like this brought so much to light, uncovered all those things that I’d never borne witness to, things buried in the unknowns of Elizabeth’s life when I’d been absent.

Yeah, I had a vague sense of what she’d gone through. She’d described it, but when a person isn’t there to witness suffering, it’s hard to comprehend it. But to cause her to quit school, I knew it had to have been bad. That knowledge had been a huge blow to me, struck me deep and beat me down. I mean, God, I’d left her alone to go through all of that by herself.

The truth was, though, I really didn’t know what she’d suffered. I just had no clue.

Now I was getting the idea.

Elizabeth’s eyes went wide, and she jerked back to the toilet. Her knees dug into the floor as she held herself up. She strained and moaned and begged for something to give.

My heart hurt a little more.

God, this was awful.

But not for a second did Elizabeth complain. She just took it in stride, attributed it to something her body required of her in return for the child it protected.

I would never cease to be amazed by her.

“I’m going to run downstairs to get you some water. Will you be okay while I’m gone?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

“Do you need anything else? Crackers or something?”

So maybe crackers were about the only thing I’d seen on my search that I’d be inclined to suggest Elizabeth put in her body. I wasn’t willing to take the chance—not on her or the baby.

“No, I’m okay.”

I hesitated.

“Honestly, Christian…I’ve been through this before.”

Nodding, I turned and rushed downstairs, led by the muted nightlights Elizabeth had set up for Lizzie in case she woke up in the middle of the night.

In the kitchen, I grabbed a glass from the cupboard and filled it with cool water. An uncontainable yawn escaped me. Exhaustion threatened. On instinct, my gaze traveled to the clock on the microwave that taunted me with the sleep we’d lost. It was almost three.

“Shit,” I muttered. Hoping to wake myself up, I scrubbed a palm over my face and dragged myself back upstairs.

But how could I complain?

I couldn’t.

There was nothing here for me to complain about. Nothing but my worry for Elizabeth. She was the one who had to endure this.

So what if I lost a few hours’ sleep. I could deal. I sure as hell wasn’t about to leave Elizabeth to suffer through this alone.

Not again.

Not a chance.

At the bathroom doorway, I paused when I found Elizabeth in the same position I’d left her in. Exhaling heavily, I eased up behind her and dropped to my knees at her side. I ran a soothing hand up the length of her spine and to her neck, softly tilting her face toward me.

“Here, baby, drink a little of this.”

She searched for the strength to smile, allowed me to lift the glass to her dry, cracked lips. If we weren’t careful, she’d end up dehydrated.

She took the smallest of sips and closed her eyes as she forced it down. For a moment, she remained still, as if she were testing the reaction, assessing if she could keep it down. Slowly her eyelids fluttered open. She whispered her thanks.

My head slanted in sincerity. “Don’t thank me, Elizabeth. I’m in this with you.”

Somewhere inside her, she found the energy to bait me with the hint of a tease. “You are, huh?”

Her efforts came out weak.

Gentle, sympathetic laughter quietly tumbled from my mouth, and I was unable to keep the playful buzz from lighting in my chest. A deep sense of wonder hit me. This girl could even rib me when she was at her worst.

“One-hundred percent,” I said.

She gestured with her chin toward the toilet. “So, do you think you could take this over for me?”

I pushed back the chunk of hair that had fallen into her beautiful face and wound it with my finger. An unrestrained smile split my face. At my reaction, her warm eyes swam with emotion, so thick, so pure, so…good. Softening, I tucked the matted tuft of blonde behind her ear and trailed my knuckles down her jaw.