Baby Bump: An Age Gap, Christmas, Amnesia Romance (Forbidden Doctors), page 1
BABY BUMP
AN AGE GAP, CHRISTMAS AMNESIA ROMANCE
SOFIA T SUMMERS
CONTENTS
Description
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Epilogue
A Doctor Daddy for Christmas (Preview)
Other Books by Sofia T Summers
Connect with Sofie
Copyright © 2023 by Sofia T Summers
All rights reserved.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
DESCRIPTION
It’s one thing to wake up in a hospital with zero memories.
It’s another to have your hot doctor tell you he’s the father of your child.
Ethan Lewis is every woman’s dream.
So, I took about a second to believe every word he told me.
Strong, handsome, and wealthy.
He’s basically all the things that my ex is not.
The ex that is sure to stir up trouble in my no memory La-La land.
Ethan doesn’t care that we violated the rules when his fingers trailed down my jawline.
The moment he held me is the only memory I really care about.
But it’s only a matter of time until I remember all the forgotten moments.
And that would be the moment of truth.
Ethan’s secret would spill out this Thanksgiving... along with the legitimacy of the story my ex tells me.
But I’m not the only one discovering a secret this holiday season.
Christmas will bring a sweet little gift for Ethan, one that I thought I could hide from him forever.
PROLOGUE
LILY
My heartbeat pounded through my temples like a jackhammer. It was dark, so dark that all I could see was the flicker of red and blue flashing lights as I tried to blink my eyes open. Everything hurt, including my stomach, where my hands attempted to reach, but my arms were heavy. I was dizzy too, as if I’d been spun around in an amusement park ride and left to wait out the rush of vertigo left after the ride was over.
“Ma’am, I’m going to need you to hold still.” The voice wasn’t familiar. It was masculine and gruff. I tried to turn my head to see where the voice came from, but a hot pain in my shoulder stopped me, as did someone’s hand on my jaw.
“My baby…” I mumbled, but the sound was drowned out by a horrible grinding and screeching noise. It was so loud I cringed, sending more zaps of pain through my shoulders and neck. I blinked again, more light coming into focus, and realized I was upside down. “Oh, God…” I didn’t know what was happening or even where I was.
The screeching of metal and a loud engine noise continued to vibrate me to my core as tears streamed from my eyes, flowing over my forehead. I felt pressure on my hips and chest, and my hands and arms were numb. The man’s hand on my jaw steadied me as he wrapped something around my neck, and then the horrible cacophony quieted.
“Get me a bag of O-negative STAT and start a line. She’s going to bleed out if we can’t get this door off.”
My eyes focused on his face, a middle-aged man with dark skin and warm eyes. His full beard was well-groomed, the way I remembered my father’s beard. He pushed some hair out of my eyes, and I felt it pull free from something sticky on my face. I wanted to scream and wake up because it was obviously a bad dream, but my head throbbed so badly I thought I’d vomit if I opened my mouth again.
“Ma’am, you’ve been in a car accident. I’m a paramedic here to help you. I need you to hold very still. You have a laceration on your side that is bleeding badly. We’re working to get you out of this wreckage.”
He spoke in a very calming voice, and I felt his hands searching my shoulders and back. There was a loud bang and then suddenly, a whole lot more light flooded into the darkness. I saw shards of glass everywhere. The man’s blue uniform was soaked in blood. Was that my blood? And why was I upside down?
“Passing the long spine board now.”
That voice was distinctly female, and she was close to me. I blinked my eyes, trying to make them adjust to the new brightness as lights beamed in onto my body. It felt surreal, as if I were in a nightmare, but the pain was very real. Breathing was difficult with the pressure on my chest, but the man’s hand on my body tethered me to reality, helping me stay calm.
“I’m going to cut the seatbelt now, and we’re going to get you on the board, alright?”
“My baby,” I croaked, and I felt bile in the back of my throat.
“Let’s do this on three. One… two… three…” The man counted off, and then I felt more hands on me, lots of them. The pressure across my hips and chest suddenly vanished and I felt like I was falling. I jerked, stiffening my muscles, but found myself cradled in very competent hands. In seconds, I was lying flat on my back with my arms relaxed at my side.
“My baby… please…” I whimpered, finally able to take a full breath.
“Ma’am, did you have a child in the car? I don’t see a car seat. Someone check the grass.” The woman’s voice was back, and she sounded emotional. My head hurt so badly it made it hard to think. Did I have my baby? My hands went instinctively to my stomach, but they were still numb. I could feel them touching my belly, but my fingers were senseless.
“There’s no car seat, Kendra. There was no child in this car.”
“Ma’am, are you pregnant?” Her question was louder this time. I blinked my eyes again and looked up at her. She was a petite woman, pretty features. Her hand gripped the board I was strapped to, and she carried me effortlessly with the other few paramedics.
The flashing lights hurt my eyes, and I pinched them shut again. It was a bumpy ride with them walking me somewhere. “My baby…” I said again, slowly beginning to regain feeling in my arms. My hands searched my belly. I felt dampness everywhere now. “Oh, my God, my baby.” I grew frantic, trying to sit up, but I found even my head was strapped down.
“Ma’am, please stay calm, okay? We’re going to check on the baby for you.” The same female paramedic was there, but where was the man? He was calming. She wasn’t.
“Get an IV now, push a shot of adrenaline. Get that blood hooked up.” I felt a jab in my arm and looked down to see the man was back. He had a needle in the crook of my elbow. He smiled at me.
“Starting an IV, honey. You’re going to be okay. We’ll stitch up your cut and we have to run some tests.” I kept my eyes fixed on him as the light got brighter. They lifted me into an ambulance, and a few paramedics hovered over me there too. “Can you tell me your name?”
I blinked again and again, unable to make the pounding stop. My side hurt, and so did my neck. It felt like I'd knocked my head pretty good too. “Lily,” I mumbled. “My baby.”
I felt a searing pain in my side and looked down to see the female pushing on it. “You’ve got a deep laceration. We’ll keep it from bleeding anymore while we get you to the hospital. We just need you to hold still.” She was stern and commanding. It made me decide to do exactly as she said. It made me afraid of what would happen if I didn’t.
“Let’s have a listen,” the man said. I looked back at him. The IV line lay across my hips and thighs and wound around to a bag of blood hanging from a hook overhead. He had a stethoscope clipped to his ears, hammer in hand, pressing it to my stomach. When I looked down at my clothing, I saw what the fuss was about. From my left hip upward, I was soaked in blood.
“Oh, God,” I whimpered, feeling faint. His hands ripped at my clothing, exposing me and the gash that oozed blood. The female’s hands were there too, working on my body as I stared at the small baby bump beneath the waistband of my panties, also soaked in blood now.
I sucked in another labored breath, this one urged on by terror. It was loud as the sirens began blaring. Despite being strapped down, my body jostled around as the ambulance started moving. I tried to hold on, but they grabbed my arms and tethered them down with something. My eyes fluttered shut, nausea rolling through my belly, and I turned my head and threw up.
Then I surrendered to darkness again. The lights still flashed, but these lights were twinkling on a tree. I watched as my little girl twirled and swayed, arms held high in the air as she grinned. I laughed and clapped happily, seeing her spinning with glee in front of the Christmas tree. She wore reindeer antlers and fuzzy socks, and her father took her hand and twirled her around and around.
She was beautiful, warm brown hair with golden highlights and large chocolate eyes, just like me. And when she laughed, it sounded like tinkling bells. Her round, rosy cheeks turned my way, and she giggled before shouting, “I love you, Mommy!”
“I love you too, baby,” I told her, but no words came out. I reached for her, but my hand passed right through her form. My hands trembled, and I reached again but couldn’t touch her.
“I have to go, Mommy.” She chuckled. “See you soon.” She turned and ran, her little pigtails bobbing with each step.
I screamed for her to stay, to come back to me, but she was gone, disappeared into the black night, and my heart was torn out with her. Pain seized every part of my body, making me tremble and shout. I lashed out, screaming for help, for someone to stop her. This was my baby. She couldn’t leave, not now, not when I needed her. We were supposed to have a good life. Why would this happen to me?
I felt tears on my cheeks and sat in humble silence as the sound of her laughter faded, and all I could hear was a rhythmic whirring and a constant beep. This couldn’t be happening. Not to me. I was a good person. I didn’t deserve this.
1
ETHAN
My phone vibrated, so I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the notification. It was from the emergency department, stating they needed a consult. I sat at my desk with at least an hour of transcripts that needed to be typed up and entered into patient files and knew I was in for a long night, but patients came first. I collected my tablet and stethoscope and flipped the lights off in the room as I let myself out and locked up.
As the neurologist on call this weekend, I didn’t expect much excitement. I lived in such a small community that we had no need for multiple doctors, and I hardly worked weekend shifts as it was, but with my boss out of town for the weekend, it fell on my shoulders to keep the fort held down. It was a chance for me to shine too, really show this place what I had as a doctor. St. Rita’s was a great place to land and build a solid career before transitioning to somewhere bigger and better, and I intended to prove myself.
The ER was alive with activity as I walked in. The single-vehicle accident had triggered a line of traffic on the interstate, leading to several smaller fender benders and at least a dozen folks waiting to be seen for minor injuries. I noticed Amily tending to a woman with a contusion on her forehead and waved at her. As charge nurse, she’d have all the information I needed for whichever patient they believed needed my help.
While I waited for her to catch me up, I opened the tablet and scrolled through the files for my current patient load. There were a few of them who worried me—a woman recovering from a brain tumor excision and a man who had a stroke only a few days ago. As a neurologist, I often saw very tragic injuries and diseases and because of it, I’d grown a real backbone. Though I had such compassion for these people, I had taught myself to not feel—because getting emotionally invested hurt when a patient didn’t make it.
“Here!” Amily shouted, snapping her fingers as she strolled past me. She was a very commanding woman, took charge of this ER like it belonged to her despite not being the director down here. “Female, twenty-seven, presenting with a moderate concussive event. She lost a lot of blood and was unconscious for more than six minutes, so we’re testing for hypoxia, and she hasn’t regained consciousness since she’s been here.”
“O2 stats?” I asked her, looking down at the chart as it populated my tablet screen. Amily’s fingers flicked over hers as she walked. “And do you have her medical history? Is the family here?” With a head injury, oftentimes the only way to get information was to ask family members. Patients sometimes remained unconscious for hours or days, and sometimes, even when they did wake up, they were groggy or had memory issues.
“Vitals are stable now, though her heart rate is high. No family yet, but she has a friend with her. She drove by and witnessed the accident. Amily pulled the curtain to exam one back and stepped in. I followed her, though my eyes were firmly fixed on the chart. Her blood pressure was a little low, and a fast pulse meant low blood volume.
“How many units of blood…” I asked as I raised my eyes to look at the patient, Lillian Bennet. I let the question hang in the air as I took her in. Soft brown hair caked in blood framed her warm complexion and round cheeks. Her face was soiled with more blood, tear streaks making a trail through the mess. Her clothing had been cut or torn away, and she had a few hospital blankets draped across her body. Her hand was cradled in the hands of the friend she’d come with, who sat at her side, crying.
“She had two units of blood, and that stabilized her. Seventeen stitches on her side to close the laceration and a splint on her left femur until we can do X-rays.” Amily checked the IV line and bopped around the small room, adjusting the IV flow rate.
“Your concerns for me, then?” I had to pry my eyes away from Lillian’s beautiful face. Such a shame that such a beautiful woman had a horrible accident. It always ripped my heart out to see someone so innocent become injured.
“She was in and out of consciousness and the MRI shows a good bleed. She keeps mumbling something about a baby, but we can’t find a heartbeat. That doesn’t necessarily mean she’s crazy, because sometimes in emergency situations, the mother’s heartbeat can be too loud. We’re running blood tests and I have an ultrasound scheduled for twenty minutes. The EEG was inconclusive to us, and we want a second opinion.”
“Oh, she’s pregnant,” the friend interrupted, standing. “She’s not crazy. God, you have to do the ultrasound sooner. What if the baby is hurt?”
My knee-jerk reaction was to reach for the friend and calm her, but my responsibility was to the patient first. Amily eyed the girl and nodded at me as she walked out, leaving me to begin my exam.
“Ms.…?”
“Wright. Erin Wright, Lily’s best friend. Doc, you have to do something. Lily doesn’t deserve this. She’s such an amazing, sweet woman. Please.” Erin’s eyes welled up, and she clung to Lily’s hand with a fierceness I’d only seen in a mother before. It was clear to me that these two ladies were close.
I pulled the penlight I always carried out of the breast pocket of my lab coat and walked to the head of the bed. Setting my tablet down next to Lily, I said, “Tell me more about Lillian.”
“Well, it’s Lily. She thinks it’s nicer because it’s like the flower.” Erin sniffled as I worked and kept talking. “Uh, Lily is a teacher, high school kids. She chose them because she felt like they often get a bad rap and she wants to make a difference. Uh, she loves reading and coffee shops and poetry. And oh, she volunteers at the library.”
I held one eye open and used my light to look into her pupils, which were fixed and dilated. That wasn’t a great sign, but it was normal for concussed patients. Then I checked her other eye to see the same results.
“She sounds like a pretty wonderful woman.” I slid the penlight back into my pocket and picked up the tablet again to go over the EEG results as Erin continued talking. “Tell me more about her.” I focused on the tablet because I found myself feeling such a deep connection to this woman I’d never met before, and I didn't want Erin to pick up on my distraction.
