Chapter 161
A million
stars glittered above Nick’s head, their brightness juxtaposed against the inky
black of the night sky. A cool breeze
ruffled his hair, leaving the smell of sea salt in its wake, and he thought to
himself, This is the life.
Thanksgiving night, lying out on the beach, belly full of turkey, head
void of worries. Such contentment didn’t
come his way often.
Especially
not when he was in the presence of his family.
At least,
not usually. But it was different
now. Ever since his parents’ divorce,
things had been more peaceful within the Carter clan, less bitter and resentful
and divided. There was still a divide,
of course – Nick couldn’t exactly remember the last time he’d spoken to his
mother, and as Leslie was still living with her, it had been awhile since he’d
seen his middle sister too. The last
time he’d checked, BJ was living with a boyfriend in California, keeping her
distance from the rest of the family.
But at least he’d grown closer to his father and the twins again.
Though now
practically adults themselves, Aaron and Angel still spent most of their time
in the Florida Keys, which Bob Carter had called home for years. Nick couldn’t blame them for wanting to stick
around; in his mind, there was no place better than the Keys. It hadn’t taken much for him to decide to
come down for Thanksgiving. With Jane
out of the picture, he could actually enjoy the holiday with his real family
again. Not his whole family, mind you…
but half a family was better than none at all.
Especially when it was the half that didn’t tend to erupt in fights
across the dinner table or pass out face down in the gravy bowl from too much
booze.
Thanksgiving
this year had actually been pleasant, and he was relieved. Even though she had family issues of her own,
he hadn’t wanted Laureen to witness the typical dysfunctional Carter holiday of
years past.
Glancing
over at her, he smiled. She looked
totally relaxed herself – asleep, in fact.
Stretched out in a chaise lounge beside him, she had her arms folded
behind her head, her ankles crossed, her eyes closed, and a hint of a smile
upon her lips. He couldn’t tell if she
was really sleeping or not, but she looked cute either way. He was glad he had brought her.
He had
never really intended to, until it became apparent that Laureen had no
intention of going back to Chicago for Thanksgiving, having been there just a
month ago, and that she also had no family in Tampa to celebrate it with. He had no one either, and so, it had just
sort of happened – he’d decided to go to the Keys, and he’d invited her to come
with him.
Aaron had
immediately welcomed her, while Angel had been skeptical at first – but that
was typical. Angel was always suspicious
of his girlfriends, and for good reason – he’d certainly dated enough rotten
ones. But Laureen’s genuineness had shone
right through, and once they’d warmed up to each other, she and Angel had
gotten along well.
They’d had
a good conversation over dinner, a normal, civil conversation for once, which
was nice. But after a full day of
family, Nick was secretly glad his brother and sister were inside the house,
leaving him and Laureen to some peace and privacy out on the beach. Not that anything had happened… but he
certainly wasn’t against the idea. He
was still testing the waters with Laureen, and like the sea in a storm, there
was no predicting where fate might take them.
He never would have seen himself with Laureen, but at this point, he was
open to anything.
The thought
made him smile again, and he sighed as he adjusted his weight on the chaise
lounge, gazing up at the sky, as vast and endless as the possibilities.
Their
silence and solitude was broken when a distant screen glass door slid open,
casting a small rectangle of light onto the shadowy sand, and Aaron’s voice
bellowed out to the beach, “Yo, Nick!!”
Groaning,
Nick sat up, twisting with difficulty to squint up at the house. “What?!” he shouted back, annoyed at the
disruption.
Aaron’s
voice drifted back to him. “Who’s got
your shitty-ass ‘Bad Boy’ song on their cell phone??”
“What??”
“If you want it to be good, girl, get
yourself a… bad boy!” Aaron screeched, in a painful, yet dead-on impression, his shrill
voice carrying in the breeze, probably killing manatees across the gulf coast.
Before Nick
could yell at him to shut up, Laureen sat bolt upright and exclaimed, “Oh! That’s mine!”
She
scrambled out of her chair and tore up to the house, leaving Nick to stare
after her, befuddled as to why anyone would choose that song as their
ringtone. It had to have been a
joke. He would tease her later.
He stayed
put in his lounge chair and waited for her to come back, making himself snicker
with the memories of how god-awfully bad that song had been and thinking
that, when he heard the screen door open again, he might call up to her and ask
her to bring down a couple of Coronas.
He would go get one himself, but the walk back through the sand and up
to the house was a long one, and the turkey had made him lazy. He was content to stay where he was and wait
for Laureen.
He expected
her to be gone a lot longer than she was, so it surprised him when he heard the
screen door bang open again a few minutes later. Craning his neck, he looked to see Laureen
flying down the steps of the deck (no Coronas in hand). She was moving much too fast than someone
should after a huge Thanksgiving dinner, he thought, but it didn’t occur to him
that anything could be wrong…
… Not until
she got close, and he saw the look on her face in the silvery moonlight.
“What’s
up?” he asked, frowning at her in bewilderment.
“Who was on the phone?”
Laureen was
out of breath. She leaned forward,
putting her hands on her knees. “That
was Dianna,” she gasped, “Claire’s friend.”
Nick’s
stomach dropped. “Is something wrong
with Claire?”
“She’s at
the hospital in Tampa,” said Laureen, her eyes wide. “She’s in labor.”
“Labor?!”
Nick exclaimed. “But… it’s way too soon,
isn’t it? She’s not supposed to have
those babies till next year!”
“I
know.” Even in the darkness, Laureen’s
face looked paler than usual. “Dianna
said that Jamie called her and said Claire’s in preterm labor, and they’re
trying to stop it, but if they can’t, the babies will have to be born, and
they’re too little… they’re too little to survive.”
Nick took a
moment to process this. It was almost
unbelievable to think that while he was down her enjoying himself in paradise,
Claire could be up in Tampa, her dreams crumbling around her. “Oh my god,” he murmured, raking a hand
through his hair. He sat there for a
moment, trying to collect his thoughts, and then he decided he couldn’t sit
there any longer. Looking back up, he
said, “I wanna go back.”
Laureen
watched him warily. “Now?”
“Yeah.” He stood up, shaking his head, and added, “I
just can’t stand to sit down here and worry about her. I wanna go up there… I know her family will be with her, but I
just feel like she’s alone, you know?
She shouldn’t be alone…”
He didn’t
know if he was even making sense; his thoughts were a jumbled mess. All that was clear to him was that he had
to get to Tampa, tonight.
A different
girl might have put up a fuss about being dragged out of Marathon in the middle
of the night, on Thanksgiving. But not
Laureen. “I’m with you,” was all she
said, and they started up to the house together, Nick cursing his leg as he
slipped and tripped in the sand, pushing himself to move faster.
They packed
and said goodbye to Bob and Aaron in record time, while Angel graciously
offered to drive them to the small Marathon airport. “I hope Claire and her babies will be okay,”
she offered awkwardly, when she hugged Nick goodbye outside the terminal.
“Thanks,”
Nick murmured, her words seeming to wash right over his head.
He wouldn’t
remember even doing it later, but somehow he managed to book two seats on a
charter flight to St. Petersburg, the closest he could get to Tampa, and an
hour later, he and Laureen were jetting up the Florida coastline on the little
puddle-jumper. Normally, Nick hated
small planes, terrified by the turbulence that accompanied them, but tonight,
he didn’t notice it as much. If
anything, all of the bouncing and shuddering seemed to fit his state of
mind. His thoughts were creating so much
turbulence inside his head that it sort of balanced out.
Still, he
was glad when they finally landed at the airport in St. Petersburg. He wasted no time in hailing a cab to drive
Laureen and him to Tampa. Though he
didn’t realize it, the taxi sped them along the same route Claire had taken to
the hospital just a few hours earlier.
***
It was
midnight. The witching hour,
thought Claire with an odd chill, staring up at the wall clock in her hospital
room. She’d been watching that clock
like a hawk for the past few hours, timing her contractions, once she’d
realized that’s what they were. They had
been coming every ten minutes… but in the last hour, they’d slowed, only one
every twenty. She was hoping and praying
that this meant the drugs were working; her labor was stopping. But she didn’t know.
The lack of
answers was driving her crazy. Why?
she kept asking herself. Why had this
happened? Why had she suddenly gone into
labor, when she wasn’t even through her second trimester yet? Had she done something wrong? She knew her pregnancy was a high-risk one,
both because she was carrying more than one baby and because of her heart
damage. But Dr. Valerio hadn’t said
anything about her heart, or given her any other explanation. The doctor had been in and out all night,
checking on her often, but until now, Claire had been so caught up in panic
that she hadn’t stopped to ask.
Like a true
sister, Amber had stayed at her bedside all night, comforting her, bringing her
ice chips, squeezing her hand through the contractions. Jamie had been there too, but ever since he’d
left to call Dianna, he had been in and out of the room, with only vague,
mumbled excuses as to where he was going.
Claire didn’t pry; she expected it was all just too much for him. She wasn’t surprised. She would have liked to leave too, to up and
bail on the body that had betrayed her once again, trying to force her twins
out of it too soon.
The thought
made her want to cry. She felt guilty,
guilty about everything. Guilty about
things she couldn’t control – like this – as well as guilty about things she
could – like hurting Nick. Combined with
a set of hormones that were in overdrive and the terror over realizing she was
in labor, the guilt had pushed her over the edge. She was an emotional wreck. She felt like a pane of glass that had
splintered into a million cracks, but not yet fallen into shards. One more strike, even the slightest tap, and
she would shatter to pieces.
Dr. Valerio
was the one with the power to shatter or mend, and when she came in at five
after the hour, Claire sucked in a deep breath, thinking that this had to be
the moment of truth. Either the doctor
was going to confirm her hopes that the slowing contractions were a good sign,
and that her labor was stopping… or she was going to find that it was too late. At least that’s what she feared.
“How are
your contractions?” asked Dr. Valerio, as she dropped onto the rolling stool
she used for examinations.
Used to the
drill by now, Claire eased her feet into the stirrups. “They’re getting better,” she answered
hopefully. “They’ve been coming about
twenty minutes apart, instead of ten.
And it seems like they’re not as strong as before.” That last part might have just been wishful
thinking; she wasn’t sure. The original
contractions hadn’t been all that strong to begin with.
Dr. Valerio
gave a short nod. “That’s a good
sign. Let’s see what’s going on down
here…”
Claire bit
down on her bottom lip and gripped Jamie’s hand tightly as Dr. Valerio examined
her, waiting in suspense to hear the verdict.
“Well…”
said the doctor slowly, “the bad news is that your cervix is dilated to five
centimeters, which is halfway to the point when women typically deliver. The good news is that you were at five
centimeters the last two times I checked, which means your labor hasn’t seemed
to progress any since. Hopefully, this
means that the magnesium sulfate is working.”
“Thank
god,” Claire exhaled softly.
“This is a
good sign,” Dr. Valerio nodded, but her expression was still guarded. “However, you’re not in the clear yet. Preterm labor is likely to recur, sometimes
as soon as forty-eight hours later.
We’re going to need to keep you in the hospital for close observation
for a few days at least… although given your medical history and the specifics
of your pregnancy, it will probably be longer.
I definitely want you to stay on complete bed rest here in the hospital
for the next couple of days… after that, we’ll see.”
“Okay,”
Claire nodded her agreement quickly. At
that moment, she didn’t care what she had to do, as long as her babies would be
safe.
“Is there
anything we can do?” spoke up Jamie, who had been very silent. “To make sure this doesn’t happen again, I
mean?”
Claire
glanced at him briefly, then at Dr. Valerio.
It was the same thing she had been wondering. What caused such a thing to happen?
Seeming
hesitant, Dr. Valerio shook her head.
“Unfortunately, in most cases we can’t determine what causes a woman to
go into labor this early, especially in a pregnancy with two seemingly healthy
babies. Having twins or multiples does
increase the risk of preterm labor, but to have it happen at twenty-three weeks
is still a rarity. It’s nothing you
should feel guilty over, Claire. You
didn’t do anything wrong, and there’s really nothing you could have done to
prevent this. You did you and your babies
a favor by getting to the hospital as quickly as you did. It’s easiest to stop labor in the early
stages; once it progresses to a certain point, there’s no turning back.”
Claire
nodded her understanding, her acknowledgement that she was not to blame. But really, she understood nothing. What was there to understand? The way Dr. Valerio made it sound, this had
been a fluke, a freak chance event that had occurred and could happen again at
any time. It scared her to death, the
realization that there was really no rhyme or reason to it. Why her?
Why now? There was no good
explanation, and that was frustrating.
But at
least, for now, it seemed the worst was over.
The labor was slowing… the babies were okay. And as this sunk in, her relief was overpowering. Once Dr. Valerio left, Jamie pulled her into
a ginger, yet emotional hug, and tears filled her eyes again. This time, they were good tears, tears of
relief, tears of emotional exhaustion from the ordeal she had just
endured. They could only hope that it
was really over.
“You should
go home, Amber,” Claire said after awhile, once they’d all had a chance to
breathe a sigh of relief. “It’s late,
and there’s really no reason to stay.
I’m alright… and Jamie’s here.”
Jamie
nodded. “I’m staying. You should go and get some sleep.”
“Okay,”
Amber agreed reluctantly, “but if you need anything, just call the house. You know Kyle or I won’t hesitate to come
back. And we’ll be back tomorrow for
sure.”
Claire
managed an appreciative smile. “Thanks,”
she said, opening her arms to hug her sister-in-law. She and Amber had always gotten along well,
but she had a feeling that after the scare and the heart-to-heart they’d shared
tonight, they would be even more like sisters from now on.
Amber left,
and with her went the conversation.
Jamie didn’t have much to say, which drove Claire nuts – she hated
silence when she was trying to take her mind off something. But after several attempts at making random
conversation, Claire realized her efforts were in vain – Jamie just didn’t feel
like talking. He was the type who
couldn’t pretend like everything was alright when it wasn’t, while Claire had
that charade perfected. Sometimes, it
was the only way she could cope in situations like this. She hated just lying here… waiting… worrying…
thinking too much.
And Jamie
almost made it worse when he was acting the way he was now, looking over at her
every few seconds and then quickly looking away when she tried to meet his
gaze. She could feel his eyes on her,
and it pissed her off. He treated her
like glass, like she was about to break at any second, and yet, he didn’t
hesitate to hurl her against the wall and let her shatter when the going got
rough. That was, in essence, what he had
done when he’d abandoned her in the middle of her abortion.
She turned
toward him, frowning as the memory of that horrible September day came back to
her, and all of a sudden, she wanted very much just to be alone. “Hey… maybe you should go call Dianna,” she
suggested dully. “I mean, now that we
know something. She’s probably wondering
about me.”
Jamie
nodded. “Good idea.” He started to pull out his cell phone, but
she held up her hand.
“You’re not
supposed to use that in here. Go out in
the hall and call her. I… I kind of feel
like sleeping anyway.”
He looked
at her strangely. “Really? I don’t think I can sleep at all.”
She just
shrugged. “I’m just really tired. My body’s exhausted… I’m emotionally drained…
I think I’ll feel better after some sleep.”
Jamie nodded. “Alright.
Well, try and sleep then. I’ll go
call Di, and I’ll be back to check on you in a few minutes.”
Don’t bother, she thought, barely acknowledging him
as she rolled slowly onto her side, curling herself into a ball beneath the
covers. There, she ran her hand gingerly
over her belly and waited until she heard him leave. When the door finally closed with a quiet
click, she sighed.
***
“You know,
I’ve lived in Tampa for, like, three-and-a-half years now, and I’ve never been
to this hospital,” Laureen mused as the taxi pulled up in front of the main
entrance of Tampa General.
Nick cast
her a dark look as he fished a wad of bills out of his wallet. “Consider yourself lucky.”
He paid the
cabbie, tipping extra for the speed in which he’d gotten them there, and
climbed out. Laureen followed closely
behind as he led the way into the hospital that was all-too-familiar to him.
They
stopped at the main desk, and Nick said, “We’re looking for a patient, Claire
Ryan.”
“Turner,”
hissed Laureen, and Nick reddened.
“Turner,”
he corrected, wondering how he could have forgotten. “Claire Turner.”
The
receptionist’s eyes narrowed at him.
“Are you sure about that?”
“Yes, I’m
sure,” Nick said firmly, staring evenly at her.
“But we’re not sure of her room number or anything. She might be on the maternity floor, but… I
don’t know. She was in labor though.”
“She’s
probably in labor and delivery then,” the receptionist said curtly. “Are you family?”
“Yes,”
answer Nick without hesitation. He put
his arm around Laureen, nudging her forward, and added, “This is her
sister. I’m her brother-in-law. We just came in from out of town.”
He prayed
Laureen wouldn’t giggle and give them away, but luckily, she didn’t. They were both too somber to laugh, even if
it was sort of funny. Nick and Claire
had posed as brother and sister before to see each other in the hospital, and
no one was ever the wiser. He figured
Laureen had a closer resemblance to her, though, with her auburn hair, so he’d
be the brother-in-law this time.
Sure
enough, the woman at the desk looked up Claire’s room number on her computer
and gave it to them without any trouble.
“She’s in room 214.”
“Thank
you,” said Nick and quickly led Laureen toward the bank of elevators. They caught one up to the second floor and
started down the hall of the maternity ward, checking room numbers as they
went.
They got as
far as room 208, and then they came to a small waiting area with a couch, some
chairs, a TV, and plenty of magazines.
Glancing into the room as they started to walk by, Nick saw that the TV
was off, and there was only one person inside.
Slumped in one of the chairs, he had his head down and a cell phone to
his ear, but Nick recognized the dark, curly hair. Stiffening, he stopped and stood there for a
few seconds, staring in at Jamie. When
Jamie took no notice of him or Laureen, Nick cleared his throat.
Finally,
Jamie looked up.
***