Tim's Baby Girl
Chapter 7
Three days after losing one of the babies, Chloe was deemed physically stable enough to leave the hospital. Tim argued that she wasn't mentally ready but that didn't seem to stand as a reason for her to stay for any longer than the three scheduled days for a miscarriage of one twin.
That morning, Tim and Noah came to pick her up. Noah gave her a kiss which was returned lifelessly. Tim wrapped her into his arms and once again felt tears fall onto his shoulder, dampening his clean shirt. "Hey, let's go home. Aunty Mindy made your favourite and Matt, Julie and the Taylors are coming for dinner and we're going to talk about living arrangements for the little one. Isn't that cool?" Tim was doing his best to lighten the subject and focus on the baby that was coming in less than 6 months. Chloe shrugged and began walking in the direction of the carpark.
The past few days had seen Chloe barely mutter more than 2 words at a time. Noah was grieving to, just in less obvious ways. On the drive home, a sad silence hung in the air making for an uneasy inside the car. Arriving swiftly at the Riggins homestead, Noah jumped out of the car and opened the door for his broken-hearted girlfriend. Attempting to make her feel better, he tried to hold her hand but she subtly shrugged out of it and went to the front door.
Before she could turn the knob, Tim reached out and did it for her; ushering her into their home. Brushing it off without saying anything, she walked in and saw her Aunt and Uncle sitting on the couch. "Hey sweetie, how are you feeling?" Mindy looked at her with concern written all over her face. "I'm fine, I'm actually just going to go to bed. I'm not very hungry."
Walking away before anyone could say anything, she entered her room and closed the blinds; plunging the room into imminent darkness. Tears fell down her cheeks, rubbing her belly; feeling dead inside. Sobs could be heard echoing through the walls. Tim walked out of the house muttering something about needing a beer. Billy followed, in hope of comforting his brother who had not handled the past week well. Mindy and Noah stayed sitting in an uncomfortable silence. "Um, I…I have to go. I'll be back later. Um they said not to let her overexert herself. Bye Mindy." Noah scurried out and jumped into his car.
Driving out the driveway and onto a dirt road, Noah sat in his car and cried. He had been doing this a lot for the past three days. He felt uncomfortable with the idea of putting all that unnecessary pressure onto his family and there was no way he put that on Chloe. He didn't want her to feel like it was her fault or that he blamed her in any way; which he didn't, not at all. Pulling himself together, he ventured back to his house.
After waking up from her nap, she noticed her dad asleep in the corner with a pillow tucked into his arms, laying in an upright position on a hard desk chair. Three days ago she would've thought it was cute and sweet that he loved her so much. Now she found it weird and uncomfortable. Startling himself awake, he looked over and saw her eyes getting teary again. She pulled herself together and rolled over, facing the wall. "I'm going to get something to eat. What do you want?" Tim asked in a soft tone, reserved purely for his daughter. "Nothing, I'll eat later." Chloe answered never once moving towards her father. "Right, well dinner is in a couple of hours so if you want to have a nice hot bath or something, you could…" Anything to make you feel better. He thought to himself, worried she was going to let this destroy her, not letting the baby she did have take her full heart and attention. "I'm fine." Like most of her replies these days, if she bothered to answer it was short and left no room for continuation.
Without bothering to say anything else, he walked out closing the door sharply. "I don't know what to do anymore, Billy." Tim spoke to his brother as he walked into the kitchen. He knew his brother was knowledgeable on this touchy subject and to be honest with himself he needed as much help as he could get. "Don't let this get the better of her or Noah. Stay on top of them, don't let them just be with their thoughts. Or you are going to come home to something unthinkable. She may hate you now but you'll hate yourself a hell of a lot more if something happens to any of them." Billy spoke from the heart, the hurt evident throughout his spiel; showing how much the couple did still blame themselves for what happened to their baby girl. "I think I've got the perfect solution."
Banging at her door, woke Chloe from her slumber. "Hop up and put on some nice clothes for dinner please." She could tell her father wasn't joking but wondered where that tone came from. She could hear voices coming from the living room. Deciding against her father's wishes, she climbed back into bed.
Footsteps walking up and down the hallway, having whispered conversation, stopped her from having yet another nap. She lay there, waiting for them to leave. Suddenly another knocking rattled the walls. "Come on Chloe, I've got a surprise." Even though her dad's tone had changed, she made the decision that she wasn't leaving her room tonight or maybe even tomorrow.
The door was opened and light burst into the room, in the form of Tyra Colette. The, hopefully, saving grace. The one that would help rebuild this family, and help heal the young girl from her depression and make her believe in herself and this baby again.