Free The Power of Love by Kemberlee Shortland Page A

moment later, strong arms encircled
her, pulling her against a broad chest. Ethan kissed the curve of
her neck and she melted against him.
    “You okay?” He turned her to face him.
“You’ve been standing there for a while just staring
outside.”
    His dark hair was damp and shaggy,
hanging just above his shoulders. Dark brows and lashes framed his
crystal blue eyes. His gaze was both concerned and sexy. She wanted
to rip his shirt from his shoulders and . . .
    Instead, she just nodded. “Aye. I’m
trying to imagine a swing set in the garden instead of the clothes
line.”
    Ethan chuckled. “Everything is going to
be grand. We’ve a perfect life. Nothing’s going to change that.” He
kissed her on the forehead before releasing her to pour himself a
cup of coffee.
    Even as she watched the man she loved
more than anything move about the kitchen, she could not quell the
feeling of dread suddenly beginning to eat at her.
     
     

Six months later
     
    He’d practically killed himself getting
to the hospital. When Ethan got the call saying Elaine had
collapsed at work, he panicked and dropped everything to get to her
side. He still had not been allowed to see her, as she was still
undergoing tests, so he waited in the private room he had made sure
their health insurance covered.
    A moment later his pacing was
interrupted when the door pushed open and Elaine was wheeled in on
a gurney. As assistants helped her into bed and the nurse made her
comfortable, his heart pumped hard in his chest, stealing his
breath. Elaine looked pale and groggy. He wondered if she even knew
he was in the room.
    Then he was alone with his wife. She
lay so still. The rise under the covers told him she had not lost
their baby, but his chest tightened anyway, fear pumping blood
though his body at a fierce rate.
    “Are you going to stand there all day?”
Her voice was thread, her eyes just barely open. She lifted her
hand off the bed, beckoning him over.
    Ethan instantly went to her bedside and
kissed her clammy brow, stroking her once lustrous golden hair that
now fell in limp strands around her shoulders. He gazed into her
tired green eyes and his heart squeezed again.
    “How are you feeling, love?”
    Elaine grasped his hand as he stepped
back, encouraging him to sit beside her on the bed. He did so and
kept her hand in his, leaning in to kiss her forehead once again,
as if his kisses could rouse her out of whatever had weakened
her.
    “I’ve been better.”
    “What happened, Lany? They said you
collapsed at work.”
    She shook her head lightly. “I-I don’t
know. I don’t remember much. I was helping a customer—talking about
babies . . . you know how I am. The next think I knew, I woke up
here.”
    “Have you spoken with the doctor? What
did he say?”
    When she shook her head once more, he
rose with the intention of going to find the doctor to get the test
results. Just then, the door swung opened and an authoritative
balding man with glasses perched on the end of his nose strode into
the room. Dressed in black trousers and a white lab coat, a
stethoscope around his neck and a clipboard in his hands, he had to
be the doctor. He moved to the foot of the bed, going over the
papers on his clipboard. It seemed he stood there for hours before
he finally looked up.
    “Are you the husband?”
    The husband? “Oh, aye,” said Ethan, not
even trying to disguise his annoyance. “What’s wrong with my
wife?”
    The doctor turned to Elaine. “I’m
Doctor Gibbons, Mrs. O’Donovan. How are you feeling?”
    Before she had a chance to reply, the
doctor bent his face to the clipboard once more, flipping the pages
one after the other. He finally looked up again and sighed heavily.
He was certainly not making Ethan feel any better. And by the way
Elaine squeezed his hand, she was not doing well either.
    “Doctor—” Ethan finally started, tired
of not only the delay, but also the doctor’s less than impressive
bedside manner.
    Doctor