Rage by Michelle Pace, Tammy Coons Read Free Book Online

them.
    They’d cut her open and taken her right fallopian tube. It had
    ruptured and she’d had profuse internal bleeding. By the time
    they figured out it wasn’t her appendix, they’d had to give her
    two pints of blood. She was currently getting a third, along with antibiotics, fluids, and enough pain meds to fuck up even Uncle
    Keith.
    She hadn’t had a clue she was pregnant. Taking birth con-
    trol pills usually prevents shit like that—at least for normal folks.
    As usual, she had to be the statistical anomaly. Eight weeks
    pregnant, they estimated based on the size of the fetus. The doctor said she might still be able to have children, but it would be riskier for her than other women. He said the other tube looked
    normal, so it was unlikely that an STD that had caused the ectop-ic pregnancy. A fairly impressive factoid, considering her last
    two boyfriends were a philandering movie star and a British rock god. Just another statistical anomaly, she supposed. Doc said
    they had run additional tests to be 100% sure.
    Super.
    All this joyful news was delivered in the surgeon’s oddly
    cheerful Irish brogue. “Your baby wasn’t viable and ye were in
    hypovolemic shock. Do ya have me Lucky Charms?” Steph
    chuckled at her own crazy thoughts and pressed her pillow firm-
    ly to her abdomen when the pain reminded her to. Yep—no
    doubt about it. She was indeed tripping balls.
    But then the doctor mentioned that her father had consented
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    TAMMY COONS & MICHELLE PACE
    to have the fetus sent off for genetic testing while she was still under sedation. The results would be back in a week to ten days.
    This was a sobering mental image. She wondered if her baby
    was in a jar of formaldehyde somewhere waiting for Fed Ex. She
    wanted very badly to see it and wondered if this pressing desire was morbid or normal. It was all too much to think about. She
    squeezed the button and felt a small burning rush as more pain
    meds flooded her bloodstream. She could feel Cedric’s eyes on
    her, and with herculean effort she turned her head an inch to look at him.
    “What?” She croaked, momentarily distracted by the beep-
    ing of her heart monitor. The blood pressure cuff squeezed her
    arm so hard that she winced.
    He hobbled across the room to sit at her bedside. “I’m here
    when you’re ready to talk, Sis.”
    “There’s nothing to say, Ced.” She started to shrug and
    groaned at the unpleasant sensation of tugging in her lower ab-
    domen.
    “You nearly died . They asked dad if you were an organ donor. I thought he was going to have a coronary.” Her brother,
    who was typically cool to the core, looked visibly shaken. She
    had the overwhelming urge to comfort him, but a wave of nausea
    hit her. She dry heaved, and he raced to hand her an emesis ba-
    sin. She breathed through it and managed not to vomit. Probably
    for the best, since that would have definitely popped a stitch or two.
    “You know only the good die young. So I’m basically im-
    mortal.” She managed to curl her lips in a piss-poor imitation of a smile.
    His typically bright eyes looked overcast and forlorn. “Your
    baby is dead, Stephanie.”
    His words sliced through her bravado with surgical preci-
    sion. His frankness wiped the smirk from her face, and the un-
    characteristic cold delivery of his message stunned her.
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    RAGE
    “Screw you, Cedric!” she hissed, glaring up at him. He re-
    fused to flinch away from her or blink during their impromptu
    staring contest. And Steph’s expertly constructed walls collapsed with such force her monitor began to alarm. A choked sob erupted from her, and Cedric gently took her hand in both of his.
    Within moments her cheeks were drenched with tears. Her nurse
    came into the room and silenced the alarm after one look at
    Stephanie. The nurse and Cedric exchanged knowing glances,
    and then she left the room without a word.
    Her child. Phillip’s child. Gone before she even had a
    chance to feel it