That Wedding (50 page)

I told him we'd be there as fast as we can, but I can't say anything to Phillip.

Not yet.

I can barely breathe.

I'm in the middle of a flashback.

Phillip's talking on the phone with his dad.

We're rushing to the hospital.

Phillip's dad meets us at the door.

He takes my hands and tells me my mom didn't make it.

I'm rushing up to see my dad.

It's been four years, but it feels like yesterday.

I close my eyes.

I see my dad.

I hear him say, Angel.

I lay my head on his chest.

He stops breathing.

Phillip says, "Princess, what's wrong? Why do you look like you just saw a ghost?"

I close my eyes tight and take a deep breath. "Danny just sent me a text. They're at the hospital. Lori's bleeding. He thinks she might be having a miscarriage, and he wants us to pray. He also wanted to know how close we are, wants us to go there, says he's freaking out."

Phillip grabs my hand tightly, looks worried, and drives faster. "We'd better hurry then."

While Phillip drives, I say a very long prayer.

I pray that they're okay. I plead with God not to take them away from me too.

I'm surprised I still pray. I prayed hard for my dad, but it didn't work. I hope it works today. I've texted Danny a couple times, but he hasn't replied, which can't be good.

After what seems like an eternity, but is really only a couple hours later, we pull up to the hospital. We get out of the car, and Phillip grabs my hand, pulling me quickly toward the hospital entrance.

The closer we get, the more I sweat. I don't know if I can do this.

I hate hospitals. I really do. Only bad things happen in hospitals. I haven't been in a hospital since that night, except for when I had strep throat really bad.

I've never visited anyone in the hospital because people die in hospitals.

But then I think about Danny's message, how desperate he sounded, and I know I have to go. He needs us.

Just like I needed Phillip that night.

We get their room number from the information desk and ride up the elevator.

As we walk down the fourth floor corridor, I'm bracing myself for the worst. For Danny to tell me that Lori and the baby are dead.

I get super hot.

And then feel lightheaded. Like I'm gonna maybe pass out.

I stop, lean up against the wall, and close my eyes. Take a deep breath.

Phillip realizes I'm not walking next to him anymore and turns around to look for me.

He walks back toward me. "What are you doing? We need to hurry."

"I have to get out of here, Phillip. I can't do this. I think I'm gonna throw up and then maybe pass out."

He wraps me in a one armed hug and pulls me close, exactly the way he did when he walked off the elevator that night.

My mind flashes back again.

How he was mad at me.

How we'd fought.

How I was so afraid he'd hate me forever.

How I couldn't believe my mom was dead.

How dad had stopped breathing.

How the alarms had gone off.

How they rushed me out of the room and didn't tell me anything.

My own breathing is ragged. I need to get out of here.

Now.

Phillip touches my face and says, "Princess, it's gonna be okay. I promise."

"You can't promise that, Phillip. You don't know." I start to cry.

I CANNOT DO THIS.

"Danny said he needed you. If it's bad, he's going to need you even more."

He's right. If it's bad, he's going to need me, and I love Danny. I won't let him go through whatever this is alone even if I feel like I'm gonna be sick.

Shit.

Phillip holds my hand and leads me down the hall in the same way he led me through most of their funeral.

Tears are rolling down my face.

I've been able to hold my tears back since my parents died, but I can't seem to push them back right now.

We get outside of room 416. Lori's room.

I'm scared. I don't know what to do. Should we just stand out here?

Phillip knocks gently on the door.

Danny opens it. There's a wide grin on his face, and he immediately pulls Phillip into a hug.

"Look at this, Mac!" he says as he excitedly shoves an ultrasound photo in front of Phillip's face.

When I see Lori alive and laying in the hospital bed, I let out a cry of relief. She looks scared, but there's a smile on her face. I rush to her side. "Are you okay? Is the baby okay? What happened?"

"I'm fine. The baby's fine. I was bleeding this morning, and it was enough that the doctor sent us straight here. I was sure I was having a miscarriage. I think I panicked everyone for nothing. Everything is okay now, and the bleeding has stopped."

I let out a huge cleansing breath of air, bend down, and hug her tightly. "I was so worried."

She says, "Stop crying. You're making me cry." She wipes her tears then shakes her head at me. "I really didn't think you'd come. Here. To the hospital. I thought you'd make up some excuse."

"I don't have the best of luck with hospitals, Lori, so I try to avoid them."

"Babies are born in hospitals. They're good things."

"That's true, I guess. I was really worried." I give her another big hug. "I love you."

Danny interrupts my hug by shoving the ultrasound photo in front of my face.

I see a very teeny baby. I'm amazed at how small it is but how much it looks like a baby. Like I guess I thought it would still sorta look like a squid or something. I look closer because I'm dying to know if it's a boy or a girl.

"Danny, they covered up its boy or girl parts!"

"I know! We don't wanna find out. The little monkey is gonna be loved either way, and we're gonna have lots more kids."

"Lots more kids?" Lori says. "Um, let's see if I can do one right. Then we can talk about more."

Danny snatches the pic away from me and shoves it back in Phillip's face. "So look at this, Mac. What's it look like the baby's doing?"

Phillip studies the photo closely. "Sleeping?"

"No, look at this. Look at its arm. Doesn't it look like he's throwing a pass?"

Phillip grins. "Yeah, sorta. Must be a boy then, huh?"

"Hey, girls can throw passes!" I say.

"Whatever," Danny says. "My guess is that it's a boy."

"That's my guess too," Lori says.

I look at the ultrasound closer. It looks to me like the baby is either sleeping with its arm up in the air or throwing its arm up in a cheer, but I decide not to mention that. "So everything's okay then? Like why were you bleeding? I thought all bleeding was bad."

"Not always," Lori says. Then she glances at Danny, who has a very satisfied look on his face.

"What?" I say.

Lori rolls her eyes and hands me a book on things to expect when you're pregnant. I read the passage that she's highlighted.

During pregnancy, it's not unusual to bleed after sex. Your cervix is tender and sensitive. If this happens to you, you shouldn't have intercourse again until you've seen your doctor. Having normal intercourse won't cause you to have a miscarriage.

I read it once and then read it again. "I don't get it. What's that got to do with, ohhhhhh, so you had sex, and IT caused the bleeding?"

Lori laughs self consciously and nods her head.

Danny puffs his chest out and flexes a big bicep at us. "What it doesn't mention in that book is that I'm huge. Like extremely well endowed."

I laugh and look back down at the book. "You're right. It doesn't mention that. Oh, wait. It does. It's scribbled here in the margin. A little disclaimer.
Danny Diamond is so huge this does not apply. Danny Diamond should proceed with caution.
"

Phillip raises his eyebrows at me. "So what does it say about me?"

"Huh?"

"Well, I am bigger than Danny."

"What? How would you even know that, Phillip?"

He grins at me. "Well aside from years of locker rooms, we measured."

"You measured? As in you got naked together, got them hard, and compared? How did I miss out on all the good stuff?"

Danny chimes in. "Jay, we're not gay. We measured separately and told each other our numbers, but I think Phillip's fibbing."

"Phillip never lies."

"Whatever. So the bleeding happened because I'm amazing, and pregnant women are super horny."

Phillip and I look at each other with wide eyes.

Danny shrugs his broad shoulders and grins. "It's not my fault she kept saying harder."

Lori blushes down to her toes. "Danny!"

Danny just laughs. He's quite proud of himself. "We're among friends here."

Lori says, "Well, you and your friend can go get me some fried chicken. I'm starving. I want extra crispy, mashed potatoes, and biscuits. And make sure you get those honey packets."

"I swear, I'm gonna start a pregnancy delivery service. You know how many times I've had to run out and get whatever she's hungry for?"

The boys leave to go get chicken. I'm still sitting here with an amused smile on my face.

"Wipe that smirk off your face," she tells me.

"So pregnancy makes you horny?"

She looks at the door and makes sure the boys are gone. "Ohmigawd, Jade, yes. Here, read this."

I read a passage about increased blood flow to certain lady parts and think that's something I really did not need to know.

Pregnancy would freak me the hell out. I'm just saying.

When I set the book back down, she continues. "Seriously, sex with Danny has always been amazing. But yeah, this morning was like ecstasy." Then she changes the subject. "So Danny told me something about you seeing Richie Rich at the bar. Did he really ask you to marry him?"

"Lori, you need to be thinking about you and the baby and taking it easy, relaxing."

"All I've been doing is thinking about the baby. I wanna talk about your life. Tell me a story. Some gossip. Something. Distract me."

I lay on the bed next to her. "He did. I don't think he was serious though. Did Danny tell you the night of formal he was going to ask me to wear his fraternity pin?"

"Oh, Jade. You would've gotten to pass your candle!"

"I know. I'm kinda bummed by that. He also said something that's been bugging me. Do you think I'm settling by marrying Phillip?"

"Are you nuts? Phillip is fine. He's hot, he's sweet, and he adores you. Why would you ever say that?"

"Jason said it. I just, I don't know. Couple's counseling is not going well, Lori. I'm pretty sure we're failing."

"You're not failing. No one fails."

I grab her hand and try to change the subject by saying, "I hope not. I'm so happy the baby is okay."

"Me too. So, I know you. You have to have some gossip or some funny story. You always do."

"I have some kind of baddish news."

"Do I want to hear baddish news right now?"

"It's more baddish gossip. You know how Katie and Eric haven't like been doing that great, like in their marriage, right?"

"Yeah, I did hear that."

"Well did you hear that she's been talking to and going to lunch with Neil?"

"I didn't hear that! What's that all about?"

"I don't know. I don't think they know for sure, but it sounds like she's considering getting a divorce and dating Neil."

"Scandalous," she giggles. "Seriously though, it's really sad. It would suck to go through a divorce."