Page 96 of Crashing the Altar
At the sound of her name, I was on my feet in an instant. Penny stood slowly, rising on shaky legs beside me.
Guiding her toward the nurse in dark blue scrubs, I announced, “This is Penny.”
“Please follow me.” She pressed a button on the automatic doors behind her, and when they opened, she led us down a hallway. Stopping before a gurney, she pulled the curtain set into a track on the ceiling to give us privacy from the other patients.
Patting the thin mattress covered in a white sheet, she urged, “Penny, why don’t you take a seat up here.”
Once my wife was settled, the nurse introduced herself. “I’m Tara, and I’ll be the one helping to take care of you today. Why don’t you start by telling me what brings you in.”
Penny’s lower lips trembled, and when she opened her mouth to speak, only a strangled sob slipped out.
Rushing to her side, I grasped her hand, squeezing gently in a show of support before answering Tara’s question. “She’s a day shy of twelveweeks pregnant, and when we got up this morning, there was blood on the sheets.”
Tara nodded, typing notes on her tablet before turning her attention to Penny. “Is it like spotting, or heavy enough that you’re soaking through a pad?”
I watched a flush of pink creep up Penny’s neck as she kept her eyes cast down. “More than spotting. I didn’t have any pads, so I just kinda stuffed some toilet paper in my underwear.”
“Well, that won’t do.” Tara gave a sharp click of her tongue. “Let me show you to the bathroom. We have a basket of supplies in there.”
Penny’s head lifted, and those panicked green eyes landed on me.
“Need me to come with you?” There wasn’t anything I wouldn’t do for this woman. Whatever she needed, I would give it to her.
Forehead wrinkling as she mulled over my offer, she eventually said, “N-no. I’ve got it.”
Not wanting her to be alone, I kept our fingers linked and walked by her side until we reached the threshold of the single-user restroom. “I’ll wait right out here, okay?”
Nodding, she ducked inside and latched the door behind her. The minute she was out of sight, I sagged against the wall, my eyes sliding closed as I let out a heavy breath.
This whole thing was too heavy, too fucking real.
The illusion of the fairy tale we thought we were living had shattered like a broken mirror, splintering into a thousand tiny shards. In truth, it had been fracturing for weeks.
Why couldn’t life cut us a break after how hard we’d had to fight to be together?
The lock on the door disengaged, and my breath caught in my throat as I turned to watch Penny emerge.
She must’ve seen the expectant look on my face because she shook her head sadly. “Hasn’t stopped.”
Swallowing hard, I pulled her into my side before guiding her back to the curtained-off bed she’d been assigned.
Tara stood there waiting for us. “Better?”
Penny lifted one shoulder in a half-shrug as she climbed back onto the gurney.
“I’m going to take your vitals, but I wanted to ask a few more questions first.”
“Okay.” Penny twisted her hands in her lap.
“Your husband said you’re almost twelve weeks. Have you experienced any spotting, bleeding, or cramping before?”
“No.”
Tara pressed on. “Have you had any falls?”
Penny began to shake her head, but I cut in before she could brush off that question. “She collapsed yesterday.”
“Fainting spell?” Tara questioned.
