“Oh you mean Alba,” laughed Dr. Burke. “Yes, she’s not the nicest lady, but I put her on your case because she’s one of the best maternity nurses on staff.”

I nodded, and Dr. Burke proceeded to check my charts again, and then checked the fetal monitor.

“Everything looks really great, Jade. You’re not in the clear yet, but so far, I like what I see. Do you have any questions and concerns?”

I looked between Reid, and Dr. Burke, and blushed a little more. “Nurse Alba said we can’t...uhh...have sex until the baby is born. Is that true?”

“I’m afraid so,” replied Dr. Burke. She looked amused, and I wanted to crawl into a hole. I wasn’t sure why though. I wasn’t exactly shy about the fact that I was hornier than usual while pregnant. “Because of your fall yesterday, having sex isn’t advisable until after your baby is born. It increases your chances of going into labor sooner than we planned.”

“Fine,” I sighed, earning another round of quiet chuckles from Reid.

Laugh it up, jackass. We’ll see if you’re still laughing when you have blue balls.

“If there’s nothing else,” continued Dr. Burke, “I’ll be back later tonight to check on you again. Once the forty-eight hour period is over, I won’t have to check on you quite as much.”

“Thanks Doc,” said Reid. “We appreciate it.”

And we did.

Dr. Burke left, and I convinced Reid to go home and take a shower, even though my parents had yet to arrive. He bent down, and brought his lips close to mine.

“Te amo,” he whispered. “Mi Amor.”

“I love you too.” I grinned stupidly. “Now go shower. You stink.”

He kissed me quickly, and I heard his laughter drift down the hallway.

Silly man.

But he was my silly man.

REID GAVE ME a worried a look, his beautiful face etched into a frown. I had a room full of people, and they all seemed to be trading concerned glances. It made me uncomfortable.

“Reid, what’s going on?” I asked, aware that everyone turned their eyes towards him. He stepped away from where he’d been talking with our fathers, and Dane, and came to stand at my bedside.

My mother’s eyes bounced nervously between my father, and me, while Reid’s mother vacated her chair to stand next to her husband. Kennedy looked ready to pass out, and Grady looked ready to slap someone.

Reid looked at his father, who gave him a cursory nod, and then turned his eyes back to me.

“Tell me what’s going on,” – I sat upright – “Everyone is making me nervous.”

Reid sighed, and leaned closer, pressing both palms on the bed. He’d been on edge all afternoon, but it wasn’t until after everyone else had started acting so weird that I knew something was going on. Something I clearly wasn’t privy to.

“They found Stella,” said Reid. His green eyes were troubled, his brows knitted, and his mouth pulled tight. I stared at him, feeling a ball of tension take root in my gut. Instinctively, I touched my stomach, moving my hands in slow soothing circles.

“And?” I pressed.

“She’s been arrested.”

I let out an audible breath, but when no one else looked as relieved as I was, I had a feeling of dread wash over me.

“Reid, I swear to God...”

“They went into her room at her sorority house, and found pictures of you, me, and us together plastered all over the room.”

My eyes widened. “What?”

“Some of them had been taken as early as last week, when you were at home alone,” said Reid. His jaw ticked, and I knew it wasn’t the worst part.

“What else?” I asked.

“She’d scratched out your face in all those pictures, and replaced it with cut-outs of hers.”

What.

The.

Fuck.

“There’s more,” added Reid. “They found out her parents are dead, and she suffered a psychotic break at the end of last year. Her friends said that after I broke up with her she became obsessed with  - ”

“You?” I finished.

Reid shook his head. “No, Jade. She became obsessed with you.”

“With me?” I asked, unable to help my incredulity. It all sounded absurd. From the expressions on everyone else’s faces I could tell he wasn’t kidding.

“She wanted to hurt me, didn’t she? And the baby?”

Reid looked pained, but managed a nod. “She’s been keeping a notebook, and she wrote down my schedule over a two-week period, including the times I’m home, and when I’m at school. There was a date circled in red on her calendar,” – Reid’s Adams apple bobbed as he swallowed, and he fisted the blanket covering my legs – “Does the 25th of June mean anything to you?”

“That was our next doctor’s appointment,” I replied. “Why?”

“Shit,” muttered Reid. “Somehow she found out you were going alone, and she planned on following you. We don’t know what she had planned past that, but we’re hoping we can find out.”

I took a moment to process it, and slowly started to wrap my head around just how crazy Stella was. We could worry all we wanted about what she was going to do, but the fact is she wasn’t going to get the chance. She’d been a dark cloud hanging over us for far too long, and all I wanted to do now was focus on looking forward. Stella needed to be history, for good.

“I don’t want to know,” I said, looking at all the concerned faces around me. “As long as that psycho Hobbit gets put away in the looney bin, I don’t care what she had planned.”

Reid’s hard expression cracked a little, and I felt the tension in the room start to dissipate.

“Psycho Hobbit?” He chuckled.

“Yes. Psycho Hobbit. We all thought she looked related to the Hobbits from the Shire in Lord of The Rings. You have to admit, she had really big feet for a girl. I bet they were hairy too.”

Kennedy snickered in the corner, and soon couldn’t contain her laughter. It broke the intense silence, and soon everyone else followed suit. I relaxed, and gave Reid my best smile.

“You really know how to pick them, huh, Cole?”

Another head shake. “I was waiting for you. Ms. Matthews.”

The mood lifted, and despite the audience, I pulled Reid’s face down to mine.

“Siempre has sido mío,” I told him. You’ve always been mine.

He grinned, and the rest of the room fell away. I felt his breath hit my lips, and then he whispered, “Siempre, Mi Amor.”

Always, my love.

Chapter 21

Reid

33 Weeks

I handed my last exam paper in, and practically sprinted out of the door. I raced to my car like a man possessed, smiling like a fool the entire way.

Jade was finally being released from the hospital, and after passing the forty-eight hour mark, Dr. Burke was happy with her progress. After two weeks of studying, hospital visits, and sleeping alone, I was as excited as a kid on Christmas morning to have Jade back at home. A nervous energy filled my bloodstream, making me twitchy as I made my way to the hospital. I had two relatively large surprises waiting for Jade at home, and I hoped she would like them.