The next chapter, finally...
An hour later, the guests had all arrived and the party had and Frank were there with their son Sam, as well as Kaitlin and her boyfriend Sean. A few of Ryan and Taylor's friends were also there with their kids. So far, both Dawn and Frank being there hadn't caused too much of a problem. There was a bit of awkwardness when Frank and Julie arrived, but after that he and Dawn basically stayed away from each other.
Taylor stood at the back door, peering at the guests who were spread out throughout the backyard, making sure everything was running smoothly on Emily's big day. She was also trying to distract herself from the nausea that had been present in her stomach all morning. There was no way Taylor was going to let herself be sick at her daughter's first birthday party.
From what Taylor could see, everything was going fine. Kirsten, Dawn, Julie and one of Taylor's friends, Jenny were trying to organise a 'Pass-The-Parcel' game with Emily, Lucy, Sophie, Sam and the other children, though some were too little to know what was going on. Seth also joined in this game, throwing his fist up in the air triumphantly when he won a tiny stuffed bear. "It's for the baby," he remarked to Summer who was sitting nearby with Kaitlin and Sean. She just shook her head at her husband, making a comment on his lack of maturity before continuing her conversation with Kaitlin and Sean.
Sandy, Frank, Ryan and a few of Ryan and Taylor's friends were standing a few metres away from the game, talking and laughing at Julie's attempts to get a 1-year-old to let go of the parcel. "Julie, give up she's not going to let go," one of the men, Justin said, referring to his daughter Lauren.
"But the other children need to have turns too," Julie protested, refusing to let go of the parcel trapped in the toddlers little hands. "It's Emily's birthday and she even hasn't gotten a prize yet. And how did Seth win a prize?"
"He was whinging so I just let him have one," Kirsten replied, sounding like she had been talking about her two-year-old son, rather than her adult son.
"I resent that," Seth started, glaring at his mother, "I was complaining, not whinging."
Meanwhile, the new puppy was having a blast, running around sniffing all the guests, rolling around on the grass and playing with some of the children.
The party was pretty perfect, in an extremely strange way. It was nothing like the flashy Newport parties Taylor had been to over the years, but everyone was having a good time and that was all she had hoped for. Well, there was an exception to 'everyone', and it came in the form of Veronica Townsend. She had been sitting away from the rest of the party guests for the last half hour, sipping her champagne and looking like she would rather be anywhere but where she was. Taylor frowned at her mother, and contemplated going up to her, but decided against it because she didn't want to make a scene.
Taylor was suddenly distracted by the sound of the oven timer, alerting her that her mini quiches were now ready. Ignoring,the feeling of light-headedness she was experiencing, Taylor retreated back to the kitchen. As she grabbed an oven mit and took the two trays of quiches out of the oven, Ryan entered the kitchen. "Hey honey, you having a good time?" Taylor greeted him with a smile as she set down the last tray on the kitchen bench.
"Yeah, it's great," he replied. "Everyone's having a great time, except for your mother but she doesn't really count as a person. I think of her more as the devil incarnate, satan, the female form of Lucifer..."
"Yeah, I get your point," she remarked, as she transferred the quiches onto 2 serving plates. She then handed one of the plates to Ryan, "Pass this around and when your done, come back for the next plate. Oh and I really think you should start cooking the sausages on the bbq soon or they're not going to be ready in time for lunch," -she glanced at her watch- "it's already 11:30 and I wanted to serve lunch at around 1:00."
"Okay okay," Ryan nodded. "I'll start cooking the sausages. Tay, maybe you should come and sit with everyone now, you know relax a little," he suggested. "You should be enjoying Emily's party too."
"Believe me I'd love to, but there's too much to do," she remarked, as she made her way over to the refridgerator and took out two dishes of raw sausages and set them on the kitchen table.
"Don't worry about it," Ryan argued. "Just leave everything and come and socialise with everyone."
"I'll come out soon okay? Just give me 15 minutes," Taylor gave in.
"Okay but if you're not outside in 15 minutes I'm going to come back and get you myself," he warned his wife with a smirk.
Taylor just rolled her eyes and smiled as Ryan kissed her on the cheek, picked up the plates of sausages and the plate of quiches and left the room, just as Dawn entered. Ryan stopped to say hello to her before continuing to the backyard.
"Hi Taylor," Dawn greeted her, "need any help?"
"Uh, let's see..." she thought for a moment, looking around the kitchen. "Could you finish making the potato salad for me? The potatoes and the sauce are already made in the fridge, you just have to put them together."
"Sure," she replied walking towards the fridge.
"Thanks so much Dawn," Taylor smiled as she began to finish cutting up the cucumber for a salad that she had started to do earlier.
"No problem Taylor, I'm happy to help," she responded as she set the bowl of potatoes and the bowl of sauce on the kitchen bench and began to prepare them.
Taylor couldn't put her finger on it, but Dawn didn't seem like herself. Not that Taylor had known her very long to know what she usually acted like, but she could sense that something just wasn't right with Dawn. She didn't look happy at all infact, she looked miserable. Taylor was alarmed by her sudden realization and began to worry about what was wrong with Dawn.
Being the meddler she was, Taylor couldn't help herself and had to ask Dawn what was wrong, "Are you alright Dawn?" she asked, looking at the older women with concern. "You don't seem...well you just don't seem to be yourself today. What's the matter?"
Dawn looked up, suddenly being caught off-guard. "What are you talking about? I'm fine." She forced a smile to emphasize her statement.
"You're not fine," Taylor replied cautiously, not wanting to be too pushy. "I can tell by your body language and the way you're talking. Something's up."
"Taylor..."
"I'm sorry, I'm meddling aren't I? It's really a big problem but I'm working on it, I swear," she assured Dawn. The two women were silent for a moment before Taylor said gently, "Whatever it is, you can tell me Dawn."
Dawn looked at her reluctantly, "Alright...but you have to promise not to tell Ryan about this. I want to be the one to tell him, you know break it to him gently so he doesn't feel like it's his fault-"
"My rambling must be contagious," Taylor smiled, trying to liven up the mood a bit. "I wonder if that's ever been scientifically proven?"
"Was I rambling?"
"Yeah," she nodded.
"Sorry," Dawn apologized. "Anyway, the thing is...well...Greg and I, we've decided to get a divorce."
Taylor gasped, "Oh my God!" She set down the knife she was using and turned to direct her full attention towards the other woman, "I thought you guys were working things out."
"We tried Taylor!" Dawn exclaimed. "Believe me, we tried! The last thing either one of us wanted to do was get a divorce."
"Have you considered seeing a marriage counsellor?"
"What? Paying someone 100 bucks an hour to listen to your marital problems and private feelings...no thanks."
"Well, someone who's not emotionally involved in the situation could really help you," Taylor persisted.
Dawn shook her head, "No, I really wouldn't feel comfortable. And besides I filed for divorce a couple of days ago, the papers are going through as we speak and it will be finalized in a couple of months."
"I just- I don't believe this is happening," she replied. "Don't you love each other? Isn't that all you need to want to work on your problems to save your marriage?"
"Of course I love him, but it's a little more complicated than that," Dawn explained. "When your trust of a person who love is broken it's hard to rebuild, especially when the lie was about something so important to me."
Taylor sighed, "So there's nothing I can do to change your mind?"
She shook her head, "I'm sorry Taylor, my mind is made up. And once my minds made up, there's no point even trying to change it."
"Now I know where Ryan gets his stubbornness from," she replied. "Speaking of which, you know Ryan's going to blame himself for this, don't you?"
"I know," she nodded, "which is why I'm going to sit him down and have a talk with him tomorrow. I don't want to spoil Emily's party. I shouldn't have even told you. You shouldn't be spending today worrying about my problems."
Taylor smiled, "Well regardless, I'm glad you told me."
Suddenly, Ryan returned to the kitchen carrying an empty plate, "Well the quiches were a hit."
"That's great," Taylor nodded, smiling half-heartedly. Dawn also nodded.
Ryan looked from his wife to his mother and raised an eyebrow in confusion, "What's going on?"
"Nothing!" they both replied in unison.
"Yeah, Dawn and I were just getting a bit emotional thinking about Emily being so grown up," Taylor added.
"Honey, she's one."
"Uh...yeah...but she'll never be 11 months again. That's pretty sad."
Ryan looked at Taylor skeptically, "Okay. Now are you two going to tell me what's really going on?"
"I should go serve the next plate of quiches," Dawn said, quickly picking up the serving plate and making her way out of the kitchen.
Ryan looked at Taylor, implying that he wanted an explanation. "What? Why are you looking at me?" she asked.
"I know you know what's going on, just tell me."
"I can't, I've been sworn to secrecy."
"By my mother?"
"Maybe..."
"Oh come on Taylor!" Ryan persisted. "If this involves my Mom, don't you think I have a right to know."
"Look," she began seriously. "She'll tell you everything tomorrow, I promise. But for now, can't you just let it go and let everyone, including yourself, enjoy our daughter's birthday party?"
For a moment, Taylor thought that she had actually gotten through to him. "But why can't she just tell me now?" Ryan asked.
"Geez Ryan! Can you just listen to me for once in your life!"
"Okay, okay. I'll let it go...for now," he finally gave in. They were silent for a moment before Ryan remarked, "I'd better warn Emily and the baby about this temper of yours. They'll definitely never want to cross you."
"I don't have a temper."
"Then what do you call that huge outburst that came out of nowhere a few seconds ago?"
"That's not a temper, it's called frustration mixed with hormones. This pregnancy is really screwing with my emotions," Taylor commented. "Not to mention my digestive system," she added, clutching her stomach as she was overcome with another wave of nausea.
"You alright?" Ryan asked, wrapping one arm around her waist.
"Yeah, I just feel really nauseas," she replied, resting her head against his chest and shutting her eyes.
Ryan wrapped his arms around Taylor and rubbed her back in attempt to comfort her, "You know, we should really ask the doctor about this nausea. I don't think it's normal to be this sick all the time." After a few seconds, Taylor still hadn't replied, "Taylor?" he said. Ryan moved her away from him and realized with a panic, that Taylor was unconscious. "Oh my God! Taylor!" He moved her to the floor, laying her down with her head resting on his lap, "Someone help!" Ryan called out, hoping someone from the party would hear him.
Kirsten, who had been heading to the kitchen to help Taylor, was the first to hear Ryan's call for help. She ran into the kitchen and gasped when she saw Taylor on the floor. "Oh my God, what happened Ryan?"
"I don't- I don't know," he stuttered, panicking. "She felt sick and she just passed out...I don't know what happened."
"It's alright, just keep her there," Kirsten replied, picking up the phone. "I'm calling an ambulance."
Kaitlin and Summer entered the kitchen as Kirsten finished dialling. "Oh my God, Taylor!" Summer exclaimed as she and Kaitlin knelt down beside her.
"What the hell happened Ryan? Is she okay? Is the baby okay?" Kaitlin demanded.
"I don't know!" he exclaimed. "If I did know, I wouldn't be freaking out so much, would I?!"
Kaitlin was silent. Ryan had never yelled at her like that before. She decided to keep her mouth shut until the ambulance arrived.
"The ambulance is on it's way now," Kirsten announced, resting her hand on Ryan's shoulder. "Don't worry, she's going to be okay."
The ambulance ride seemed like the longest 20 minutes in Ryan's entire life...
Longer than the extra 20 minutes he had to wait when Taylor's plane from France had been delayed when she returned home from college.
Longer than the 20 minutes he had stood at the end of the aisle, with Seth as his best man, on his and Taylor's wedding day, waiting for her to walk down the aisle and marry him.
And even longer than the hour long car ride he took from his business meeting to the hospital, when Summer had called and told him that Taylor had gone into labour with Emily.
The paramedics in the ambulance did all they could to help Taylor and did their best to reassure Ryan that his wife and unborn child would be okay. Regardless of this, Ryan was terrified. All he could think of was losing Taylor and/or the baby.
When they arrived at the hospital, Taylor was wheeled away by a bunch of hospital staff and through a blue plastic door and out of Ryan's sight. He had no choice but to sit, wait and play over different scenarios of what could happen to Taylor and the baby in his mind, each more horrible than the last. Luckily, a few minutes later Kirsten, Sandy and Veronica showed up and distracted him from his thoughts. They were followed by, Summer, Kaitlin and Frank. Dawn, Julie, Seth and Sean had stayed behind at the house to mind the kids and the rest of the guests had been sent home with promises of phone calls to let them know how Taylor was doing.
The group of eight sat in the waiting room, anxiously awaiting news from Taylor's doctor. Half an hour later, a nurse emerged from behind two large sheets of blue plastic that acted as a door between the waiting room and the hallway of patients' rooms. She glanced down at her clipboard, then announced, "Ryan Atwood?"
Ryan jumped up from his seat, "How is she? Is the baby okay? Can I see her?"
"The doctor will answer all your questions in a moment," she replied. "For now, your wife is awake and she's asking to see you."
"What about me?" Veronica asked, storming over to the nurse. "I'm her mother, I demand that I be allowed to see her."
"Uh, I think one person is all she'll be able to handle at the moment mam."
"That's outrageous! She's pregnant, not terminally ill! Let me see my daughter!"
"Veronica!" Ryan exclaimed. "I know you're worried, we all are, but just let me go in and see her and I'll come let you know if I find out anything. Okay?"
She nodded, sitting back down, "Thank you Ryan."
Ryan took a split second to be surprised that a nice thing had actually come out of Veronica's mouth, before following the nurse through the blue plastic doors.
When he saw Taylor sitting up in her hospital bed, awake but slightly drowsy, Ryan sighed in relief.
"Ryan," she said extending her arms to hug him.
Ryan returned the hug happily, holding onto her tightly. As they pulled away, he realized that Taylor had been crying, "Are you okay?"
"I-I don't know," she sobbed. "they won't tell me anything, it's ridiculous."
"I know. Look, I'm going to go find someone who can tell us what the hell is going on," Ryan said to her.
"No, don't leave," Taylor replied, shuffling over to one side of the bed. She patted the spot next to her, "Here, come sit with me."
Ryan nodded, not being able to disagree with his distraught wife. He sat down next to her on the bed and wrapped his arms around her, "I'm sure everything's fine."
"You're just saying that to make me feel better."
"No I'm not. Everything will be fine," he replied. "It has to be."
"Oh my God, where's Emily?" Taylor asked suddenly.
"Don't worry, she's at home with Seth."
"That's supposed to make me feel better?"
"Oh, don't worry, Dawn, Julie and Sean are with him," he assured her.
"I can't believe I ruined our daughter's birthday party," Taylor groaned.
"I don't think she minds," Ryan replied. "I'm sure she'd rather have her Mommy safe. Besides, she's not even going to remember the party. We can just tell her it was a huge success."
"But we didn't even get a chance to cut the cake, or take pictures."
"So we'll dress her up and take a picture of her with some balloons and a cake, she won't know the difference," he joked, trying to liven up the mood a bit.
"That's terrible," Taylor smiled weakly.
"I know," he replied.
They sat in silence for a moment, until the doctor finally came in. "Hi Doctor Miller," Taylor said softly.
Ryan nodded politely, "Doctor Miller."
"We had a bit of a scare today, didn't we?" Doctor Miller replied. "Well I just want to begin by assuring you that your baby is fine."
"Oh thank God," Taylor said, sighing in relief.
"So why did she pass out?" Ryan asked.
"I'd say a lack of energy and dehydration. Have you eaten anything today Mrs Atwood?" the doctor asked.
"Well I ate a piece of toast this morning, but I just ended up throwing it up," Taylor explained. "Throughout this pregnancy I haven't been able to keep anything down."
"Hmm...well I'm going to prescribe you some pills specially made for extreme cases of morning sickness," Doctor Miller announced. "You'll also have to try to take it easy over the next 5 months. Eat a healthy, balanced diet and try to get at least 8 hours of sleep each night."
Taylor nodded, "I can do that."
"I also want to keep you here overnight for observation, just to be safe" the doctor continued. "I'll be back in a few hours to check on you."
"Thank you Doctor," Ryan nodded, shaking his hand.
"Yes, thank you so much," Taylor added.
When the doctor left the room, Ryan turned to Taylor, "So do you think you can handle taking in easy?"
"Of course," she replied. He looked at her skeptically. "I know it's going to be difficult for me, but if it's for the health of our baby I can do it."
Ryan smiled and kissed his wife gently, "I'm just so glad you're both okay. When I was in that ambulance with you, all I could think of was losing you or the baby."
"Well you don't have to think about that anymore, because we're okay," Taylor smiled.
"Yeah, thank God."
Suddenly, Taylor thought of what had happened earlier with Dawn, "Ryan, you really need to find time to talk to your mom."
"What's that all about anyway?"
"I told you, I can't tell you," she replied. "You'll have to ask her."
Ryan sighed, knowing he would never get anything out of Taylor.
Ryan had spent the last few hours at the hospital with Taylor and had just gotten home at 8:00pm. By this time, everyone but Veronica and Dawn had gone home, since they were staying over that night. They had stayed at Ryan and Taylor's house to look after Emily while Ryan had been at the hospital.
Ryan finally arrived home and was greeted at the door by his daughter, who walked as quickly as she could towards him squealing, "Dada!" She was followed by the puppy who jumped up on Ryan, wagging her tail happily.
He smiled and patted the puppy, before picking Emily up and giving her a hug, "Hey kiddo, I missed you today."
"Mama?" she said, looking at her father for an answer.
"Mommy's not here sweetie, but she's coming home tomorrow, I promise," he replied.
The toddler just stared back at him blankly with a frown on her face, looking like she was about to cry.
"Oh don't worry Em, Daddy's here," Ryan said, smiling at her reassuringly. "And so is Grandma Dawn and Grandma Veronica."
"Grandma Veronica!" Veronica exclaimed as she came into the living room with Dawn. "You're making me sound like an 80-year-old!"
"Well what do you want your grand-daughter to call you?" Ryan asked her.
"Something not so embarrassing for starters," she rolled her eyes.
"How's Taylor doing?" Dawn asked, changing the subject before things got ugly.
"Better," Ryan nodded. "She just needs to take it easy over the next few months and she'll be fine."
"That's good news."
"Yeah, I was expecting the worst this morning."
"I think we all were," Veronica added. "But the important thing is Taylor and the baby are both okay."
Ryan nodded. "Uh, why don't I go make us some dinner?"
"You, cook dinner?" Dawn smirked, glancing at Veronica, who also smirked.
"Ryan I doubt you can cook toast," Veronica added. "If it wasn't for Taylor you would have starved to death by now."
He pretended to act shocked, "As a matter of fact, I make the best damn toast in the country. I'll prove it to you right now," he added, setting Emily down. Ryan then made his way towards the kitchen, with the puppy following close behind him.
Veronica and Dawn looked and each other and laughed. Veronica then took Emily by the hand and said to her, "Emily sweetie, why don't we go find the take-out menus, cos if we rely on your Daddy we'll be eating burnt toast."
"I think the menus are in the draw over there," Dawn said, pointing. "I'm going to go see if Ryan's burnt down the house yet."
Dawn then left Veronica and Emily and went into the kitchen to talk to Ryan. He had just gotten the toaster out and was putting a few pieces of toast in it.
"I wouldn't bother with the toast," Dawn said, "Veronica's already going for the take-out menus."
"She doesn't trust me?"
"I don't think anyone trusts your culinary abilities honey," she replied, "no offense." Dawn suddenly noticed the puppy sitting at Ryan's feet. "That dog really likes you, doesn't she?"
"Yeah," Ryan agreed, looking down at the dog. "She's been following me around since she got here, I don't know why."
"She knows who her Dad is already."
Ryan then decided to change the subject to what had been bothering him for the last few hours, "So, what's the big secret you and Taylor are keeping from me?" he asked.
Dawn sighed, "I knew you would bring this up."
"Of course I am, I want to know what's going on."
"Okay," she nodded, "I'll tell you, but you can't blame yourself for this Ryan. This is between Greg and I, it has nothing to do with you, or anything you did."
Ryan nodded, "Go on."
Dawn took a deep breath, "Greg and I....are getting a divorce."
"Oh no, Mom you can't," he protested. "Not because of me."
"What did I say about blaming yourself?"
"Well its kind of hard not to when it's my fault!" Ryan argued. "If I hadn't been so overprotective and didn't do that background check on Greg, none of this would have happened."
"You were looking out for me Ry and I appreciate it, I really do," Dawn smiled. "But Greg and I have decided that this is the best thing for both of us and I need you to accept it too."
"Are you sure this is really what you want?" he asked. "Because if it is, I'll let you get the divorce and I won't interfere."
She looked at him seriously, "This is what I want."
Ryan was silent for a moment before murmering, "Okay."
"Thanks Ry," Dawn smiled, pulling her son into a hug.
Ryan returned the hug, surprised by how comfortable he felt with his mother for the first time in his life.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter! By the way, I need people to suggest names for the dog (girl names) and names for the baby which can be boys and girls names since I haven't decided what it will be yet. Include these in your reviews please =D thanks.