Chapter 68 : Waiting Game
Well, that was a stupid thing to do, Jeremy thinks a few minutes later as he calms down. Sighing over his stupidity, he gets up and goes to pick up his smashed phone. He honestly doesn’t know what came over him. Jeremy had never been violent a day in his life and now was not the time to start. He picks up his worthless phone, prying the SIM card out as he walks into his office. He knows he has an old phone in here somewhere. Sure enough, in the bottom drawer of his desk is an older model. Before he gets a chance to put the card in, he hears a loud banging on his door. Jesus, they are getting slack downstairs he thinks.
“Jeremy, if you are in there, open up. It’s Melissa, she needs you.” He hears Markus’s frantic yell through the closed door, just as the downstairs communication system starts beeping to let him know he has company. Ignoring that, he runs straight to the door and throws it open.
Markus is standing there out of breath with a panicked look on his face. “Melissa, she’s gone to the hospital. They baby.” He is shaking his head. “Something is not right Jeremy. Come on, we got to go. I’ll drive.”
By the time he gets that out, Jeremy is already standing in front of the elevator hitting the down button. He sticks the phone and card in his pocket. As they enter the elevator, he turns to Markus. “What’s going on? Was she at your house? Why didn’t you answer my calls?”
By now, they are in the lobby downstairs and running out to Markus’s car which he double-parked in front of the building. Buckling up and then stepping on the gas, Markus finally speaks. “Melissa came to our place upset. She told us everything, but we’ll be back to that later.” He pauses long enough to give Jeremy a not-so-friendly look. “ She seemed okay. She was exhausted but that was it. She went to bed, then not even a half an hour later she came out of the room. And fuck, Jeremy, she was so pale and weak. I had to hold her up. And then we saw the blood.”
“Blood? Is she okay? What about the baby?” Jeremy is shouting.
“We don’t know. We called the ambulance. Mel is gone with her. I tried calling you Jeremy but you didn’t answer. I sent you a text too.” Markus looks over at this friend. “What the fuck Jeremy? Your ex showing up like that? Pregnant with your kid!”
“Pregnant, yes. My kid, we’ll have to wait and see on that.” Jeremy replies. He takes the phone out of his pocket and the card. His hands are shaking that much that he is not able to make any headway, so he puts both back into his pocket. They are pulling up to the emergency doors of the hospital.
“You go on in. I’ll park the car.” Markus says as Jeremy is already bolting for the door.
Once inside he sees the arrows for prenatal care and heads in that direction. When he arrives he sees an unmanned nurse’s station. Frantic he continues down the corridor looking into rooms. He sees Mel in a waiting room, knees tucked up under her chin and her eyes closed.
“Mel.” Her head flies up as Jeremy approaches.
“They’ve taken her in to examine her. Said they had to do some tests, that it would take time to know what the problem was.” She speaks almost robotically, then puts her head back on her knees and stares blankly ahead.
Jeremy is kind of taken aback by her behavior. He looks again at the nurse’s station by there is still no one there. He sits in a chair by Mel, puts his head back against the wall, and starts to pray. After an indefinite amount of time, Markus comes in. He sits on the other side of Mel and pulls her tight against him before looking at Jeremy.
“Any news?” Markus asks.
“Just what Mel told me. They need to examine her. Run some tests. It could take a while.” Jeremy says, almost as robotic as Mel had just a short time before. “I got to move.” He says and with that, is out the door.
After Jeremy leaves, Markus takes Mel by the chin and turns her head to look at him. “Hey, are you okay?” He asks gently, knowing that hospitals are probably not her favorite place to be.
“It’s just hospitals. So many bad memories.” She shivers against him.
“I know sweetheart. You don’t have to be here you know. I’ll stay with Jeremy. And I’m sure Melissa would understand.” Markus doesn’t like seeing her like this.
“No, I’ve got to be here for her. I can’t imagine what she must be going through. What if she loses her baby, Markus?” Then she gasps and bolts upright. “Jeremy! She is probably not going to want to see him. What did he say?”
“Not too much. Just that yes this ex showed up pregnant, claiming that he is the father but Jeremy doesn’t seem to be sure of that. You do know she cheated on him, right? So, who knows.” Markus shrugs. He gathers Mel back into his arms and she snuggles close.
Meanwhile, Jeremy is prowling the corridor when he sees a nurse coming out of two closed doors, heading to the nurse’s station. He rushes over. “Melissa Moore, is there any news?”
The nurse looks up at him casually, “And you are?” She asks.
Calm, Jeremy, stay calm to tells himself, “Jeremy Janes. I’m her finance. I wasn’t with her when she came in, so I don’t know what’s going on.” The nurse is typing on the computer, eyebrows pulled down. That doesn’t sit well with Jeremy. “Is she okay? I just need to know she is okay. And the baby. What about our baby?” The nurse continues to look at the monitor, lips purses. Just when he is about to lose it, she stands.
“Let me go see what I can find out. Why don’t you go take a seat in the waiting room? I believe that is where her friend is.” She actually gives him a little smile before she leaves.
Jeremy goes back to the waiting room. Markus and Mel both look up, questions in their eyes. “There’s a nurse gone to see if she can get an update.” He sighs and sits down. This time on the opposite side of the room.
After the longest 15 minutes of his life, the nurse comes back with a doctor.
“Mr. Janes?” He asks, looking between Markus and Jeremy. He is an older man, not Melissa’s OB-GYN.
“Here,” says Jeremy as he rushes over to the doctor.
“I’d like to speak to you in private please.” He says as Jeremy’s stomach to the floor.
“We’ll give you the room,” Markus says as he and Mel scurry out. Mel reaches out and squeezes Jeremy’s hand as she passes by but he doesn’t acknowledge it. He is too focused on the doctor.
“Mom and Baby are stable,” he says as he reaches out and squeezes Jeremy’s shoulder. “It appears she experienced a placental abruption. We need to investigate more to see if we need to deliver early or if we can let her go on to deliver naturally.”
Jeremy lets out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding. “Delivery early? How early? I know the baby is out of the danger zone now but still, she has about six more weeks to go.”
The doctor gives him a slight grin. “Good to see a dad that has done his homework,” he says to Jeremy. Then continues, “The baby is fully developed now and everything is healthy and working fine. They just like a little rest before they make their big entry. There are some benefits to waiting until mom can have the baby naturally and some benefits to mom to have the baby now by caesarian. It is something that mom, dad, and her OB-GYN will go over and decide. Ultimately, the decision is up to her.”
“When would she do this? If she decides to go ahead and have the baby now?” Jeremy is thinking about everything left to take care of. Plus, the way they left things.
“First things first.” The doctor gives him a little smile, easing his worry some. “Mom is resting now and will be for a while I would guess. I’ve already let her OB-GYN know and she will be in at 10 tomorrow morning, earlier if need be. She will go over everything with you then. But as for now, the patient and baby need to rest. As does Dad. There is nothing we can do right now. They will be fine. Then tomorrow mom can decide what she wants to do.” He reaches over and squeezes Jeremy’s shoulder again.
Now that he is not so worried about Melissa, he realizes why that gesture is so comforting to him. His grandfather used to do the same thing. Without a second thought, Jeremy reaches out for the older man and hugs him.
“Thank you. Thank you so much.” He says as he fights not to cry. “Can I see her now?”
“You can see her now for 10 minutes only or you can wait for about 30 minutes and then you can see her in her own room for longer.” The nurse responds. Then to Jeremy’s surprise, she continues, “maybe even for the whole night, if no one catches you.” Then she gives him a wink.
“I’ll wait.” Jeremy quickly responds.
The doctor chuckles and shakes Jeremy’s hand. “You keep reading those what to expect from your baby books and you do fine.”
The nurse looks at him one last time and says, “sit tight. I’ll come to get you when she’s settled.”
They leave and in the blink of an eye Markus and Mel and back and Jeremy fills them in. Knowing there is nothing to be done tonight, they bid Jeremy a good night and head home.