Chapter 158

Rachel POV

"How is my brother?" I asked again, feeling like a crazed parrot as I clutched my mother to me yet every muscle in my body had gone tense in her arms.

Ethan was going to have to be okay, too. I couldn't gain my mother only to lose my brother. Ethan was too young, too vital, and he had too much life left to live.

Mama sat at my side on the edge of the bed tangling her fingers with mine while being careful not to pull on my IV lines or interfere with her own. We were a pair of invalids it seemed.

I couldn't quite comprehend the situation we were in. Everything felt too surreal. Nothing was going the way I had ever imagined it in my head though I had certainly dreamed of my mother being returned to me more than once.

"Ethan is still unresponsive," Tyler answered, taking a seat beside me and reaching for my other hand, "He's not getting worse, but he isn't improving at all either. Your mother has agreed to donate blood. The hospital is trying to flush the medication from her system first. It'll be a few days before she's able to donate."

Mama nodded, wiped at the tears streaming down her face, "Mhm. Mhm."

She was agreeing in her way, but was her way going to be the only way she could communicate from here forward? I wouldn't hear her do more than rasp a word in halting, broken fragments?

"Will you be able to speak soon? Mama?" I asked.

Shrugging, Mama muttered, "M-m-maybe. Don't know."

I could understand her better already. My heart started to slow down in my chest, the machines going quiet as I got myself under control.

We were all going to be okay. I knew. I had to believe we would come out okay on the other side of this situation.

"Will you be able to get rid of all the drugs they gave you, Mama? Are you going to be better? I don't know if they told you, but they told us you were kept drugged. Poisoned! They said the drugs were poison," I gasped, trying to slow myself down again, uncertain why I'd started to get worked up when all we'd been doing was talking.

Tyler and Mama both rubbed my hands and I felt myself becoming calmer.

Focusing on my family, I let myself relax back into the hated hospital bed and tried to focus on how I was in the best place for my baby. The Medical Center would take care of my girl. We would both be fine and so would Mama and Ethan.

My whole family was together; I couldn't ask for anything more.

Sleep overtook me again without my permission. I woke to the sound of my cell phone ringtone going off and blinked owlishly around the room.

Tyler was reading on a tablet while my mother had fallen asleep slumped over her side of my hospital bed.

Looking for my phone, I asked, "Who is it? Who's calling me?"

"I don't know," Tyler admitted, getting up from his seat to retrieve the phone from my bag, "It says 'Camelot' so I think your agent? Or producer? Who do you have listed as the company representative?"

Reaching out, I took the phone from him and answered on speaker, "This is Rachel. Hello?"

Howard came across the line, "Rachel! I was calling to let you know your situation has been under discussion with the team here. We know you're in extraordinary circumstances and we recognize talent when we hear it. We would like to ask if you're interested in working with Camelot Records from here forward?"

I felt confused. I didn't recall ever expressing a desire to leave the company.

"I thought I was already working with Camelot from here forward?" I admitted.

"Well, yes, of course, but you're going to have a new baby and there's been talk about the loss of your father. Are you going to want to devote time to your career right now with so much calling on your personal time already? We understand your work isn't more important than your family obligations, dear," Howard said.

His voice was fatherly in a way neither of my fathers had ever been. I wondered if this was the sound of Richard Campbell's voice when he spoke to Lindy because it definitely hadn't been the way Patrick Flores had spoken to Ethan.

As far as I knew, both my fathers were terrible at the job.

"You're right," I agreed, "I don't want to make my music more important than my mate or my baby or my mother or brother, but---"

"Your mother?" Howard interrupted, "I thought she was---deceased."

The hesitation in Howard's voice made me smile. I couldn't help imagining the man stumbling over the right way to say he thought my mother was dead. How was he supposed to say it? I thought he did well under the circumstances.

"I thought she was, too," I said, "Luckily, I found out my fathers were hiding her. She's been through a lot, but she's here with me now and she's getting better. The staff here at Our Blessed Goddess are taking great care of all of us, actually."

"Your brother is there, I know, but what are you doing there?" Howard asked, "Emotional support, I hope?"

"Preeclampsia," I admitted, "My body is not handling all this stress well, but Baby Wright and I are doing just fine. I have every intention of doing studio work while raising my daughter. If that's an option? I don't know if I could tour. I don't know if I could stand to leave her and I wouldn't want to take her with me when she was so young."

Alpha young were stronger than standard young, but they were still only babies. I didn't want to strain my daughter's health physically or emotionally. She was going to have a stable upbringing. I'd make sure of it.

"Rachel! You have got to take care of yourself. The work will wait. We're willing to work with you on a studio basis. Tyler spoke to Derek about a home setup for you. I was authorized to offer you a deal on that front if you're interested?" Howard said, letting his voice trail off as if he weren't sure what my response would be.

Smiling so hard my cheeks ached, I squeezed Tyler's hand with my own, "Thank you for thinking of me! I can honestly say that would be perfect. I could do most of the work on my own. I think I could arrange to come in to work with a sound mixer and a full production team maybe one day a week? Or a few hours on two days a week?"

"No, no, no! We'll send a technical team to you when you're ready to record. Tyler has sent us a schematic which is right on par with any studio space we can offer you. He's familiar with the industry from Moonrise Entertainment of course, but even I was impressed with his attention to detail," Howard admitted.

I smiled at Tyler because I couldn't help myself. He really was too much. Making all my dreams come true even when I wasn't able to do more than lay in a bed as useless as a knot on a log.

"Thank you, Tyler," I murmured, giving him a quick kiss before telling Howard, "I'll work it out with you through email? Or can you send over a sample contract? I'm sorry I'm not very forward right now, but I'm having trouble focusing. My blasted body doesn't seem to appreciate pregnancy as much as it should."

I tried to make it sound funny rather than terrifying. I didn't want Howard to think I was a completely neurotic mess.

Even if I was.

"I'll send it to your home and email you a copy, fair enough?" Howard offered.

"That's perfect! Thank you so much, Howard," I said and we exchanged goodbyes before disconnecting the call.

"I'm going to get to keep my contract!" I whooped, leaning over the railing to wrap my arms around Tyler.

I clung to him for a moment as I let myself enjoy feeling his strong, hard body against my own. If I didn't feel so swollen and miserable, I'd have appreciated the man's sex appeal. I was more than a little lucky in my Alpha mate.

"Thank you, Tyler. You know you're going to have to show me these studio plans you have for the house?" I teased.

Tyler hugged me carefully before pushing me away by my shoulders. He grinned at me as he raised a brow.

"Baby Wright?" he asked.

My face flushed as I realized how I'd referred to our daughter. I hadn't really been thinking.

"I'm certainly not giving her Patrick's surname and she might be a Campbell, but she's going to grow up a Wright," I vowed.

Tyler hugged me close again and I wondered at his sudden surge of emotions over something as simple as an agreement on the baby's family name.