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Chapter 47
Chapter 47
Caleb
My hands are shaking as I accept the coffee and latte I just bough from the hospital’s cafe. Leah is currently waiting in our room for the latte, and the task of delivering it to her is the only hing keeping me sane when all I want to do is scream.
I don’t want her to get operated on. I know there’s no going around it, but what if something goes wrong? What if our baby or Leah dies?
My heart clenches painfully at my thoughts. I can’t stop thinking about something going wrong, and every second, I keep wishing I could be the woman in our relationship. It isn’t fair tha Leah has to endure all the pains and risks of childbirth. If I could take her place on the operating table today, I would with hesitation.
“Did they have the Christmas latte special?” Leah asks the second I enter our room. Her operation is in an hour, but she has already changed into the operation gown. You could think she wasn’t heading off to have the scariest operation of her lifetime if you only saw her smile.
Sighing. I take a seat beside her and hand over her peppermint latte with my eyes kept on the floor. “You don’t have to act brave with me. I know you’re scared.”
She blows on her latte before saying, “I’m not scared,” which we both know is a total lie.
I breathe a laugh. “You think I don’t know you?”
“I never said that,” she snaps back defensively and then stares down at the latte in her hand. “I’m not allowed to drink this before the operation.”
My lips curl by the corners. “I know
She looks up at me. “But you still went and got it for me when asked.”
“Because I know smelling it would put you at ease.”
Tears form in her eyes at that, and suddenly, she drops her latte to hug me. It falls to the ground, but neither of us cares. I hug her back, inhaling the scent of her hair until she finally says what I’ve been waiting to hear.
“I’m not scared; I’m terrified, Caleb.”
I close my eyes and hug her harder. “Me too.me too.”
I wish I could hold Leah forever and never let her go, but the operation can’t be avoided.
An hour later, I’m pacing the waiting room, my stomach tied in knots. Shouldn’t they be done operating Leah already? Every worst–case scenario races through my mind on an endless loop. What if the reason I’m still here is because something went terribly wrong?
“Caleb?”
I look up to find Leah’s parents walking into the waiting room. Her father stares at me in confusion, but Anna, his wife, only pauses briefly before a certain type of dawning settles in her brown eyes. She has figured it out, but the same can’t be said
for her husband.
What:
you doing here?” Elias asks before a smile curls his lips. It’s the smile all my employees get when they see me, the
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big boss of the company–the “I’m uncomfortable but trying to hide it” type of smile. “Wait, did they call you because Leah worked for you last summer?”
“No,” Anna replies in my stead, her eyes calculating as she regards me. “Mr. Steele is here because he is the father of our grandchild.”
Elias” face turns pale, but only for a moment before his whole skin begins turning red instead. “Is this why Leah wouldn’t tell us who the father was! Did you fucking rape her during the Tokyo trip?!”
People turn around to stare, and Anna tries to place a hand on her husband’s shoulder to calm him down, but he is already marching up to me.
“I don’t fucking care that you own the company I work for. You’re twice my daughter’s age and shouldn’t have fucked her. you swine!”
He aims his right hook at me, but I don’t let him punch me and grab his fist. Why? Because I don’t deserve the punch more than he does. Sure, Leah might be too young for me, and yes, I’m an asshole for having made her pregnant. But this guy? This guy threw out his own daughter on the street when she wouldn’t tell him who the father was–he is worse than me and deserves a punch himself!
I glare at Elias, still gripping his fist tightly. “I didn’t rape your daughter,” I say through gritted teeth. “What happened between us was consensual. And you have some nerve acting all protective now when you kicked Leah out and left her to fend for herself when she needed you most.”
Elias face flushes even redder. “Don’t you dare lecture me on how to parent my daughter! You took advantage of her “Stop it, both of you!” Anna steps between us, her voice sharp. “Fighting isn’t going to help Leah or the baby right now.” At the mention of Leah and our child, the anger drains out of me, replaced by cold fear once more. I release Elias‘ fist and step back, done fighting him.
“You’re right,” I say to Anna. “I apologize. I’m just… I’m terrified for them.”
Anna’s expression softens. “We all are. But the best thing we can do is wait and pray that the surgery goes
well.”
I nod, sinking down into one of the hard plastic chairs. Elias remains standing, his arms crossed and face stormy, but he doesn’t say anything more.
up
Anna, however, sinks down in the chair next to mine and offers me a kind smile. She is a good woman, and I have a feeling her husband was the one who forced Leah out since the bad thing about Anna is that she lacks the strength to stand her husband. But whatever, that isn’t my problem to solve. I just smile back at her and then take a deep breath, praying the doctors would come out already.
Minutes tick by with agonizing slowness. Every time the door opens, I jump to my feet, hoping it’s news about Leah. But each time, it’s just another anxious family here to wait.
Finally, after what feels like hours, a doctor emerges and calls out. “Family of Leah Foster?”
1 leap up, my heart pounding. Elias and Anna join me as we hurry over to the doctor
“How is she? How’s the baby?” I demand, my voice raw with fear I can’t fight back.
The doctor doesn’t smile, doesn’t frown. His face remains serious but not emotionless. “Leah is stable. She lost a lot of blood, but we were able to stop the hemorrhaging. She’s in recovery now.”
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Chapter 47
Relief floods through me, so intense that my knees nearly buckle Leah is alive. She made it through.
“And the baby?” Anna asks anxiously, gripping her husband’s art
At that question, the doctor’s face darkens. “The bab