Zane & Lucky’s First Christmas (Forever Love #3.5)(34)
Author: J.S. Cooper

“I’m Zane Beaumont.”

“Great.” She smiled at me. “If you want to follow me, you can come and see Lucky now.”

“She’s okay?” I felt my skin start to warm up with hope.

“She’s fine.” She nodded.

“And the babies?”

“Both fine.”

“Oh my God, thank you.” I gave her a huge grin and Noah smiled at me widely. “What took you guys so long?”

“We wanted to run some tests first, make sure everything was okay.”

“And it is?”

“Yes, everything looks good. Lucky fainted from the stress of thinking her friend was dead.”

“He’s not dead though. She knows that right?”

“Yes.” The doctor nodded and stopped outside a door. “You can go in there now, don’t get her too excited, please. We’re going to keep her in overnight for observation, but if everything looks fine, we will release her in the morning.”

“I’m not leaving the hospital until she can go with me.” I looked at her defiantly and she shrugged.

“That’s your prerogative, Mr. Beaumont.”

“Can I go in now?”

“I’m not sure what you’re waiting for.” She smiled at me and I pushed open the door gingerly. I walked into the room slowly and my heart sank as I stared at a pale Lucky lying there hooked up to some tubes.

“Zane,” she smiled and ushered me in. “How is Sidney?”

“Sidney?” I gasped. “What about me? I nearly died Lucky. I nearly died when I thought something had happened to you.”

“Oh darling, I’m fine. I’m sure the doctor told you. Everything is fine. But tell me, how is Sidney, is he okay? He looked so sick and then he collapsed. I thought my heart was going to break in shock and sadness.”

“He’s okay.” I held on to her hand and showered her face with kisses. “He had a stroke. I guess this isn’t the first one he’s had. He’s not talking right now.” My voice broke as I realized what I was saying. Now I was no longer worried about Lucky, my heart was breaking all over again, but this time it was for Sidney.

“Is he going to be okay?”

“I don’t know.” I bit my lip. “He’ll live, but I don’t know if he’s going to talk again. The doctor said he’s paralyzed on one side.”

“I could see.” She nodded, her eyes full of tears. “I knew something was wrong. I just didn’t know what.”

“Yeah, I had noticed things seemed a bit off the last time I saw him as well, but I wasn’t really sure what. But he’s an old man, Lucky. He’s not immortal. He will die at some point.”

“But I want him to see us get married and I want him to see the babies. He’s the only granddad they’ll have.”

“I know.” I sighed as I realized that our kids weren’t going to have grandparents. “And he will get to see them Lucky, I’m sure of it. And our babies will have us and Noah and Skylar and we will all love them with all our hearts. They’ll be surrounded by love.”

“I know.” Her hands clasped mine as I rubbed her belly. “They are going to be so spoilt.”

“Don’t ever scare me like that again, Lucky.”

“I won’t.” She bit her lip. “I was thinking.”

“Uh oh, what?”

“Well, I think you should call your dad. See how he is, reach out to him.”

“What’s the point?”

“I know he hasn’t been a great dad, but I think you’re being hypocritical. How can you expect Noah to talk to his mom, if you’re not willing to give your dad a chance?”

“He doesn’t care about me and Noah.” I sighed. “He didn’t even tell me about my mom.”

“Give him a chance to explain.”

“You really want me to call him?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I do.”

“Fine. But only because I love you and I would do anything for you.”

“Then get on this bed and give me a good cuddle.”

“What about the tubes?”

“It’ll be fine.” She grinned at me. “Oh and Zane.”

“Yes, dear.”

“Please don’t try and have sex with me, this is one place I definitely don’t want to get caught in.”

“Okay, I’ll try.” I laughed and got up on the bed carefully and held her in my arms. I closed my eyes and buried my face in her hair and just breathed her in.

“Never let me go.” She whispered and I held her to me even tighter.

***

I closed the bedroom door slowly, so that it didn’t slam and then walked down the stairs. I’d never been so thankful in my life before. I walked into the quiet living room and sat on the couch and thought about the last few days. The hospital had kept Lucky in for an extra day because they had wanted to monitor the heartbeat of one of the babies. I had tried as hard as I could to hide my worry, but Lucky had seen through my disguise. I felt a bit pathetic having her comfort me, when I should have been the one comforting her.

“Ruby Lane, will be fine.” She had reassured me over and over. I had wanted to tell her to be quiet. I didn’t want her to use the name we had chosen for the girl. Using the name made her too real in my mind and my heart. If anything happened now, it wouldn’t just be something that had happened to my unborn child; it would be something that had happened to my little girl Ruby Lane. I could already picture her in my mind, she’d have her mothers big brown eyes and long brown curly hair and the boy, well the boy would look like me and he’d take care of his sister like she was the most important person on earth. My heart fluttered as I thought about holding my babies hands for the first time, watching them learn to walk and to talk. I thought about my boy having to live a life without Ruby, his other half and my heart broke. How would he ever be able to live a full life when part of him was gone? I took a deep breath and sat back and said a little prayer of thanks to God.

“Thank you for keeping them safe, please continue to protect and bless my family God. In Jesus Christ’s name, I pray. Amen.” I opened my eyes and almost laughed at myself. I was never really one to pray, but I found that now it comforted me. Finding Lucky had given me reason to believe in a power far greater than myself. I opened my phone and pressed the numbers I knew by heart, even though I never dialed them. The phone rang once and then he picked up.