Page 56 of Only for Tonight
“Baby, please show me where your card is.” My heart speeds up even more in my chest as she grabs the wallet from me, but it’s like her whole body is shutting down. I look back at the woman whose eyes go wide as she picks up the phone and I hear her voice out of the intercom.
“Evaluation nurse at triage,” she says, putting the phone down and then pointing over to the two doors beside her. “Go through those, there will be a nurse waiting for you.”
I wheel her to the doors and they slide open, and a nurse comes to the desk on the side. “What do we have?” she says, looking at Ariella.
“She’s been throwing up for the last twenty-four hours,” I explain, my voice going higher. “She’s ten weeks pregnant,” I continue, looking at Ariella who’s fighting to open her eyes, “maybe nine weeks.”
“When was the last time she ate or drank anything?” The nurse comes over to hold her wrist.
“She ate some pizza last night and she hasn’t been able to drink anything. She took a couple sips of water and then threw it up.”
“She’s dehydrated for sure,” she advises. “Has she fainted or passed out?”
I run my hand through my hair. “I don’t think so, she didn’t say anything.” My heart is racing so fast, even breathing is hard. “If she hasn’t been throwing up, she’s been resting. So I am not sure.”
“We need to get her hooked up to an IV.” She moves behind the wheelchair. “Someone will come and get her information.” She runs away from me with Ariella and all I can do is stand here and watch. She starts to talk frantically with someone else, the nurse behind the desk in the back runs out from behind it and moves with her until I can’t see them anymore.
I’m about to rush to her when I see the nurse come back out. “We need an orderly to help transfer.” I look to the side, seeing a guy dressed in blue scrubs rush their way.
“Sir.” I look over to see another nurse there. “We’re going to need her information.” I look around, feeling like the room is spinning under my feet. “I’m going to need you to focus right now.”
“Where is Ariella?” I ask her and she smiles at me.
“She’s being hooked to an IV right now. We have a doctor coming down from maternity, but there is nothing we can do if she is in the process of miscarrying.” My body folds in half and I put my hands on my knees, trying to breathe. But I think I’m going to throw up any second or I’m having a panic attack and I don’t know it. My chest gets tight and it’s getting harder and harder to breathe. “Does she have any allergies?” I shake my head and shrug at the same time. “Can you get me her insurance card?” she asks and I stand up, opening her wallet and seeing that she has little pieces of paper on each side but her cards are all there. I grab her insurance card and hand it to her.
“Okay, if you want to wait in the waiting room,” she directs me and I shake my head.
“I want to go and sit with her,” I say, my voice so low it’s a wonder she understands what I’m saying.
“I promise I’ll come and get you when the doctor comes down, but for right now, you need to let us evaluate her.”
I turn and walk out of the room, going to the corner and sitting in one of the plastic chairs, her purse on my lap. Pulling the phone out of my pocket, I call the only person I know I can turn to. The only person I know will make everything okay. The only person I’ve ever been able to turn to in my whole life. The phone rings three times before he answers, “Hey, son.”
“Dad,” I say, my voice cracking and I can feel the burning fill my eyes now.
“What is it?” he asks, the fear in his voice.
“It’s Ariella,” I reply as the tears start to roll down my face. Her name is on my lips as I stretch out my legs and my head falls back. I clutch her purse in my hands and bring it to the middle of my chest.
“What’s Ariella?” he asks and I can hear him moving on his end of the phone.
“She’s”—I look at the door that I just walked out of—“she’s?—”
“She’s fucking what, Jaxon?” he snaps.
“She’s,” I try again. “We’re at the hospital.”
“What? Why?”
“She—” I take a deep inhale; this is not the way I had pictured telling him. I pictured us telling him together. I pictured it to be a happy occasion, shocking but he would have been happy about it. “Dad, her and me.”
“There’s a her and you?” The shock is now in his voice.
“There is,” I admit. “She’s pregnant, Dad.” The gasp that comes out of him is one I knew was coming. “We’re at the hospital because she’s been throwing up all night long and”—I put my head back—“and she’s in the back and I have no fucking clue what to do. I don’t know if she’s okay. I don’t know if she’s maybe miscarrying, and I feel so fucking helpless. Dad, the baby.” I feel sick thinking about losing the baby.
“Jesus Christ, Jaxon,” he hisses out. “What the fuck? I’m on my way, let me call you in ten.”
“No, you don’t need to come here. I just—” I look at the doors. “I need you to tell me it’s going to be okay.”
