Page 16 of Love is a Drum Beat
Arya’s words took Jo by surprise. It wasn’t often she met people who’d help no strings attached. “You’re working. The plan has always been to take a cab.” She lifted a finger to scratch under the mask.
“Consider this part of my job. Come on.”
Jo didn’t argue further as Arya led her across the parking lot to her car.
On the drive, she called her doctor, who promised to meet her at the hospital.
Because it was time. The day she’d waited for was finally here. Months early. “Baby alien is going to be okay,” she whispered to herself.
Arya looked at her out of the corner of her eye. “Boy or girl?”
Jo was thankful for the small talk that eased her fear. “I don’t know. For so long, I’ve tried not to think of the baby coming. I didn’t want to know the gender. Now, I’m not prepared. I don’t even have a crib set up.” She’d assumed Noah would be here to help her with that.
But he wasn’t.
She was going to have her baby, and her best friend wasn’t here.
Tears filled her eyes, but she wiped them away before they could fall. Stupid hormones.
“Do you have names picked out?” Arya tried her hardest to keep the conversation going.
“No!” Jo gave her a panicked look. “I thought I had more time. Oh my gosh, my baby is going to come into this world nameless. I’ve already failed it.”
One corner of Arya’s mouth ticked up. “You haven’t failed anything, and you won’t. Ms. Jackson… Jo, you will make mistakes. Many of them. There will be days you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing. But the only way you can truly fail this kid is if you don’t love it. Once the love is there, everything else will fall into place. No matter what struggles you and your child face, just be there.”
What if she didn’t know how to love? She’d never had parents teach her what a family should be like, no examples set for her.
Arya reached over and took her hand. “It’s going to be okay.”
“You don’t know that. You barely know me or the screw up I am.”
“That’s true. I don’t know you, but I know the look in your eye. You’re a mom now, and that changes a person.”
They pulled up to the emergency room, and Jo opened her door as another cramp came. “You can leave. My doctor will be here. I’m…” She sighed. “I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. Go.” She used all her strength to pull herself from the car, bag swinging off one shoulder. With a final glance back, she walked through the sliding doors.
At this time of night, the ER was a quiet place save for a few people wandering about. They stared at the pregnant Batwoman for too long. Jo reached up to adjust her mask. She wouldn’t remove it until she was in a private room.
Approaching the front desk, she leaned against it. “I think I’m having my baby.”
“Ma’am,” the older woman behind the counter started. “You must remove your mask for the safety of our patients.”
Safety? She wasn’t going to rob the place. “I can’t.” She glanced toward the waiting room where a few people sat. Any of them could sell a picture of a pregnant Jo Jackson to the paparazzi. She leaned down, reading the name tag pinned to his navy blue scrubs. “Mr. Thompson, please. This baby is coming. I can’t let people see me. Get me up to OB and into a private room to wait for my doctor. Then, I’ll remove the mask. Call up to OB if you want. Ask them if they’re waiting on a Josephine Taylor.” That was the name she’d agreed to give to the hospital. It wasn’t a lie. Taylor was her middle name.
As the nurse picked up his phone, a wave of dizziness washed over Jo, and she stumbled back, using all her strength just to remain upright. Her legs weakened beneath her, and she didn’t know what was happening until the nurse started yelling.
“I need a wheelchair.” He ran around the desk to catch Jo before she fell.
Someone else came running, pushing a wheelchair in front of them. She couldn’t stop them when they removed her mask. She was helpless as they lowered her into the wheelchair.
And when the iPhone camera flashed, she was too far gone to care.
6
Dax
