He was behind me, calling my name. I just needed to get away from him. If he’d lied to me about this, what else had he lied to me about? Why hadn’t he just told me what was going on? It seemed like something so simple, something that we could have worked through—talked through—but he kept it from me. And then the way that he told Val that he wasn’t the father. He technically wasn’t, but over the past couple of weeks, how many late night conversations had we had that he told me he was going to be this baby’s father? That he wanted him or her to call him Dad. He said my baby deserved a father, and if West wouldn’t step up to the plate, then he’d assume that role. To hear him say that none of this was about ‘the fucking baby’ was like a slap to the face… or a knife to my heart.
Feeling out of breath and nauseous, I started to slow. I hadn’t run very far but I could hear Finn shouting at me to stop. He was catching up. I was just turning to him to ask him to leave me alone when a sharp shooting pain went through my lower stomach. It hurt so bad that I doubled over in pain. It lasted two seconds and I started to stand back up straight, but another sharp pain hit me, worse than the first one. Oh god, my baby. Something was wrong. Feeling something wet I looked down at my jeans. I thought maybe my waters had broken but it was blood. There was bright red blood seeping down my jeans.
I screamed just as another spasm rocked my body. I could hear Finn shouting my name, and he caught me just before I hit the pavement.
“Emilyn!”
The pain was too much to bear. The last thing I registered was Finn shouting at passerby to call 911. Then everything went black.
Pacing and walking. It was all I could do at this point to not jump out of my skin. There was so much blood… blood that was still all over me. I hadn’t even washed my hands since setting foot in the emergency room. Emilyn had been back with the doctors for two hours so why in the hell hadn’t anyone been out to talk to me? Harper was sitting next to Kyler, gripping his hand like a lifeline while he rubbed her back and whispered in her ear. Richard and Tessa were in the next set of chairs, staring blankly ahead. Tears streamed down Tessa’s face. We were all here for Em. Looking at the four of them, I couldn’t help but think that at least they had each other. Richard and Tessa had each other to lean on and Ky would always be there for Harper. While I knew they would all be there for me, it was Em that I wanted. What would I do without her? I’d be a fucking shell of a man if something happened to her. Jesus Christ there was just so much blood.
Scrubbing my hands down my face I looked up at the sound of the double doors opening. Dr. Monroe came out and walked towards us. He had a white mask hanging from around his neck as if he’d been in surgery. His face was blank and I couldn’t read a single emotion. Harper and Ky came and stood to my left, Richard and Tessa came and stood at my right. Dr. Monroe stopped in front of us and let out a long breath.
“How is she?” Richard asked, his voice cracking.
“She lost a lot of blood, so we had to give her a transfusion.”
“Is she going to be okay?” Harper asked anxiously.
“She’s suffered a trauma, but she should recover from this just fine.”
I continued to watch him, reading his face with every word he said. He proceeded to tell us what he’d had to do to stop her bleeding, but I could tell he still hadn’t given us the news that we were all too scared to ask. I didn’t want her parents to have to ask the question, so I did it for them.
“Dr. Monroe, what about the baby?”
He cleared his throat. “Emilyn had what is called a placental abruption. That means that the placenta was separated from her uterine wall, causing her to lose the amount of blood that she did.” He looked down and then back up to meet my eyes. “When something like that happens, there is nothing that we can do. Without the placenta being attached, the baby has no way to survive without the blood source.”
“What are you saying?” I knew, but I wanted him to say it.
“She lost the baby Finley.”
Tessa gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. Richard leaned in and held his wife as she wept in his arms. Grief was written all over his face. Harper stood straight, tears glistening in her eyes but her stance said she was angry. Kyler was motionless, unsure what to do. I didn’t know how to feel.
“Does she know?” I asked.
“No. She was given a general anesthetic so we could operate and remove any remaining tissue from the pregnancy and search her uterus for additional tears.”
“Oh god. I think I’m going to be sick.” Harper suddenly said.
Kyler led her to a waste basket in the corner of the waiting room.
“The good news is we were able to clear everything out. She will make a full recovery, and she shouldn’t have any problem getting pregnant again.” Dr Monroe sounded hopeful but I was barely registering his words.
Emilyn had lost the baby. We’d just been shopping to fill the nursery with baby furniture. All she wanted was to be a mother, and now she’d lost the one thing that gave her joy and helped her through this mess that Weston had created. And she didn’t even fucking know.
“I know this might no help but sometimes knowing can help the grieving process. The baby… would you like to know the sex?”
“Yes.” Tessa sniffled and answered anxiously. “I want to know.”
Em didn’t want to know. She said that it was one of the many great surprises in life. Would it matter now? Maybe Dr. Monroe was right. He could tell us, and if she wanted to know, I’d tell her.
“It was a boy.”
Tessa broke down again, and this time Richard let out a strangled sob. A boy? Em felt so certain it was a girl. She would talk about the baby and refer to it as a girl all the time. This was a shock. Now that I knew, I wasn’t so sure I wanted to anymore. I ran my hands through my hair, yanking on the ends. I felt numb. Any pain was good at this point. I needed to feel something.
“Can we see her?” I asked.
“Of course. She’s resting right now but she should wake up soon. I can only allow two of you at a time since she’s in the ICU. I’ll be around the hospital for the rest of the evening if you have any questions, or if Emilyn needs anything.” Dr. Monroe nodded his head and started to walk away.
“Dr. Monroe?” I stopped him, and he turned to face me. I guided him out of hearing range of everyone else.
“Is there any explanation for why this happened?” I paused. “Like too much stress?”
“Honestly Finley, it could have been a number of things. But the likelihood that it was stress that caused this is slim. It was just something that wasn’t meant to be. That’ll be hard for her accept I know. Just make sure she gets plenty of rest, okay?” He put his hand on my shoulder, before turning to walk back through the double doors.
I decided to let everyone else see her before I did. I needed a few moments to collect myself. I didn’t know if she would be awake when I went in the room and part of me was hoping that she would wake before it was my turn, just so someone else could break the news to her. That was such a pussy thing to think. I should be the one to tell her. She was mine and I loved her. Why had I let her leave the sandwich shop? Why had I even let Val talk to Em? Who the fuck just shows up after I made it abundantly clear I didn’t want to be with them? She was certifiably crazy. Val had followed me out of the shop when I’d chased after my Tiny Girl. She caught up to me when I was on the ground holding a bleeding out Em. She panicked and said she should have never come. I’m not sure if it was the look on my face or the fact that I was screaming at her to leave me the fuck alone, but she turned away with tears in her eyes and left. I’d never spoken to a woman that way, but give me a break, I’d been holding the love of my life in my arms thinking she was dying.