As The Pages Burn

Chapter 3

It took Angela two whole days to regain consciousness, waking up to the sound of beeping she recognized all too well as a heart rate monitor. She opened her eyes slowly and glanced around the room, squinting her eyes against the penetrating sunlight slanting in through the blinds across the room from her bed. She gathered that she was in a hospital room, in hospital clothes, on a hospital bed. Out of her hand protruded a thick needle, which was connected to an I.V. She saw the heart rate monitor in the corner, showing that her heart rate was stable and healthy. How long had she been there? And, more importantly, what was wrong with her? Questions clouded her mind as she tried to remove the I.V. needle from her hand. Instantly, there was a hand on hers, slightly scarred and bruised, but such a comforting hand, nonetheless. She panicked at first. Had Roger brought her here after almost killing her? Did she have a concussion?

She looked up then, relief washing over her as she stared into the dazzling sapphire blue eyes of her hero, her knight in shining armor, Lucas Miller.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" he asked, his thumb brushing against her hand soothingly.

"I'm fine," she lied just before she felt a sharp pain in her lower abdomen that made her double over in agony.

Lucas sighed and looked at her with sympathetic, understanding eyes. The bruises on his face had already faded to a purplish, yellow hue. "Your injuries weren't that bad, nothing broken, but unfortunately the same can't be said for the baby."

Angela frowned. "What baby? I'm not pregnant!"

"No, not anymore." He sighed and looked down. "I guess you never even knew about it. Well, for what it's worth, you were three months pregnant."

It seemed to dawn on her then all at once what must have happened. Conflicting emotions of grief, relief and guilt flashed across her face and Lucas knelt next to her and tried to comfort her.

"He must never know about this," Angela said in a foreboding tone, choking back tears that threatened to overflow at any moment.

"Nor will he," Lucas said. "And you don't need to worry about that right now. You just need to get better. Hey, look at me." He drew her chin up gently so she'd look at him. "I promise you, what happened the other night will never happen to you again." Lucas looked deep into her eyes as he said this, meaning every word from the bottom of his heart. After all, he'd only loved her for most of his life. Sure, there had been other girls, but never anything serious enough. And in his eyes, no girl could ever compare to her beauty; her perfect oval face, brilliant emerald green eyes, her beautiful red hair or her flawless skin. To him, she was beauty defined. He recalled quite vividly how he'd carried her around in his arms as a toddler. His parents had always been so petrified of him dropping her, but he never had. He'd vowed to keep her safe even at such a young age and had never voluntarily broken his promise. He shuddered at the thought of the one time he had betrayed her trust; the one time he knew she wasn't even aware of. He shook his head, trying to rid himself of the images his mind threw at him when he thought of that specific memory.

Angela glanced at him then, noticing the way he was staring at her, clearly deep in thought. "Would you mind doing me a favor?"

Lucas only nodded, somewhat entranced by her.

"Would you mind making a reservation at a hotel for me? I just need a place to stay until he's gone, and I can go back home."

Lucas shook his head and met her gaze, determination in his eyes. "I don't think I feel comfortable with that idea at all. What if he decides to track you down and finishes where he left off? No, you can stay with me for the time being. I have a guest bedroom; you can sleep there. Obviously it's free of charge so you don't need to worry about that."