“I’m trying.”
“Do you want to see Molly?”
“Not like this. I can’t let her see me like this.”
“Exactly, so you’re going to have to clean yourself up a bit.” I stood as Quincy approached us again. Her hands clutching the tan leather straps of her large navy overnight bag.
She dropped it on the bed with a huff and started to go through it. For a moment there I thought that she was leaving. I don’t know why, but it made me panic after the look on her face. She took out a few items and held them out to Jenna.
“You’ll be better off wearing something more comfortable. They’re going to have to hook you up to the baby monitor and I asked Sam, Ms. Sterling, that they do an ECG, so you’ll want something loose.”
Sam? Why Sam?
Jenna looked up at her with wide eyes, her silence making Quincy fidget on the spot.
“You don’t have to change. I just thought that you might be more comfortable, but they’ll probably give you a gown when you get there anyway…” she stopped as Jenna took the clothes from her with a “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Oh, here,” Quincy pulled a hairband from her wrist, she constantly wore one like a bracelet, and handed it to her as well. “I don’t have any new ones.”
“This is fine.” Jenna pulled her hair off her face and twisted it into a knot on top of her head. Her eyes lifting over Quincy’s shoulder as Richard approached.
I moved out of the way as Quincy grabbed her bag from the bed and took it back into the dressing room.
“We’ll just let you get changed.” I walked over to the door and waited for Quincy as I held it open. “If you need anything…”
Richard sat on the window ledge beside the chair. “Just a lift to the hospital, I can take it from here.”
I closed the door as I followed Quincy out of our room. This was not the Christmas we had planned. We should’ve been drinking wine and fawning over the turkey…and the kids. I was desperate and excited to give her my present. A part of me was also bricking it, because as well as I knew Quincy—better than I knew myself, for the most part—I also knew she was unpredictable. And after this morning I knew she was on edge. I could feel the tension coming off her as she sashayed in front of me.
She stopped short of the lounge and turned toward me as she released a long breathy sigh. Her eyes searching my face as she chewed on her lip. She looked contrite and intent as she stood straight and tipped her face up just enough that our gazes were square.
“Don’t ever touch her, or anyone else, like that again.” She stepped closer to me and brought my hand to her face as her expression softened, “This touch is mine. No one else’s.”
I was speechless. Of all things I’d expected her to say, that wasn’t it. She never ceased to amaze or surprise me. And if anything it just made me realise that I didn’t care about any of the past. The only thing I cared about was her, our girls and our future.
I pulled her as close as she could get with my free hand. Her grip tightening on the hand she was still clutching to her cheek. Nuzzling into it. Her chest touched mine as I picked her up and set her on my feet. I ran my hand from her waist up to her jaw before I cupped her other cheek. Tilting her face up to mine as I kissed her soft lips.
“No one but you, Quincy.”
Quincy
I watched as Jamie paced outside the room. Back and forth. Back and forth. I’d told him to go home. The girls had been devastated when all four of us left. Thank God for Jake and Willow. The pair of them had just about managed to distract them enough for us to leave without any waterworks. Poor Dorian was spending the day in the kitchen doing most of the cooking even though she’d just volunteered to do the peeling. The whole day had just gone to shit.
I listened as Sam discussed the plan of action with Jenna. I could see Richard itching to say something, but any time he opened his mouth Jenna would squeeze his hand until he shut it. I could’ve high-fived her for it after the way he’d reacted back at the apartment. Jamie had told me not worry when I asked him what happened after I took her out of the bathroom. I had a feeling it wasn’t good, so I didn’t press.
I could tell that Sam was being optimistic whenever she spoke of Jenna going full term. I’d seen it before when we’d shared cases. The fact that she was nonplussed about me being in the room told me that she wasn’t hopeful of any of the possible outcomes for Jenna or the baby. Normally she would be gritting and grinding her way through a conversation we were both privy to. The reality was that there was no love lost between the two of us. We had an ugly and sordid history thanks to Richard, and for the most part we kept out of each other’s way. Unless we were sharing a case, and to be honest it was too early to know whether I would be called onto Jenna’s.
Every case we’d worked together had felt like a kick in the teeth for me, but at the same time I hoped that every time she had to work with me she realised just how disgusting her affair with Richard had been. And how little she’d meant to him considering how fast he dropped her when we split, oh, and the other women he was fucking at the same time as her.
“The reality of the situation is that the suddenness and severity of your condition and taking into consideration how many of the symptoms you’ve shown, I can’t really see you going past the twenty-seven, maybe twenty-eight week mark. In my opinion that’s being generous.”
I could see exactly where the situation was heading as she kept going. Richard had already taken the oxygen mask from the hook. Jenna was in full blown panic mode, and I didn’t blame her. What she didn’t know was that she had a lot less to worry about than she thought. In her head she was already prepping herself for the worst, but in the majority of cases, the worst you could expect were learning disabilities. Things that could be helped if not fixed.
Although Sam had been doing her bit by edging along the worst case scenario, it was doing nothing but distressing Jenna. Her vitals machine went off beeping like crazy only to prove my point.
The minute Richard looked at me I knew I had to step in. I sat on the edge of the bed facing both him and her as he held the oxygen mask over her face. His hand stroking lightly over her hair.
“Listen to me, Jenna. That baby isn’t coming out until it really needs to. I promise that your care team won’t let anything happen unless it has to.” I could feel the daggers Sam was glaring my way. “Even if they have to get the baby out that early, the survival rate is high. And although there can be some very serious complications, most babies are healthy. But I can guarantee you that no one will be getting that baby out either until he or she is ready or there is no other alternative.”