Empty Net (50 page)

“Sir, are you staying with her through the night?”

Tate looked up at the doctor and shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know. Did you ask her family?”

The doctor nodded. “They said to ask if you wanted to.”

Tate wanted to run to Nora, William, and Fallon, wrap his arms around them and thank them. They had given him the ultimate gift, because he wasn’t sure how he was ever going to leave her.

Nodding, Tate said, “Yes, I need to stay.”

Fallon stood in front of a pair of windows, looking out onto the Nashville skyline. It was so beautiful, and so sparkly as people lived their lives, not a care in the world, while her heart slowly broke from the pain of having no answers about her sister. It was close to midnight, and the doctors expected some kind of change by now, but there wasn’t any. Clutching her neck, her phone sat loosely in her other hand. She had called Susie to check on Aiden and to ask her to keep him through the night until tomorrow, when they knew some more answers. Thankfully for her, Susie was on vacation from her job and was a good neighbor who had no problems helping them out.

Tears pooled in Fallon’s eyes as she thought of how to tell Aiden about Audrey. He wouldn’t understand, and it killed her to think how scared he was going to be. Audrey was his world, as she was Fallon’s. How would any of them survive if she didn’t make it? When she felt and then saw a pair of strong, tattooed arms come around her waist, she crumbled against Lucas, holding onto him as if he was the life jacket she needed.

“Baby girl, everything is going to be okay,” he whispered against her neck.

“I’m so scared, Lucas, so fucking scared,” she cried as his grip on her tightened.

“I know, baby,” he said, softly kissing her on her neck. “Audrey wouldn’t want you to cry like this. She’d tell you not to worry. Thank you for letting Tate go back there and sit with Audrey. I know it meant a lot to him.”

Fallon nodded, pulling away to look up into his beautiful gray eyes. The same gray eyes their son had, and that she hoped their unborn child would be blessed with. “Mom wouldn’t go
without Dad, and I wouldn’t go without you. I couldn’t sit there and watch her try to heal without you. As much as all three of us want to be in there, we can’t. Plus, Tate needs this time with her. He is falling apart.”

“He is,” Lucas said sadly. “I’m really worried about him and you, but I promise you, baby, I can feel it in my gut, she’s going to make it. She’s going to wake up and crack a joke about something and then life will go back to normal. Everything is going to be okay.”

Fallon nodded, tears spilling over her cheeks as she said, “I pray to God you’re right, Lucas. I want you to be right.”

Lucas kissed her again. “Everything is going to work out, baby, don’t you worry. Me, you, Tate, and Audrey will all celebrate her child’s birth as a big happy family. You just wait and see, everything is going to be okay.”

Fallon nodded, her heart wanting to believe him while her brain doubted him.

Looking up at Lucas, she smiled and said, “I can’t wait. I love you, Lucas.”

He gave her a sexy half grin before his hand moved to her midsection while his eyes shined with tears. “I love you too, baby girl.”

Tate hadn’t taken his eyes off Audrey for almost five hours.

He watched as nurses and doctors came in to check on her, until finally the gynecologist came in. He listened as the young doctor told him what she was about to do, and then he watched as she put a long rod inside of Audrey. When she turned the screen to show him what looked like a little blob on the screen, she said, “That is your strong little baby. Its heart is beating at a normal speed, everything looks great.” Tate couldn’t control himself, and started crying all over
again. He had stopped a while back and finally gotten himself together, but seeing that little blob wiggle on the screen did him in. He was right back to square one, crying and hoping for a dream only Audrey could give him.

Hour after hour passed and all he could do was sit near Audrey, hoping for some kind of sign she was getting better. As he watched her, his mind began to wander as he thought about their relationship. In their three months together so much had happened. So much happiness that he couldn’t help but think that something bad was supposed to happen. He was too happy, too in love, for everything to stay the same. They only fought twice, and the first time, when Levi had texted her, really wasn’t a fight. When they fought about the baby issue, it scared him bone deep that he might lose her. Luckily he hadn’t, but now he might.

Tate reached over and took her hand, kissing each of her fingertips before kissing her palm, wishing he had never gone to All-Star week. Even though it was great for his career, he hadn’t been here to help Audrey through her morning sickness. He had missed going to the doctor to find out she was pregnant, and then he wasn’t there when that fucker came to hurt her. He wondered if she cried for him when Levi was beating her. If she was scared she would die. Did she know he loved her? If only he was ten minutes earlier he might have been there to stop him before it got this bad.

Kissing the back of her hand, he looked at her and said, “I’m sorry, Audrey, I should have been there.”

He knew that if she were awake she would yell at him that there was nothing he could do, but there was a lot. He was supposed to protect her. He was supposed to be there when she needed him and take care of her when she was sick. That was his job, and he had failed her. Shaking his head, he kissed her swollen hand again before he gently laid his head against her bed
as the tears welled up again in his eyes. But before they could fall, he fell asleep.

Fallon watched as Tate leaned against Audrey’s bed, his eyes closed, his body limp as he slept. He hadn’t moved an inch from her bedside. An hour didn’t pass without Fallon sneaking down the hall for just for a peek of Audrey. She could tell Tate was a mess, but she didn’t know how to help him. The only person who could help was Audrey. She was the one who could help everyone. Fallon was pretty sure that everyone was losing their mind as each second passed with no good news. The only good news they had gotten was that the baby was still alive, its little heart beating away.

Now all they had to do was worry about its mama.

She glanced at the clock and saw that visiting hours were approaching. She knew that Elli and Shea would be coming to the hospital soon, and Piper. She had talked to them earlier that morning and they said they would be there as soon as visiting hours started. She would be glad to see them, but what she wanted more was to see her sister’s happy face. She moved closer, leaning against the door, but when she did, she kicked the metal trash can, waking Tate. He sat up quickly, reaching for Audrey as he looked around the room. When his eyes met Fallon’s, she sent him an apologetic smile.

“Sorry.”

“It’s okay, come in, sit down,” he said, standing up as he rubbed his eyes.

She came in, sat in the chair he had occupied all night and took Audrey’s hand in hers. She looked at her sister’s beaten face and wished Levi Moss to the fiery depths of hell. The swelling along Audrey’s right eye had gone down, but along her nose and left eye it hadn’t.
When Tate’s hand rested on Fallon’s shoulder, she smiled up at him.

“I’ll stay with her if you wanna go take a nap,” she said softly, but he shook his head, like she’d known he would.

“No, I don’t want to leave her.”

“Tate, you need to sleep for more than five minutes.”

“I’m not leaving her, Fallon.”

She eyed him for a second before saying, “You know this isn’t your fault.”

Tate looked away, taking a deep breath. “It isn’t yours either.”

How did he know she had stayed up and blamed herself all night? She should have kept Audrey at her house until the guys came home, or, when she found out about Levi’s craziness, she should have gone and gotten Audrey. Then she would have found Levi there and could have called the cops immediately. But she didn’t, she just called and called, not knowing that her suspicions were true. It killed her inside to know that she could have put a stop to everything but stayed home, not doing anything.

“It’s hard to believe with all the shoulda, coulda, wouldas, swarming in my head,” she said softly. His hand squeezed her shoulder as he nodded.

“I know. They are working overtime in mine.” Fallon nodded too as she stroked Audrey’s hand softly.

The room was silent except for the noise coming from the ventilator and Audrey’s heart monitor, which informed them her heart was beating strong and steady.

It was quiet, and Fallon actually felt calm when Tate asked, “Do you feel that she’ll pull through?”

She nodded quickly. “Yes.”

“How do you know? How are you not scared?”

“Because Lucas said she would,” she said, looking up at him. “If I didn’t have him, I would be a mess, and I gotta believe in something. I like knowing that she is going to pull through.”

Looking up at him through flooded eyes, she saw that his eyes were pooling with tears too. “I hope that you are right, Fallon, because I need her so much, and I want all of that. I don’t want to be alone.”

“No matter what, you won’t be, Tate. We love you, and always will.”

“Thank you, Fallon, that means a lot to me.”

“You mean the world to us, and you know what would make me even a little happier?”

Tate looked away from Audrey and said, “What?”

“For you to go home and at least take a shower. I can still see her blood on you and it hurts me every time. Go get some clean clothes, clean up, take a nap, eat something. She’ll need you to be strong when she wakes up. Please, Tate.”

Tate looked back down at Audrey and didn’t say anything as a tear rolled down his cheek and onto the floor. It broke Fallon’s heart to see him like this. For a moment she thought he was going to ignore her, but he nodded before looking down at her. “Okay. You’ll stay with her?”

“Yeah, if I’m not here, Mom will be,” Fallon answered. Tate nodded again, and she felt his hand start to shake against her shoulder. “I’ll call you as soon as I hear something.”

“They should be coming in soon for rounds,” he informed her.

She nodded. “I know, and I’ll call you if they come before you get back.”

“I’ll be back quick. Okay?”

“Take your time, Tate. She’ll be here when you get back,” Fallon promised, even though
it wasn’t something she could promise. And with one look at Tate, she knew that he also knew that. But he nodded, leaned down and placed a gentle kiss on Audrey’s forehead. He cupped her face then and kissed her temple softly before turning and squeezing Fallon’s shoulder again.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“We’ll be here,” she said as she watched him leave. He paused twice, and she didn’t think he was going, but finally he disappeared down the hall, leaving her with her baby sister. She felt proud of herself for getting Tate to leave. He needed to go home, breathe, and clean up. As much as they both wanted to stay close to Audrey, they needed to take care of themselves too. As soon as he got back, she would clean up and check on Aiden. She had to; Audrey would kill her if she didn’t.

With a sad smile on her face, she leaned against her sister’s hands and cried until she fell asleep.

It seemed as soon as she fell asleep, Lucas was there, shaking her to wake up.

“Baby, Elli, Shea, and Piper are here.”

“Oh,” Fallon said, sitting up and looking behind her to see Nora in the doorway.

“I don’t want people seeing her like this,” Nora said. “So just go out there with them.”

“That’s fine, Mama, I agree,” Fallon said as she got up, then left the room with Lucas. He wrapped his arm around her waist, bringing her in close to kiss her temple.

“How’s my beautiful wife?” he whispered.

“She’s better now that she’s with her husband.”

Lucas gave her an encouraging grin before they reached the waiting room and Elli all but attacked her. Fallon hugged her friend tightly with her eyes closed. When they parted, Elli had tears in her eyes as she asked, “How’s she doing?”

Fallon shook her head. “Still not good. The swelling hasn’t gone down, but the good thing is it hasn’t gotten any worse either. They changed her meds and are hoping for improvement in the swelling when they take the next MRI.”