Risqué Business (Club Risqué #8)

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

D esi didn’t think she’d ever known fear like this before. She had to distance herself from reality just to maintain her sanity. But that had meant distancing herself from Joel too, and she knew she’d hurt him by doing so. But she couldn’t think about that at the moment. It was a problem for future her.

The numbness she was experiencing right now was the only way she could hope to deal with what she fully expected to be devastating news from the doctor.

Vaguely, it occurred to her that she should perhaps ask them to fetch Joel so he could be here when they broke her heart, but she didn’t. Desi didn’t want anyone near her right now. Not even her husband. The thought of seeing his devastation play out on his face right in front of her would break her beyond repair. She’d always thought she was so tough. Able to withstand anything life threw at her. In the past, she’d simply switched off her emotions and become an automaton.

But she couldn’t do that now. There was too much love and emotion in her life to shove it all down. And she didn’t want to be that shadow of herself anymore.

But to know she had a fragility she’d never expected, never experienced before, shocked her. And to fear she’d failed herself, failed their baby, failed Joel, was just too much to bear. If she saw that reflected back at her, she’d crack into so many pieces she might never be whole again. She didn’t want to put that on her husband.

“Okay, the tests are complete, and I have good news and bad news,” Dr Smith - who looked far too young to be a doctor - told her.

Bad news. Oh God. Did she really have to listen to this?

Desi tried to hide deeper in the recesses of her mind while the doctor droned on about a whole bunch of things that weren’t really making much sense.

Or maybe she just wasn’t concentrating properly. How the hell did he expect her to take all this in anyway?

“But the good news is you haven’t lost the baby…”

Lost the baby.

To begin with, those were the only words Desi heard.

“Mrs Blackwood?” The nurse’s voice came from a long way away. “Are you okay? Did you hear what the doctor said?”

She was approachable and friendly, where the doctor had been all professional distance.

“My baby…” Her voice was nothing more than a scratchy whisper of sound.

“Your baby is okay,” the nurse murmured, taking her hand and squeezing it.

“I-it’s…it’s…” She hiccupped, the words wouldn’t come as emotion crashed over her like the wave of a tsunami, washing away the distance and the numbness Desi had cloaked herself with. Great sobs racked her body as she finally allowed everything to come pouring out.

Strong arms came around her, but it was a while before Desi realised Joel had been allowed into the room. He wrapped her up in his comforting embrace and she burrowed into him, unable to curb her tears. “Shhh… it’s okay, sweetheart. Let it all out.”

“Th-the b-baby…”

“I know,” he crooned. “Dr Smith explained everything to us.”

She didn’t know how long it was before his use of the word ‘us’ pierced her consciousness, but it must have been a while.

When she’d finally calmed down and the medical team had left them to their privacy, she asked him what he meant. She knew he hadn’t been there with her when Doctor Smith had explained. She hadn’t been that far out of it.

“Ah… I know we agreed not to say anything about your pregnancy,” Joel began hesitantly. “But I really needed some support, and, well, you know…”

“Er, no. I don’t know,” Desi sniffled. “What are you trying to say?”

“Umm…”

“What he’s trying to say is… we’re all here.” Jake’s voice came from the doorway, where he pushed Charlotte into the room in a wheelchair.

“Charlotte! You’re supposed to be in bed. You just gave birth,” Desi exclaimed when she saw her friend.

“Damn it, girl, I was just down the hall. Do you really think they could keep me away? It’s bad enough that I had to agree to this contraption…” She waved her hand over the wheelchair. “Goddesses! I’m not a bloody invalid.”

Desi gave a choked laugh and wiped at her eyes with the palm of her hand, but before she could say anything, more of their friends swarmed into the room, including Dr Xavier Diaz. Damn, Joel really had called in the cavalry.

Joel passed the older man her chart, and after a pointed look at him, then at Desi, who gave him a brief nod, Xavi checked through her notes. She understood Joel’s reasoning. He wanted another medical professional, one he knew and trusted to tell him things straight, to review the situation.

“Hmm…” Xavier hummed under his breath, and everyone in the room silenced and turned to look at him. “I assume Dr Smith has explained to you about resting, Desi?”

She looked down, her cheeks pinking. “Honestly, a lot of what he said is a complete blur, sorry.”

Xavier frowned, but he didn’t mince his words, and Desi appreciated that from him. “This was a warning, Desi. You work hard in a stressful environment. If you want to carry this baby to term, that will have to stop. And I mean stop.” The warning in his voice was clear to all of them.

“No working until the bleeding and cramps have stopped, and bed rest until then too. No playing in the club. No sex…” he looked pointedly at Joel. “You’ll be bored to tears, but that’s the way it will have to be. And if you have the slightest recurrence of anything that happened today, you need to be right back here - immediately.”

He looked up and pinned the two of them with a stern stare. “Do you understand?”

Desi nodded and dropped her eyes, an automatic response to his natural dominance.

“Of course, Xavi,” Joel agreed without hesitation. “Whatever it takes.”

Desi had worked hard her entire life. Had fought to get to where she was today. She put in long hours and a lot of days, and her job was stressful. But Joel was right.

If it kept her baby safe, she’d happily do whatever it took.