“I was just going to pop in on Jenna…see how she’s doing?”
She shook her head as a dry laugh left her lips. “You must be a glutton for punishment.”
“Excuse me?” Her tone gave way to my irritation. Irritation that I should’ve breathed out and blown well away from me.
She studied me for a second as I tried to tamp down my already frayed mood.
“I know you weren’t coming to see my patient about her no code, because that would be grossly unprofessional leaning toward emotional coercion.”
“We both know she’s making a mistake. She’s not protecting herself or the baby, she’s just scared.”
“Oh, good God, Quincy, are you that much of a wreck that you would put your ex-husband’s wife and child ahead of your career?” She sneered. “I feel for you, he never had that much regard for you when he was fucking anything with a vagina that walked his way.”
“I’m not doing this with you.” I turned to leave, pressing the door release button.
“I suppose I understand why you’re overcompensating, seeing as you wrecked her home.”
I spun towards her and before I even had the chance to stop myself, my fist had landed right on her perfect little nose.
Sam cupped her face as her thick, vermillion blood dripped down her jaw. Her watering eyes glistening.
“You’re going to regret that.” She spat, her words muffled and gurgled.
“No, I won’t. The only thing I regret is not doing it sooner.” I looked her over before I turned and released the door again. “You’re the homewrecker, Sam, the only husband I’ve ever fucked was my own. Shame the same can’t be said for you.”
With that I walked away. My heart still pumping furiously and my hand pulsing.
Shit, that felt so good.
Jamie
The girls didn’t want to go back home with me. I think with how Richard had explained the situation yesterday, they were completely thrown off. Molly had asked me more than once when we were alone whether her mummy or the baby were going to die. She was scared shitless.
That had to be one of the worst moments of my life, if not the worst. I couldn’t promise her that everything was going to be okay, I knew better than that, but she was my little girl. How can you try and really explain something like that to a child when not even a grown-up can make sense of it? And it wasn’t just her. Pippa was just as preoccupied. She’d go
ne as far as to tell me that she did not want her mummy to have a baby. Her exact words had been a lot more brutal. They also made me realise that although they were still our babies, that their mentality was far too mature.
When a six-year-old tells you that if you really love their mother you won’t do that to her—that being getting them pregnant—you can’t help but think of just how much they pick up on what’s around them. It also makes you wonder how many other things they misunderstand or what they understand that they shouldn’t really because they’re still too young.
The whole drive back home was filled with worries about how they were going to get through the rest of Jenna’s pregnancy and of what would happen if things did go wrong. On top of that, Quincy’s worries about how the girls would cope with more change kept weighing in.
In the grand scheme of things, they probably wouldn’t even bat an eyelid at it. The last two days they’d been pretty content with everything. Until we had the talk with Richard.
It wasn’t his fault. He’d done better than I’d expected. He didn’t just focus on Pippa; he’d really taken the time to explain everything, within reason, to Molly. And that had been a relief because I kept trying to think of how I was going to talk to her, but he did it all. He’d sat both of the girls on his lap and told them the measured truth.
I won’t lie and say that a part of me wasn’t frustrated that he could do that for my daughter, but another part of me was relieved.
Jenna was Molly’s mother. I may not love her the way I once had, but I still cared. I cared that she would be around for our daughter. Our little girl needed her.
I was just about to turn onto my road, still lost in my head when my phone started going crazy. With messages at first and then Beth’s name lit up my screen. It was one of those times where that sixth sense everyone talks about kicked in. I just had a bad feeling. Beth never called me. She was very close with Quincy and although we’d gotten to know each other very well because of it, she never actually called me unless it was an emergency. If she needed me for anything she normally paged me from one of the hospital numbers.
I pressed the answer button on the steering wheel before she went to voicemail. “Hello?”
“Ummm, hi Jamie. Sorry to bother you, but I was just wondering if Quincy’s with you? I wanted to make sure she’s okay.” She sounded slightly out of breath and her voice was a little pitched.
“No, she’s not with me, why? What’s happened?”
“Oh shit…fuck…okay…”