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“Do you think this is because I was homeless for the first three months? That all the stress and sleeping in the car made our baby sick?”
“Oh no, honey, it’s not your fault. Please, don’t ever blame yourself for this.”
“But it’s my body!” she objected. “If I was doing a better job then everything would be alright, and the doctor wouldn’t be sitting here talking about bedrest and special diets!”
She started crying in earnest and I felt my heart break for her. “Nicole, you can’t think that this is your fault. Sometimes these things happen, and that is why doctors exist. Complications from childbirth have existed as long as people have been being born and you won’t be the first, nor will you be the last.”
She nodded, but the sobs were coming in full force now. I just held her as best I could, handing her water and her tissues as needed. It was a heartbreaking sound, one full of sorrow and fear and shock. It made my own eyes water, but I refused to cry just yet. I needed to be strong for her.
I couldn’t say how long it went on, all I knew is that I didn’t let go until she was ready, sniffling that she needed to use the bathroom. Once she was gone, I whipped out my cellphone and started making arrangements.
My fingers flew as I texted, trying to get as much out of the way as I could while she was occupied, and once she was back, I coolly slid it back in my pocket.
“So, you ready to get out of this depressing place?” I asked, trying to smile at her like nothing was wrong.
She nodded dully, her almond eyes dark with all the negative emotions swirling through her. “You don’t have to stay, you know. I can take care of myself.”
“I’m sure you can,” I said, standing and offering her a hand back to the bed. “But you don’t have to. I’m here, and I’m going to take care of you as long as you need. That’s a promise.”
Chapter Thirty-Two
~James~
I didn’t say much the entirety of the ride home, just listening to the sound of Nicole breathing slowly as she drifted in and out of consciousness. I didn’t want to disturb her, but I did have something that I needed to talk to her about.
Man, we had really had a day, hadn’t we? I was so relieved when I found her in the hospital and she wasn’t dying or hadn’t been hit by the car. Sure, the blow that our child could be in danger wasn’t great, but the doctor had a plan and I was confident in their abilities.
I couldn’t afford to be scared, so I had to be brave for Nicole. Even if I was worried about our baby, and all the complications that arose from this, I needed to play it cool.
And I had been doing a pretty damn good job of that until I was picking up her things only to have some pieces of neon colored paper tumble out of her purse.
Normally I respected everyone’s privacy, and I thought going through people’s things was generally pretty wrong. But my curiosity got the best of me, and before I knew it, I was bending down to grab one of the scraps.
I had uncrumpled it carefully, just in case it was something important to Nicole that had accidentally been bunched up in the EMTs rush to get her onto the ambulance. But as soon as the words were revealed, I knew this was definitely not Nicole’s.
Sure, her picture was on it, but the accusations written in bold, cartoonish lettering let me know exactly who this belonged to. Like a video played on repeat, the moment where Nicole told me all about Jason and his insane ex flashed through my mind, every single detail sharp and intense. I could see the hurt playing across Nicole’s face, hear the way her voice grew quiet and raspy, as if her throat was constricting to hold back tears. Sad tears hanging back at the corner of her eyes, where she refused to release them from.
Feeling like my skin just shot up several degrees, I had crumpled that cursed piece of paper right back up. But that hadn’t seemed like enough, so I had torn it into a dozen or so little scraps and threw them in the garbage bin.
Tipping over her purse, I took out all of the flyers I could find and destroyed them in the same manner. The last thing I needed was for the first thing Nicole to see when she got home was one of these hateful papers.
Was this what had made her faint? The very thought made me livid. Nicole had done absolutely nothing to these people and yet they continually harassed her as if she was their mortal enemy.
