Love Unexpected (Navy Love Series Book 2) (19 page)

Hours later—after leaving Hunter and Tess’s house—we’re both curled up in my bed while I slowly stroke Tegan’s blonde locks.

One huge burden has been removed from my chest, and I can proudly show off this amazing woman sleeping next to me to any and everyone. I’ve never been a public affection person, but I guess falling in love with a person changes all the rules.

I feel myself starting to drift asleep when the buzzing of Tegan’s phone catches my attention. I lean over and grab it; I don’t want her to wake up. She’s been on her feet all day and is exhausted.

Hunter.

I look at the time in the top right corner of the screen, 1:05 AM. Really late for Hunter to call—unless something is wrong.

I don’t give myself another moment to contemplate what could be wrong, I swipe the screen and connect the call.

“Hello?” I say in a hushed tone.

“Reed? Hey, we’re headed to the hospital. Tessa’s felt lightheaded for the past few hours; I think it’s her blood pressure again.”

“Fuck, she okay? What do you need us to do? Where’s Sawyer?” I fire off a line of questions as I separate myself from Tegan and exit the bedroom.

“She’s alright, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we end up staying in the hospital for a night or two for observation. I don’t know anything just yet, let us get to the hospital and see what they say. I just wanted to give Tegan a head’s up. And Sawyer is at my dad’s house for the night so no need to worry about her.”

“Okay, I’m getting dressed now, and I’ll get Tegan up. We’ll be there shortly.”

“Reed, don’t wake her up, I know she’s gotta be worn out.”

“Hunter, you think I haven’t been prepped on this? She’s going to want to be there just in case.”

He laughs. “You know, for you being the ‘anti-relationship guy’ you’re already a few steps ahead of a lot of guys. I’ll let Tess know, and we’ll see you guys in a few, man.”

“Alright, man.”

We hang up and I wake Tegan so we can hopefully go meet these babies.

Tegan

Coming out as a couple to my brother- in-law and sister went so much better than I had anticipated. Even though I was against it at first, I’m glad Charlie persuaded me to tell them.

I wanted to maul him when we both arrived back at my apartment, but exhaustion won me over. Charlie was overly attentive to my needs, even more so than normal. He undressed me and curled me into his side like we typically do and, toyed with my hair until I succumbed to sleep.

Things seem so much lighter, a heavy weight gone between us. I know there are still things we need to work through, but today was a huge step in the right direction for us.

I expected Tessa to overreact when she found out, like the way she did after she caught us kissing at her wedding. She seemed like she was apprehensive at first, but then was okay with it. I could be wrong. Perhaps once the realization that her little sister is dating her friend Reed sets in, then her anger will come out.

While I would have liked to sleep for a solid ten hours or so, I’m jolted awake when Charlie plops down on the bed and begins lightly shaking my shoulder.

“Babe, wake up. Tegan, come on, you gotta get up. We have to go,” he lightly whispers.

“What?” I groggily acknowledge him. All I want is to go back to sleep.

“We have to go, Hunter just called your phone.”

I’m suddenly wide awake. For Hunter to call in the middle of the night means something is going on with Tessa and the babies.

“What’s wrong?” I sit up quickly, trying to untangle my legs from the blanket.

Charlie grabs a hold of my shoulders. “Hey, relax. Everyone is okay right now; Tessa has felt lightheaded for a couple hours now so Hunter is taking her to the ER just in case. He called to give you a heads up.”

He hands me my phone then walks across the room and grabs my shoes to bring them over to me.

I finally take in his clothing—Charlie is fully dressed.

“Why are your clothes on?”

“I knew you’d want to go check on Tess. You didn’t think I was letting you go alone, did you?”

“Charlie, you don’t have to. Stay here and get some sleep,” I stand and start searching for my jeans from earlier. “You’ve got to work tomorrow, and I’m sure it’ll be a long night in a hospital waiting room.”

He winks at me and leaves the room without a word.

I shoot Hunter a text, letting him know I’ll be there shortly and quickly dress. I don’t know all of the details, but I do know that Tess wouldn’t allow Hunter to take her to the hospital if she didn’t feel like it was serious.

Charlie waltzes back in carrying two tumblers full of coffee.

“You ready?”

“Charlie, you don’t have to come, really,” I plead again. I don’t think he knows what he’s getting into by volunteering to come.

“I said I’m going, so I’m going.”

“But Charlie—”

“Tegan, enough. Just hours ago I told our friends we’re together and I was able to kiss you without hiding it, do you really think I’m going to pass up any opportunity to be somewhere with you out in the open now?” His spill has me silent. “And on top of that,
if
those babies decide to grace us with their presence today, I want to be there for you, your sister, and Hunter.”

My phone chimes with an incoming text.

Hunter: Take ur time…gettin admitted now.

Me: K.

“What’d he say?”

“They’re admitting Tess, so it’ll be a little bit before I know what room she’ll be in,” I explain.

We walk into the living room and take a seat together on the couch.

“So, we didn’t really get a chance to talk afterward last night after everything was said and done,” Charlie says as he wraps his arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to his side. “You okay with what I did? I know I kinda pushed telling everyone onto you.”

He almost looks shy, unsure of himself as he speaks. His eyes are cast down.

“No.”

“No?”

“Yeah, you asked if I’m okay with it and I’m not.” He stares at my outspokenness. “I’m more than okay with it, Charlie.”

I lean in and kiss him.

“Yeah?”

“Absolutely. I’m glad we don’t have to hide anymore.”

“Me too, babe. I couldn’t help it. I know we wanted to wait, but not being allowed to touch you throughout the whole day was horrible. You’re damn lucky I didn’t stake claim on you the minute I walked into the house yesterday morning.”

I tilt my head down to hide the blush creeping along my cheeks. Charlie’s hand lifts my chin up to face him again.

“Have you heard from Hunter again, yet?”

“Not yet. He said he’ll text me whenever they’re settled in a room,” I say checking my phone again. “I’m nervous for her.”

“Don’t be. Tessa is a badass, she can handle this.”

I’m sure Charlie is right, but my sister has always worried for me, now it’s my turn to worry for her.

Since moving here, I’ve become even closer to Tessa. That’s why I had such a difficult hard time dealing with the big fight and the two of us not speaking. I know we still have our parents and brother back home, but we have a special sister bond. I rely on her more than anyone else in my family.

“Let’s go ahead and get to the hospital. I’ll try calling Hunter again on the way to see if there’s any updates.” Charlie must sense by anxiousness.

It doesn’t take either of us long to gather our stuff and we’re out the door. I hop in the passenger seat of Charlie’s truck, and he puts his phone to his ear as he climbs into the driver’s seat.

“Hey, man, we’re headed up there, any news yet?”

Unfortunately, I can’t hear anything Hunter is saying, and Charlie’s facial expression gives very little away. This one-sided conversation of grunts and uh-huhs is driving me up the wall.

“Okay, you need us to grab anything?”

What? I don’t want to stop and pick up anything! I want to get to the hospital and find out what’s going on with my sister.

Just as I’m ready to snatch the phone away from him, he ends the call.

“Alright, man, we’ll see you in a few then.”

He sits the phone on the center console and proceeds to fidget with the radio, completely disregarding informing me.

“Well?” He glances over at me with a blank face, “You gonna fill me in?”

Reed

It was hard as hell to keep a straight face when I was on the phone with Hunter. I’m still torn on whether or not to tell Tegan what’s happening or wait until we arrive at the hospital for her to be informed.

“We need to get there as fast as possible, babe.” I glance over as I peer out the back window to reverse out of the parking spot.

“Charlie, what’s going on? Is everything okay?” Her voice does nothing to hide her fear.

So much for waiting until we get to the hospital. She needs to know now what’s going on.

“Tess was right with her concerns earlier. When they got to the emergency room, her blood pressure was high, so they admitted her immediately due to her being high-risk with the twins,” I glance over to see her hand covering her mouth. “Hunter said they are prepping her for a C-section.”

“Oh my God, we have to get there now!”

“I’m going, just calm down. She doesn’t need you running in there freaking out, Tegan. You’ve gotta stay relaxed for her.”

We pull into the parking garage and both practically jump from the truck as soon as I place it in park and remove the keys from the ignition.

Before Tegan is able to take off running toward the elevator and hospital entrance, I grab her by the elbow and pull her into me. I wrap my arms around her waist and simply embrace her. We stand like that for a few silent minutes together before I place my forehead against hers.

“She’s going to be okay, babe. All three of them are going to be fine. They have to be,” I whisper.

“God, I hope you’re right,” she says with unshed tears in her eyes.

“Ready?” She nods, “Let’s go.”

We walk inside, hand in hand, ready to face anything the doctors and Hunter tell us about Tessa.

This is the first time I’ve ever felt worried for a woman before. Multiple women, at that. I know Tessa will be fine. Granted I have no idea what high blood pressure has to do with the twins, but judging from the look on Tegan’s face, I can only assume it isn’t good.

I’m not a praying man, but as we proceed through the sliding glass doors, I say a quick word to the Man upstairs that everyone makes it through all of this healthy.

I pull out my phone to see a text from Hunter giving us a room number. We bypass the front desk and head straight into the elevator. The seconds seem to drag by between each ding of climbing floors. Tegan’s hold on my hand tightens with each passing floor.

Unintentionally, her nerves begin to rub off on me.
What if Tessa and the twins aren’t alright? What do I do? How am I supposed to comfort her?

I unlock our hands and tug her into my side, wrapping my arm around her shoulder just as the elevator finally arrives on our desired floor.

With a kiss to her temple, I guide us out of the elevator and down one of the many long corridors, searching for the number in Hunter’s text.

Finally finding room 428, we walk in to see Tessa sitting in a bed wearing one of those ugly hospital gowns. She doesn’t appear to be in any pain, but does seem tired. Understandable, considering we’ve all had a long day and little, or in her case, no sleep. Hunter’s incessant pacing stops when he sees us.

He gives Tegan a kiss and hug before pulling me into a quick bro hug. Tegan goes straight to her sister’s bedside as soon as Hunter lets go of her. He and I stand back and give the sisters a few moments alone to talk while he updates me on everything.

“The doctor just left. Her blood pressure has come down slightly, but they still want to go ahead with a cesarean section. They’re worried she could start showing signs of preeclampsia now. Should be an hour or two before we head into surgery.” He glances down at his watch.