Royally Bounded

Chapter 128

Clara

I woke up to the repeating beeping sounds beside me. My body was aching terribly as I tried to regain my conscious, slowly opening my eyes. The white ceiling cleared in my eyes, and I felt warm hands over mine. When I looked around, I saw Hayden, completely lost in his thoughts.

He propped a pillow behind my back, helping me up carefully like he was afraid to hurt me. I leaned against the headboard and took a sip of water before Hayden spoke to me.

"Dr. Hill is coming to check on you," he told me, his voice awfully sore. "Wait for a bit."

I nodded, somehow uneasy at the cold atmosphere around me. I last remembered the coldness trailing down my thigh. My mouth went dry, and I placed my hand over my stomach. Somehow, the little throb in my stomach worsened my feelings.

"Our baby," I said, barely audible. "What happened to our baby? Is the baby okay?"

Hayden didn't answer me immediately. He avoided to meet my gaze, and the silence only frightened me. I hoped that I was dreaming, maybe even having negative thoughts, but it was too obvious to know that it was nearly impossible.

"Hayden, please tell me our baby is okay," I breathed, feeling the hollowness growing at my chest every second. "Please."

His fingers tightened around my hand. His signs already gave me a clear answer. I bit the inside of my cheek, fighting the tears from my eyes, but nothing worked. Nothing hurt more than to know that I failed as a mother to protect my own child.

"Dr. Hill said I took you to the hospital in time, but only you could be saved, and she had to remove the dead fetus inside of you," he explained.

The gravity sucked out of my chest. I covered my mouth, but the sobs broke out before I could hold them. Hayden took me into his arms, having a strong and protective embrace around me. I kept my face buried into the crook of his neck, wrapping my arm around him.

It was because of me.

I killed my own child because I was careless enough to not think about the consequences, but I couldn't watch Rosie get hurt. It would break me the same, but knowing my unborn child was now gone, it truly damaged me.

"It can't be true," I was starting to turn hysterical as I shook my head. "Tell me that it's a lie, Hayden. Please tell me you're lying."

He didn't say a word back. I pushed him away from me, but he tried to calm me down, stopping me from going insane. My entire body trembled from the coldness as I regained my breaths.

"It's my fault," I cried out loud. "I should have called for help instead of dealing with it on my own. I should have made better choices. I killed our baby."

"No, Clara," Hayden said frustratingly. "It's not your fucking fault. You're a perfect mother to our kids. You didn't kill anyone. Do you understand?"

"No," I shook my head. "I could have done better than this. If I just took a moment to think, maybe the baby would still be here."

"It's not you. It had never been you."

Hayden stroke the back of my head, slow and gentle as reassurance. Even if he kept trying to comfort me, the pain kept growing harder. It was like a heavy rock over my chest, putting on the weight that could barely keep me breathing.

* * *

I spent two days in the hospital without seeing a single relative except for Hayden. I didn't want to speak with anyone else, and he knew about it, which was why he stopped anyone from coming to visit me.