The Enclave of Jyme (G Street Chronicles Presents) (5 page)

“Dad, maybe you should go get some clothes on.”

He nodded and walked back to the house. Elle stirred, and all of my attention was back to her. She coughed and then rolled over and faced me.

“I hate you,” she whispered.

Her face was so serious that I couldn’t do anything but chuckle. “I get that. But why do you hate me? I should be the one doing the hating here.”

“Because you stopped loving me.”

“Why would you think that?” I turned the towel over on her head so it would be cool.

“Because you never came to see me at my grandparents’ house.”

“Elle, I never come to see you during a healing process. I can’t bear to see you like that.”

“But you were different this time; I could tell you didn’t love me anymore.”

“I never stopped loving you, Elle.”

I put my head down on the couch cushion near our intertwined hands. Elle pulled one of her hands away from our bond and ran her fingers through my hair until the hair tie stopped her. I pulled a hand away from her and yanked it out, ripping some strains of hair with it. She ran her fingers all over my hair and massaged my scalp.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. I turned my face over and stared her in the eyes.

“You hurt me, Elle. You hurt me.”

She looked back at me and the house was silent. A car pulled up, and then we heard footsteps. The door opened as someone walked in.

“Elle?” I heard her mom call. Elle’s eyes never left mine. The door opened again, and someone else walked in.

“Move, Lil Samson,” Elle’s dad demanded. He tried moving me to the side, but I wouldn’t budge.

“The baby,” Elle whispered.

“What about it?” I asked.

“Could you have loved it?”

I knew how Elle’s head worked, and I knew exactly what it was she was asking me.

Her dad pushed at me again and I let him this time. I moved out of the way, and he reached over me and picked Elle up from the couch. She didn’t let go of my hand.

“Lil Samson?” her dad said. I looked up at him. He was standing up and I was still sitting on the floor. He nodded at our intertwined hands, and I let go. He walked toward the door. She twisted in his arms to stare at me. I stared right back at her.

“Daddy, wait,” Elle begged when they reached the door.

“Tell me,” she begged.

I couldn’t speak, so I just nodded. She started wailing in her father’s arm. They made it out the door and into the yard before I heard Elle screaming for me. Her mother stood there frozen on the couch. I followed her mother’s eyes and then I saw what she was staring out. The light brown couch cushion was covered in blood.

“I’m sorry,” she told me, and then she walked out the door shutting it behind her. I got up from the floor, went back the bedroom, and got back into bed.

An hour later my mom woke me up.

“Elle’s in labor.”

“Okay,” I said sleepily.

“I will go with you if you want to go.”

I squinted my eyes so I could see my mom better through the beaming sun. “I don’t.”

“Lil Samson, she’s asking for you.” Elle’s mother Nona had called mom.

Elle was over there asking for me, that rat bastard wasn’t even there for her. I couldn’t believe this shit. He knocks Elle up and just leaves her.

“Where’s her baby daddy?” I asked Mom, sitting up on the edge of the bed.

“He’s at the hospital too; but he’s in his own room down the hall from Elle. Lil Samson, he’s been there since yesterday. The boy can’t get out the bed. He has broken bones all over. They say he’s in a cast from head to toe, she paused. “They’re not sure they will make it,” she whispered.

“Shit.” I felt bad now. He was in that hospital bed in that full body cast because of me. And now Elle and her baby were in danger because of me; she had gotten so upset from what I did to that rat bastard.

“I’ll go with you if you want me to.”

“Alright, let me get dressed.”

I went to closet and threw on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt. We climbed into my truck and headed for Olympic Memorial Hospital. It took us half the time as normal to get there. Mom got all the info from the nurse’s station before we arrived. We walked in the front door and Mom made a hard right. I followed after her. All the walls’ colors started changing from white to pink and then blue. I guessed we were in the baby center because the walls had big balloons and storks painted on them.

Mom went to a counter and the lady handed her a stack of blue foamy-looking fabric. She said something to us and pointed down the hall. We went through the doors into the delivery ward, and a security guard stopped us immediately. Once Mom gave him the scoop, the man let us pass. We got to another counter and had to show our IDs and sign in. The attendant told me to go and put the foamy stuff on over my clothes in the bathroom next to her office and wash my hands when I came out. She pointed to the sink and buzzed me through, yelling for me not to touch anything.

As soon as the doors opened, I heard her screaming. I knew that gut-wrenching scream from anywhere. I’ve heard that sound far too many times. I walked into the room with the big #2 on it.

People were everywhere. Everyone had on the same outfit as I did. A man walked up to me and pulled a cap on my head, and then he put gloves on my hands. I looked over to the table. Elle was spread out with her legs very wide open. Four people were looking down inside of her, and two were standing looking at a monitor. Elle’s mom waved me over to the head of the table. Elle was out of it. Her eyes were glossy and hazed over. She looked horrible, and she was sweating all over.

“Elle, honey, he’s here,” Elle looked over at me then and gave me a wide smile, and then she was out. The monitors started going crazy. All of the doctors stared at Elle and then her body started jerking. She looked like she was having a seizure. Elle’s mother Nona and I got pushed out of the way and they started working on her. The three doctors that were looking inside of Elle were now focused on her completely. They didn’t even communicate with each other. One would look inside of her and then stick his hand inside of her, once he was done checking her then another would do the same, and then the other one. After all of them sticking their hands inside of her, I wondered if she would ever be the same down there. One of the doctors had his arm inside of her, all the way up to his elbow. I cringed at the sight; it brought back so many horrible flashes in my head. I gave Elle all of my attention then, trying to push the images away. I felt someone placing their hands into mine, and I turned to look next to me. Nona’s hand was intertwined into mine. I squeezed and pulled her close. Her eyes were open wide like she didn’t want to miss a thing.

“She’s going to be alright,” I told her.

“I know.” Nona said back to me while chewing the inside of her cheek and tapping her foot.

“What about the baby?”

“Not sure.” She had switched cheeks now. She started in on the opposite side just as hard as she did with the other.

“What’s wrong with him?”

“Her little body can’t handle him. Plus, he has a heart condition.”

“But she’s not due yet.” I took a deep breath and rolled my shoulders back. I tried my best to relax but there was no use.

“Stress,” she told me.

I shut my eyes. I hated myself for this. Yes, Elle was cheating on me with that rat bastard, but who could blame her. I have this beast in between my legs; a beast that put her through so much fucking pain. I hate my body and I hate what’s happening to Elle.

“It’s not your fault, Lil Samson. That Albertson boy treats her like shit. Elle knows she messed up with you. Trust me, I’ve heard her crying over you many a night. I wish we could turn back the time, but we can’t. I know you guys have had your difficulties, but this was not called for. She went too far.”

“No, she didn’t. She didn’t have a choice. I couldn’t give her what she needed.”

“See, that’s it…he couldn’t either. I don’t mean to get all personal and stuff, but she told me he was tiny and that she couldn’t feel anything.”

“I’d trade places with him in a heartbeat,” I admitted.

All of the doctors started moving over to the small table. One doctor was still working inside of Elle and there was a nurse standing behind him. He barked out some orders, and the nurse picked up a syringed and pushed it into the IV in Elle’s arm. The monitors started going crazy again, and then they started beating a steady, slow beep. There was a squealing sound and then the crying started. The sound was coming from where the doctors stood, and it was familiar but different at the same time. Two nurses gathered the noise up and took it to the sink. I knew deep down what the sound was, but my brain wouldn’t let me register it. Nona stayed glued to me; she kept looking from Elle and then back at the noise.

“She’ll be fine. She’s just resting now and she needs lots of it,” the doctor told us.

“It’s a boy; and he’s a fighter,” one of the nurses said, turning around with the noise wrapped up in the blue blanket. The blue blanket was quiet as the nurse put the noise into Nona’s hand. Nona goo gooed and ga gaed at the blanket, and then she turned it so I could see it. The noise was a baby. He was pale white; a tiny frail little thing.

“Do you want to hold him, Dad?” The nurse said to me. Something in me stirred then. I took a step back. This wasn’t my baby and it never would be. Elle had made this child with someone else. Elle and I would never have a child, and I may never find someone who can ever handle the beast in my pants. I turned around and started for the door.

“Lil Samson, don’t go,” Nona said.

“I have to. I don’t belong here. If she needs anything, and I mean anything, let me know,” I said and went out the door. I yanked the foamy shit off of me and walked back through the doors. Mom jumped up as soon as she saw me.

“Let’s go,” I said, still peeling the paper jumpsuit off. When I finally made it outside, I yanked the hair net off. We got into the truck and drove out of the hospital parking lot.

“Is she okay?” Mom asked in a whisper.

I nodded.

“And the baby?”

“He’s fine.” The truck was quiet. All I could hear was the humming engine.

“Lil Samson, no one would judge you if you wanted…”

“No,” I interrupted her. She nodded, and then the truck turned quiet again. When I walked in the door at the house, Sheen and Kanoke were sitting on my couch eating sandwiches.

“You assholes don’t have food,” I joked.

“Yeah, but shit…your mom stocks your fridge. You always have good shit over here,” Kanoke said with his mouth crammed full of food. I went to the fridge and grabbed a grape soda and then went back to the couch with the guys. They were watching
Ice Road Truckers
. We all love this show. They were having a marathon, and we probably could have sat there all day watching it. The house phone rang and I cursed it out loud.

“Hello,” I said a little too loudly.

“You just left; you didn’t even say goodbye,” her voice cracked.

“Oh hey, how are you guys?” I asked.

“Are coming back?”

“Is everything alright?” I asked again. The baby started crying and I knew they were okay.

“Why don’t you come and see if we’re alright?”

“Elle, I can’t.”

When the guys heard her name, the TV went mute in the other room.

“Please? We can start over. I know I messed up, but you know I love you. You have to know that.”

“Elle, don’t do this.”

“Why not? Why can’t I beg you? I don’t have anyone, and no one loves me.”

“Elle, your parents adore you; and now you have one of the best gifts in the world and he will love you unconditionally.”

“You know what I mean,” she cried out. I stood there with the phone to my ear. I listened to her cry a little and then I couldn’t take it anymore.

“Elle, if you need anything, just let me know.”

“I’m telling you I need you. I need you right now.”

The baby started crying again and someone in the background was soothing him.

“Elle, I’m sorry I can’t. Go bond with your baby,” I told her softly.

“Do you hate me?”

“No.”

“Do you want me?”

“Don’t do this.”

“Tell me.”

I couldn’t lie to her. Something happened to me when the nurse thought I was Elle’s baby daddy. I didn’t want to be someone’s baby daddy. If I was going to be someone’s father, that’s exactly what the fuck I was going to be. I would be there for my child every single day. If I had a son, he would be joined to my hip. I wouldn’t be like the father I had. I would be a real father; someone who talked and knew his child. So I couldn’t lie to her; I had to tell her the truth.

“No,” I said.

The phone clicked. I tried going back to the front room like nothing had just happened, but the TV was off. I sat back down, and the guys were watching me.

“What?” I snapped in the silence.

“Is it over?” Sheen asked.