Pregnant with the Rancher's Baby: Reclaimed by the Rancher

“I’m Dr. Chavez,” he introduced himself. “I’m the trauma surgeon who will be doing your wife’s appendectomy. She was right about having appendicitis and we need to get her into surgery right away to keep the appendix from rupturing. Under normal circumstances it would be a routine surgery. But because of her pregnancy it raises the risk to both her and the fetus. I’ve called in a team of specialists to stand by in case the surgery throws your wife into labor and we have to take the baby by C-section.”

“Can I see her before the surgery?” Nate asked, needing to let her know he was there for her. If they’d let him, he’d go into surgery with her. He knew they wouldn’t allow that, but he would gladly go if he could.

The doctor motioned for Nate to follow him. “Some of the surgical team will be coming anytime to take her upstairs to surgery and we’ve already administered a preop sedative, so I doubt you’ll be able to talk to her.” He stopped Nate just outside the curtained-off cubicle. “I want to assure you that we’ll do everything we can for both her and the baby, Mr. Rafferty. But as I said before, there are risks for both of them.”

Nate felt as if his entire world was falling apart around him. With a lump the size of his fist clogging his throat, he did his best to clear it and get the words out that no man ever wanted to have to say. “If it comes down to saving her or the baby, please save Jessie.”

Dr. Chavez nodded. “We’ll do all we can.”

While the doctor hurried off to scrub for surgery, Nate stepped into the cubicle and walked up to the bed where Jessie lay with her eyes closed. Taking her hand in his, he gave it a gentle squeeze. “Jessie, I’m here for you now and always will be, darlin’,” he said, feeling about as helpless as he could ever remember.

What had kept him from telling her he loved her when deep down he was sure that’s all she’d ever wanted from him? Why had he waited, instead of truly giving her his all? Jessie deserved to know everything about him and he wanted nothing more than to tell her and beg her to love him in spite of it. But had he waited too long? Dear God, would he even have another chance?

Before he could tell her how much he loved her and needed her more than the air he breathed, two members of the surgical team opened the curtain. “We’re going to take your wife upstairs now, Mr. Rafferty,” one of them said. “You can go up to the surgical waiting room on the fourth floor. The doctor will see you up there after the surgery is over to let you know how everything went.”

Nate leaned over the rail to kiss Jessie’s forehead and reluctantly let go of her hand as the two nurses moved the bed out into the hall. As he stood there watching them roll her away from him, he would have given anything to trade places with her—to go through this crisis so she didn’t have to. When they moved the bed through a set of doors at the end of the hall and out of his sight, Nate took several shuddering breaths. Feeling a drop of moisture on his cheek, he impatiently swiped it away and headed for the elevators. He hadn’t cried since he was fifteen years old, but he found himself fighting with everything he had in him to keep his emotions in check as he rode the elevator alone to the fourth floor, got off and walked into the waiting area.

Finding a corner of the big room that was relatively deserted, he sat down and stared at his boot tops. There weren’t a lot of things he was afraid of. He could climb on the back of one of the biggest, rankest bulls, get thrown off and stare death in the face when the ornery animal came after him and never think a thing about it. But right now he was scared to death.

What if he lost Jessie? Or what if something happened to the baby? They hadn’t even had the chance to give their little girl a name.

Scrubbing his palms over his face to push away the emotion threatening to swamp him, he leaned forward to rest his forearms on his knees and stare down at his loosely clasped hands. Hank had always told him and his brothers that a positive attitude was half of any battle. But it was damned hard to have positive thoughts when all of the what-ifs were bombarding him from all sides.

“Have you heard anything, Nate?”

At the sound of Sam’s voice, Nate looked up to see all five of his brothers walking across the waiting room toward him. He wasn’t the least bit surprised that they had all dropped whatever they were doing to come to the hospital to lend their moral support. It had been that way for the six of them since their days at the Last Chance Ranch. They had each other’s back no matter what and he’d never been more glad to see them than he was at that moment.