Innocence (24 page)

“I need to carry her to the car, open the main door,” he ordered.

Calvin carefully lodged one hand under her thigh and the other around her waist, holding her extra tight when she wrapped her arm securely around his neck. Petrified he would drop her she tried her hardest to keep a firm grip. The pain across her tummy came again when he lifted her up. She snuggled into Calvin’s chest, trying not to panic, when in reality she had no idea what was happening to her body or whether the baby was okay.

“Oh dear God,” her mum’s voice sounded.

There was no time for her to start playing the doting mum.

She was scared as Calvin hurried her out of the hall. The pain was severe and forced her to swear. Calvin with the greatest of care gently placed her inside the Range Rover. She saw him covered in her blood.
Oh my God please, please.
She kneaded her tummy, unsure what on earth was happening to her, or her daughter. Calvin ran around to the opposite side of the car and climbed in. He buckled in. Ross put his foot down and drove off down the driveway. Her body jumped about creating further pain.

“Ross, take it easy.”

Ross slowed down driving down the bumpy country lanes.

Tears spilled down her cheeks. Her heart raced in her chest, petrified of the outcome. Calvin took hold of her hand, she squeezed tight. “You’re going to be okay, I promise you,” he said. With his spare hand he gently placed it onto her tummy. Sophie looked at his hand. Fear filled her.

She gazed at him, seeing the fear in his eyes and his body tense. “Don’t make those kind of promises, Calvin.” She sobbed.

“I’m so sorry for all the stress I have caused you,” he said.

Sophie had nothing to say, she had no idea whether the pain she suffered had anything to do with the stress of today and, to be honest she didn’t care, her thoughts were on her unborn baby. She could feel the trickling of blood between her legs and the taste of the blood in her mouth making her feel sick.

“Call the hospital and tell them we are bringing her in,” Ross urgently told Calvin.

“Sure,” Calvin said. “Do I call them or the maternity ward?”

Sophie watched him glance at her having no real idea who they were meant to call. “Maternity, they can always transfer us.”

Calvin made the call, but Sophie was far too worried about her daughter and whether she was all right. She heard Calvin talking to someone on the line.

“No, no I’m not the father, but a friend…yes, she started bleeding dark red…yes from that area…”

Sophie gazed at him as he looked baffled, lifting his shoulders and frowning, clearly he needed help. She reached her hand out to take over the call.

“Hang on…I’ll hand her to you.”

Sophie wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, but this was for her daughter. She soon started explaining what had happened to her, feeling her heart churning.

“When was the last time you felt the baby?”

A lump formed in her throat, knowing now she was going to get told off. “A few days ago, well I think I felt a flutter earlier.”

“And when was your last doctor’s appointment?”

“When I attended my twenty week scan,” she said, knowing she’d done wrong.

“Your name is?”

“Sophie Richards.”

The woman went quiet. “And you’re thirty weeks?”

“Yes, with a girl.” A pain thundered across her abdomen forcing her to cry out. Calvin quickly gave her his hand, holding it tight, trying to ride the prolonged pain out.

“Okay…breathe through the pain…nice deep breaths.” Sophie felt like shouting at the woman, but what good would that do anyone?

“Come straight to the maternity hospital and we will exam you, Miss. Richards,” the woman said and asked her a few more questions before they hung up.

“Well?” Ross asked.

“Maternity hospital, they want to exam me and find out what is going wrong.”

Sophie was in great pain and down below felt terribly uncomfortable. Her biggest concern was her daughter, her health and whether she was still okay. A large lump filled her throat, aware she’d done wrong not attending regular antenatal and doctor’s appointments, but she had been fine, okay, slightly neglectful of her daughter’s needs, but then so had the father. She cared nothing for Rob and wondered if she should contact him and tell him of the recent development, in all honesty, no point, she couldn’t see him flying to the hospital to make sure they were both all right.

She felt lost and nervous about what might happen and how the midwives and doctors would look after them both. Sophie knew they were heading to the right place, it just didn’t soothe her heart with the recent stress she’d been under, and if it even contributed to her health.

Annoyed at her mum for lying so blatantly to everyone, trying to make her look the fool, and make out she’d been a terrible teenager and ran away. To lie about the abortion, and call her own flesh and blood a slut, hurt her greatly, how could she ever think so low of her daughter? But then her morals had always been high and Sophie had let her parents down, if only her father had been told the truth. She wondered whether her mum would be honest and tell him about today. What a living nightmare it had been, and how she was being rushed into hospital. Then also, if her mum would open up and tell her father what happened all those years ago. Something in her heart told her no, and her mum would continue lying.

What made Sophie scoff was the fact her mum, raised her not to lie, and her mum was going against her own words.

She inhaled a deep breath, placing her hand on her tummy as the pain came and went, sharp and nasty whilst Calvin held her hand tight and she squeezed. She scrunched up her face and leaned forward to scrunch up the pain, but the truth was, it wasn’t helping. She needed medical help and now.

“How you doing in the back?” Ross pitched.

“Don’t ask?” Sophie growled.

“Why did my mum lie so much?” she screamed.

“Stop it. Stop it now, Sophie. Stop thinking about her and stressing yourself out. You have been through so much the last few days, all you need to be concentrating on is you and your unborn baby,” Calvin told her.

She turned her head to the right to gaze at him, knowing he was right and she did need to stop thinking about her mum and how much pain she had caused. The truth was, the past was the past and it was time they all moved on. Soon there would be a little girl bouncing around needing to be loved and she would make her the priority. Only problem was she had nothing for her daughter, not even an item of clothing. She had brought a pink teddy, but that got pinched with the rest of her personal belongings and that saddened her.

The pain struck again and she cried out holding tighter onto Calvin’s hand, unsure if it was labour or another problem, either way she needed help and soon. She hoped they would help.

“Five minutes,” Ross said as she looked out the car window and saw they were arriving on the grounds of the hospital. Her heart ached. She needed to get in there and get urgent help for her daughter.

Ross drove up as close as he could to the foyer, seeing two midwives waiting for her arrival with a wheelchair. Ross climbed out as the midwives stepped forward to greet her. The back door swung open. She looked down at her hands covered in blood. With great care she climbed out of the vehicle with the midwives taking hold of her hands and guided her into the wheelchair.

She was soon whisked off into the maternity home and into a lift. The midwives were bombarding her with loads of questions. She cried out in pain with torrents of tears running down her cheeks. Calvin was right behind her, terrified of the outcome even so she and the baby weren’t his problem, but content he was by her side.

They took her to a room where she was carefully assisted into a hospital gown and laid on the bed. Sophie watched the midwife put an IV line into her left hand and connect her to pain relief. She closed her eyes feeling sick to the core, aching in every limb and needing to know whether her daughter was okay.

“I’m going to be sick,” she called out

A sick bowl was passed to her and she vomited, feeling someone holding her hair back. When she had stopped a tissue was passed. She wiped quickly, feeling terrible. She turned her head to see Calvin. She wanted to smile at him and thank him for everything, and tell him about their son.

The door swung open.

The doctor came in the room to monitor the baby and started feeling her belly. Everything appeared a blur to her with doctors and midwives coming and going without actually being told what was going on, or if her unborn was okay.

Sophie doubled up in pain and screamed the room down before she was handed a tube, connected to gas and air. She sucked the air into her lungs, taking away the pain while she breathed heavy.

“When was the last time you felt your baby?”

“I haven’t felt her move in a few days, but I’m certain she fluttered earlier…I was going to come to the doctor today, but…” Sophie did not wish to explain the day from hell and now it appeared it was about to get a hell of a lot worse.

The midwife took her bloods. Then Sophie was examined again, followed by checking on any dilation that might have occurred.

“She’s not dilated,” the midwife voiced, her hair tied back and wearing a dark navy uniform.

They ordered a scan trying to detect the problem, or what was happening but the midwife struggled to get a strong heartbeat from the baby.

“Sophie.” The doctor came closer to her while Calvin stood holding her hand.

She looked at him.

“I have looked at the ultrasound and you have a placenta praevia,” he said. She stared at him bewildered, not having a darn clue what that was. “This means the placenta is lying low in the uterus, your womb. I can see it is partially covering the inner rim of your cervix.”

“And?” she was worried and looked at Calvin. His jaw dropped and clearly needed more information like herself.

“Unfortunately, I am deeply concerned as the baby’s heartbeat is faint and therefore we are going to give you an emergency caesarean section. You are a grade three and we have no time to waste,” he said.

Sophie’s heart thudded in her chest.

“Is she going to be okay? Can she be born?” she said, fretting, concerned about her daughter’s health, aware she should have come sooner to the hospital, but with everything else that had happened…

“We will do our best. I will have the neonatal unit brought in immediately,” he said.

Sophie stared at Calvin not believing what was happening, this had to be a living nightmare and she was going to wake up and it would all be a dream.

“Calvin,” she said crying.

“It’s okay, you are in the best hands,” he said, softly wiping her tears away from her cheeks.

“If anything happens to me…” She was about to tell him about Sabastian when the midwives arrived and started preparing her for the operation. She was then wheeled out of the room and down the corridor, tears streaming down her cheeks worried about the outcome, annoyed she didn’t seek medical help before, and now it might be too late.

* * * *

Calvin watched as Sophie was taken down the corridor, franticly he followed. His heart raced and his mind was all over the place, while the largest lump dominated his throat. He struggled to breathe.
Please let them be okay, save them, please make sure they stay here with…
he paused his thought. He knew what he wanted to think, but his heart fought his true feelings. 

Arriving at a large set of double doors, they burst through them. He could hear Sophie sobbing and saw a nurse holding onto her hand. He really wished right now he was dreaming and what was occurring was simply a horrendous nightmare. He continued to follow them until they arrived at another set of double doors. He stopped at the doors abruptly noticing it was the surgery room. He guessed her journey had stopped and this was where fate took over. He stopped still, gormless, not having a clue what he should or shouldn’t be doing.

Unable to breathe, tears filled his eyes, scared about the outcome, deeply worried Sophie right now would be feeling alone and bloody terrified. No one knew what was about to happen or whether they both would survive, either way…
I should have brought them yesterday, this is my entire fault and all because I wanted to give her a special day…you fucking selfish idiot.
  

A woman appeared by his side, he had no idea how long she had been stood there with him gawping like a fool, jaw dropped and tears spilling down his cheeks.

“Are you the father?” she asked him.

He swallowed heavy trying to clear his throat.

“No…no a friend. Are they going to be okay?” He had to ask although he knew what the answer would be.

“They are in the best hands,” she told him.

He turned his head to look at her through the tears and saw her dressed in a gown.

He then watched her enter the room.

Minutes later.

“Excuse me.”

He spun his head to his left the incubator had arrived for the baby.