Paige couldn’t see the odometer from where she sat huddled on the passenger’s side of the Jeep, but she doubted they had traveled more than five miles. The road’s hazardous condition prevented Jared from driving any faster. He kept his eyes riveted to the windshield, and she wondered if he could see any better than she could. She hoped so, because she couldn’t see a thing, except a constantly moving, white curtain that obliterated the darkness.
Jared’s calm, controlled manner amazed her. He had taken charge in an authoritarian, no-nonsense way, and she had no doubt that he would get her safely to the hospital. Although she sat silently, praying with every breath she took, she was half crazy with worry. It took every ounce of her self-control not to burst into tears.
Jared glanced at her, taking his eyes off the road for a split second. The lighted instrument panel cast a dim glow inside the Jeep, revealing Paige’s huddled form. She looked so small, so pale and so very fragile, her long red hair falling in disarray around her shoulders. He wanted to reach out and pull her into his arms, but he couldn’t.
“Are you all right, honey?” He barely recognized the hoarse, unsteady voice as his own.
“I think so,” she said. “I’m doing a lot of praying, begging God not to let anything happen to Angela.”
“So am I, honey. So am I.”
He’d never been religious. Hell, he didn’t even think of himself as a spiritual person, not the way Grandpa Monty had been, a man one with the world around him. But tonight Jared wanted desperately to believe in a higher power that could protect his tiny, unborn daughter and keep her tucked safely inside her mother’s womb long enough for her to survive in the outside world.
Jared prayed. With every breath he took. With every beat of his heart. The thought of losing this baby tormented him. And so unbearable was the thought that something could happen to Paige, that he refused to even consider the possibility. He simply could not imagine his life without her.
Listening to the constant swish-swish-swish of the windshield wipers, Paige closed her heavy eyelids. Overcome by weariness and lulled by the repetitive sound, she dozed off into a light sleep.
The cramp hit her suddenly. Hard. Racking. Powerful. An aching pressure in her pelvis and lower back, spreading quickly down into her groin and thighs. Crying out in agony, she grabbed her stomach and doubled over in pain. Her fingers clawed into the seat belt that held her in place.
Stealing a glimpse of Paige’s tortured face, Jared tightened his hold on the steering wheel to steady his shaking hands.
“It’s bad, isn’t it, honey.” God, don’t do this! Don’t! Please, don’t.
“Yes. It’s bad.” Paige’s chin trembled. Her teeth chattered. Despite the warmth from the heater, she suddenly felt unnaturally cold. Pain sliced through her body like a deadly knife. “Jared!”
He eased his foot down on the brake pedal, slowly stopping the Jeep in the middle of the road. After shifting the gear to park and flipping on his emergency blinker, he turned to Paige. “We’re only a couple of miles from town.” He held out his hand. “Is there anything I can do? If there is, just tell me and I’ll do it.”
Biting down on her bottom lip, Paige grabbed Jared’s hand and squeezed it tightly. She counted to ten, and then ten again, waiting for the contraction to end. Sucking in small, deep breaths, she relaxed as the pain melted and gradually evaporated.
“I’m all right now,” she told him, clinging fiercely to his big hand. “The pain’s gone. I’m sorry I cried out that way. The pain was terrible and I was so scared.” She gazed at him through tear-filled eyes. “Oh, God, I’m still scared.”
He gave her hand a quick, hard squeeze, then released it. “Keep telling yourself that everything is going to be all right. You’re going to be fine, and so is Angela.”
Hurriedly, he flipped off the emergency blinker, shifted the gear into drive and pressed his foot down on the gas pedal. “We should be at the hospital in another ten or fifteen minutes.” Damn this weather! Damn the blinding, never-ending snow! When they entered downtown, he couldn’t even see the traffic lights until he was almost under them. He spotted several empty stalled cars and trucks, some barely pulled off the side of the road.
What the hell! The red Bronco came from out of nowhere, its headlights piercing through the snow veil as it neared the Jeep. The other vehicle was headed straight toward them. Jared cursed loudly. Paige screamed.
Turning the steering wheel to the right, slowly easing his foot down on the brake, he guided the Jeep off the side of the road and onto a snow-covered embankment. He brought the Jeep to an uneasy stop just as the red Bronco swerved back into the left lane and drove on past them.
“Damn, stupid fool!” Jared unbuckled his seat belt and reached for Paige.
She trembled from head to toe, her big brown eyes staring straight ahead but seeing nothing. Jared grabbed her by the shoulders.
“Paige, are you all right?” When she didn’t respond, just keep staring sightless out the window, he shook her gently. “Paige, dammit, snap out of it! Don’t you dare go into shock or—” His voice cracked. “Come on, honey. We didn’t wreck. We’re safe.” He caressed her cheek tenderly.
Paige blinked several times, then breathed deeply. “Hurry, Jared. Please. I can feel another contraction starting.”
Within five minutes, he pulled the Jeep up at the hospital’s emergency entrance, removed Paige from her seat and carried her into the ER. He refused to release Paige when the nurses offered to help her into a wheelchair.
“Just show me where to take her!” he demanded “Is Petrocelli here?”
“Follow me,” the young blond nurse said. “Dr. Petrocelli arrived just moments ago.”
* * *
Jared paced the ER waiting room like a madman, anger and fear welling up inside him until he thought he’d explode. What the hell was taking so long? Why hadn’t a doctor, a nurse—anyone—come out and told him something? He hadn’t wanted to leave Paige. When she’d clung to his hand so tightly, it had almost killed him to pull his hand from hers and walk out of the examining room.
Glancing at the large utilitarian black-and-white clock on the wall, he couldn’t believe it was after four in the morning. He checked the time on his watch—four-thirty-one—and noted the date. December 6. Exactly six months since the day he and Paige met. Exactly six months since they had made mad, passionate love in a stalled elevator during a power blackout caused by another powerful storm. Exactly six months since they had created a child together—a child whose life hung in the balance this winter morning.
“Mr. Montgomery,” the nurse called.
He rushed toward her, halting at the entrance to the hallway leading to the examination cubicles.
“Dr. Petrocelli would like to speak to you,” she said.
“How is Paige? Is she all right? What about the baby?” Jared ran a trembling hand over his face.
“The doctor will answer all your questions. Come with me, please.”
Tony Petrocelli met Jared in the hallway, placed his hand on Jared’s shoulder and looked him square in the eye.
“The news isn’t good, is it.” Jared asked.
Tony narrowed his dark eyes and shook his head. “I wish I could tell you that you don’t have anything to worry about.”
“Just give it to me straight.”
“Paige is in labor.”
“Can’t you stop it?”
“We can try,” Tony said. “But I can’t make any guarantees. Believe it or not, things could be worse. Paige isn’t bleeding. The membranes are intact and the cervix hasn’t dilated.”
“What are you doing to stop the labor pains?”
“She’s had only one other contraction since you brought her in, and she said it was mild compared to the others she had, so all we’re going to do is monitor her and—”
“What the hell do you mean all you’re going to do is monitor her?” Jared bellowed. “If you aren’t going to do anything for her, I’ll have h
er transferred by helicopter to Denver!”
“Jared, they can’t do any more for Paige in Denver than we can here. Of course, if you and Paige want to—”
“I’m sorry. I—I—Dammit man, can’t you understand what I’m going through? That woman and that child are my life. Without them—” Jared choked on the lump that lodged in his throat.
Tony clamped his hand down hard on Jared’s shoulder. “Under normal circumstances, when a woman goes into premature labor and her condition is similar to Paige’s—carrying one fetus, no bleeding, no dilation—hospitalized bed rest alone, without medication, will check the contractions.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then we may have to administer a drug that can relax the uterus. I prefer not to use tocolytic agents, except when there is no alternative. New research has raised questions about their safety and effectiveness.”
“Is Paige in any danger?” Jared had not wanted to even consider the possibility, let alone voice it aloud. But he had to know. If anything happened to Paige…
“Physically, she should come through this just fine, regardless of what happens. Emotionally, it could be very difficult for her if she loses the baby. Paige wants this child very much.”
“So, you’re saying Paige isn’t in any danger?”
“There are certain risks involved in every pregnancy,” Tony explained. “Barring any complications, Paige should be all right. But I’m not God, Jared. I can’t give you any one hundred percent guarantees.”
“I understand.” No guarantees that the labor would stop. No guarantees that if Angela was born now she could survive. No guarantees that there was no danger to Paige.
“I’m having Paige moved into a private room,” Tony said. “We’ll monitor her closely. The next thirty-six hours are crucial. She needs to be completely free of any worries or concerns. Bed rest and complete relaxation are essential.”
“Do you have any idea what caused her to go into premature labor?” Had it been his fault? Had their frequent, passionate lovemaking triggered her labor? Or had the stress she’d endured during the earlier months of her pregnancy created problems?
“In most cases, we don’t really understand what causes labor to begin early. Although there are several possible causes, I don’t think any of them apply in Paige’s case. She doesn’t smoke, drink or use drugs. She’s young, healthy and free of disease.”
“Could stress have caused this…or—” Jared cleared his throat “—having frequent sex.”
Tony Petrocelli’s lips twitched. He looked sympathetically at Jared. “Both stress and sexual intercourse are possible causes in some cases, but not in most. There’s no way to say for certain, but in Paige’s case, I’d say probably not.”
“May I see her?” Jared asked, his eyes pleading.
Tony patted Jared on the back. “As far as I’m concerned, you can stay with Paige twenty-four hours a day until she leaves the hospital.”
A hard knot formed in Jared’s throat, preventing him from speaking. Tears welled up in his eyes. He grabbed the doctor’s hand, shook it and then released it quickly. Turning around, he ran up the hallway.
“Jared?” Tony called out.
“Yes?” Jared paused.
“There is a chance, regardless of what we do, that the labor won’t stop. If that happens…I’ve already alerted the neonatal center in Denver to be ready, just in case.”
Cold, deadly fear shivered through Jared’s body. “If she’s born now, what are our little girl’s chances?”
“A damn sight better than they would have been only a few years ago.”
“But?”
“But still not good for a twenty-four week preemie.”
Jared nodded his head, then turned and walked down the hall. Just as he neared Paige’s ER cubicle, they wheeled her bed through the door.
“Jared…” Her voice was weak and soft and needy.
Clasping her hand in his, he trotted alongside as they rolled her out of the ER and into an elevator. After what seemed like an eternity, the nurses cleared out of Paige’s private room and left the two of them alone.
Leaning over the bed, Jared kissed Paige’s forehead. “Everything is going to be all right. Dr. Petrocelli said a few days’ bed rest here in the hospital and you and Angela are going to be just fine.”
Paige tried to smile, but the effort failed. She gripped Jared’s hand. “I love you, you know. I think I’ve loved you from the first moment I saw you. I thought you were just a cowboy. A big, handsome cowboy with a smile that turned my knees to jelly.”
His shoulders trembled. Tears welled in his eyes and one lone drop trickled down his cheek. How could he have ever doubted this woman? How could he have even considered the possibility that she had deliberately trapped him by getting herself pregnant?
“I haven’t done a damn thing to deserve your love. I’ve fought you every inch of the way. Every moment since we met, I’ve wanted you and at the same time I’ve been trying to figure a way to change you into what I thought was the ideal wife for me.”
“And have you?” She reached up and wiped the tear from his cheek.
“Have I figured out a way to make you over into the ideal wife? Hell, no!” He squeezed her hand. “I don’t want you to change, honey. I’ve become rather fond of the real Paige Summers, you know.”
“You want me just the way I am?” she asked.
“Just the way you are.” He swallowed hard, trying desperately to hold back his tears. “Haven’t you figured it out yet, Paige? I finally have. You are so much a part of me that I’d die without you.”
A large, heavyset nurse, with a hypodermic needle in her hand, entered Paige’s room. “Would you step outside for just a few minutes, Mr. Montgomery? What I have to do won’t take long, then you can come right back in.”
Jared brushed his lips across Paige’s. “I’ll be right back.”
He closed the door behind him, then leaned against the wall. His stomach muscles constricted, his chest ached and his big shoulders shook as tears streamed down his face. Dear God in heaven, if anything happened to Paige, he wouldn’t want to go on living. She had become as important to him as the air he breathed.
Paige wanted their baby—their precious little Angela—as much as he did. Maybe even more, if that was possible. What would it do to Paige to lose their daughter? She was such a loving, caring person, so filled with goodness and the pure wonder of life.
He had to be strong. Strong for Paige. If the contractions didn’t stop and Angela was born prematurely, they would have to face the real possibility that she could and probably would die.
Balling his big hands into tight fists, Jared raised them toward heaven, threw back his head and moaned, long and low and deep. An agonized and angry but silent cry tore from the very depths of his soul.
Please God, please let Paige be all right and spare our precious little Angela. I love Paige and I swear that I’ll spend the rest of my life making her happy.
The nurse emerged from Paige’s room. “You can go back in now, Mr. Montgomery. Ms. Summers is doing just fine. She should be asleep shortly.” She patted Jared on the arm. “Think positive thoughts.”
He nodded affirmatively, then when the nurse walked down the empty hallway, he wiped his face with his fingers and cleared his throat.
When he returned to Paige’s room, she opened her eyes and lifted her hand. Sitting down beside her, he took her hand, brought it to his lips and pressed his mouth into the center of her palm.
He held her hand, stroking her wrist, until she dozed off into a peaceful sleep. He pulled another chair up in front of him so that he could prop up his feet. Leaning against the bed, he laid his arm alongside hers and threaded his fingers through her fingers.
Paige slept through the morning, waking when the clatter of lunch trays broke through her sedated fog. Something big and heavy weighted down her hand. Jared’s hand. He sat beside her asleep, his head resting on his shoulder.
&n
bsp; When she tried to remove her hand from his grasp, he grunted, tightened his hold and eased open one eyelid. Peeping at her, he smiled, then yawned.
“Hello,” she said.
Releasing her hand, he lowered his feet to the floor and straightened up in the chair. “Hello, yourself, beautiful.”
Paige giggled. “I’ll just bet I’m beautiful. No makeup. My hair’s a mess and I’m wearing this—” she lifted the front of her hospital gown “—designer outfit.”
“Honey, you are the most beautiful woman in the world just the way you look right now.”
Paige grabbed his hand and laid it over her stomach. “I haven’t had any more contractions. What time is it?”
Jared checked his watch. “Eleven-fifty-two. That means it’s been—”
“Over eight hours since my last contraction.” Opening her arms, she reached for him, drawing him close when he embraced her gently. “Oh, Jared. Maybe…maybe everything is going to be all right.”
“Paige, I know that I promised I’d never ask you again, but—”
“It’s all right,” she told him, sliding her hips over to make room for him. “Sit down, Mr. Montgomery. There’s something I want to ask you.”
Easing down on the bed beside her, he continued holding her in his arms. He lowered his head and captured her lips in a tender kiss. She sighed.
“Jared?”
“Yes?”
“Will you marry me?”
Jared’s mouth fell open. He gazed at her in total disbelief. “Repeat the question.”
“Will you marry me?”
“I thought you said that you wouldn’t marry a man who didn’t love you.”
She rubbed his nose with hers. “But you do love me, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Paige Summers, I love you. I love you. I love you.”
She melted against him, safe in his loving arms. “I know you do.”
“How did you know? I didn’t know for sure myself until a few hours ago.”
“You told me, silly man.”
“But I didn’t…I mean, I…when?” he sputtered. “I only told you a minute ago.”
Nine Months Part 3 (36 Hours) Page 6