“What’s a tubal pregnancy? What does that mean?”
Ford took a deep breath. “It means if it’s a tubal pregnancy, they’ll have to operate and… She’ll lose the baby. Otherwise, if they leave it, she’ll die.”
Based on what Ford had told him, Aaron didn’t hold out much hope as Graymard and his staff ran extensive tests and scans on Emi.
He considered his hope used up on the miracle that was Emi returning to them alive and reasonably well, even if she had a lot of recovery time ahead of her.
Then Graymard called the men into a conference room while Yanna stayed with Emi in her hospital room. It was only with a lot of not-so-gentle coaxing on Ford and Aaron’s part that they got Caph to leave her side.
Graymard removed his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Ford, how much do they know?”
“I told Aaron everything.”
Caph, bless his heart, stared at Graymard in confusion. “What?”
Caph had sat between Ford and Aaron. Ford hooked an arm around Caph’s shoulders. “There’s a problem, big guy.” He looked at Graymard. “Am I right?”
Graymard nodded. “I’m so sorry, Ford. You were correct in your assessment.”
“What’s wrong?” Caph asked.
Graymard spared Ford. “The pregnancy isn’t viable. It’s an ectopic tubal pregnancy. We need to operate, as soon as possible, to save her life. We think we can reverse the changes the drugs did to her reproductive system so she can one day get pregnant again, but it will take some time before we know for sure.”
Caph stared at him. “What do you mean? Will the baby be okay?”
Aaron also slipped his arm around the larger man. “No, buddy. I’m sorry.”
Stunned, Caph went silent for a moment as he tried to absorb the news. “You’re telling me my wife, who I just got back, is pregnant. And now you’re telling me what that son of a bitch did to her is going to make her lose our baby?”
Despite his own pain, Aaron ached for Caph. Caph wasn’t the least bit possessive or jealous of Emi when it came to the three of them. Any child they might one day have, regardless of which man fathered it, would still be one hundred percent his, in his eyes.
“That’s correct, Caph,” Graymard confirmed. “I’m so sorry.”
Caph shook off the other men’s arms, stood, and walked over to the window sim. Tears rolled down his face but he didn’t say anything.
“We’ll get her prepped and operate soon,” Graymard told Ford and Aaron. “She’ll need a few days to recover. We will try the antidotes Kayehalau formulated and see if they will reverse the changes and her memory loss. It might not be possible to retrieve her old memories. New memories apparently are not impacted, but she has been unable to retrieve older ones.”
“That’s not entirely true,” Ford corrected. “She remembers little bits and snips. The memories are still there, she just can’t usually make the neural connections to fully access all of them when she wants to.”
Aaron felt pain in his palms as his fingernails dug into his flesh. He unclenched his fists. He couldn’t let his anger get in the way right now. Emi and Caph both needed him. And so would Ford. “What about using sim sessions? Maybe all of us reliving things with her might help.”
“That is an option I’d already considered,” Graymard confirmed. “But let’s get her through the next few days first.”
The men returned to her hospital room and surrounded her. They’d already started an IV and had given her medication to keep her relaxed and help with her pain. She reached for Caph’s hand as he crowded close and kissed her forehead.
“Are you okay?” she asked him.
A ragged laugh escaped him. “You’re in the bed asking me if I’m okay?”
She worried about him. There was no doubt in her mind these two men loved her as much as Ford did. She worried most about Caph though. His initial joy at their reunion had been compounded by Ford’s revelation of her pregnancy. He returned from their talk with Graymard full of grief and heartache.
Aaron moved a chair over to her bedside for Caph and took up a chair on her other side. Emi squeezed Caph’s hand. “It’s okay, big guy. I’m going to be okay.”
More tears rolled down his face. “But the baby…” He rested his head on the bed and cried as she stroked his hair and Ford rubbed his shoulders.
She hurt, inside and out. Emotionally and physically. She’d hoped their reunion could be nothing but joy. When she’d recognized her symptoms, she’d understood that fantasy would be impossible. What hurt even more was that this gentle man was in more pain than before, after a teasing moment of unbounded happiness, his first joy in months.
Aaron stroked her hair. She’d started letting it grow out again after Ford’s arrival and seeing what it had looked like in the pictures of herself. She reached up with her free hand and laced her fingers through his. “Are you okay?” she asked. He felt full of a different kind of pain. Grief, anger at himself, and guilt.
“Yeah. I just want to get you healed up so we can all be together again.”
“It’s okay. You didn’t know. I didn’t know what the chip did.”
He nodded, but she felt how unconvinced he was. “I know, babe.”
When they came to take her to surgery, Caph didn’t want to let go of her. He begged Graymard and the staff to let him come, too. It took Yanna’s help and a large dose of sedatives to calm Caph enough that they could take Emi. Ford and Aaron sat on the sofa in her room with Caph sandwiched between them, his head in Ford’s lap, as he stared at her empty bed.
Yanna sat in a chair close by, ready to help restrain Caph again if necessary.
Ford stroked Caph’s hair. “I really missed you, big guy.”
Caph’s eyes had glazed over from the medication. “If she dies, kill me,” he moaned. “Just fucking kill me. I don’t want to live if she dies.”
Aaron patted Caph’s thigh and left his hand there. “She’ll be okay. She’s not dying on us. They’ll take good care of her and give her the antidote, and she’ll be fine. You think she survived all this bullshit just to die on us now?”
“She is very strong,” Yanna agreed. “She will be okay.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Emi awoke, at first frightened by the unfamiliar surroundings when she couldn’t recall immediately where she was, and then comforted when she felt the presence of the four men. Caph, sitting in a chair by the bed on her right, but asleep with his head on the mattress by her knees. Aaron, sitting on her left side, awake and watching her. Ford, lying on the sofa and dozing. He hadn’t had much chance to sleep over the past couple of days, so she was glad he could now.
And Yanna. He stood by the door, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed as he stared at her.
Aaron leaned in and stroked her forehead as he smiled at her. He started to say something, but she put her finger to her lips to hush him and pointed at Caph.
He kissed her, nuzzling her nose with his as he let out a long, relieved breath.
His sweet brown eyes. The ones from her dreams. She didn’t have a conscious memory of him before this day, yet she felt him in her heart and soul. And Caph, too. Her heart and soul once again felt complete.
This was the way things should be, her and her three men.
Now if only her memories would fall in step.
Yanna stepped around Aaron and leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “I shall go tell Father you are all right. I will return in a couple of hours. Pabo will stand watch outside with the others. If you need me, tell him.”
She nodded. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before he left.