MR. H.

by Samantha Hart

  I nodded, and the relief of knowing I wasn’t going to be alone for much longer set in, I had no idea who my visitors were, but anyone was better than this isolation.

  “Hannah, oh sweet girl.” Mrs Hart said, wrapping her arms around me, “Everything is okay now, Cal’s going to be fine, I know it, he’s a tough cookie that one.”

  “Come on love, don’t smother the poor girl.” Mr Hart senior said, pulling his wife off me, “We are so glad you’re okay, we know how important you are to our Callan.”

  “Yes, a VIP for sure.” A familiar voice said, stepping out from behind Mr. H’s parents. Katie. She threw herself at me, holding me tight, and I could tell she was crying too. “Don’t you guys ever do this to us again, you hear?”

  “You know who did this right?” I asked, to which Katie pulled back from me and nodded solemnly.

  “Jason.” She said, “Did they get the bastard?” Oh, so she didn’t really know.

  “He wasn’t acting alone…” I began, running them through the whole story, very start to the finish, when Rachel’s name was added Katie’s eyes nearly bulged right out, and when I mentioned the fact she’d shot and killed Jason, Katie nearly passed out herself.

  “Who is this Rachel?” Mrs Hart asked before we heard a knock at my door.

  “Miss James,” A handsome, young doctor said, “I would like to go through your test results with you now if that’s okay?” He gestured to my guests, “They can wait outside if you like, as you’ll be discharged and free to go find your man after this.” All three took the hint and instantly fled from the room.

  Not even five minutes later, I’d received my discharge papers and scurried out of there, heading straight for the elevators to find the surgical ward, I passed my visitors on the way causing them to follow in pursuit. I couldn’t talk to them about what the doctor had said, not yet. Not before I see Mr. H.

  As if I’d been graced by the bad luck angels once again, I arrived on floor 12, to be told; “Mr Hart is back from theatre, but he’s still really groggy.” The overly perky, blonde nurse said, “And, sorry, but it’s family only.”

  You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. Overcome with the urge to punch her lights out, I turned, inhaling deeply, gesturing to Katie that I was about to lose my shit.

  “Excuse me, miss,” Katie said, waving ignorantly to the ditsy nurse, “You see, this girl here, who you just ushered away like a bad smell, she is the most important person to Callan in this entire universe.” Mr and Mrs Hart nodded in agreeance. “Not to mention she and Callan were fucking kidnapped, you could try cutting her some slack!” Katie added.

  The nurse shook her head, “Hospital policy.”

  Just then, a far more senior nurse appeared from the door we were standing in front of, “Come with me.” The older, stockier, greying nurse said, “Hospital policy my arse, she just thinks Mr Hart is a bit of alright. I take it your name might be Hannah?”

  “Yes.” I said, “How do you –”

  She laughed, cutting me off, “Because ‘Hannah’ is the only thing he’s said since he arrived, over and over.” I couldn’t help but grin after hearing that, a smile so big it hurt it my cheeks. Our only concerns were for each other. This, was real love.

  “Knock knock,” The nurse said gently as she opened the door to Mr. H’s room, “I have someone here who I believe is very important to you.”

  As I emerged from behind her, I got my first glimpse of him, my hero, my true love. Tears began to well as I hurried to be close to him, the sight of him in pain, battered and bruised was a shock to all of my senses, this was a man who had been my rock through this incredibly tumultuous time of my life.

  “Oh, Hannah.” Mr. H said, “Thank god, you’re okay.” A rogue manly tear dripped down his cheek. “Get over here, I need to touch you.”

  “No, thank god you’re okay.” I replied, closing the distance between us, “I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

  “I’ll leave you lovebirds to it.” The world’s best nurse said, “Push that button if you need me for anything.”

  “Thank you. So much.” Mr. H said to his nurse as she walked out the door, “But are you really okay Hannah?” He asked, reaching out and stroking my face, running his fingers delicately across my swollen eye and bruised face.

  “Well, that depends.” I said, “Are you asking if I’m okay from what they did to me? Or what you did to me?”

  “Me?” He said, surprise written across his face, “What did I do?”

  “Callan… I’m pregnant.”

  Two Weeks Later.

  Two weeks after our kidnapping, and one week after my book release, Mr. H was discharged from hospital, he was one very lucky man, the bullet had narrowly missed his heart by less than an inch, and his recovery had been faultless thus far.

  Rachel was being charged with multiple offenses, kidnap, assault, and, most importantly, first degree murder. She was going away, for a long, long time.

  My book release had gone ahead, despite Mr Bernard’s discrepancies. I had a new publishing agent to deal with now, a woman, Susan Welford, and she ensured everything went off without a hitch in my absence. I’d even had a couple of high profile reviews come in. It was a bit of a mixed bag response, most were full of praise, I’d even had a handful of five star reviews… but there were a few that deemed this as a book rife of sexual and emotional abuse wrapped in a cotton candy shell. However, it was still substantially too early to tell just how successful my book could be, at this stage the good was outweighing the bad, but that could all change dramatically.

  Honestly, Right now, I couldn’t give two shits about how my book sales were tracking. I only had two things on my mind. Mr. H, and our unborn baby.

  Yup. It wasn’t a dream. I am pregnant. All the nausea, all the tiredness, and all the mood swings made sense now, it wasn’t the grief of losing Jade and her baby, it was my very own baby growing inside of my body.

  After two weeks, it’s only now beginning to sink in that I’m going to be someone’s mother, and Mr. H, well, he’s going to be the best dad ever.

  With the kidnapping, the stresses, the uncertainty on dates and losing Jade to an ectopic pregnancy rupture, I was desperate to book an ultrasound to make sure everything was as it should be. It made sense to get the scan done the day Mr. H was discharged, that way, we would really be able to breathe a sigh of relief when we finally got home.

  Waiting in the radiology ward’s reception area was more nerve wracking than I’d anticipated, I didn’t know I wanted to be a mother this badly, but now that there was a tiny human growing inside me, I wanted it more than life itself. I already loved this baby with everything I had, and I could tell Mr. H’s feelings were similar. I watched as he wriggled in his seat, impatiently tapping his foot, barely taking his eyes from the clock.

  “Wasn’t your appointment booked for one thirty?” He said, clearly aggravated.

  “Yes, but it is only one thirty five, so chill.” I replied, with a subtle eye roll.

  Five more minutes’ worth of god awful foot tapping later we were called through, and I sprang from my seat quicker than a child hearing an ice-cream truck.

  “We’ll try your abdomen first,” The ultrasound tech said, “But if you’re not far enough along, we may have to do transvaginal.”

  “Oh.” I said, scrunching up my nose at Mr. H’s sly grin.

  The technician tucked some tissue down the front of my slightly lowered pants before squirting a pile of freezing cold gel onto my lower abdomen, causing me to flinch.

  “Sorry Miss James, I should’ve warned you about the temperature.” She said, “Now, don’t be concerned if you don’t see anything right away, like I said, we don’t know your dates so baby might be teeny tiny.”

  The pressure of the ultrasound wand was unexpectedly firm as she worked her way around my belly to find what looked like a little jumping bean flitting around my womb. “There it is,” The tech said, taking a few quick measurements
, “There’s your baby. It looks to be about ten weeks.”

  “Oh my god.” I said, reaching out for Mr. H’s hand, I burst into tears, “Our baby!”

  Mr. H squeezed my hand, and when I looked up at him, he was beaming, staring at the screen, his eyes were firmly fixated on our wiggly jelly bean.

  “Congratulations guys,” The tech said, “Everything looks really good right now.”

  “Well, how about that.” Mr. H said, sniffling and wiping his eyes, “I’m finally going to be a dad. I love you so fucking much Hannah.”

  “I love you too.” I said, placing both of our hands on my belly, “And our jelly bean.”

  Walking out of radiology hand in hand was probably the happiest I’d ever felt in my entire life. Clutching at my printed ultrasound photo, warm tears flooded my cheeks yet again, this really was going to be the start of the brand new life I’d always hoped for.

  “So, who are we going to tell first?” Mr. H asked as we walked into our condo, “Your parents, or mine?”

  “Both.” I said, “At the same time. Let’s fly my parents back over and have a party. They’ve been itching at the bit to come back since they heard about the kidnapping, and we are due to finally relax and enjoy life again so…”

  “A party sounds perfect.” Mr. H said, “Let’s get planning.”

  I chuckled, surprised it was so easy to convince him, “Okay, Sir. But first, you need to rest. And so do I, let’s go to bed.

  The End.

  About Samantha Hart.

  Reading has always been my safe space, my haven, my escape from the outside world, especially when my anxiety decides to pop in for a visit.

  Then, about twelve years ago, parts of my world came crashing down around me, I lost far too many loved ones and luckily I found solace in writing. Diaries, poems, grocery lists, short stories, love letters, you know, anything and everything.

  I’ve written short stories for a number of years now, published under another name on a free platform, and plenty of longer novellas that were pretty much only for me, but I may release them one day, we’ll see.

  This story however, MR. H, is my first ever full length novel, and I have thoroughly enjoyed writing it, I feel like I’ve made new friends, hey, even if they’re in my head they count right?

  Anyway, if you liked my story, or, heaven forbid you loved it, come follow me over on

  Twitter; http://www.twitter.com/hart_author

  Or Instagram; http://www.instagram.com/samantha_hart_author/

  Acknowledgments.

  First and foremost, my beautiful family, you never doubted me, and have been there with me every step, I couldn’t have written this book without your encouragement and love.

  And, somewhat obviously, without the inspiration of my gorgeous Husband, I wouldn’t have been able to write this book. Not only did he provide the inspiration, he supported me throughout the entire process, setting daily tasks and goals, he even read every single word, and he’s not a reader, at all.

  My fellow writers and authors, thank you for your support, your motivation, and inspiration.

  And I cannot forget my readers, especially those of you who have followed me from my short story writing days, thank you for believing in me, and for reading my words.

  Just One More Thing:

  Please, if you liked, loved or even hated… leave a review, on amazon, goodreads, wherever you want. If you did enjoy my book, please spread the word and share amongst your friends.

  Thank you all so much, Love always,

  Samantha. xx