Marriage Reunited

Chapter 14

Connor could swear that his heart stopped beating when he saw the car hit Lilly. He'd tried to shout out a warning, but he'd been too far away to save her. Luckily, she'd moved out the way or the damage could have been a lot worse, not that it wasn't bad now. She had a cut on her head that was really worrying him and several scrapes and bruises. She'd passed into unconsciousness moments after he'd gotten to her and it worried him that she hadn't come round. An ambulance had been called but it seemed to take forever before he heard the sirens that signalled their arrival. He hadn't let Lilly go since he'd gotten there. He was careful not to move her in case anything was broken but he wasn't prepared to leave her side until she'd been checked over. He couldn't bear to see her looking so fragile and vulnerable like this.

The paramedics did a quick job of checking her over and Lilly had even come round while they were doing their checks. Connor wanted to stay with her but the police insisted that he talk to them while the paramedics were with her. Connor kept things short and simple because he didn't want to be away from her for longer than necessary. He answered their questions and confirmed that he'd seen the car, a basic silver Citroen with no identifying features. He hadn't seen the driver and yes, he'd noted that the car was going way over the speed limit. Their questions probably didn't take more than ten minutes, but they seemed to take hours. Finally, he managed to excuse himself as Lilly was placed on a stretcher and transferred to the ambulance. He saw Alexa's pale face in the crowd of people but couldn't tear himself away from Lilly to check on her. His wife was his number one priority right then.

The ambulance ride passed excruciatingly slowly, and Connor wished that they could hurry the hell up so that his wife could get the treatment that she obviously needed. He hated to see her in pain like this. She was obviously confused, and it worried him that she might have sustained more damage than they knew.

The hospital staff were calm and efficient. They seemed to understand his need to be close to her but were also careful to move him away so they could heal Lilly. They did x-rays and scans and checks until they were satisfied with the results. He didn't understand how they could be so calm all the time, he was a nervous wreck.

Finally, they moved Lilly up to a ward so they could observe her and it wasn't long before a doctor came to talk to them. Lilly was more herself by then and was sat up and was even talking though he glimpsed a few grimaces of pain that she wasn't quick enough to hide. He also noticed how she was carefully avoiding talking to him.

"I have your results here and things are looking good," the doctor said when he came in. Connor let out a breath that he hadn't even realised he'd been holding. He'd been terrified that she had internal injuries that might take her from him.

"No broken bones or anything?" Connor asked and the doctor offered an understanding smile as he consulted his charts.

"No broken bones and no internal bleeding. A small bump on the head and a mild concussion, some bruising on her right side but nothing major. Both you and the baby will be just fine, Mrs Wentworth. You had a very lucky escape," the doctor said kindly, and Lilly offered him a genuine smile while Connor froze in place.

"Thank you so much," Lilly said, and the doctor acknowledged that with a nod.

"We'll have to keep you in to observe you overnight but I'm confident that you should be just fine to go home tomorrow," the doctor said before he took his leave.

Silence filled the room once he left, and Connor struggled to get his head round the fact that Lilly was apparently pregnant. He had no doubt that she was carrying his child and he had very mixed emotions about that. On the one hand he was thrilled that they were having a baby and couldn't wait to be a dad. On the other hand, he was terrified that something would happen to their child and that he would grow close to their baby only to have it ripped from him again.

"How long have you known?" he demanded and regretted the gruff tone he used. Dammit, the woman had just been in a car accident, and he was interrogating her like an asshole.

"Since this morning," she said quietly. He jerked at that piece of news.

"That's why you were at Alexa's," he confirmed, and she shrugged.

"I figured that was where you'd be," she said. He winced at that. He knew that she was speaking the truth, but he felt like a real asshole when he realised that he had been spending more time with his sister-in-law than with his own wife.

"It wasn't what you thought it was," he promised her, but she didn't look like she believed him. Hell, if he were in her position then he wouldn't believe him either.

"So, she wasn't breaking off a relationship," Lilly said mockingly, and he winced at that.

"No, she was."

"Oh, so I guess I just happened to miss the other guy leaving then," she said, and he ran a rough hand across his face.

"She wasn't talking about me, she was talking about Cameron," he tried to tell her but could tell that he wasn't getting through to her.

"Oh right. The elusive brother-in-law of mine who I have yet to see," she said. Another wince from him. It was true that she had yet to meet his brother, but it wasn't like he hadn't tried to introduce them. His brother was a slippery one and it was hard to pin him down for the length of time an introduction would take.

"I promise you Lilly, I wasn't having an affair."

She looked like she wanted to believe him, and he wanted her to trust him without question but he could tell that she didn't. It wasn't surprising with the amount of sneaking around that he'd been doing lately.

"Why were you with her all the time then?" she asked. Connor hesitated. He wanted to tell her the truth, but he didn't dare put her in any more danger and he couldn't break his promise to his brother.

"I wish I could tell you," He finally said, and she turned her head away in dismay.

"You're not going to," she said sadly, and he wished that things weren't so damn complicated.

"I want to Lilly; believe me I do. It's just that I promised I wouldn't say anything, not even to you."

Lilly turned away from him and hunched under the covers. She couldn't help the comparisons her mind was making from the way things had been once before. She'd trusted him again and she was in almost the same position as before. Once again, she'd seen irrefutable evidence of his cheating with Alexa, once again she'd wanted to believe him and once again she was back in hospital with her heart in tatters but at least this time she still had the little life inside of her to cling to. She didn't want to risk this little ones life and that meant that she needed to do something drastic no matter how much it might hurt her.

"I need you to leave and not come back," she said softly. At first, she thought he hadn't heard her because there was nothing but silence. When she turned back to look at him though she found him knelt next to her with his hand on the bed as though he'd been reaching for her.

"Please don't send me away," he said. Her heart ached at the lost boy look he was giving her, but she couldn't risk hurting herself or the baby anymore and if he stayed then his secrets and lies would rip them all apart.

"I want to believe you, I do. But you're not giving me anything else to believe right now. Either I believe that you've been sleeping with Alexa behind my back, or I believe that there's a good reason for you being around her all the time. The problem is that I can't think of one single reason why you wouldn't tell your pregnant wife the truth," she said. He could see her point of view and it killed him that he couldn't tell her the truth. Suddenly he knew what he had to do.

"I'll be back later," he said. Before she could protest, he placed a quick kiss on her lips and then he was gone.