At that point, Laura was standing in the doorway of her room with a box on her hip. The look on her face could only be described as confused. Laura didn’t know what to do.
“And I’m supposed to just give her up?” Kate said, advancing on Marie. “Let you walk out of here with my child?” Kate turned toward Laura, who wouldn’t look at either of them.
“Kate, really,” Marie said. “She’ll be gone in a year and a half. If you truly love her, let her have a real family for a change.”
Kate spun at her and hissed, not even recognizing her own voice. “She had a real family until you took it from her.”
“Richard and I are her family.” A quiet settled over them as soon as Marie said it.
“Is that what you want, Laura?”
Laura couldn’t answer. Kate, who didn’t think anything could undo her as much as the divorce, found her heart hurting so much she couldn’t speak. Never in her life had Kate felt more alone or more isolated. Her daughter didn’t say a word, and Kate didn’t know what was holding her back.
Laura retreated to her bedroom and left her future stepmother to deliver the final blows. Marie stared at her. “I’ve been more of a mother to her than you will ever be, Kate. Let her go.”
Kate was about to respond, but out of nowhere a twisting pain, a tore through her stomach and lower back making Kate double over. “Oh, God.”
“Please, Kate,” Marie sniffed. “Must you be so melodramatic?”
Kate couldn’t respond and using the wall behind her as a support, she sank to the floor. There was another pain and then warm wetness between her legs. She knew what was happening now, knew how one story was going to end. She was losing the baby. “Oh no,” she whispered.
Unaware that Kate was miscarrying, Marie lashed out at her again. “Honestly, you’re a disgrace.”
Laura came out of her room and saw her mother on the floor and when Kate locked eyes with her daughter, awareness filled Laura’s eyes. She knew something was wrong. Her gaze drifted along her mother’s body and saw the dark stain growing between her legs. “Call an ambulance,” she said quietly.
“She’s having a breakdown, she’ll deal.”
“No,” Laura said, pushing past her and dropping to the floor beside her mother, “I think she’s losing her baby. Call an ambulance!”
“Baby? She’s pregnant? How?”
Kate was in such pain she couldn’t think, but she was aware of Laura kneeling next to her.
“Marie! Call a freaking ambulance!” Laura screamed. Marie rolled her eyes and flipped open her cell. Kate heard her whiney voice on the line.
Another pain hit and her eyes started to tear. Laura grabbed her hand. “On my nightstand is a small notebook. My doctor’s number is in there, please call her.”
“Okay,” Laura nodded and touched her mother’s arm as another pain hit. “Anyone else I should call?”
Kate shook her head. “The doctor will call David.”
As Laura stood to make the call, Kate caught sight of Marie, who was nailing her with a look that could only be described as pure hate. Laura hadn’t told them about her pregnancy. She’d kept the secret. And while Kate suddenly had hope that her relationship with her daughter could be saved after all the lies, she worried what Richard might do now that Laura had betrayed him.
*
The ambulance ride seemed to take forever, even though it didn’t. Laura had the doctor on the phone when the paramedics arrived and she told them to bring her mother to the hospital in the city. The driver balked a little, but when Laura proceeded to rip off his head, he did exactly what he was asked to do. He made the twenty-five minute trip in about fifteen.
Marie left as soon as she saw that Laura wasn’t going to leave her mother. She didn’t see any reason to hang around, so, Laura rode in the ambulance and now was waiting outside the room on the obstetrical floor where her mother was being examined.
Marie’s reaction made Laura sick. Her mother was lying on the floor bleeding and all Marie could do was think about herself. While she was waiting for the ambulance, Laura heard Marie on the phone with her Dad. Granted, it was only one side of the conversation, but it sounded like they were talking about Mom being pregnant and that they weren’t aware.
And they weren’t aware—because Laura didn’t say anything. She didn’t know what made her keep her mother’s secret, but she had, and Dad would be pissed. He never really got mad at her, but somehow Laura knew this would time it would be different.
Glancing down the hallway, she saw the main nurses’ station and beyond that she thought she saw one of the nurses from the ER. She was talking with a man who then turned and looked in Laura’s direction. He was tall, dressed in black pants and a maroon shirt. Her cell phone buzzed and Laura looked down at the screen. It was her dad. He’d been trying to contact her for an hour. Instead of answering she went back to the game she’d been playing. It was mindless and the only thing she could focus on.
There was so much blood. It seemed like gallons of it, but the doctor told her that Mom was fine now and other than her blood pressure being a little low, she would recover. Still, it was scary. Seeing Mom in so much pain… and what if it was her fault? Hers and Marie’s? Mom had gotten so upset… Laura couldn’t stand to think that she may have caused her mother to lose the baby. She drew a deep breath and wiped at her eyes. God, her life sucked.
“Laura?”
The voice was deep and she assumed it was another doctor, but when she looked up there stood David Burke. The Flyers’ left wing was towering over her… and Laura made the connection: David. Her mother’s boyfriend was David Burke!
“Holy shit,” was all that came out of her mouth.
“Hi,” he said. “I’m David.”
It took Laura a moment to recover and scramble to her feet. “Hi,” Laura took his outstretched hand and tried to make some sense of her mother’s life. It appeared Laura wasn’t the only one with a secret, hockey-playing boyfriend.
“How’s she doing?” He stared at the closed door and his face looked… well, he looked miserable, helpless almost.
“I don’t know. The doctor hasn’t been out.” Laura started to choke up.
Everything had changed between her and her mother in a matter of days. It was the weirdest feeling, but Laura knew she’d done the right thing when she didn’t tell her dad about Mom’s baby. She’d done the right thing helping her tonight.
Over the years, Marie had been a presence. Laura didn’t understand the relationship between her father and his girlfriend until she was in her teens, but by then her Dad had made it clear her mom didn’t want her. So while Marie was a little weird, she made a fuss over Laura, and it helped take away the sting of being rejected by her mother. But she hated that she knew about Marie. She hated that her dad had put her in that position.
Recently, though, Laura started thinking about her mom, searching her memory for something that would confirm the things her father had said over the years. There was nothing. The only things that came to mind were good—old memories from when she was a little girl, of a woman who had never been anything but loving and sweet. Her father was the one who was hard.
David reached out and put his hand on her arm, which broke Laura’s trance. Just then Dr. Emmanuel came out of Mom’s room. “David, good, you’re here. We should talk. Laura, you can see your mom.”
Laura nodded and watched for a minute as the doctor led David down the hall to a small lounge. Once they disappeared from view, Laura steeled herself, turned toward the door and knocked.
*
Her body failed her.
That was the only explanation. The baby died. It was nothing she did, and there was nothing anyone could have done to stop it. She sat in the bed with an IV in one arm, a blood pressure cuff on the other, and a box of tissues in her lap. She sniffed and dabbed her eyes, trying to hold on to her composure until she was home.
Dr. Emmanuel wanted to keep her overnight, but Kate didn’t think it was necessary. She’d rather just go home and mourn her baby alone. That’s how she was going to end up anyway—alone.