Chapter 73
Ella woke slowly hearing the excited girls in the next room. She got up equally as slowly and made her way to the bathroom, feeling an ache low in her back. She tried to ignore it as she got under the shower. She felt a strange feeling low in her belly and moaned. Climbing out of the shower she bent double as the first cramp struck her.
"No, not today." She gasped. "Please not today."
She got as far as the hallway when she collapsed in pain and screamed for Roman.
He came running up the stairs and paled when he saw her on the floor. He carried her onto the bed and Nic came rushing out of her room wearing her wedding dress.
"Dad?" she asked slowly.
"Sit with her Nic." He said.
He walked over to the dresser and phoned for an ambulance.
"Please step mama." Nic said stroking her hair. "Not today. You don't want to ruin my wedding now do you?" Nic started crying.
Ella rolled herself into a ball as another cramp went through her.
"Sorry Nic." She said through her teeth. "You need to get married without me there I think."
Nic shook her head.
"No chance Mama." She said.
Her teeth started chattering.
"Nic please."
Nic shook her head, her carefully styled hair falling around her face.
She held Ella's hand.
"We'll have to have the wedding another day that's all." She said.
They heard the ambulance arrive and the paramedics came in.
"She's 14 weeks pregnant. We think she's losing the baby." he said, feeling a wave of pain wash over him.
She was placed on a stretcher and taken out to the waiting ambulance. Roman climbed in the back of the ambulance with her. They sped off and Nic moaned again when she heard the sirens come on.
She turned to Annie and Ruby.
"We need to cancel everything. I have to see Geoff. I don't know what to do." She started crying again.
Looking up she saw Mike and opened her arms to him. He ran over to her and she held him.
"She is going to be ok." Nic promised.
She looked at Annie and saw she was crying. Ruby took her in her arms too and they stood there for a while trying to pull themselves together.
"Right. I'll let the church know." Annie said wiping her eyes.
"I'll tackle the hotel." Ruby said.
"I'll talk to Harry and sort the catering." Mike said wiping his eyes. "I'll give Yannis a call too."
"Tell Harry to deliver the food to homeless shelters or something. Somebody should get something out of today."
She jumped when her phone rang.
"Hello?" she said.
"Nic." Geoff said.
"You heard?" she asked puzzled, wondering how he could know so soon. She walked into the kitchen and then saw the cake box from Colleen. She groaned.
"I'm sorry Nic." Geoff said.
"Me too Geoff." She said sadly to him. "But we'll find another day."
"No." he interrupted. "I'm sorry I can't do it. Nic it isn't you. You are wonderful but I can't marry you."
"Geoff, I don't understand. Where are you? Let's talk." She said.
"Nic, Colleen said that you accused Ella of ruining your day." He told her.
"Well that is true but I was joking because Ella needed me to." Nic gasped feeling tears fall down her face. "She wants us to still get married today."
"I know you wouldn't say anything mean Nic, not to Ella."
"Then why Geoff I don't understand this. We love each other." She moaned, feeling pain wash over her.
"Because of me. I don't know how to tell you but for a time today after I heard what Colleen said about you I was my old judgmental self. I got mad at you for saying that. For a moment I was mad adn I ahted myself. You've been so worried about being your old self I never gave a thought to what I'm like and I can't be the man you want me to be. I am so sorry, Nic." He sighed.
"But that's…" she glanced at her phone display and saw that he had hung up on her.
She looked up and saw that Aden was at the door.
"I'm sorry Princess." He said.
She cried out and started sobbing falling to the floor. They tried to comfort her but she pushed them away. They left her alone while they sorted out the rest of the wedding. Eventually Mike came over to her and put his hand out. She looked at him and put her hand out. They held hands for a time.
"Nic. You've been here an hour. I need you to take me to the hospital so I can see Mum." He said to her.
She nodded and stood up. Nic looked at everyone.
"Is it done?" she asked. "Is it cancelled?"
Ruby nodded.
Nic looked down and then grabbed her car keys.
"Nic, don't you think you should get changed." Annie said.
Nic shook her head.
"No today is my wedding day and I want to wear my dress." She said. "It is the only wedding dress I'll ever wear."
She looked at her finger and pulled off her engagement ring. Turning to Aden she gave it to him.
"Tell Geoff I'll be waiting for him" she said quietly. "When he is ready."
Annie gasped and started crying again.
"Mike?" Nic asked.
Mike walked out with her and they drove off.
"Where is he Aden?" Annie asked.
Aden shrugged.
"I really don't know." He said.
"We should get changed and start letting everyone know." Ruby suggested.
Annie nodded.
Aden let himself out and went to see if he could find Geoff.
Nic saw her Dad first, he was sitting in the corridor and had his head in his hands.
"Dad?" Nic asked.
He looked up and wiped tears form his face.
"Nic." He said quietly. "Mike."
"Is she…" Nic tried to ask but couldn't force the words from her suddenly dry throat.
"She lost the baby and started bleeding. They are trying to stop it now." He said.
He took hold of Nic's hand and put his other arm around Mike and they waited.
An hour passed and Roman could feel his nerves screaming. He wanted tog et up and pace but Nic had put her head in his lap and had fallen asleep.
Mike was waiting the other side of him and he was surprised by how grown up he was one minute and how young he seemed now.
"Do you want em to fetch you a coffee?" Mike asked softly.
Roman nodded.
"Yes please." He said quietly.
Mike stood up and wondered down the corridor.
"Geoff has left me." Nic said.
"Oh God Nicole." Roman gasped.
She sat up and the jacket he'd placed over her shoulders slipped to the floor. It took her a moment to notice. She bent down and picked it up putting it on.
"He said that he was his old self and I deserved more. Daddy, I love him. I loved his old self too. How could he not be here for me?" she asked.
Roman took her in his arms and held her as she cried.
Rachel came out of the room and walked over to them.
Roman looked up first followed by Nic and Mike.
"Ella is ok. We've stopped the bleeding. She's resting right now but you'll be able to see her soon." Rachel looked at Nic. "I'm sorry Nic." She added, taking in the fresh tearstains and the dress.
"Thank you." Roman said.
Nic sat up straighter and looked in the corridor. She stood and walked slowly towards Geoff.
Without thinking about it she lifted her hand and slapped him.
"I love you. You. You stupid man. I loved the old you and this you." She moaned. "How could you do this to us? How could you?" she fell to the floor.
Geoff knelt down with her.
"I'm sorry." He said. "I am sorry."
Mike came over to them.
"He's been here for hours Nic. He's been here for you." Mike told her. "He just didn't know if he would hurt you more by coming to you. But he didn't want you to be alone."
Nic moaned afresh.
"No. You chose the cowards way out." She said thinking only about her pain at that moment. "I think you should leave."
She stood up and after a moment he stood up too. He looked at her and leaned forward he kissed her.
"I am sorry. You look beautiful. I love you." He said and sighed as he turned around and walked away.
"Let him go, Nic. Give yourselves some space. In a few days sit down and talk." Roman told her. "You need to give yourself some time to calm down."
She looked at him and nodded.
They turned and saw Rachel standing in the doorway to Ella's room.
Roman moved quickly.
"She's asking for you." Rachel confirmed.
He nodded and went into the room.
Rachel shut the door behind him.
"Hey." She said softly.
"Hey." He told her.
She lifted her hand and he moved to the side of the bed and sat on the chair. He took her hand in his and held it tight.
"I'm sorry I lost our baby." She told him.
His head shot up.
"Oh Ella." He moaned.
He stood up and climbed onto the bed beside her, being careful not to jostle her. He put his arms around her feeling tears come to his eyes again.
"You have nothing o be sorry for. It wasn't your fault. You took care of our baby for so long." He said.
He felt her shudder as she began to sob and he was unable to hold back his own tears.
Nic and Mike sat back down. She held his hand in her own.
"He was right Nic, you do look beautiful. Even with the red nose and mascara streaks."
Mike said to her.
She groaned.
"Stay here." she said and went to wash her face.
Mike stood and walked over to look out of the window.
She came back and saw him standing and looking out of the window. She went up to him.
"Mike?" she asked.
"She lost a baby a long time ago before I was born. She thinks I don't know but I worked it out. She gets sad around five months after my birthday and she would cry. It's the only time I ever see her cry really. Every year."
Nic started crying again.
Mike turned towards.
"I worked out that it would have been when her baby was born. I wasn't that smart though, I didn't put it together until after I found that one year she had been looking at a scan of a baby." He shrugged. "So I love her even more Nic, because she never told me, never made me feel guilty that she had to take care of me and not her baby."
Nic gasped and pulled Mike into her arms.
"She loves you" Nic told him. "If she could do it all over again she wouldn't change anything."
Mike nodded.
"I just don't know if I can see her so upset." He said. "I don't know if I can say the right things. I don't want her to comfort me."
Nic nodded.
"I know." She said
They clung to each other and cried.
Roman came out after a while and saw them there.
"Mike you can go in and see her." he told him.
Nic squeezed his hand and he walked into the room.
"I'm not going to tell her Dad." She said as soon as Mike went into the room.
He nodded.
"As soon as you've see her we are instructed to go home and get something to eat and some rest."
"She giving orders already?" Nic asked.
Roman nodded with a half smile.
Nic looked up as Mike came out of her room and she squared her shoulders and walked in.
Roman opened his arms and Mike rushed into them.
"Promise me that you will forget I keep crying like a girl." He said to him.
Roman nodded.
"As long as you never ever mention that you caught me crying too."
Mike grinned, despite the fresh tears.
"I think we have a deal." He said.
After a brief time Nic came out.
She's asleep and I didn't fool her for a minute." Nic said.
"Don't worry Sis, neither did I." Mike told her.
They chuckled for a moment.