For The Love Of A Child
Chapter Ten- One Year Later
Dr. Lu Delgado sat in the window of her townhouse bedroom and starred out at the January sunset. She watched the snow fall and day dreamed about when she lived in her small two bedroom apartment and would look out the windows to see groups of co-ed teenagers huddled together to stay warm against the brisk January wind.
'It's so quiet in here.' Lu thought to herself. Event though Brittany , their one year old daughter, and Alley were playing gracefully down stairs with their big sister Jaden, It was too quiet somehow and it chilled her.
Even though she was still discovering form her eating-disorder Lu had begun to do better. She was eating and she wasn't purging or cutting so much, she just flat out wasn't eating. She still had a case of depression, but since came home safe and sound not even that was so horrible.
"Guess who?" Jonas asked playfully. He and Lu had made up and now they were both caring for Kimberly , which turned out to be perfectly normal.
"Jonas cut that out!" Lu scolded playfully. Even though she was laughing.
She laughed as she hopped out of the bay window and chased her husband around the bed and playpen, down the hall and the stairs until they both collapsed on the couch laughing.
"Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma!" Brittany cried excitably as she ran over to her Mommy and Daddy. She wanted to play too.
"You wanta play?" Jonas asked his daughter before Lu could answer.
"Da! Da! Da! Da! Da! Da!" She cried happily lifting her arms to be lifted up.
Jonas picked up his baby girl and lifted her up high over his head and ran with her
"Be careful with her Jonas!" Lu warned she hadn't quite gotten over what had happened a year ago. She still was overprotective of her little girl.
Lu sank onto the couch and pulled a heavy pillow over hear head which began to throb painfully.
"Ma! Ma! Ma! MA! Look!" Britt cried
"I know baby doll I see you." She mumbled. Today was not one of her better days." What time is it?" Lu mumbled grumpily.
"Seven pm." Jonas said, looking at his watch.
"Shoot! I'm gonna be late! I told Dana I would go back to the clinic, something about one of her patients. Can you please watch the kids for me?" When Jonas said sure Lu jumped up and began putting herself together.
Lu hurried to shower and pulled on a pair of Mudd Jeans and a thin black Mudd sweater. Lu pulled on her jacket and tennis shoes, gave Brittany and Alley a quick hug and kiss and then ran out of the door in a split second.
"Do you see what I see?" Dana asked Lu as they stood side by side looking at the x-rays of internal damage and broken bones.
"It looks like abuse to me. How old is this patient of yours?" Lu asked concerned.
"He's six years old. His mother said he fell out of a tree house this morning, but I think there could be something else going on." Dana said as she looked at the x-rays.
"How's Katie doing?" Lu asked trying to lighten the subject a couple of hours later.
"She's fine. She has a little cold though. How's our Miracle baby?" Dana asked. Ever since Brittany had come home in perfect health a year before, that was her nick name.
"She's fine. She's going to start coming to Day Care here at the clinic form now on. I want to keep an eye on her."
"Lu honey don't you think your being a little too protective of her?"
"No."
"Oh yeah Hon you have an appointment tomorrow. I have to do your weekly checkup."
"Do I have to Dana?"
"Yup you do."
"What time?"
"After we go to lunch….Remember we have a lunch date?"
"I remember Dana."
"Just wanting to make sure."
Jonas and Lu lye in bed, cuddled in each others arms. They stayed like this until they were sure they wasn't going to get any interruptions and then they began passionately making out. (Maybe even a little more than that.)
"Oh Jonas!" Lu screamed as they rolled around on the bed kissing and panting.
"Mmmmmpppppphhhhhh, oooooohhhhh, mmmmmmmppppphhhhh!" Jonas said as they kissed each other all over. "I want you to have my baby."
"I've already had your baby twice!" Lu said smiling.
"Again, lets do it again! Lets try for Britt and Alley a little brother or sister!"
Jonas and Lu continued making love before they pulled apart and lye on the bed breathless. Lu smiled at Jonas warmly.
"They have a big brother and a big sister." Lu said catching her breath as they connected again and began kissing and making out all over again.
"Not by me." He said as he pushed himself inside of her and moaned again. " You always said that you want a big family." Jonas kissed and kissed her.
"Jonas I'm scared. I almost lost one baby due to my eating disorder. It wouldn't be wise to get pregnant again. I couldn't risk my baby's life like that again."
"Nothing's gonna happen."
"I have an appointment with Dana tomorrow." Lu started.
"And if everything's ok then we can have another baby?" Jonas asked with a smile.
Lu and Jonas played around for about a half hour more, before they snuggled close and fell asleep in each others arms.
"Ma ma! Wahhhhh! Ma!" Brittany cried. It was four am and she was burning up.
Lu unwound form Jonas and then rushed to her youngest daughters room.
"God Brittany your burning up!" Lu took her baby's pajamas off and sat her in a bathtub half full of cool water.
"Mommy I no feel good!" Brittany cried as her mommy sponged her off with the cool water.
"It's OK baby. Here let Mommy dress you." Lu said as she lifted the baby out of the tub and dried her off.
"I hot mommy!" Britt exclaimed as her mom put a diaper and a tea shirt on her.
"I know baby. I know."
Lu took the baby's temperature and it came out one hundred and one point five degrees. Lu gave Brittany baby aspirin and a bottle full of juice, then she rocked her crying child in the rocking chair in her room.
That is exactly how Jonas found them. Cuddled up in each others arms, together in the rocking chair. The birds were singing and the sunlight beamed in form the window making them look like angels.
For The Love Of A Child
Chapter Ten Part Two- The Accident
Lu, after telling Jaden where she was going, hurried to strap her two smallest daughters into their car seat. Ignoring Brittany's screaming and crying. It was late and Lu was beyond stressed. Jonas had left that morning for ANOTHER business trip and would be gone for two weeks. Jaden was too young to baby-sit overnight (by the state law) and so Lu had to take the two children with her when she was paged 9-1-1 form the clinic.
"Please stop crying Brittany!" Lu tried to coax her youngest daughter while she threw the diaper bag in the back seat floor board.
"It's no fair mommy ! I don't wanta go bye bye! I want to stay with Jaden!" Lu's four year old daughter Alley protested.
"No go bye bye!" Britt agreed. It was true that Lu had to wake Alley and Brittany up when the pager went off. It was an emergency. Lu made sure that the babies were properly strapped in and then she shut the door. A heavy icy rain began to fall.
"Ma! MA! MA! MA! MA! MA! MA!" Britt cried loudly as she tried to get her mothers attention.
"Alley honey please see if you can get your sister to stop crying!" Lu requested.
Alley began to play with Brittany and her toys and for a moment the child stopped crying but soon she began crying again.
"She's not stopping mommy!" Allison informed her mother.
"It OK sweetie try and go to sleep."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Brittany honey please stop crying! The rains really bad and mommy's trying to drive."
"MA! MA! MA! Go home! I want sissy!" The baby cried sadly.
"Sissy's at home doing her homework."
"Jay-Jay! Jay-Jay! Jay-Jay crying ma ma!"
"She's not crying she's at home just fine!" Lu reassured the baby.
"No she's not Mommy! Something really bad's going to happen to Jaden Mommy because she's really sad." The four year old piped up.
"Kids your sister's at home. Were not going back home! Now GO TO SLEEP!" Lu said as she was careful not to miss her turn.
"Mommy! Turn the car around now Sissy's in trouble!" Alley yelled at her mother and Brittany was shrieking like someone was killing her.
Lu looked at her daughters through the rear view mirror. Their faces were blotchy and red and real tears were falling down their faces.
"Stop yalls fussing do you want me to tell your daddy?" Lu said although she was beginning to worry.
"No ma'am." Allison said although she and her sister was still crying.
"How about when we get to the hospital I'll let you call your sissy."
"OK!" The little girl said gloomy.
In the split second that she was looking at her daughters her car hit an icy patch of water and her car began spinning out of control.
The driver in the other car couldn't have seen Lu struggling to get her car under control, but the fact that he was drunk as a skunk didn't help things. He hit the back of Lu's car at full speed and made her fly forward and hit the windshield.
It took Lu a second to regain cautions , but when she did she unbuckled herself and went straight to the back seat to check and see if her babies were ok.
"Babies are yall OK?" Lu checked her daughters over. There was not a single bump, scrape, or bruise on either of the children. "I'm so glad that you two are ok."
"Mommy you have an ouchie!" Alley cried.
"Mommy's Ok sweetie. Stay in the car, and help mommy watch your baby sister."
"OK!" Alley agreed happily.
Lu saw the person who hit her standing next to a very old car.
"What in the hell do you think your doing?" Lu screamed as she approached the badly damaged car. The drunken man was standing beside it.
"Who are you?" He asked her.
"I'm the lady with two babies that you almost ran over." She thought of all the horrible things that could have happened to her babies.
"You shouldn't have been in my way bitch!" The man yelled at Lu.
"Your not safe to drive besides your car is totaled." Lu said realizing that she and her two babies could be dead right now.
Lu got out her phone and called 9-1-1 reporting the accident.
"An ambulance and a police officer will be around in about five minutes." Lu left the man and went over to the car to see that her two children had fallen asleep.
"Please lady don't press charges. If the cops put one more DWI on my file my car will be impounded."
"Well maybe that's the best! You could have killed me and my two children." Lu said in a calm voice.
"You need help." Lu realized for the first time that her head was pounding. When she placed her hand on her for head she realized that it was bleeding.
"South Philly PD!" An ambulance and a police officer rolled up.
"Officer there's no lasting damage. Neither of us are hurt or want to press charges. Except I do have one request."
"What is that Mrs. Delgado?"
"I want this man in rehab and I want him to stay behind bars for a few hours until he can sober up. He could have killed us!"
"That sounds reasonable."
Lu signed the papers saying that she was not to press any charges. Then she jumped back into her car and split. The bleeding in her head was worsening, but she had to get to work. Someone had paged her 9-1-1. Soon Brittany woke and began to fuss again. Lu sighed and drove on.
"Brittany PLEASE STOP FUSSING!" Lu said in an amused but irritated tone to her youngest daughter.
"NO!" Brittany yelled even louder as she held her arms up to be lifted.
"Brittany I'm driving!" Lu exclaimed she saw the road she needed, quickly turning off, thanking God she had finally reached Philly. What was normally a twenty minute drive had wound up taking over an hour, due to the accident. Her head was pounding worse then it had before as she pulled into the parking lot and parked in her normal spot.
Lu un-strapped the two children and pulled the double stroller out of the trunk and sat them in it. Grabbing her purse and the diaper bag she locked her car and pushed the children into the hospital.
"Kayla! Honey what are you doing?" As she came upon a friend of hers who happened to be an ER doctor.
"My shift ends in about thirty seconds and I was going to go home." Then Kayla noticed that Lu was bleeding. "OMG! LU what the heck happened to you?"
"We were in an accident and my head hit the windshield. No big deal. My babies are OK and that's all that matters now." Lu said as she looked down at the sleeping babies.
"Let me fix your head up it will only take a second." Kayla said as she followed Lu into her office.
"Really Kayla it's OK but I do need a favor."
"Sure lay it on me. What do ya need girl?"
"Could you keep an eye on the children for me? Their sleeping they wouldn't be any trouble at all."
"Sure no problem now come your little skinny self over here and let me fix your head up!" Kayla demanded as she found the liquid stitches and cleaning supplies.
"Ok fine but no-shit Kayla I really need to find Dana." Lu said as she pushed the children's stroller over towards her desk and gently laid the children in the play pen.
Lu sat down and let Kayla clean and stitch up her head.
"Ok I'm going to apply a general anesthetic so you don't feel any pain. Then I'll clean you the cut and stitch you up."
"OK Kayla I know I'm a doctor too remember? But please hurry Dana needs me. She paged me 9-1-1 form her cell phone."
"OMG Lu didn't you hear?" Kayla asked as she started stitching up Lu's head.
"Ouch! Hear what?" Lu yelled . Her head wasn't numb yet.
"Sorry Dr. Delgado!" Kayla waited a couple of minutes and then finished the remaining twenty five stitches.
"Hear what?" Lu asked again sitting perfectly still, on the exam bed.
"I can't believe nobody told you!"
"(With an attitude) Told me what?" Lu asked getting annoyed.
"Dana had an accident."
'What kind of an accident?"
For along time Kayla didn't speak. Then she looked Lu in the eye.
"Dana was brought in here about an hour ago. She was pretty beaten up. She came in by ambulance. She called and asked us to go get the kids. Their asleep in her office."
In Dana's Office
"Annie! Annie! Annie!" Little Luisa cried as she tossed and turned on the large fold out couch that was very comfortable.
"What's the matter sissy?"
"I had a bad dream Annie!"
"What was it about sweetie?"
"What daddy did to mommy."
Annie scooted over and took her little sister firmly by the shoulders so that they were face to face.
"You saw what daddy did to mommy and you didn't tell me?"
"I sorry sissy! I know I was suppose to be sleeping, but I had a bad dream. I went to mommy's room, but they were gone and so I went to the living room because I heard them talking."
"Then what happened Lu Lu?"
"Daddy hit mommy and knocked her down to the floor. She didn't move so he…he took out his knife and cut her on the arms and on the neck. He kicked her and a few seconds later she closed her eyes." Luisa was now crying.
"Then what Lu Lu?"
"Daddy saw me and I ran and hid behind the couch. I was scared he would do to me what he did to Mommy. Daddy left and then I called 9-1-1, because that's what Mommy always told me to do if some got hurt then I paged Aunt Lu like Mommy taught me to do. Am I going to get into trouble Annie?"
"No, No you won't get into trouble. Where's Mommy at? How did we get into the hospital?"
"Kayla and Peter came and got us."
"Hey you two. What are ya'll doing awake?" Kayla asked as she walked into the office. To check on Dana's three children.
"Lu Lu had a bad dream Kayla." Annie said as she tucked her little sister back into bed and then went and sat next to her.
"Are you OK now Lu Lu?" Kayla asked the small child.
"Yes ma'am" She noticed that Kayla was holding a small baby.
"OK try and go to sleep sweetheart. I'm going to go put Brittany back in with her sister now that she's asleep again too."
'Lu's computer desk is HUGE' Kayla though to herself a few minutes later once the baby was back in the play pen. Annie had followed her into Lu's office and was hesitant to go back to sleep.
"Kayla where's Mommy?" Annie asked , snuggling into Kayla's lap.
"She's still in surgery hon."
"Is she gonna be OK?"
"I don't know baby. We'll have to wait and see."
"I know what happened. Lu Lu told me." The young girl had sad tears falling.
"You should try and get some sleep."
"No! I want to see my Mommy!"
"Darling your Mommy had to have an operation. She'll be out of surgery in about two hours so you will be able to see her when you wake up in the morning. Don't worry. Your Aunt Lu and some of my other friends are taking real good care of her." Kayla said trying to convince the ten year old.
"Kayla I trust you. Can you go and help my Mommy too?" The young girl looked up at Kayla and at once she knew what her answer would be.
Kayla walked up to the OR and scrubbed in after Annie fell asleep.
"This is really deep no wonder she passed out!" The surgeon exclaimed as he stitched up Dana's neck and arms. "Does anyone know what happened?"
"Five year old little girl witnessed the whole ordeal." Kayla answered.
"Are you sure she's a witness?"
"Uh huh" Kayla was watching the surgeon work.
"She'll have to talk to the police if Dana decides to press charges."
"Is she old enough?" Kayla asked perplexed.
"Well state law says you have to be six or older. But every city has their own laws." The surgeon finished up and washed his hands.
"Will she be OK?" Kayla asked. There was a fear and strain in her voice.
"Let's wheel her up to recovery. She's stable for the moment but the next twenty four hours are the most crucial. How are you holding up?"
"I'm fine why do you ask?"
"Should I count the reasons? Number one, one of your good friends is in crucial condition and may not make it through the night, Reason two, you've just pulled a double shift and now your babysitting for five kids, and reason three, you look like hell!"
"Oh thanks a lot Mr. 'I'm the best looking guy in the world.' I'm fine you really don't have to worry none about me."
"Their fine. All five of them are asleep. Luisa was pretty shook in up over this whole event. All Annie wants to do is see her Mommy, and Katie's really to young to fully understand what's going on."
"Little Luisa sounds pretty brave."
"She is believe me. Do you know she's the one who called 9-1-1?"
"Let's make sure her mother lives to see her little hero.
In a moment of despair over the brutal decision she made to terminate her pregnancy over a year ago fourteen year old Jaden stole her step-dads gun and took a bus the twenty miles to RWHC where the abortion was preformed, and where her new mom was with her baby sisters. With the gun in her pocket she climbed the outside stairs until she was on the roof.
Making sure that nobody followed her she walked over to the ledge and held the gun to her own head. And without a moments hesitation, she pulled the trigger.