One…two…three times the phone rang before he picked up.
"Bella?" I heard Edward say through the line.
"Edward, Edward. It's Annie. I don't understand what they're saying. Something about her appendix," I rambled, each statement broken by another sob.
This wasn't…watching my little girl lying there in the ambulance…that wasn't how it was supposed to be. No parent should have to see their child suffering so. Every single inch of me hurt thinking about the pain she was in.
"Bella, slow down. Is something wrong with Annie's appendix? Are you at the hospital? Can I speak to a doctor?" he asked, always the calm and collected physician.
"I don't…they said it was ruptured and there might be an infection and it normally doesn't happen to anyone so young. Edward, just tell me she's going to be okay. Please tell me that my baby's going to be okay," I begged him.
I hadn't begged him in years and it was a strange feeling – almost a bizarre sense of déjà-vu in the midst of the turmoil surrounding me. If I wasn't so desperate I may have been embarrassed. There wasn't time to be embarrassed now though. My little girl was more important than my dignity and any unpleasant feelings left over between her father and I.
"She'll be okay, Bella. They're right though, this is rare for a six-year-old, but that doesn't mean they can't fix her just like everyone else. This is common, Bella. One of the first things I learned when we started working on cadavers was how to perform an appendectomy. Is she in surgery already? Tell me what happened."
"Yes, they, um, they took her back to surgery because she couldn't stop throwing up and there was blood. That's why the school called the ambulance. She was at recess and then she doubled over and started vomiting and she couldn't stop and couldn't stand up so they called the ambulance and then me. I got there when they were loading her into the ambulance and Edward she looked so broken. My baby's broken, Edward, and I can't fix her."
I couldn't stop the tears and sobs that escaped me after that. It was almost as if I was having an out-of-body experience, watching myself break down and having no control over anything. It was my ex-husband's voice that finally calmed me down.
"Bella baby, listen to me. Annie is going to be okay. She's a fighter; she's got plenty of that Swan blood running through her veins after all. She'll make it through this and then she's going to drive you nuts begging for popsicles and being an overall pain in your ass in a few days' time. So you have to stop crying because when she comes out of surgery, she's going to want you and if you're crying, she's going to cry. You don't want to see our little girl crying, do you?"
"No," I mumbled as the tears continued to stream down my face.
"Okay, that's good. Now what hospital are you at? I'll talk to the doctor while I get ready for the airport," he said; I could hear a lot of rustling in the background.
"What do you mean airport? Where are you going?" I asked in a panic.
The last thing I needed was my medical translator out of commission because he was going on some vacation that he never told me about. I would castrate him if he was running away while our daughter lay on the operating table.
"Phoenix. My daughter's in the hospital. You really think I'm going to sit on my laurels here? Give me some credit, Bella."
I felt stupid and naïve now that he said that. It was easy to forget that he was in Seattle most of the time. He talked to Annie everyday but his erratic schedule at the hospital didn't leave much face-to-face time for them, which had been a major factor in our initial separation way back when.
"I…I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking," I replied meekly because it was the truth.
"It's alright. I forget too sometimes," he paused with some unfathomable thought that I couldn't read on his face, "Now what hospital are you at?"
I sniffled as the tears subsided and looked around at the signs covering the walls in and around the waiting room some nurse had stuck me in after we got here.
"St. Joseph's," I replied as I calmed down, reason reentering me brain for the first time since I'd gotten the call at school.
"Okay, I'm going to call there and get whatever I can out of them. I just booked my ticket and my plane leaves in an hour so I should be there around four o'clock your time. I'm gonna call you back before I board though. Is your phone charged? Is it gonna last an hour?"
"Um, yeah…yes. I charged it last night. And you're going to talk to the doctors before you board? You'll make sure everything's okay?" I asked, desperate for any hope and knowledge that I could get.
"Yes, I'll let you know what they tell me, I promise. But I'm probably going to be mid-flight when Annie gets out so will you…just tell her I love her and that I'm on my way?" he asked, the desperation evident in his voice.
"Of course, I will. She's going to be so excited to see you," I said as the tears began to well in my eyes again.
"That makes two of us," he mumbled almost inaudibly.
"I'll talk to you soon, Edward," I said, needing to end our conversation as soon as possible.
"You too, Bella," he said before disconnecting the call.
I stared at the ended call flashing on my screen for a few moments before I realized what was just put into motion. I knew that I needed to make a million phone calls – the first of which needed to be to Nanna – but I was still frozen there. For the first time since I'd left him five years ago, I regretted taking Annie so far away from Edward.
-
It wasn't ten minutes after I got off the phone with Edward that a nurse approached me, hopefully with the news that Annie was out of surgery and already walking on her own. Hey, a girl could dream. Thankfully she didn't come bearing bad news even though it didn't calm me down in the least.
"Mrs. Cullen?" the petite blonde asked as she approached me.
There weren't many others in the waiting room with me but I figured it was fairly necessary to make sure you had the right person no matter how few people there were to choose from. Thinking about how often nurses had to do these things and whether they took some kind of empathy class before interacting with patients' families kept me from impulsively correcting her on my title.
"Yes?" I replied as I stood up.
"I just wanted to check on you and keep you up-to-date. They've just gotten Annie's appendix out and are working on getting all the bad stuff out of her system before they close her back up. Everything is going really well so far though, no hiccups or anything," the nurse explained with a nice smile on her face.
"Okay, that's good. How much longer is it going to be? When will I get to see her?" I asked, my mind racing with ideas of what I should do when I first got to see her again. I was going to need to make a pit stop at the gift shop.
"Depending on what happens it shouldn't be more than two hours. Once the surgery's complete it should take about 30 to 45 minutes for us to get her situated in her room. You should be seeing her before dinner time," she answered, her smile widening at the obvious relief on my face.
"That's the best news I've had all day," I sighed while my hand covered my heart. I thought it was going to beat out of my chest before and after my phone call with Edward. Talking to him and the nurse was helping it finally sink in that Annie was going to be just fine. Hopefully I could keep it beating steady while I made the necessary phone calls in a bit.
"I'm glad to hear it. Now because Annie's so young, staying with her overnight won't be a problem at all. We usually only allow one parent in the room though so you and your husband will need to decide which of you it will be," she said obviously going into administrative mode.
I kind of stared at her for a moment before I realized why she thought I was married.
My wedding band.
Right.
"Oh, um. I'm not married. I wear this…it's a long story, but I'll be the one staying with her tonight. Most definitely."
For an English teacher I was beyond inarticulate. Put me in front of a room of 30 pubescent kids and I could command their attention; one-on-one outside of a professional environment was a completely different story. It's no wonder Edward didn't know anything was wrong with our marriage; I'm sure I never got my point across. Now thinking about what I just said and judging the look on the nurse's face, it seemed I had done it again.
"I'm so sorry. I just assumed…" she began.
"Oh no, he's not dead or anything! I just…I still wear it for stupid reasons. Annie's father is very much alive, so…don't like…feel bad or anything," I tried to assure her.
This had happened before. People would assume I was married, I would correct them rather ineloquently then they would assume the worst. I'd tried not wearing it though and it never seemed to work out. I had been wearing it for years so I felt pretty naked without it. Being sans ring also attracted so much unwanted attention from men. I understood that I'm a semi-attractive girl in my mid-twenties, but having to decline their advances or deal with the rejection after revealing the fact that I had a six-year-old at home was never pleasant.
Then there were always the fun questions from Annie whenever I tried to take it off. She'd been too young to notice when I stopped wearing the engagement ring, but she'd definitely noticed when I tried to take off my wedding band. It was hard enough when she inquired about why Daddy and I didn't live together, I didn't need her asking why I'd taken "Daddy's ring" off. It probably wasn't the right choice, but I always liked to avoid those conversations with her. Edward and I had never discussed what we should tell her so I'm sure she had plenty of answers from him and that would just have to do until she was older and could understand.
The nurse promised to keep me updated, said her parting words and left me in the waiting room with my thoughts. When I sat back down, I couldn't help but twist the ring mechanically around my finger. It was a habit I'd picked up after Edward had started his residency and was home less and less. The frequency at which I did it had waned over the years, but I still couldn't stop myself when I was stressed and lonely. The feelings were so similar to what I'd felt way back when that it just evoked that reaction, I guess. Another reason to leave the ring on. What kind of nervous tick would I develop if the ring were no longer available? It was definitely a better alternative to biting my nails or something stranger.
-
Edward called and told me practically the same thing the nurse had told me about 20 minutes after she left. I let him know that she would be out of surgery in a little over and hour and I'd get to see her in two, possibly. He reiterated that I needed to let her know that he was coming. While it was annoying, it still touched my heart to a degree. It seemed that all Edward needed was for me to leave before he could be a good father. The thought left me frustrated and disheartened as always, but I reminded myself that Annie and I had wonderful lives and wanted for nothing. It was just a shame that Edward didn't play a bigger part.
Talking to Edward the second time did accomplish something though; I was finally able to gather the courage to call all of the grandparents – Annie's and my own.
Nanna was obviously the first call.
"Hello? This is Anna," she answered, the same way she'd answered the phone my entire life.
"Hey Nanna, it's Bella," I replied.
"Sweetie! How are you? Shouldn't you be at work right now?"
Man, I was going to have to just spit it out. Nanna paid too much attention for my own good, always had.
"I should be, yeah, but…uh…Annie's in the hospital. She's getting her appendix out."
"Annie's having surgery? Why didn't you tell me? I could've come with you. Is Edward there?"
"It was…unexpected. Her appendix burst while she was at school. They, um, had to call the ambulance and everything. They say everything's going okay though. And Edward…well he's just gotten on a plane. He'll be here around dinner time, I think."
It was really good that I called Nanna first, I realized now that I was talking to her. I could sound as worried and ill-informed to her and I didn't care, but it would give me practice for the next two calls. I especially hoped that Carlisle wasn't off today and I could just speak to Esme. Carlisle would go straight into doctor mode and I don't think I could've handled it. Edward at least knew that I was more scared than anything and not really concerned with every little detail.
"As he should be, the bugger. How much longer do you think Annie'll be? You want me to come down there? The driver here owes me a favor, it wouldn't be a problem."
I couldn't helped the giggle that escaped when Nanna talked about Edward. She had no love for the man at all.
"I'm expecting to be in the room with her in about two hours but definitely wait to cash in that favor for a different time. I'm doing okay now, the nurses are nice and Edward's coming. By the time you got here, the bad part would be winding down so it's really not worth it. I appreciate it though, Nanna. Really, I do."
The last thing I wanted to do was be responsible for busting Nanna out of her 'retirement community' and getting in hot water with the Chief. I had other things to worry about currently.
"Okay, well you know where I'm at, sweetie. And you keep me up-to-date! I want to know when I can come give my grandbaby presents to help her recovery," Nanna joked.
That was good. I said the right things and she wasn't upset that I didn't want her to come to the hospital. I was going to ace the next two calls.
"'lo?" my father's gruff voice said. The Chief never was big on words. Funny how I turned out teaching them.
"Hey, Dad," I said, unsure of how to begin this particular conversation.
"How are ya, Bells? It's the middle of the day. Everything alright?"
Damn, he totally got that from Nanna. I wouldn't have thought twice about what time someone was calling me unless it was the middle of the night.
"Actually, um, Annie's in the hospital. She's getting her appendix out."
"She's what? She's having surgery? Why didn't you tell me before?"
"It's emergency surgery, Dad. Her appendix ruptured while she was at school."
"Oh, Bells, I'm sorry. How's she doing? Is Ma there with you? What did Edward say?"
Leave it to my father, the Chief of Police, to trust the opinion of the boy who knocked me up at 18, whom I left after a failed attempt at marriage. Typical.
"She's still in there but they're telling me she's doing great. I told Nanna not to come. By the time she got here, Annie would be getting out of surgery and then she wouldn't be allowed to go in the room with me. It wouldn't be worth all the trouble for her. She'll see Annie soon. And Edward agreed with the doctors here. He's, um, on a plane here right now," I muttered the last part. I would never understand my father's soft spot for Edward and I liked to avoid it at all costs.
"Good boy. Now you call me when she gets out and I'll call tomorrow to talk to her, you hear?"
I smiled at the familiarity of this conversation with my father. The tone was fairly reminiscent of talks we had when I first started dating in high school, all threatening but soft on the inside.
"I promise, Dad. I have to call Carlisle and Esme now though. I'll talk to you soon. Love you."
"Okay, okay. Love you too, Bells. Don't forget to call."
And all of the sudden I was left with the most difficult call I was going to have to make aside from the initial one to Edward, the call to his parents.
"Hello?" Esme said. I thanked my lucky stars that she answered.
"Hi, Esme. It's Bella," I replied, prepared for the Inquisition with this call in particular.
"Bella, dear. Edward called right before he boarded but he couldn't talk long. What's going on?" she asked, her voice laced with love and concern. Times like this I really wished she were still my mother-in-law.
"Well, Annie start vomiting uncontrollably at school so they called the ambulance. We got here and they took her into emergency surgery because there was blood and it turns out it was a ruptured appendix. It's out now and she should be out of surgery in about an hour. They tell me everything is going well."
"That's so good to hear. Edward only got out that Annie was at St. Joseph's and that his plane was boarding at noon. Carlisle knows the head of pediatrics there from some conference though and he says they have an outstanding team there. You're in good hands, Bella."
"Thank you, Esme. That's always nice to hear. And I'm thankful that Edward saved most of his words for me then. If he hadn't talked to me, I don't know what I would have done. Good thing I used to be married to a doctor, yeah?" I laughed with my last statement before I remembered who I was talking to – the mother of said ex-husband.
"Yes, I know how nice it is to have a doctor at your beck and call. I'll never looked at a scraped knee the same way, I swear," Esme replied and I was grateful that her social grace had only grown in the five years Edward and I had been apart.