I gently lift her into my arms, following Will into the house. I rush into the kitchen, laying her on the table. Frantically, I root through a drawer for a clean towel before returning to Ivy’s side. I’m terrified of what I’m going to have to do next.

“Ivy, honey? Open your legs for me, okay? I’m going to have to try and stop the bleeding until they get here, all right?” I swallow hard as it turns into a steady flow, dripping onto the floor. She complies, her breathing ragged. There’s so much blood. I bite my lip hard. There’s no way she’s still pregnant. There are thick clots on her upper thighs, and I try not to look as I apply pressure to the towel to stem the flow.

“They’re on their way!” Will cries, running into the kitchen. He stops dead when he sees just how bad things are. “Umm…do you need me to do anything else?” He runs his hands through his hair, not even realizing they’re covered in Ivy’s blood. It’s everywhere—on him, on me, on her.

“No, just get out!” I yell at him, and he hastily departs.

This isn’t something he should be a part of. There’s no place for him here. He brought this to our doorstep. We were done with Lauren and he had to bring her back into our lives. I should’ve never encouraged Ivy to work on that damn screenplay. Just look at the havoc it’s caused. It’s probably going to cost us our child.

Ivy’s face is white as her eyes roam across the ceiling, guessing the magnitude of the situation. She’s conscious but she’s miles away from me. Her body’s rejecting what our love created. If only she’d stayed in bed. Why the hell did she have to come to the door? At this point, I don’t care who Cassidy slept with. It’s not important. That part of my life is over whether I like it or not. This second chance is what I dreamed of, hoped and prayed for on my knees, and now it’s being taken away from me too. A shudder runs through me as I try to contain my emotions. I can’t break down in front of her. I have to be strong, just until I can be alone. She didn’t have to protect me from Cassidy. She already saved me from her.

I hear the wail of the ambulance pull up as Will directs them inside. I pray that somehow it’s not too late. Somehow they’ll be able to save our unborn child. Ivy shouldn’t have to go through something like this. I’ve already experienced the loss of a child. I know what it feels like, and I should’ve done everything in my power to spare her such a fate. I should’ve put my foot down. I should not have let her go to L.A. I should’ve slammed the door in Lauren’s face when I saw her coming.

But now it’s too late.

I watch helplessly as the paramedics transfer her body onto a stretcher and rush her out of the kitchen. I follow behind them blindly, not even reaching for a coat and forgetting about my wallet and keys. My only thought is about her and how I’m going to get her through this.

Ivy

My baby. My sweet, precious baby…

My fingers find the corner of the hospital bed sheet as I stare at a pumpkin decoration hanging on the wall. Oh yeah, today’s Halloween. I almost forgot. With everything going on, I lost track of time. I remember thinking about what I was going to dress the baby up as next year. I’ve always loved those fuzzy lamb costumes. But now there might not even be a baby. I scrunch up my face to keep from crying. I don’t know how there can be. I lost so much blood.

After being rushed to the city hospital twenty miles away, the doctor stemmed the bleeding and conducted a barrage of tests. Eric is sitting motionless beside me as we wait to hear the results. It doesn’t look good. One of the nurses even gasped when she was cleaning me up.

Eric isn’t saying much either. Besides repeatedly asking if I’m okay, he remains pretty stoic. This has to be hell for him to have to go through this again. I’m young. I’m strong. I’m healthy. I can’t understand why this is happening. I hate not having control over my own body. I didn’t mean to get so upset this morning, but I couldn’t let Eric find out about Cassidy. It was up to me to protect him, and I failed. And now he’s shutting himself off from me. I can feel it. And I’m powerless to do anything about it in this state.

I study his profile. He has a far away look in his eyes like he’s zoned out to where I can’t reach him. I thought he’d be angrier, but he’s not. He seems more defeated, like someone took the wind out of his sails. It pains me to see him so listless, so lethargic. It’s like he’s closing in on himself, his spirit drained. And it scares me because this must have been how he looked after Cassidy died. Those months when he shut out the world and retreated into his anguish. I don’t want that to happen again. I’d do anything to bring him back to me—to restore his hope, to make things okay. I just don’t know how.

If he’s shutting me out, then I have to make amends. I put our baby in jeopardy by stepping onto that porch to confront Lauren. I was aware that what I was doing was dangerous. I should have stayed in bed. But I didn’t want her to be the one to tell him about Cassidy. He needed to hear it from me. I would’ve been able to find the words to soften the blow. Instead, Lauren ambushed him.

The whole thing just makes me so mad. I could have prevented this, but I didn’t think she’d act that fast. We were only home a couple of hours before she went on the attack. Sure, she’s vindictive, but she’s not crazy. She plans her every move well in advance. She could’ve tortured me for months, hanging it over my head. But she didn’t. She struck hard and she struck first, not her usual approach.

She must really have a lot to lose. It’s the last card she has to play and she dealt it early in the game. She’s desperate to maintain some kind of tie to Eric, but he’ll never forgive her for this, especially if I end up losing the baby. What possible satisfaction could she get out of it? I can’t believe she’s that sadistic that she would take such pleasure in our pain.

But forget about Lauren and her twisted schemes. I need to get Eric to talk to me. He’s way too quiet, and I’m worried about him. I have to find out what sort of thoughts are running through his head. He can’t keep everything locked inside. As far as our baby is concerned, we’re in this together. He can’t shoulder the burden alone. We have to be there for each other, not run in opposite directions.

“Eric?” I shift my head on the pillow, my eyes pleading with him to look at me.

“Not now, Ivy,” he reprimands softly.

“But we have to talk about this,” I insist, pushing myself up into a sitting position.

“Lie back down.” He gets to his feet, his hands immediately on my shoulders, urging me back under the covers. “You have to stay calm. Don’t go getting yourself all upset again.”

“But you have to talk to me. You can’t keep on sitting there like this isn’t happening,” I protest as he pulls the blanket up to my chin, tucking me in.

“Let’s wait and hear what the doctor says before we start jumping to conclusions and getting all excited.” His hand caresses my hair, giving me hope that his gruff exterior isn’t directed at me.

“But if—” I almost utter Lauren’s name, but his penetrating gaze stops me.

“Don’t, Ivy. Just don’t,” he warns me before retaking his seat. Placing his head in his hands, he sighs deeply. “Not here, at least. I want you to focus on yourself and not worry about all this other stuff, okay?”

“I didn’t want her to be the one to tell you—” I try again, but I fall silent when the door swings open and the doctor enters, examining my chart.

“Well, Miss Thompson. It seems like you are one lucky lady.” I didn’t catch his name before. I was too distracted by the transvaginal ultrasound he was conducting. But his name tag says Patel.

“I’m still pregnant?” I ask, my voice just above a whisper.