Chapter 16
Presley
"You call me tomorrow," my mother says when she hugs me goodbye. “And we can talk about things." She puts her hands on my arms, smiling at me.
I look over at Clarabella, who literally rolls her lips. “Mom, there is nothing to talk about. I'm not getting married." It's the same thing I've been telling her for the past three freaking hours. The minute I told her that I wasn't getting married, she threw her hands in the air and pretended to faint on the chair. But then she shot right back up and started pacing back and forth, having a conversation with herself. My sisters and I tried to interrupt her, but all we heard was, "Why me? Why can't it just be easy for one?" If we tried to talk to her, she would glare at us.
"Presley, honey." She tries to use her soft voice, but I can tell she's one second away from shrieking. “Think of the baby." Her eyes roam down to my stomach.
I laugh. “I am thinking of the baby." I put my hand to my stomach. “She or he will be raised by two parents who love them. And then they have you."
"But," she says, and she quickly stops talking.
"Mom," Clarabella says. “Why don't we just take that she is giving you a grandchild as a win?” I hold up one hand to Clarabella, telling my mother to listen to her. “I mean, just last month she was a lone wolf with a house full of cats."
I roll my eyes. “I wasn't with a house full of cats," I defend, annoyed. “It was a couple." I stop talking when I feel the phone vibrate in my pocket, but if I take it out, my mother is going to want to know if it's Bennett, and it probably is. Then she is going to want him to come over, and well, today has been crazy enough as it is. "Now, I'll be a lone wolf with a cub."
"Why can't one of you just…" My mother throws up her hands, and there is the woman who we all know and love. “Do things the easy way?"
"She's having a child out of wedlock." Shelby sticks her two cents into the conversation when she comes out of the front door. “If that doesn't scream easy, I don't know what does."
I can't help but laugh at that. If only they knew that he was the only man I've ever slept with. “I shall walk around Main Street with an A on my chest," I deadpan over my shoulder, walking down the front steps. My mother gasps at even the thought.
"Idiot,” Clarabella says. “The A stands for adultery." She laughs. “We can cross that off your résumé."
"It's still early,” Shelby replies, kissing my mother and following us down the steps.
"Which one of you is driving the pregnant lady home?" I ask my sisters.
"I will,” Clarabella volunteers. “It's on my way to pick up Luke."
"Perfect," I say, walking over to Clarabella's car. She unlocks the door, and I get in, grabbing my phone right away. Looking down, I see that I have a couple of missed calls from Bennett and a couple of messages. I smile when I see that he has a surprise for me, and when Clarabella gets in the car, I almost tell her to drop me off at Bennett's house.
"You okay?" Clarabella asks when she pulls away from my mother's house.
"I mean, no one died." I try to make a joke out of it. “And I didn't throw up."
"At one point"—Clarabella laughs—“I thought Mom's head was going to explode."
"That would have been too easy for anyone." I look out the window. “How long do you think it's going to take her before she corners Bennett and tells him to put a ring on it?"
Clarabella laughs. “Two days max." I can't help but think she's right. “And she's going to use the you want to buy the cow if you are going to drink the milk."
I can't help but throw my head back and laugh. “Oh, she's definitely going to use that." I stop talking when a sharp pain runs through my stomach, and I yell out.
"What the fuck?" Clarabella asks, and I look over at her.
"I just had," I start to say when another pain hits my stomach. "Sharp pain," I say, panting now.
"Maybe you have to poop," she says when she pulls into my driveway. I get out of the car and rush up the stairs when I feel it.
"No," I say, shaking my head. “No.” I throw everything on the floor and head straight into the bathroom. Not even bothering to close the door, I look down and see the blood in my underwear. “Oh my God," I say, sitting down. “Don't panic," I tell myself, looking up and seeing Clarabella standing there now. Her face is white like a ghost. “Spotting is normal." I don't know if I'm telling her or convincing myself. I wipe myself, and it's not spotting. It's bright red blood. “That is not spotting."
My whole body just shuts down, and I feel this whole sense of dread come over me. “We should go to the hospital." All I can do is look up at Clarabella, not sure what to say or do. "Come on," she urges softly, picking me up off the toilet bowl and pulling up my panties my skirt falls down over my legs. “Let's get going." She puts her arm in mine as she walks me down the hallway, only stopping to pick up my purse and phone at the front door.
I don't even know how I make it to the car. Everything inside me stops. My body feels like it’s on the outside looking in. She gets in the car, and I look over at her. “Don't tell anyone," I say softly as she nods her head, reversing out of my driveway. My heart rises to my throat.
I close my eyes, not sure I can stand to look at her as she drives. My hand rests on my stomach the whole time as I hold the baby in the palms of my hands. This isn't happening is the only thing I can repeat over and over to myself. When the car comes to a stop, I open my eyes and see that we are in the parking lot of the emergency room at the hospital. "I've got your purse,” Clarabella says, and all I can do is nod at her. The lump in my throat is so big, if I say a word, all that is going to come out is a sob.
The doors slide open as soon as we get close to them, walking into the white room. There are brown chairs everywhere, and most are empty. "Hi," Clarabella greets when she stops, and I look at her talking to a lady sitting behind a glass partition. “My sister is eleven weeks pregnant, and she got a sharp pain in her stomach, and now she is bleeding."
The lady behind the glass looks at her and then at me. “I need her insurance papers, please." I move my eyes from her. She asks questions, and Clarabella answers them all. "Someone will call you shortly."
"But I'm bleeding," I say, my voice trembling, looking at her, and she gives me a sad look.
"I'll see what I can do." She gets up, and I look over at Clarabella, who tries not to show me that she's worried, but you can see she has this fear in her eyes.
"It's going to be fine," she comforts, smiling and trying to calm me down. I turn to walk to the brown chair, but we don't have time to sit down before my name is called.
I feel like I'm in a trance, my feet are moving because they need to. We walk through another brown door, and this time, there is a nurse there waiting. “Presley Baker?" I don't know if she is asking or telling, and the only thing I can do is nod my head. "Right this way." She turns, and I follow her, not realizing the whole time that I'm holding my stomach.
"The doctor will be right in," she states when she puts us in a room. “Just sit on the table." She points at the same table I was in this afternoon. But it's different. Everything about this is different. So fucking different.
"Do you want me to call Bennett?" Clarabella asks, and my head snaps up as I look at her.
"No," I say. My heart beats so fast in my chest as I sit on the table. The back of my neck burns with nerves. When the door opens, a man walks in wearing a white coat.
"Presley Baker." He says my name, looking down at the white paper in front of him.
"Yes," I say, my voice trembling. “That's me."
"Okay, it says here you are eleven weeks and started bleeding," he says, reading whatever is on the paper.
"Yes," I confirm, and Clarabella comes over to stand beside me. I don't even feel the tears running down my face until they drop on my hands that are holding my stomach.
"And you are eleven weeks?” he asks, and I just nod my head. "There is not much we can do." He looks at me. “If you are miscarrying the baby, there is nothing we can do to stop it."
Miscarriage. The word makes me close my eyes. "How?" Clarabella asks for me. “She was fine this morning." It's almost as if she can read my mind, and she is my voice. Right now, all I want to do is close my eyes and wake up from this nightmare.
The doctor says something, but instead, I just close my eyes. All I can do is picture Bennett in my head holding the picture of the baby in his hand, wearing the biggest smile I've ever seen. He's going to hate me. The thought runs straight to my head. He's going to hate me for not taking care of the baby. If anything happens to the baby, it's my fault. I raise my hand to wipe away the tears. “I had an ultrasound this afternoon." I interrupt whatever it is they are saying. “And it was perfect."
"We can check for you now again," the doctor says. “At least we can see if your baby still has a heartbeat." I look over at Clarabella, who puts her hand to her mouth at the same time that the phone rings from my purse.
"Turn it off," I tell her, and her eyes fly to mine. The thought of facing him is too much for me to bear right now. Today when he looked at the picture of our baby, I had never seen him smile as big as he did, and now it might be over. "Turn it off."