Contract Marriage: I Will Never Love You-Chapter 90: It’s Enough

Sarah

The pain intensifies, radiating through my lower back. I press my hand to my belly, panic rising in my throat.

Something’s wrong. Something’s very wrong.

I manage to find my voice. "Matthew!" I cry out, the fear making it come out as a strangled sob.

Footsteps thunder down the hall. Matthew appears first, his face transforming from lingering irritation to alarm in an instant.

"Sarah!" He drops to his knees beside me. "What’s wrong?"

"I don’t—" The pain cuts me off, sharper this time. I clutch at his arm. "I am scared."

Josh and Rebecca appear in the hallway, their faces blurring in my vision.

"Call 911," Matthew barks, and I hear Rebecca fumbling for her phone.

"I’m bleeding," I whisper, the realization hitting me as I feel the warmth between my legs. "Matthew, I’m bleeding."

His face goes pale. He scoops me up into his arms with surprising gentleness, his previous anger completely vanished.

"It’s okay, Sarah," he says, his voice tight with fear. "We’re going to the hospital right now. Don’t wait for the ambulance," he tells Josh. "Get the car."

Josh moves faster than I’ve ever seen him, bolting for the door. Rebecca hovers nearby, her paintbrush forgotten, face ashen.

"The baby," I murmur, tears streaming down my face.

Matthew holds me closer, and I can feel his heart hammering against his chest. "It’s going to be okay," he says, but his voice breaks.

Josh pulls the car up to the curb with a screech of tires. Matthew carries me inside carefully.

"Is this my punishment for lying about this before?" I whisper.

Matthew holds me tight. "Don’t be ridiculous. Nothing will happen to you or the baby."

I am not so sure about that.

Nothing feels okay.

The bleeding hasn’t stopped. The cramping is worse.

My vision swims in and out, and the fear claws at me like a living thing.

We swerve into the ER entrance. Josh barely puts the car in park before Matthew throws the door open and yells for help.

"She is pregnant. She is bleeding. We need help!" His voice cracks with desperation.

Two nurses rush out with a wheelchair. Matthew tries to set me down gently, but I cry out, the movement too much. My legs feel numb. The nurses work quickly, asking questions I can barely answer.

"Gestational age?"

"Sixteen weeks," Matthew says. His eyes are wild. "Please, just help her."

They wheel me through sliding doors, the harsh white lights stabbing at my eyes. I hear Matthew arguing with someone about staying with me, but they pull him back. I want to reach for him, but my arms feel too heavy.

"Matthew," I whisper.

"I’m right here!" he shouts, and somehow, that gives me just enough strength to stay conscious.

They wheel me into a private room, immediately hooking me up to monitors. A doctor appears.

"We are going to check the baby’s heartbeat first, okay?"

I nod weakly.

Please. Just let there be a heartbeat.

The room falls into silence, broken only by the beeping of machines and the shuffle of movement. The doctor presses the Doppler to my belly.

Nothing.

I squeeze my eyes shut.

Please. Don’t let my baby die. I couldn’t bear it.

ba-dum... ba-dum... ba-dum...

I sob in relief as I hear it. My baby’s heartbeat.

"There’s a heartbeat," the doctor says, his voice a balm. "It’s a bit weak, but the baby is alive."

"Oh, thank god," I breathe.

But his expression stays serious. "You’re experiencing a threatened miscarriage. We’ll need to monitor you closely and keep you on bed rest for now. No stress, no activity. And no leaving until we’re sure the bleeding has stopped."

I nod again. "Could you let my husband in? I want him to hear our baby’s heartbeat," I whisper.

The doctor gives a gentle nod. "Of course."

A nurse hurries out of the room, and moments later, Matthew rushes in. His eyes scan me from head to toe, and the fear in them nearly undoes me.

"Sarah," he breathes, crossing the room in two long strides and dropping to his knees beside the bed. He takes my hand carefully like he’s afraid I’ll break.

I squeeze his fingers. "The baby’s alive. The heartbeat’s a little weak, but..." My voice cracks, emotion welling up in my chest. "Our baby is alive, Matthew."

He gives me a small smile. "Sarah, I..."

"Shh...just listen," I urge him to listen to the monitor.

The doctor moves the Doppler again, and the room fills with the rapid, delicate sound of our baby’s heart. freewebnoveℓ.com

Matthew sighs and listens for a bit before turning to the doctor. "Why did she pass out like that?" he asks curtly.

The doctor takes a breath, his expression calm but serious. "Her blood pressure dropped significantly due to the bleeding and shock. That, combined with the pain, likely caused the fainting. It’s good she made it here when she did."

Matthew nods slowly, but his jaw is tight, his hand gripping mine like a lifeline. "Is the baby really going to be okay?"

"Stay positive," the doctor replies. "The heartbeat is a good sign, but we need to monitor both of them closely. We’ll run some additional scans to rule out anything more serious."

Matthew doesn’t look away from me. "Okay," he whispers, more to himself than anyone else. "Okay."

Tears sting the corners of my eyes again, not from pain this time, but from the aching tenderness in his gaze. I squeeze his hand weakly. "I’m scared."

"I know," he says, brushing a damp strand of hair from my face.

A nurse enters quietly and begins checking the IV line. "We’re going to give you something to help calm the cramping, Sarah," she says kindly. "And keep you hydrated. Just rest, alright?"

I nod, too exhausted to answer. The adrenaline is wearing off, and in its place is a bone-deep fatigue.

Matthew shifts in his chair. "You didn’t deserve this," he says suddenly.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Earlier, you asked if this was a punishment for you. But no, this isn’t some punishment. You hear me?" he says firmly.

Tears welled in my eyes. "I just...I was so horrible for lying about being pregnant before. Faking those tests and pictures. Maybe I brought this on."

"No," he growls in a low voice. "You didn’t bring this on yourself. Life is just...messed up sometimes."

"But you still haven’t forgiven me," I remind him.

Matthew goes quiet.

"Maybe not completely," he finally says after a moment, his voice rough. "But that doesn’t mean I want anything to happen to you," he adds, softer now, almost like he’s confessing something to himself. "Or the baby. I was terrified, Sarah. Seeing you like that, I thought I was going to lose you both."

I blink hard, trying to hold back the tears, but they spill anyway. "You were?"

He closes his eyes for a moment, like the words physically hurt. "Yes," he says.

"I don’t know how to just flip a switch and let go of what you did," Matthew admits quietly. "But none of that mattered when I saw you in that hospital bed. All I could think was, God, please don’t take her from me."

My throat tightens, emotion catching in it like a knot. "Do you still hate me?" I ask, my voice trembling.

He shakes his head slowly, then squeezes. "No. I hate what happened between us. But I don’t hate you, Sarah. I don’t think I ever truly did."

Fresh tears slide down my cheeks, hot and silent. I tug his hand gently. "Kiss me," I whisper.

He hesitates, but only for a second before leaning in. His lips brush mine, tentative at first. But when I respond, pressing back with all the emotion I’ve buried, he deepens the kiss.

His hand moves to my cheek, thumb brushing away the tears that don’t seem to stop. When we pull apart, he rests his forehead against mine, breathing shakily.

"I love you," I murmur. "I know you don’t want to say it back, but I still want to tell you that."

"And I don’t want you to stop saying it to me," he says.

"And the baby? Do you think you could love the baby?" I ask.

"Of course, I love the baby, Sarah. "It’s my fucking baby." He glares at me.

I give him a cheeky smile. "So you are finally admitting it’s your baby?"

"I never doubted it for a second. I only denied it to hurt you," he replies.

Of course.

"Enough talking. You need to rest," he says, fluffing the pillow behind me.

"You always were a bit of a softie," I tease weakly.

Matthew huffs out a laugh, shaking his head. "Don’t let it go to your head. I’m only doing this because you’re stuck in a hospital bed."

I close my eyes, letting the warmth of his presence wrap around me like a blanket. For the first time in what feels like forever, I feel safe. Not because everything is okay...it isn’t. But because he is here. For me.

He brushes my hair back again. "Get some sleep. I will tell Josh and Rebecca to come back tomorrow to visit."

"But you will come back, right?" I ask eagerly.

Matthew leans close. "You really think I’d leave now?" he murmurs. "You scared the hell out of me, Sarah. I’m not going anywhere."

My throat tightens again at his words, and I nod, trying to smile through the tears threatening to return.

He presses a soft kiss to my forehead. "I’ll be right here. Even if you’re asleep, I’m staying."

Outside the room, the world might be chaotic. Complicated. But in this moment, it’s just us.

Me. Him. And the tiny heartbeat still fluttering inside me.

And for now, that’s enough.