I hope you guys enjoy this next story; it's the sequel to Unplanned Blessings. It won't be near as long as Unplanned Blessings, but I hope it's still good! Please R&R!
I felt Scott's heavy sleep breathing beside me and relaxed some. It must have all just been a dream. I curled up towards his arm and felt a strong surge of pain in my torso area. I let out a moan automatically. I opened my eyes to see what caused the pain only to find myself in a white room with an IV in my arm. I looked around confused as I tried focusing in on my surroundings. Scott was in a chair by the bed I was in; his head was resting by me with his hand holding tight to mine. There was a big window with thin blinds covering them from the soft light coming in. it looked like it must've been real early morning. My arms were all wrapped up in white bandages, clear under the hospital gown I was in. I lifted a shaking hand to my face and felt some kind of bandage over my left cheek bone. It hurt to touch it.
The baby, is the baby okay? I let go of Scott's death grip on my hand to fling the blankets away from me, despite the pain it caused me. Before I could even see my belly, Scott was standing, very alarmed and holding my arms down.
"Reba honey, don't move. You're not supposed to move any." He turned his head and yelled a name I didn't know. A bunch of nurses and a tall man came running in. I couldn't follow what they were doing exactly, they were moving too fast for my eyes.
"Scott." I said as I looked over in his direction. He cupped my face in his hand soothingly.
"I'm right here honey, just relax." I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to force this oncoming headache away. After what seemed like forever, they let me sit up at an odd angle and stopped touching me.
"Can I get a little water?" I asked as I felt how dry my mouth was. A nurse left the room without a word, leaving two other nurses and that doctor guy in the room with me and Scott.
"How're you feeling Mrs. Hart?" the doctor asked. I just looked at him without a word.
"How do you feel Reba? Tell him." Scott encouraged.
"How do you think I feel?" I snapped. I tried to lift the blanket again but a nurse was quick to stop my arms. "I just want to see my baby; is that a crime?" I snapped again. Nobody said a word. I looked at Scott who was looking at me with sad eyes. "Why're you looking at me like that?" I asked getting scared.
"Reba," his eyes were filled with tears. "We lost the baby." I felt everything inside me sink. I pulled my hand out of his automatically.
"You're lying." I said trying to be accusing but ending up sounding scared. "Tell me he's lying." I said as I looked at the doctor in a pleading tone.
"You took an incredible fall Mrs. Hart; you fell down 40 some stairs full forced. There is no way a young fetus could survive a fall like that." I felt my throat close up as I put both of my hands over my belly. I can't feel him anymore. My eyes were burning as realization flooded me. I lost my baby.
"I'm so sorry."I looked over at Scott as he cried. I closed my eyes and relived the fall.
My hand automatically covered my belly as I headed for the first step, face first. My other hand tried to break the fall but failed. I hit hard and did all I could to keep my belly safe as I tumbled further down. I hit every inch of my body hard against those cold, hard steps. I reached for the rail to stop myself but I couldn't grasp it, my weight was playing against me. I felt sharp pains in my torso that caused me to scream in pain before I reached the very bottom of the steps where I was met by Kyra and Cheyenne.
'Don't touch me!' I screamed after Kyra placed her hand on my shoulder and I felt the pain shoot through me. 'Don't touch me!' It felt like she stabbed me. They were saying things to me but I didn't care enough to focus in on what they were saying. I sat up some, ignoring the pain; I need to see that my baby is safe. When I did, I screamed again. I was bleeding badly from my lower region.
'We need help!' Kyra screamed. I held my belly protectively through the pain as I pulled myself off the last few steps. My leg was in bad condition but I didn't care. All I cared about was my baby being safe. I lost what little strength I had in my arms and lay on the ground in a spinning mess. Scott appeared above me out of nowhere.
'Are you alright? Oh my God, there's so much blood.' He said to himself. 'Get her out of here!' he yelled. He looked back at me as I started slipping between conscious and unconscious. 'Don't close your eyes Reba, stay awake with me.' He said as he rubbed me cheek. I flinched away from his touch. My left cheek throbbed.
'The baby.' I managed to get out. 'What's going to happen to the baby?' he just looked at me.
'The baby has to survive. There is no other way.' He said right before everything went black.
Back to the present I was leaning back with both arms wrapped around where my baby should be, in a totally tearful mess.
"Why am I here?" I mumbled to myself. I shouldn't have lived when my baby didn't.
"Because you're body is stronger than the average pregnant woman. You listened to your doctor when he told you what to do." The doctor said, completely missing the point. "You did take a tremendous beating though." I didn't even look at him. "You have a broken left leg. Your left side is what took the most beating. You didn't hurt anything vital, but you do have some internal bruising. You're lucky you didn't break your neck." I tried to ignore what he was saying. "After the fall you were hysterical. We sedated you and things didn't go smoothly, we had to have your arms pinned down to the bed at one point. You did some serious scratching to your arms, possibly scarring. We can't even tell the marks from the fall from the marks you caused yourself." All I could think of was the baby. "You fractured your left cheek bone in the fall." I felt it burn painfully as a stream of tears ran over it.
"Reba, say something." Scott said as he placed his hand on my arm. I pulled away from his touch. I didn't care that it hurt me to pull away like I did; I didn't want to feel his touch.
"There's nothing to say." I said into my pillow.
"Mrs. Hart, when you feel up to it, we scheduled you a councilor so you can talk about this."
"There's nothing to say." I said louder. He paused for a minute. I still refused to open my eyes.
"Mrs. Hart, you just endured a very traumatic event. It would be best if you did talk to someone." I didn't acknowledge him. "Would you be at all willing to talk to your fiancée about this instead?" I buried my face in the pillow.
"Will you please talk to me honey?" Scott asked as he reached for my hand. I pulled away from him again. I could see in his eyes how much that hurt him. I just looked away. I heard the doctor sigh.
"We'll give it a few days. You just got a lot of information you need to process." He said before walking towards the door. "We'll be back to check on you. If you need anything, press the button beside your bed." At that he left with the nurses right behind him. It was just me and Scott left in the room.
"Say something; anything." Scott quietly pleaded. By this point I nearly had my back to him.
"What do you want me to say?" I said as I lay limply against the bed. My face just kind of lay on the pillow without effort. I felt so hollow inside.
"Anything, just talk to me Reba. I've waited almost five days just to hear your voice; when you're not screaming my name in fear." A new wave of tears streamed down my nose, soaking into the pillow silently.
"I don't know what you want form me." I whispered quietly.
"Don't shut me out Reba. I can't handle loosing you again." I could tell by the pain in his voice he meant the past few days.
"I don't feel anything, what am I supposed to say Scott? Everything inside me is empty." He didn't say a word for a long time. I just sat there silently letting tears flow down and drip off my nose. I sat and cried for a few hours like that. Just silence.
"The kids want to see you." He said in a blank voice suddenly. "Can they come up?" I sat in silence for a minute before whipping my face and nodding a little. He left the room momentarily and I sat there thinking about the events that happened just days before. It felt like yesterday to me, but I was drugged for the entire week, how would I remember anything? Except those horrible dreams…
"Mom," Kyra said as she nearly ran into the room. She came over and carefully put her arms around me. The contact hurt, hell, everything hurts. "You're really awake." She said in relief, not letting up on me at all.
"Yeah, I guess I am." Was all I could manage to get out. She pulled back to look at me and she was crying. "Why're you crying?" I asked as I wiped the tears away. She just looked at me sadly.
"I'm sorry mom." She said quietly. I knew very well what she was saying sorry too. I pulled back from all contact with my daughter without a word.
"You feeling okay mom?" Cheyenne asked from my other side quietly. I just looked at her stupidly.
"How about you lose your baby, then I'll ask you how you feel?" I snapped. Scott put his hand on my arm.
"Reba, enough. Cheyenne didn't do anything wrong." He said in an almost stern voice. I pulled my arm away from him.
"Don't enough me." I snapped. I did feel guilt fill me though. I looked at a tearful Cheyenne. "I'm sorry Cheyenne." I said quietly. She took my hand.
"I know you didn't mean it mom, its okay." I wanted to pull my hand away more than anything, but I felt like I should let her hold it for a while.
"How bad is the food?" Van asked in his goofy way. I tried to smile.
"Wish I knew. They won't let me eat." He kind of just smiled.
X xx xxx xx x xx xxx xx x
After the kids left I was exhausted. I lay there trying to stay awake, afraid of what would happen if I closed my eyes.
"You're tired." Scott said as he pushed the hair off my face. I shook my head a little.
"No, I'm fine." He just smiled a little bit.
"Go to sleep honey, I'll be right here." He said as he rubbed the side of my face extra softly. I shook my head a little bit again.
"I can't." I said fighting it.
"Why not?" he was so soft and loving with me.
"I can't take any more dreams."
"They shouldn't come back honey." He said softly. "And I'm right here, I'm not going anywhere." I felt my eyes glaze a little bit.
"Promise?"
"I'll do better than that; I swear."
"Will you hold me?" I asked oddly. He smiled a little.
"Of course I will." I scooted over and he climbed in the bed with me. I rested my head on his chest as he carefully wrapped his arms around me.
"Thank you." I whispered. He kissed my forehead.
"I love you." He said softly against my hair. I slipped into a sound sleep as he rubbed my hair comfortingly.
X xx xxx xx x xx xxx xx x
I opened my eyes to find myself still in Scott's arms. He was asleep but holding me protectively still. I didn't want to move but at the same time I just wanted away from any touch. Out of the corner of my eye I saw someone adjusting themselves in a chair. I turned my head to see Lori Anne beside the bed. She sat up when she saw I was awake.
"Glad to see you're awake." She said attempting a smile. I slowly turned over, trying to avoid the pain, and faced her. Scott still had his arms around me. He leaned into me and held me to him. I rolled my eyes.
"I guess it's a good thing; or so they keep telling me." I said flatly. She shook her head at me with a little smile.
"It's a good thing." She said simply. I didn't say anything. I didn't feel like talking to anyone, even her. "You holding up?" she asked as she looked at me. I just looked at her for a long time.
"How did you handle it?" is all I asked. She let out a big sigh.
"I drank a lot." She got really quiet for a minute. "I just drank and let everything go. I couldn't bring myself to get close to anyone again. That's why I am the way I am now." She said quietly. I just looked at her.
"I tried to help you. I didn't know how." I said quietly. She just nodded.
"I know how to help you, you'll be alright honey. I won't let you become me." She said as she patted my hand. I just looked at the wall. "Stop it."
"Stop what?" I asked as I looked at her.
"You don't think I can't see all the 'why's' going through your head?" she asked with an edge to her voice. I didn't say a word as I looked away. "You'll kill yourself if you keep that up."
"What am I supposed to do? Accept the loss of my child and continue on with my life like nothing's wrong?" I snapped. Her face went hard with anger.
"I never said that, but if you burry yourself in grief, it'll be damn near impossible to find your way back to any kind of a life again." She snapped right back. I felt my tears overwhelm me as Scott sat up.
"What's going on?" he asked in a tired voice. Lori Anne just took a sip of her coffee and I sat up slowly, my every intention the bathroom. It hurt more than anything doing this on my own. Scott was quick to be in front of me, nearly picking me up.
"I can do it on my own." I said stubbornly. He ignored me.
"Honey, you can't even sit up on your own." I scoffed as I was carried to the bathroom like a helpless animal.
X xx xxx xx x xx xxx xx x
A few days later…
"When can I go home?" I asked the doctor for the millionth time this week.
"I've told you once already today; as soon as you're physically able to handle not being here, and we make sure you're stable mentally." I glared at him through narrowed eyes.
"I just lost a child, I will never be stable emotionally." He sighed.
"I meant in a healthier place, like if you'd talk to your councilor maybe we could set a goal but as of right now, you are very unable to go home."I let out an angry sigh as he left the room.
"Knock, knock." Someone said from the doorway. I looked up and my anger went away.
"Mr. Senator." I said surprised. He stepped into the room.
"Do you have a minute to talk?" I nodded. "I came to talk to you about the young girl Hailey."
"Is she alright?" were the first words out of my mouth. He nodded.
"She keeps asking about you. She saw you on the news." My eyes filled with tears.
"Will I ever be allowed to see her again?"
"It'll take a lot of work, but I'm still trying to get her into your custody."
"Is it still possible?"
"Mrs. Hart, anything's possible."