FG 3 - The Wedding Blitz Page 9

  “I didn’t even tell my mother,” I murmured almost to myself.

  “Tell her what?”

  “About the baby, and if something happens…it means, I’m never going to tell her.”

  “Joie—

  “I need your phone,” I turned to him.

  “Why?”

  “I need to call her—

  “I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  “No, you don’t understand before I go in there,” I cut my eyes at the room. “I need to talk to my mother. I need her to know, Hawkins. I need my mom to know that I’m a mom. And that I tried—”

  “It’s okay, Joie, I understand,” he handed me his cell.

  The nurse opened the door to the room and announced, “Joie Hall?”

  Hawkins held up a finger and said, “Just give her a second.”

  After several rings, I was afraid that she’d already gone to bed due to the different time zones but I said a prayer thanking God when she finally answered, “Hello?”

  “Mom?”

  “Joie?”

  “Hey, yeah it’s me,” I sighed.

  “What is it? Is there something wrong?”

  “No,” I was quick to say and then faltered a bit by adding, “Maybe, I don’t know. But it’s not wrong…it’s something really, really right for once.”

  “Okay?”

  “I’m pregnant mom,” I finally confessed but could hear her take a haggard breath. “I know what you’re going to say, it’s not why I called,” I looked at the nurse who was still waiting on me. “The baby might not make it,” I suddenly gasped. “And I wanted my mom to know, that for once I think I know what I want to do with my life and I might not get to do it now.”

  “Oh honey.”

  “And I wanted you to know that it’s real, this life inside of me is very real even if doesn’t—

  “I appreciate you telling me, Joie, but what’s going on? Is it just the baby or are you also at risk?”

  “I don’t know yet, I’ll call you after the test.”

  “Have you given it a name?”

  “No,” I suddenly stopped. “I’ve been calling it everything, but nothing seems right. If it’s a boy, I’ve been thinking about giving him initials like his dad,” I glanced up at Hawkins who I realized was also overcome with emotion. “Something with Hawkins’ dad and my dad’s initials because although dad wasn’t the greatest dad in the world, I wanted to honor his memory. And if it’s a girl, I’ve been thinking about your middle name mom, Abigail.”

  “I don’t know what’s happening,” my mom tried to comfort me. “And I don’t like your situation but if you’re scared of losing the baby, give him or her a name…that makes the connection with that little one real. That gives the baby its place in your heart and the baby will feel your love and get strength from that love.”

  “Thank you, mom, I needed to hear that,” I exhaled, knowing that I could face whatever happened now. “I love you.”

  “I love you, too and call me when you’re ready let me know what’s going on, okay?”

  “Okay, I will.”

  “Bye.”

  “Bye, mom.”

  “So?” Hawkins brushed back my hair off my shoulder. “Are you ready?”

  “I am now,” I wiped away the last remaining tears from my face and tried to stay calm for the baby.

  The room, like all hospital rooms, felt cold to me but then again maybe it was because I was dressed in only a thin gown. My eyes instantly zeroed in on a large chair that was equipped with metal stirrups and was surrounded by lots of technology and a large monitor that I had never seen before. The nurse helped me up into the chair and placed my feet in the stirrups. Hawkins squeezed my hand letting me know that he could tell all of this felt foreign and a bit scary to me. With my approval the nurse lifted up my gown to prep me for the ultrasound. She then coated a small handheld round metal device with a clear cool gel and placed it on my small bump. With the help of the gel she slid it around at different places along my belly and then stopped from time to time to check the monitor. I couldn’t make out much on the screen but I could hear a repetitive thumping sound and knew that somewhere in the black and white blur was our baby.

  “And that’s the baby’s heartbeat,” the nurse smiled up at me as it filled my ears. “It’s strong and that’s good.”

  “Really?” I lifted my head to ask as tears of joy welled up in my eyes.

  “Yes, really,” she smiled up at both of us. “Now my only question is do you want to know the sex of the baby or wait to be surprised?”

  “Well you won’t know what to name it, if you don’t know the sex,” Hawkins pointed out.

  “This still isn’t over yet,” I realized. “So yeah, I would like to know if it’s a boy or a girl.”

  “Congratulations then, it’s a baby girl.”

  I instantly covered my mouth with my hands as tears welled up in my eyes again. I looked up at Hawkins who I could tell was also pleasantly surprised by the news. “I’m speechless,” was all he could say at first and he then bent over to kiss my lips. “I am so proud of you.”

  “Hi, Abigail,” I smiled at the monitor.

  “Abigail Hawkins,” he smiled down at me, his eyes full of love and admiration.

  We were so elated to finally hear some good news in the middle of what was becoming one of the roughest days of both of our lives that the good feeling stayed with us long after they had escorted us to a different floor where I’d be staying for the night. With my blessing, Hawkins went to find his dad and mom, who we learned were also on the same floor to finally break the news to them as well. I wasn’t sure how his mom would react but we were at a point where we didn’t care anymore. Abigail was the most important thing to us now.

  I kept an eye on the hallway waiting for Hawkins to return when I overheard a mumbled but intense conversation building. “They had to life flight him in,” I overheard someone say as the end of a gurney came into view. “They revived him and raced him here. They started him on dialysis when they saw the color of his skin. He has kidney failure like the other one. They’re talking about quarantine.”

  I was halfway out of my bed when I felt my heart suddenly drop at the sight of Riley’s ashen face with his eyes closed. Tears welled up in my eyes as I watched his listless body being rolled into the room across from mine. Before I realized it I was halfway across the hallway when a nurse stopped me by saying, “Ma’am you need to go back to your room.”

  “That’s my friend,” I said in a distant voice that didn’t sound like mine. “My god, Riley—is he okay?” I finally peeled my eyes away when someone shut the door to his room.

  “He’s stable for now,” the nurse explained but I noticed she was keeping her distance when she insisted, “Now you need to go back to your room.”

  “Joie?” My thoughts were interrupted as I turned to Hawkins’ familiar voice. “What happened?”

  “It’s Riley,” I lifted my hand to point across the hallway before starting to walk toward Riley’s door to the dismay of the nurse and before Hawkins caught me in his arms to stop me. “No, don’t, no please…I swear…he looked bad Hawkins.” My frightened eyes locked with his when I hissed, “What is this?”

  “I don’t know,” his troubled eyes looked at a loss.

  “I have to see him, I have to know he’s not—” I pleaded with Hawkins as his strong frame easily pulled me away.

  “Joie, he’s going to be okay.”

  “You don’t know that,” my eyes welled up with tears.

  “You have to believe in something bigger than yourself,” he took my shoulders in his hands. “You have to believe, Joie, that’s all any of us can do,” his eyes searched mine for understanding. I slowly nodded because even though Hawkins was my rock, I knew this experience had shaken him too.

  “Okay.”

  He swooped down to pick me up in his arms and carried me back into my room. I rested my weary head against his chest and murmured
, “I don’t know what I would do without you.”

  Chapter Eight

  I woke up the next morning to the sound of Hawkins’ voice. My blurry eyes focused in on the back of him talking to his mom and Dr. Pohren near the doorway. I felt like I barely had enough strength to lift my head off the bed and after one failed attempt to sit up, I gave into the weariness I felt and decided to turn my head in their direction to listen instead.

  “He never woke up this morning,” I heard a snippet of the conversation causing my dormant heart to suddenly pound alive. Were they talking about Riley?

  “We’re going to have to quarantine the rooms,” Dr. Pohren nodded grimly.

  “I’m going to stay with, Joie,” Hawkins murmured. “The news of his death will terrify her.”

  I felt my lungs swell with a sudden cry, “What’s going on?”

  But my hoarse voice was quick drowned out by Hawkins’ mom’s shouting. “I can’t believe you’re going to risk your health by staying with her when she put your father in dialysis! And now we know whatever she has killed that boy!”

  “My god, is Riley dead?!” I finally mustered up enough strength to shout overtop of her.

  Hawkins turned around with a sad look on his face, which made my heart drop even more but then he quickly explained, “No, it’s not him.”

  I didn’t know if Hawkins looked sad because of who had died or because I had overheard all the nasty things his mom was accusing me of but I’d be lying if I didn’t admit that knowing Riley was still okay helped ease me back into my bed again.

  “But it might as well be Riley next,” his mother huffed. “That Nielson guy had the same rash as everyone else and now he’s dead.”

  “Nielson guy?” I felt my face pinch since I didn’t recognize the name.

  “Mom, that’s enough,” Hawkins hissed. “There’s no way of knowing if Joie gave this to dad or not and blaming her isn’t going to help anyone.”

  “She was sick the night the both of you visited us,” his mom countered. “It’s not that difficult to put two and two together, Joshua.”

  “Yeah because of the baby,” Hawkins stressed. “If you want to blame someone so badly, why don’t you blame dad? He was sick that night too,” he reminded her. “He couldn’t even eat, remember?”

  “That was from food poisoning,” she emphasized.

  “How can you be so sure?”

  “Because he couldn’t keep anything down after he ate at that…that pagan feast,” she said disgustedly.

  “What…feast?” Dr. Pohren asked.

  “That’s just what I call it,” she explained. “We were a part of a tour that visited a group of Bushmen just outside of Johannesburg and while we were there they slaughtered a wild boar and fed it to us. Well I didn’t eat it because of my religious beliefs but Jack did.”

  “You took a trip to Africa?” Dr. Pohren stressed like this was information he would have liked to have known.

  “Well yes, why?” his mother obviously didn’t like the sound of his tone.

  “How long ago was the trip?” he continued intently.

  “A little over a week ago,” she shrugged. “I really don’t see how this has—

  “Nurse!” Dr. Pohren called after a woman passing by in hospital scrubs. “I’m going to need to get more blood work done on all the patients. Test for African Trypanosomiasis, Dengue, Eupus Trepadix and other infectious diseases that originate from Africa.”

  “What’s going on?” his mother asked with alarm as she looked from the doctor to the nurse.

  “We’re quarantining the rooms,” Dr. Pohren’s skin turned a ghostly white as he glanced over his shoulder at me. “That’s what’s going on,” he muttered under his breath before quickly turning to leave the room.

  “I still don’t understand,” his mom look utterly perturbed. “What does this mean, Joshua?”

  “It means that Joie didn’t give that rash to dad. He gave it to her, mom,” he sighed and for once Hawkins’ mom looked embarrassed as it finally dawned on her.

  “Who’s Nielson?” I asked Hawkins once he rejoined my side and his mom had retreated back to her husband’s room.

  “Nielson Gray’s the guy who attacked you the other night,” his eyes locked with mine. “The guy Robert Vance fired.”

  “He licked my face,” I whispered with the realization.

  “Something I bet, he probably wished he wouldn’t have done, if he were still alive today,” Hawkins added darkly.

  “Where are you going?!” we overheard someone shout from the hallway. “This room’s restricted from visitors. He has a highly contagious disease.”

  “Then admit me into the hospital too,” I overheard Rob Harlow say. “Either way I’m going in there.”

  “Rob what are you doing?” Hawkins called after him. “They’re about to quarantine the place.”

  “What I should have done a long time ago,” he glanced over his shoulder at us before turning the handle on Riley’s hospital room door. “Be by Riley’s side.”

  X X X

  When our obstetrician, Penelope Cross, finally arrived an hour later, she looked like she was prepped for surgery with all of the special protective clothing, gloves, boot covers, hairnet and face mask.

  “Hi Joie,” I could tell she was smiling because it reached her blue eyes. “It’s good to see both of you again,” she looked over at Hawkins. “I just wish it was under better circumstances.”

  “The staff has brought me up to date with your health status and the test results show that you’ve been infected with the Eupus Trepadix or more commonly known as the NBT4 Virus. It’s a type of virus that usually goes undetected in developing countries like Africa from a lack of awareness. Symptoms include nausea, vomiting, rash, and dehydration brought on by kidney and liver failure.”

  “They’re reluctant to start you on the traditional antiviral medication because there are risks that you both need to be made aware of,” she emphasized. “Antiviral medicines like Lamiflu, haven’t been thoroughly tested on pregnant women, at least enough for us to know how it will affect the baby. In some rare cases it has induced labor and since you’re only twelve weeks along, you’d be risking the baby’s life, but if we don’t start the medicine soon then you’ll be risking both the baby’s and your life.”

  I could feel the panic crawl up my throat as I blurted out the question, “What do I do?”

  “In this case you have to ask yourself does the potential benefit justify the potential risk to the fetus.”

  “What do you think?” Hawkins asked Dr. Cross.

  “I believe it does, but I can’t make the decision for you.”

  “Joie, I can’t lose you and the baby,” Hawkins stressed.

  “Abigail, you can’t lose me and Abigail,” I corrected him. “We gave her a name Hawkins.”

  “Even still Joie…”

  “What are her chances of surviving this on her own?” Hawkins asked Dr. Cross.

  “Minimal.”

  “I’m not as bad as Riley or his dad,” I stated in my defense causing Hawkins and Dr. Cross to exchange a look.

  “Joie,” Hawkins spoke to me gently. “You’re getting worse, even your skin is turning slightly yellow.”

  “Oh, so there’s no other choice. Okay…I can do this,” I tried to convince myself as tears suddenly welled up in my eyes. “We can do this…,” I placed a hand on my belly.

  “You’re not alone in this, Joie,” Hawkins lovingly searched my eyes, “The three of us are in this together and remember if you don’t make it god forbid then Abigail has no chance at all.”

  “You’re right… I know…I’ll take the medicine then,” I nodded more surely.

  I couldn’t help but cry though, through the entire process of getting hooked up to the IV for the medicine. When everyone finally left, Hawkins pulled me in closer against his chest so we could cry together.

  The first few hours were the scariest but Hawkins kept my mind preoccupied with updates on
Riley’s status. “Apparently, Harlow told the medical staff to just give him the medicine too because he wasn’t leaving Riley’s side. You should see them. They’re both hooked up to IVs and Rob’s holding Riley’s hand while he sleeps. I think it’s kind of badass. What’s a little epidemic when it comes to Riri?” he smiled at Rob’s pet name for Riley. “Harlow says he the one, Joie. He doesn’t seem to care who sees him either even if there haven’t been that many of the crew to pass through here. I guess the NBT4 virus had only spread among us, thankfully. When you think about what could have happened…” he drifted off.

  “How did the virus spread then?” I wondered. “You’re right, if it was airborne everyone at the Gorge would be in the hospital by now.”

  “Probably by some sort of direct contact, I assume,” Hawkins shrugged.

  “So I got it from you’re father…when he…kissed me the first night we met!” I suddenly remembered. “But then how did the others catch it? We know Nielson Gray licked my face but what about Lizzie and everyone else?”

  “Well don’t look at me,” Hawkins snickered, “I didn’t kiss her.”

  “But Warren does,” I tried to put the pieces together. “But then who did he kiss? Surely no one, he’s crazy about Lizzie.”

  “The only thing besides Lizzie that Warren likes to wrap his lips around is another can of Budweiser,” Hawkins joked, but the smile quickly faded from his face as he sank back into his seat. “Unless he didn’t get it by a kiss, but from drinking something contaminated instead,” he whispered to himself. “Like when he drank from my dad’s Champaign glass the night at our engagement party because I wouldn’t.”

  I could already hear the guilt in his voice so I quickly added, “It’s not your fault that Warren has a drinking problem. You didn’t force him to drink anything.”

  “I know, but I could have prevented it.”