After we put Jessie in the front passenger seat, I turned and looked at Ellie. “She’s gonna be fine. She’s probably just experiencing cramps.”
Ellie looked white as a ghost, and Ari was crying.
“Ari, you know this. You know you can have cramps early on in the pregnancy,” I said. I looked at Ellie and touched her arm, causing her to jump. “Ellie…I need you to drive. Ari can’t drive, sweetheart. Can you drive, Ells? Follow me to the hospital, okay?”
Ellie turned and looked at Ari. She looked back at me and nodded her head. I quickly walked to the driver’s side of my car and got in. I looked at Jessie, who looked scared to death.
“Heather…what’s wrong? Am I going to lose the baby?” She began to cry.
“No, you’re not.” I took off and headed to the hospital.
The whole way, I prayed to God that I hadn’t just lied to Jessie.
I burst through the hospital doors and began looking around for one of the girls. Jeff was right behind me. We had stopped at Garrett and Emma’s place to drop off Luke and Grace, and then we’d headed straight to the hospital.
My hands were shaking, and I didn’t see Ari, Ellie, or Heather anywhere. I walked up to the nurses’ station. I was just about to ask for information when I heard Heather’s voice.
“Scott.”
I turned and looked at her. I tried to read her face for any signs. I was so scared that Jessie had lost the baby. Heather smiled that sweet smile of hers and walked up to me.
“She’s fine,” Heather said.
“The baby?” I felt tears building in my eyes.
“The baby is fine also.”
I let out the breath I had been holding and collapsed into Heather’s arms. “Oh, thank God. Oh, thank you, God.”
Heather pulled back and looked at me. “She just had some cramping, which is normal.”
I looked at Heather, confused. “Cramping?”
She nodded her head. “Just think of it as her body’s way of trying to get ready for what all is about to happen. Her hormones are in overdrive, and then add in the stress of everything on top of that. She just needs to try to de-stress.”
My face fell, and my knees felt weak. I caused this…oh my god.
Heather must have read my face. “You didn’t cause this, Scott. Please, just calm down, and try to relax before you go in the room. Ellie, Ari, and Sharon are in there.”
I nodded and took a few deep breaths. “Where is she?”
“Come on, I’ll take you to her room. They aren’t planning on keeping her in the hospital, but they wanted to get some fluids into her.”
I stopped outside the door. I couldn’t move. I was frozen in place. Heather took my hands in hers and smiled.
“What if she leaves me for him?” I whispered.
I saw the tears in Heather’s eyes as she shook her head.
“She won’t because she loves you so much, Scott. She. Loves. You,” Heather said, stressing each word.
“But she cares about him, Heather. How do I know she’s not going to be thinking about him, wondering what if she hadn’t gotten pregnant?”
“Oh no, Scott, don’t think that way.” Heather wiped a tear away.
I smiled and took another deep breath as I opened the door. Everyone looked up, but the only person I saw was Jessie. The moment her eyes met mine, I wanted to run to her, to grab her in my arms and tell her how much I loved her. But I couldn’t.
Sharon smiled and nodded. “Well…looks like dad is here now. Come on, girls. Let’s give them some time alone. I’ll be back, Jessie, in a few minutes. The IV drip is almost done, and then I’ll get that out of your hand. Then, we can get you ready to head home.”