Amy was having breakfast with her mother, the pain
of which was written across her face in plane shades that she tried to hide
behind her coffee cup.
“I am of course expecting no later than September or
October, assuming we don’t get Alex’ parents to finally agree to move the
wedding up a year—which I think your father is going to be able to do in the
next few months if he and Sam keep playing golf together.”
“I’m sorry, I think I lost you there mother,” she
hadn’t, but Amy was still a little shocked and wanted to make sure to point it
out. “You expect me to have a child, when exactly?”
“Well I’m hoping around nine months or so after the
wedding, but no reason you can’t start trying before.” Her tone was like that
of a teacher who was just stating a fact of an assignment. “Go ahead so we can
see if you have a boy or not, determine how many children we’ll want and such
while you’re still young.”
She just stared at her mother with her upper lip
twisted in a sour expression, trying to get her point across.
“We should discuss names as well. George Hamilton
for the first born boy of course, after your father, but I am sure you’ll have
at least one girl if not more.”
Amy groaned. “For God sakes mother I’m not even
sure-“
“You know what this means to your father and I.”
“Yes, to you two, what about me?”
Deborah wasn’t looking at her daughter anymore and
hardly listening. She had removed a small compact mirror and was checking under
her eyes and around her lips.
“Amy,” she paused, “dear you’re going to be well
taken care of. You know that. After the baby is born and we find a suitable Au
Pair you’ll have a lot of free time on your hands to do what you want. You
should be thrilled.
“Why, so I cannot spend any time with my child or
the man I’m married to?”
Amy wasn’t sure her mother was even going to answer
her question. That was okay though because her phone rang with something a
little more important.
“Hello,” she said glad for the distraction, “yes,
this is she.”
She fell quiet and just listened for several
moments. Her mother still hadn’t noticed until Amy finally responded to the
voice on the other end of the phone. “Yes, I understand. Please let me know as
soon as he is put into a room.” Her mother raised an eyebrow quizzically.
“Thank you,” she said before hanging up. Amy was staring at her phone for a
moment as her thumb fumbled to try to operate it.
“Well,” her mother asked, not happy when she didn’t
know something. It wasn’t that she hated being left out of the loop as much as
she was used to being the loop.
“It’s… Preston,” Amy spat out and finally just put
her phone down for a moment, regaining her composure. “He’s in the hospital,
he’s really sick.” She stood. “I need to go see him, I need to get a cab.” Amy
was shoveling everything back into her purse and looking for the check. It was
all quite overwhelming. Her mother said something to her about slowing down or
some such like that, but all she could do was try and breathe.
“Oh, the foul mouthed child you brought to dinner.”
“Mother,” the comment was sobering to Amy. “Don’t.”
She handed her mother the check and repositioned her
purse another time before turning to walk out.
“Amy, stop. I can have the care come pick us up. You
aren’t thinking clearly.”
“I, fine, let’s just hurry.”
As she waited for her mother to pay
the check and take her time speaking to the waitress about her tip it gave
Amy’s mind a moment to think.
“Alex,” she said out loud in an
almost hushed tone as the thought struck her. “He was doing rounds at Mercy
Hope today.”
She quickly dialed his number,
unsure if he would pick up since he was at work and probably following other
doctors around. There were four rings and she was already contemplating how to
word the message but he picked up.
“Darling, this is odd getting a call
from you.”
“I know, I know,” in fact she was
almost never the one who called him, “I need a favor Alex, I’m sorry.”
“Are we still on for tonight?”
“Yes, well maybe…I’m not cancelling
I just.” She stopped and realized she just needed to pause a moment. “I need
you to check in on someone for me please. I have a very sick friend and I need
to know what’s going on. I know you’ll explain it to me.”
The hospital waiting room moved
around Amy. She was unaware of what was going on as she watched the set of
double doors waiting for something to happen, someone to explain. The only
thing that existed to her right then was her phone. She had been trying to keep
herself busy through texting. It helped her in other situations, why not now?
She had sent April about nine messages but there was little her coffee pal
could do. She texted Pam, Preston’s sister, but she was busy dealing with her
family who were currently out of the country. She had even sent Miguel a very
vague worrisome text that he had responded to in typical fashion, too calmly.
She wasn’t calm right now though and she wouldn’t be calm until she heard the
answers she was looking for.
Her mother sat beside her,
uncomfortable and out of place. She had been holding a tissue up to her mouth
in fear of catching something. This was one of the few times Deborah would
attempt to show her support for her daughter, even though from what little bit
of interactions she had with Preston she felt that nothing of importance was on
the line. The truth was that she couldn’t tell you the names of any of Amy’s
friends that she was currently still friends with. If you had asked her she
would have rambled off names from play dates that stretched back to when Amy
was eight. Preston was the only one of her friends who she could convince to
try and deal with her parents for an evening, he thought it was entertaining of
course. Deborah had pondered how long she was obligated to stay here and still
look like she was being supportive. What amazes me is that at no point in this
woman’s adult life did she ever think she was a horrible mother. You could
blame that on her mother, who was worse, but I digress again.
Amy’s mother had felt that instead
of being there and coddling her child it was best to teach her how to deal with
things, how to survive. When Amy was fifteen and got caught giving Philip White
a blowjob at that private school in Westchester she didn’t scold her but
explained to her why she should keep her options open and at the same time not
appear as a slut to others. When she failed a test she would hire tutors or
donate money to the school. When it came to the matter of men breaking her
heart, or the time Mr. Snuffles die, it was a matter of teaching her how to
move on and learn from the situation. Her father was actually more comforting
in some ways, even though he was still the strong silent type, she was daddy’s
little girl after he got over the fact that he’d never have his little boy.
Amy didn’t expect any type of
comfort from her mother. She was surprised she actually came inside. She had
almost forgotten that her mother was sitting there until she finally spoke up.
“So who was it that called you
again, dear?”
“Pamela, his sister,” she said
distantly.
“What did she say?”
There was a pause.
“She was supposed to go meet him but
he didn’t answer his door, it was unlocked though. She found him upstairs with
just a sheet around him. He had fallen out of bed and she said he was hot to
the touch, feverish. It looks like he had a rough night.” She paused again,
checking her phone, disgusted not to find no new messages. “I’m not sure about
when they got him here. She said they didn’t know much, just that he was
critical and not responding.”
Her mother pondered how to respond
but figured it best not to. She instead watched the clock for several long minutes
but before her own phone rang.
“It’s your father. I’ll let him know
what’s going on.”
Deborah wandered off as she spoke to
her husband, having to remind herself for the third time who they were there in
the hospital to see. Amy actually felt a little bit better, more relaxed to
worry, with her mother gone. She felt her hand shake just a bit as she raised
her phone up to check yet another time. Before she could open the slider the
double doors broke their silence and a thud of heavy material let her know
someone was there to speak.
She had never been so happy to see
Alexander Hawethorn more than she was at that moment. Somehow the small white
coat actually made him seem less like a douche, or perhaps that was her hoping
that he was bringing good news. She leapt up from the waiting room chair and
made her way to him in one large energetic step. His expression was hard to
read though and that concerned her. Amy was good at reading him, even if it
usually boiled down to one of three things. This was a new situation for them,
for their relationship.
“Sorry I’m late. Dr. Connors wanted
me to look at something.”
She found herself standing very
close to him, her hands gripping his forearms as if she might fall. The amount
of comfort found in her fiancé at that moment was a level she hadn’t even
experienced when he was inside of her. She needed the stability though and it
might have looked odd to ask Miguel to be there for her.
“Did you—that’s fine—did you get a
chance to look at Preston?”
“Yeah, I did.” She felt him shift
and what she thought might actually be a hug turned out to be his escape to the
coffee machine. “I got a chance to look at his charts,” he said while he fished
some change from his pocket and fed it into the machine. “His fever keeps
coming back every time after they break it and it’s almost like he’s in some
state of shock with the way his scans are showing up. Anything he says has been
incoherent and as far as they can tell his blood is clean, it isn’t anything
he’s taken.” He took a long sip and made an unsatisfied expression at the
taste, though he should have been used to it. “They’re running some more
tests.”
“What,” the words just weren’t
working for her. “is he- I mean- is he going to be okay though? There’s no
chance he could…die, right?”
He sipped his coffee as his eyes
narrowed. For the first time Alex realized this wasn’t just about some
acquaintance lying on a bed in the room down the hall. Alexander was a little
overconfident though, he didn’t think he had any real challengers out there so
to speak, but being the dutiful boyfriend right now would do him a lot of good.
His hand gently pulled her close.
“He’ll be fine. I’ll check in on him
first thing in the morning.” He gave her the best smile he could and Amy bought
it.
There was no reason to stick around
the hospital. They weren’t letting anyone in to see Preston and his sister was
too busy and frazzled herself. She and Alex were supposed to go out that night,
their first of what was supposed to be many more dates, now that he was coming
to the end of his med school tenure. They ordered in instead and watched a
documentary on plastic surgery. Amy was distant and still checking her phone
for any news. Alex was wondering if tonight was still going to be good for sex at
least, it wasn’t.
It was an early night for both of
them. Alex had to get up early for his medical rounds and she had a client.
Neither one of them really slept well that night. It was when Amy finally did
fall into slumber that she regretted it.
In the darkness of Alex’s apartment
Amy dreamt. Her legs twitched and fingers gripped the covers in uncomfortable
spasms while her subconscious worked overtime. Beads of sweat popped up from
the pores on her forehead. Jerking up out of bed she almost threw herself off
of it. Alex lazily rose and narrowed his eyes at her.
“Amy?”
“I’m okay,” she responded, almost
out of breath as she stood.
She stumbled into the bathroom as
her fingertips trailed along the white smooth wall to guide her. The door shut
as the light came on. She gazed at her reflection in the mirror and splashed
water on her face from the faucet. She had to struggle to remember what she
looked like, the only thing she could remember at that moment was the face from
her nightmare.
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