Total pages in book: 67
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60864 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 304(@200wpm)___ 243(@250wpm)___ 203(@300wpm)
I was going to have to get used to that.
I dropped Jodi off at the kitchen and went to the offices to see if I could find Cam. I had some things I wanted to order and needed to make sure the finances were there first. After I was done, I headed back to the kitchen and saw Jodi and Ally standing by the prep station. On one hand, Jodi had the winter menu and was talking in a low voice.
“But if you pair this with the shiraz that Alex was talking about, it would be really nice,” Jodi said.
“You have a mind for this, you know,” Ally said. “Seriously, I wouldn’t have thought about that shiraz. It would go so well with that Persian flavor of the dishes.”
“I thought so too,” Jodi said excitedly. “I don’t know. I feel like I know flavors, I just don’t know all the terminology, you know?”
“I can help you with that,” Ally said. “You help me come up with pairings, and I’ll make sure the menu has the right words.”
They both laughed, and I leaned against the wall watching them.
Ally might be my brother’s girl, but she was one of the biggest influences of my life. She was my best friend and my confidante, and for her and Jodi to be standing there together, working through the menu and doing it together, it was just magic to me. I loved watching them get excited and happily talk to each other, oblivious to me behind them.
After some time, it began to hit me just how amazing all this was. If it weren’t for one bad day, none of this would be happening. A very bad day had somehow led to the greatest life I could imagine.
EPILOGUE
JODI
“Are you okay?” Derek asked, coming into the living room where I was lying on the couch, curled on my side.
I pressed my hand to the side of my belly and drew in a breath to try to calm the sharp pain going through me. I shook my head.
“It hurts,” I said.
Worry flickered across his face as he dropped down onto his knees beside the couch. He ran his hand back over my forehead and rested the other on my hip.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Are you feeling sick?”
My morning sickness had been extreme for the first couple of months, but I was starting to have days when I felt better. Somehow that made feeling this pain more frightening and upsetting.
“I was just doing some cleaning, and my stomach started feeling a little strange. I thought I had just eaten something that wasn’t sitting right with me, but it got worse. Then a really sharp pain went through me.”
I’d heard before about women lying on their sides while they were pregnant and it helping settle pain from gallstones and other issues. It was the first thing that went through my mind, even though I didn’t know what was wrong. I could only hope it would help, but so far, the pain hadn’t gotten better.
“Have you called your doctor?” Derek asked. I shook my head. “Alright. I’m going to call her.”
He dug in his pocket and pulled out his phone. The doctor’s office was already programmed into it, so it was only moments before he connected with her. Derek offered the phone to me so I could talk to her, but the pain was getting more intense, so I pulled back and shook my head. He described what I told him and listened carefully for a few seconds before ending the call.
“She wants you to go to the hospital,” he said. “She said go straight to the emergency room. They’ll be able to check on you and see what might be going on.”
The evening was a blur after that. I was so afraid, so worried about what I was going to find out when I got to the hospital, I almost didn’t want to go. That was the most illogical thing I could be thinking. Not going wasn’t going to change what was happening. If anything, it could make things worse.
But I was still afraid to hear it. That part of me just wanted to stay right there on the couch. It told me if I just waited it out for another little while, the pain would go away, and everything would be fine.
Derek wasn’t hearing any of it, and soon he’d convinced me of what I already knew—I had to get to the hospital.
It was the early hours of the next morning before we got home. Derek tucked me into bed and rested the strip of ultrasound pictures on the nightstand beside me before heading to the shower. I reached out and took the pictures, slipping them under my pillow so I could keep them close.
They were the first images I’d seen of our baby. Our first ultrasound appointment wasn’t for several more weeks, and I’d been eagerly looking forward to that moment when we would get to see its little face and hands. That night was terrifying and had my nerves on edge, but the wonderful surprise of getting to see the image of our little one early helped to ease it.