Page 27 of Angel's Forever

I opened the door to the car and chucked my cigarettes into it. As I was about to step in, I heard a pair of footsteps rushing up to me. Before I could even look around, I felt a massive blow to my head, causing my vision to blur, and I started to fall to the ground. I managed to just make out a figure above me. He was dressed totally in black from head to foot. I couldn’t see any of his face because he was wearing a mask.

I barely managed to speak. “Wh-what do you want? What…whatever it is, you can have it. M-my wallet is…in my…pocket.”

I was sure this was just an opportunistic mugger taking a chance on someone in what was almost a deserted area. He didn’t say a word, just started to beat my head and body with what looked like a police baton. I tried to protect myself as best I could, thinking how stupid I had been. I should have been able to stop anyone like this, but my gun was hidden safely in the car where Gabriella wouldn’t see it, which meant I couldn’t get to it.

Blow after blow hit my body, and I could feel myself starting to cough up blood. I tried to reach for the phone in my pocket to press the emergency number on it, but I was fading in and out of consciousness fast. All I could think of was how Gabriella would react when she saw me.

At least I was close to a clinic to get medical help. I couldn’t hold on any longer as the pain radiated through my body. The darkness was closing in as I lay there, unable to move without pain shooting through me.

I made one final effort to reach for my phone before everything went black.

Chapter Fifteen

GABRIELLA-ROSE

I SAT IN THE WAITING room wondering whether staying here alone was a good idea. A sudden wave of anxiety came over me, as though something terrible was about to happen. I went to get my phone out of my bag to call Gino, but just as I was about to dial his number, a young nurse came into the room.

“Miss Quinn? Dr. Lawson will see you now, if you would like to follow me.”

I put my phone back into my bag and walked out of the waiting area and into the office. I was greeted by Dr. Lawson’s smiling face as I walked toward her. Instantly, I felt at ease with her, even though she hadn’t said a word. She was probably around ten years older than me and appeared warm and friendly. She held out her hand, which I took as she spoke.

“Miss Quinn, lovely to meet you. Please take a seat.”

I took a seat in front of her desk as the door behind me closed.

“So, what brings you here to see me today? As if I couldn’t already guess.”

I was a little shocked. She couldn’t already know what was wrong with me just by looking at me, could she? Was it that obvious?

I looked down at my stomach to see if there was any trace of a life growing inside me, but I couldn’t see a thing. I looked back up and could see her chuckling at my reaction.

“I’m sorry. I have been Hudson and Nico’s doctor for a long while. Hudson told me about your symptoms the other day when he made the appointment. As soon as he told me, I guessed your reason for coming here, although I didn’t say anything to him. So I'm guessing you're here because you suspect you are pregnant. Am I correct, Miss Quinn?”

I should have known that Hudson would send me to someone he knew well. He was probably the most protective of my men, and he would have wanted me to feel comfortable with my doctor. He had certainly made the right choice with Dr. Lawson.

“Please call me Gabriella, or just Gaby. I really don’t like formality. Yes, I am almost certain I am pregnant. I have all the same symptoms I had with my previous pregnancies. Before you say any more, I’m not sure how much Hudson has told you. But I had three miscarriages due to my previous abusive partner, so they never went past three months.”

I watched her smile drop. Hudson hadn’t told her everything. However, she needed to know that just in case there had been any permanent damage done. My previous gynecologist hadn’t seemed to think so, but I wanted to make certain.

She looked at me with a sad smile. “Hudson didn’t mention that, Gaby, but I’m glad that you did. We can check that everything is fine in just a minute. And please call me Monica. I’m not all that keen on the ‘doctor’ stuff either. Plus I suspect, knowing Hudson, that I will be seeing a lot of you, so much so that we will probably be best friends at the end of this.”

We both started to laugh. I could tell it would be very easy to be friends with her. I also thought that, as she knew both Hudson and Nico, she might also be aware of their relationship, which would make appointments far easier when it came to them both wanting to see and hear the baby. I went to speak, but it was as if she could read my mind.

“Yes, I know you are in a polyamorous relationship with Hudson and Nico. I also believe that Gino has joined you. So you don’t have to worry about them coming to appointments. I can hold them after my usual surgery so it isn’t obvious that you're coming in here with three men, if that makes you all feel better.”

I breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you, Monica. You don’t know how worried I was. It was one reason I came in here alone. I didn’t want anyone thinking Gino was the father when I highly suspect he isn’t, considering we have only been in a relationship for a few weeks.”

“Well, we don’t know anything yet, do we? Let’s get all of your medical history out of the way, then we can do a test and see if there is a little life inside you.”

For the next thirty minutes or so, we ran through all of my medical history, as I had never been to this clinic before. I was surprised that Monica had allowed me this much time, but she assured me that I was her final appointment for the day and she had booked the rest of the afternoon out to put both Hudson’s and my mind at rest.

“Okay, now that we have all that out of the way, we get to find out.”

She passed me a test and asked me to go into the restroom outside and bring the test back into her office. I went and did what I needed to do, and then walked back into her office.

“Okay, while we are waiting for that result, I will just take some of your blood so we can do a blood test and make sure everything is okay.”

Luckily, I wasn’t one of these women who hated needles. Good thing, as I knew this would be a regular occurrence from now on if I was indeed pregnant. Monica took all the blood that she needed for the tests and placed them in the bag ready to send off to the lab.