A Diamond in the Dark (22 page)

“What the fuck!” His brother was looming over the top of him.

“You knocked her up.”

It could have been the hit to the head, but Ax had no idea what Jack was talking about. “What?”

“Pregnant, Axton, Tia is
pregnant
. She’s not one of your two-bit whores. You can’t be fucking around with her. She’s a member of this family. Who do you think you are to be playing with her like that?”

She’s pregnant.
Ax smiled as he stood up.
I’m gonna be a daddy.
He didn’t see the fist flying at his face again, but it didn’t put him on his ass this time. “Hit me again, Jack, and I will put you down, old man. Now get outta my way.”

“You have no right, Ax—”

Axton cut him off. “I have every fucking right.”

“Says who?”

“This!” Axton responded, throwing the small velvet box he had been carrying around for the past week at Jack’s face. As Jack fumbled to catch the box, Axton stormed past him and marched into Tia’s room, remembering at the last moment not to let the door slam behind him.

She looked so small on the hospital bed, with black circles under her eyes that he could clearly see in the dimly lit room.

He walked over to the bed, pulling the chair as close as he could, and sat down, holding her small hand in his much larger one. As he brought her hand to his mouth to place a kiss on top of it, a nurse walked in to check Tia over. “Is she going to be okay?” His voice was a little croaky from worry. Tia hadn’t stirred when he touched her, and she looked half dead.

“She’ll be fine, hun. She’ll have a headache for a few days, but she should be able to go home in a day or two.” The older lady smiled at him.

“And the baby? Will the baby be okay?”

“Well, she is only really early on, so I would say if she doesn’t spot over the next twenty-four hours it should progress as any normal pregnancy. Sorry, but that’s the best I can give you at the moment. Can I ask, are you the baby’s father?”

“Yes…I… We… We didn’t know about the baby.”
Jesus Christ, I’m gonna be a daddy.

“Then congratulations to you both.” After checking a few more things she went to leave. “What’s your name, son?”

Being thirty-six, if anyone else would’ve called him
son
he reckoned he might’ve been a little pissed off, but seeing as the nurse looked to be in her sixties, he’d figured she was old enough to have a son his age, so instead of being offended, he smiled at her. “Axton, ma’am.”

“Axton, she’ll be fine. Feeling a little sorry for herself, yes. But fine. So stop looking like she’s about to die. Okay?”

“I’ll try.”

“Good. I’ll bring you an ice pack on my next round. That face of yours is going to be a pretty shade of purple by tomorrow.”

“Thank you, ma’am.”

When the nurse finally left the room, Ax lifted Tia’s gown and kissed where their baby was growing. It was at that moment that Jack walked in. “If you’re here to punch me or warn me away from her, fuck off.” He settled Tia’s gown back into place.

“I came to give you this back,” Jack said, placing the ring box on top of his and Tia’s joined hands. “You know yellow’s her favorite color?”

“Yeah, she told me.”

“It’s a beautiful ring, Axton. She’ll love it. Look, all I can say is I’m sorry. The only explanation I can give you is that I’m a little shocked. She’s always been like a daughter to me.”

“I had today all planned out. I was gonna ask her to marry me. Then we were going to come and talk to you,” he said, shaking his head at the memories of the crappy week he’d had. “I’ve had the most fucked up week. Everything went wrong, and now Tia’s hurt.” His voice was beginning to crack with the emotions he was feeling. Scared and happy, combined with worry over the woman he loved being hurt, and now he’d just found out that they were going to be parents.

He wasn’t a praying man, but at that moment he prayed that nothing else went wrong. His fingers, toes, and even his balls if he could have, were crossed hoping that the bad luck he’d been having was past, and only good things were coming their way from now on.

“It’s not your fault. Luke’s in the waiting room, and he filled me in on all the goings-on. Seems like y’all had a hell of a week,” Jack said as he pulled the other chair over. “I was talking to the doctor just before you arrived. Tia told Ethan that she was a little dizzy before she went for a ride. They ran a whole heap of blood tests and stuff once they found out she was pregnant. Apparently her blood sugar was really low.”

“What’s that mean?”

“Well, they said it’s was too early to tell if it was from the pregnancy or not, and as they were already giving her glucose, through that thingy there,” Jack said, waving toward the drip-line running into Tia’s hand. “They said that any reading they did now wouldn’t be accurate, but if she still has dizzy spells after this, it could possibly mean early onset gestational diabetes.” Jack picked up her other hand, placing a kiss on her knuckles. “I don’t know much about diabetes, but I do know all pregnant women have to get tested for it. It’s something that can happen during pregnancy.”

“How do you know all this shit, Jack?” He didn’t look at his brother, he couldn’t take his eyes off Tia.

“You forget, Axton, I have three kids. You’ll learn it too.” Jack stood up to leave the room. “Make her happy and she’ll be your everything. It’s the way it works with the women you love. Doesn’t matter what we do, where we live, or how much we earn, as long as you make her happy.” In a voice almost too low for Axton to hear, the next words out of Jack’s mouth were clearly a threat. “Keep her happy, Ax. That girl has been the daughter I didn’t get to have. She could never replace Becca, but she sure as shit filled a hole that was in my heart. Brother or not, if you hurt her heart, I’ll cut out yours.” With that Jack walked out the door.

Jack had nothing to worry about. If he ever hurt Tia, he’d do the deed himself. Ax opened the little box, revealing a three-and-a-half carat, princess cut, yellow diamond, set in a white gold band. The jeweler had said that having the diamond in white gold, instead of yellow, would set the color of the stone off. Axton really didn’t care; he just wanted to see it on her finger.

He slipped it on and kissed it. It looked huge on her tiny hand, but at least it would be noticeable. Everyone would clearly be able to see she was his. As he sat there looking at the ring he’d just placed on her finger, he realized that the tiny woman lying in the hospital bed was his diamond. She’d made a darkness he hadn’t been aware was inside of him sparkle and come back to life. Linking their fingers together, Ax put his head on her stomach, kissing it once more.

He fell asleep listening to her heartbeat through the monitor.

Chapter 17

Tia came awake slowly. She could hear the heart monitor beating in time with her own heart. Her head wasn’t feeling as bad as it had been. Instead of a stampede going through her brain, it was more like an extremely bad headache. The nausea had settled down, causing her tender stomach to rumble with emptiness.

Slowly, she opened her eyes. It hurt, but didn’t make her feel like she was going to vomit. The room was illuminated by a soft glow coming from the bathroom, and although empty of food her stomach felt heavy. She looked down her body. Well, that would explain the heavy feeling—Ax had his head resting on her tummy while he slept, his dark hair cascading over his face.

She must have been out of it for a while this time. The hospital seemed quieter. She couldn’t hear people running up and down the corridor or nurses chattering away.

Lifting her left hand, Tia yearned to touch that soft, beautiful hair of his. She had missed running her fingers through it. Her hand stopped mid-motion, and she lifted it closer to her face, the act taking more effort than was normally required to perform the simple motion.

Even with slightly blurry vision, she could make out the beautiful—what she thought was a yellow diamond—ring on her left ring finger. It was huge! She was going to catch it on everything. It was with that thought that Tia understood the significance of the finger it was on.
Slow much?
Well, she did have a concussion.

She lowered her hand back down, running her fingers through his hair. She tried to smile at his eagerness at putting the ring on her finger while she was sleeping. Christ, it hurt to move even the smallest muscles in her body, and her throat started to protest. A drink was needed, but moving her head to find one was less appealing than dealing with the dry feeling in her mouth.

* * * *

Ax awoke to the feeling of Tia running her fingers lightly through his hair. His back was killing him. He’d fallen asleep about midnight after the nurse had come in to let him know that she was heading home but the new one should be by shortly to check on Tia.

She hadn’t stirred much through the night. When they had performed their check she had fluttered her eyes open then they’d closed. That had worried him, but the nurse had assured him it was normal—her body was resting so it could heal.

He lifted his head from her stomach to look into those beautiful eyes he had missed seeing the past week. The black circles around them had deepened in color since he’d first seen them.

“Hey, baby. How are you feeling?” He ran the tip of one finger over her temple, brushing away a strand of hair.

“Thirsty.” Her voice cracked as she tried to speak.

“The nurse said that if you asked, you could only have some ice chips. They don’t want you drinking yet, in case it makes you ill.” He looked at the glass he’d filled earlier, but all the ice had melted. “I’ll go and get some for you.” He kissed her nose then went to fetch some more.

Opening the door, he stepped into her room. Ax thought she had fallen back to sleep. She was resting peacefully now, where before she had been moaning. This time the only sound coming from her was her deep rhythmic breathing. As he sat down on the uncomfortable plastic chair, Tia’s eyes fluttered open. Getting one of the ice chips out, he ran it over her lips to moisten them before he put it in her mouth. He did this a few more times, until she’d finished four of the largest chips from the cup.

“Much better. Thanks.” Her voice was croaky, probably from all the vomiting she had done.

She ran her gaze over his face in a fashion that felt like a physical caress. A glimmer of distress crossed her face before she slowly lifted her hand until her cool palm rested gently against his abused face. Needing to be closer to her in any way possible, Axton cupped her hand with his own, the added pressure reminding him of the bruises on his chin.

“What happened to your face?” It took a while for her to get all the words out.

With his free hand, Ax placed another ice chip in her mouth as he answered her. “Jack.”

“Why?”

“You, us, the baby.”

“Oh!”

“Are you upset?” Ax didn’t know how she would feel about having a baby. She was probably too hurt to have really thought about it yet.

“Upset. About what?”

“Being pregnant? Are you upset that I got you knocked up and we’re going to have a baby?”

“No.”

A wave of relief washed over him.

She took a slow inhalation before she spoke again. “You?”

His heart pounded in his chest at the panicked sound that filled her voice. Wanting to reassure her that he couldn’t be happier, Axton lifted the bottom of her hospital gown and placed a loving kiss over where their baby grew.

As he settled the gown back into place he noticed that the lines of pain that had been there while they were talking were now accompanied with a little trickle of sweat. “I’ll call the nurse.”

Ten minutes later Tia was sleeping, the pain meds the nurse had just given her working quickly.

He was feeling better now that they’d been able to talk. The nurses had roused Tia about every two hours, but during those times she wasn’t overly coherent so this was the first time she’d spoken.

Ax was woken by a nurse softly shaking his shoulder. She was a pretty little thing, but she had nothing on his Tia. “What time is it?” He gave a big yawn.

“It’s ten-thirty, sir.”

Morning, if the sun peeking under the blinds was any indication.

“We’re not supposed to do this, but I brought you one of the left over breakfasts. I was told you haven’t really left the room, apart from getting her ice,” she said as she wheeled a table over to him.

The fact that it was hospital food didn’t even register in his brain, he was going on almost twenty-four hours without food. When his stomach rumbled at the smell, the nurse flushed and smiled at him.

“Thank you,” he managed to get out before shoveling a forkful of runny, scrambled eggs into his mouth. There was also microwaved bacon and hard-as-brick toast, but God, it was good. She’d also brought him a tiny container of juice, but it was the black coffee that truly made him smile, then moan in appreciation. It was good, really good.

“Thought you might like the coffee.” She had just finished doing Tia’s vitals. “It’s from the nurses lounge, instead of off the cart. No one should have to suffer through drinking that crap.”

She was a cute little thing, and blushed at her mild use of profanity. Ax couldn’t help smiling at her.

“When Tabbitha wakes up, buzz us right away. After we’ve checked her over she can have something to drink, and if she keeps that down, she can eat something light. I don’t think she’s going to have any problems, as she hasn’t vomited...” She quickly checked the chart. “...in about twelve hours.”

“Thanks again for this,” he said, pointing to the almost finished breakfast.

She blushed bright red and scurried out of the room.

Ax stood, stretching his aching back. He was going to need some painkillers himself soon. Fuck, the chairs in this place were uncomfortable.

He stuck his head out the door to see if any of the family had returned, knowing they’d booked a room in Mason for the night, instead of having to trek the two hours home only to return today. Ethan was the only one sitting in the hall.

“Hey man, why didn’t you come in?” Ax held his hand out to shake Ethan’s. Then pulled him into a hug. “Thanks for yesterday. For finding Tia and getting her here.”