by Candy Crum
Bri sat and listened in awe. She had no idea what to think. She was so in love with this family. It was everything that she’d wanted from her own parents. It saddened her to think that she had to look to another family to find it, but she was so very grateful that she even had another family to look to. She knew a lot of girls didn’t even have that option.
“We talked a lot while we waited for the doctor downstairs. We’ve made a few decisions,” Shaelyn said.
“What kind of decisions?” Bri asked.
“First off, no more lying or hiding things.”
“That’s not a problem,” Bri said. “I’m pretty sure I died a little inside every time I had to lie to your face.”
“Second, we are going to get you on some kind of good insurance. We are going to make sure that you’re taken care of.” Matt gave a light elbow to his mother’s ribs. “Ouch! What?”
“I thought I was already on insurance?” Bri said. “Matt?”
Shaelyn gave her son an incredulous look. “Really? You didn’t tell her?” Matt shook his head. He never wanted Bri to know. Shaelyn looked back down to Bri. “Like I said,no more lying or hiding things. It’s time everyone comes clean. Baby, your parents took you off their insurance a long time ago. Probably before you even left the hospital the last time, during the assault. Matt has been paying your doctor’s visits.”
Bri was shocked. She didn’t know what to think. “If I was taken off the insurance before I left the hospital, then that wasn’t paid for either. Matt, have you been paying that, too?” He nodded. She thought back to everything that had happened. “You said that Jack helped you with the school stuff, too. That she helped you find a scholarship so I could homeschool. Was that a lie, too?”
“Must be,” Jacqueline said. “Because I don’t remember it. Though, I would have happily helped you, sis. You shouldn’t ever be afraid to tell me anything. Future reference.” Jacqueline took a step back, letting her family back in. She was quiet and didn’t much like confrontation or uncomfortable situations, like the one that had developed.
Matt closed his eyes, regretting his mother’s decision to rat him out, though he knew her reasoning. “Yes. Bri, you wanted so badly to finish and I knew it was the best thing for you and for the baby. If you didn’t finish school, the best you’d ever get is a fast food job. I knew you’d hate yourself for it. I couldn’t let that happen.”
“What else have you paid for?” she asked. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Bri the cost doesn’t matter. I did it because I wanted you taken care of. You were trying so hard and it seemed like you just kept slipping in the mud. But it didn’t matter, you still kept going. In my eyes, I just put down a little sand for traction. Don’t be angry. I did it because I just wanted you to have a good start. I wasn’t giving you handouts. You were doing everything all on your own. You just needed the boost. That’s all.”
Bri took a deep breath, trying to calm her fluttering belly. She grabbed his hand and pulled him down to her. She hugged him tight, enjoying the comfort that having him so close brought. He was perfect. She’d always known it, but there was absolutely no denying it now. He’d been taking care of her and her baby the entire time he’d known. He made sure nothing happened to either of them.
“Thank you. I don’t know how, but I’ll make it up to you one day. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. I love you, Matt.”
Her eyes snapped open when she realized what she’d said. Matt pulled back and looked directly into her eyes. He saw they were wide with both worry and surprise. He was surprised himself. Before he could stop himself, he decided to act on the moment instead of using words – which he didn’t think he would be able to find at the moment.
Matt’s lips pressed against Bri’s in a kiss that everyone in the room felt was long overdue. Bri’s hand found the back of Matt’s head and she kissed him back, tears freely falling. She’d never felt so completed, so happy.
This is what love is supposed to feel like, she thought to herself.
Matt pulled away, smiling completely. He, too, couldn’t remember ever feeling that way; so full of happiness and love.
“You mean everything to me. I would die to protect you, I think you know that.” She nodded, not wanting to speak a word and risk interrupting him. “I love you, Bri. I love you more than you’ll ever know. And I love that little girl just as much. I want you. I want us to be a family. I want that little girl to have my last name. I want to give both of you the world. It won’t be easy. But with you, I can do anything. If nothing else, the last few months have taught me that.”
Bri hugged him again. She cried softly into his shoulder. “We’ve always done everything together. Any time we’ve ever met with something big, we always gravitate toward one another. If this is really what you want, then I think there’s no reason this should be any different. No matter what happens, our little girl will have the best daddy in the world.”
Bri pulled away and kissed him again. She’d never loved anyone so much, save her own daughter. Though she never thought she’d see the day when she and Matt actually got together, in the back of her mind she always knew it was a possibility. They were too much alike and were too good together not to at least consider it, even if she hadn’t felt for him that way at the time.
Matt pulled back, still holding her hand as he stood. Bri looked over to see Derek with a smile on his face and Shaelyn with her hands clasped in front of her chin, a massive grin shining through the room, her eyes darting back and forth between Bri and Matt. She reminded Bri of a dog that had about five treats sitting on the end of her nose, just waiting for someone to say that it was okay to snatch them.
She’d apparently had enough and couldn’t wait any longer. She was bursting at the seams. “Yay!” she shrieked.
“Thanks for ruining the moment, Mom,” Matt said. He was happy and he was even happier that his mother was so crazy about it. But that was just Matt. He had to give everyone a hard time.
“You’re welcome!” She laughed. “I’ve been waiting for this for a while now. Besides, I have a grandbaby now! Yay! Though, I will say that it’s strange to see the two of you not picking on one another.”
“Actually,” Matt said. “If I’m being honest, after I stood up I wanted to call her a jerk and lightly tap her in the arm. But she’s all sickly and attached to every machine known to man. I guess I’ll have to wait. I’ll probably follow up most of my verbal affections with names that I find amusing to call her.”
“Yeah, and I would have called you an ass, of course. And I’m sure that I will invent several names for you, dear,” Bri said.
Shaelyn laughed. “Oh! Well forgive me then. Glad to see nothing has changed.”
Matt looked down at Bri. “Me too.”
Chapter 14
Bri had been in the hospital for four days and Maree Metcalf still wasn’t comfortable sending her home. During her stay, the kind doctor helped Shaelyn and Derek find an insurance company that would take Bri. Everything at work had been taken care of and the apartment manager was told what had happened as well. Bri was instructed to stay as calm as possible and her family would take care of everything else.
Matt brought her the laptop so she could continue to do homework. That was the only thing that she demanded. She could handle being stuck there and handle being on bed rest as long as she was able to continue school. She said that she couldn’t take sitting around being completely useless and that doing her homework and working ahead meant that she would have more time for the baby when she was born.
Matt stayed with her every moment that he wasn’t at school. He’d only leave long enough to go home, shower, grab some things for that night, and then head to work. After that, he’d always come back and sleep in the room next to her. The nurses pitied him and got an extra bed put in there so he could actually sleep.
One of Bri’s nurses came into her room and opened the curtains, waking her. “Rise and shine, Bri.”
She groaned. “No, too tired.”
“You’re only so tired because all you’ve been able to do is lay in that bed. Guess what? You get to take a walk around the unit.”
“Really?” Bri sat up, excited that she’d finally be allowed out of bed for longer than it took to walk to the bathroom.
The nurse walked over to the bed and began unhooking the machines. “Yep! Doctor’s orders. We have to make sure you don’t develop pneumonia or clots. I’m going to hook a portable monitor on you so we can watch your heart. There will be a portable fetal monitor as well. So you’re going to be a little weighted down with little receiver boxes, but you won’t have to tote around the IV pole or anything. She said that we can leave the IV behind.”
Bri nearly squealed she was so happy. She sat her legs on the edge of the bed and dangled them over. The nurse helped remove her boots and began taking the dangling monitor cords and putting them in little portable monitors. She put a GAIT belt around her waist and attached the boxes since she was still in a gown.
“Am I allowed to put on some pajama bottoms?” Bri asked.
“Sure, but leave the sexy gown on,” the nurse replied. Bri laughed at her joke. “Once you get back in here, you’ll take those back off and get back in bed.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me.”
Matt walked in and sat some food down. “Going to the bathroom?” he asked.
“No! I actually get to go for a walk around the unit today!” Bri said excitedly.
“Oh! Well that’s great news. Can I help?” he asked.
“Can he?” Bri asked.
She thought for a moment. “Do you know what a GAIT belt is and how to use one?” she asked Matt.
“Sure. You put them on anyone who is unstable and may fall. If they start to fall, you use it to hold them steady or gently lower them to the floor if necessary. The nurses’ aides used them a lot on my grandfather when he was in a nursing home.”
“Right. As long as you know how to use one, I’ll let you walk her. If she gets dizzy or wobbly, bring her back. If she starts cramping or having a headache, bring her back. This is basically her PT test. We have to know if she is capable of getting up and walking around without having a blood pressure issue or a cramping problem. If she can, it shouldn’t be too much longer before she can go home.”
“That sounds awesome to me,” Bri said. “I’d love to get the hell out of here. No offense.”
The nurse laughed. “None taken. The better we do our jobs, the faster you go home. So I’m excited to get you out of here, too.”
Bri stood and took an assessment of how she felt. No spinning room, no stars, no cramps or achy feeling. “I feel really good,” she said.
“Great!” said the nurse. “Let’s see what you can do. If you can make it across the room and to my desk out in the hall with no problems, I’ll let you go on your own. Deal?”
“Deal,” Bri said, excitement in her voice.
With the nurse on one side and Matt on the other, they moved slowly through the room and out the door. They made their way to the nurse’s station and Bri was pleased that, even though she felt a little weak from not getting out of bed in days, she felt otherwise normal.
“How do you feel?” the nurse asked.
Bri looked around the hall, enjoying the different sights. “I feel really good. I’m a little weak, but no dizziness or any other issues.”
“Weakness is normal, as long as you don’t feel faint or like you can’t stand. Is it anything like that?”
Bri shook her head.
“Good. Then I will release the two of you to walk. If you need anything, I can hear you from any place on this unit. Okay?”
Matt held on to Bri’s GAIT belt and stayed right by her side as she walked. They didn’t talk, only walked and enjoyed each other’s company. To them, this was the closest thing they’d had to an “outing” in days and they were grateful for it. Bri had been confined to that room for so long she was starting to think that she’d never get out.
As she rounded into the short hall on the end, she heard someone softly crying. Curiosity getting the better of her, she walked a little closer to the doors until she found who she’d been looking for. Slowing her walk a little, she peeked in the room as she started to walk past. When she saw the girl lying in the bed, she stopped dead in her tracks.
“Molly Simpson?” she asked.
“Didn’t she quit school a few months ago?” Matt asked.
“Yeah. The night that I found out that I was pregnant, my mom and dad were talking about Molly’s father. He’d taken Molly to the doctor and found out that she was pregnant. She must have quit school before she had to go through what I did. I’m going to go in.”
“Okay,” he said, kissing her lightly on the lips. “If you decide to stay, I’ll go tell the warden what happened. I’m sure she will understand.”
Bri knocked on the door and the girl looked up. Her eyes were red and swollen from crying. Bri slowly poked her head inside.
“Hi, Molly. I was just walking by and saw you. Would it be okay if I came in?”
Molly thought for a moment. She didn’t like the idea of having a visitor, much less the ever popular Briana Grace, All-Star. But, she’d been in there completely alone all day and could use the distraction.
“Sure. Come in.”
Bri looked back at Matt and he nodded, understanding. “Don’t go anywhere without me, understand? I’ll go tell the nurse and then I’ll be right back. I’ll wait out here.”
“Thank you,” Bri said.
She squeezed his hand once before going inside. She slowly walked over to the bed and sat in the chair next to it.
“Hi,” Bri said. “I’m sure this is a stupid question, but how are you? I heard you crying.”
The girl stared at Bri, mostly checking out her large belly. “You’re pregnant?”
“Yeah. Almost eight months. I’ve been here for four days. I have placenta previa and preeclampsia.”
Tears once again filled the girl’s eyes as she looked from Bri’s eyes down to her swollen belly. “You’re so lucky,” she said, voice just a whisper.
Bri wasn’t for sure how to take that. “Well, if you mean that I’m still lucky that the baby is so strong and she’s kicking, then yes. I am. Past that, those conditions aren’t very lucky. What exactly did you mean?”
Molly looked back up to Bri. “You still have your baby.”
Tears spilled down Molly’s cheeks again as she lifted her gown, revealing a flat abdomen with extra skin. She had a few stretch marks, but what was truly disturbing were the bruises. Her ribs and abdomen were bruised all over. She had welts and scraps, even a few stitches.
“Molly. What happened?” Bri asked.
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” she said.
Seeing those bruises brought back painful memories for her. “You were pregnant. I found out that you were the same day that I found out that I was. You couldn’t have been much further along. Did someone hurt you?” Molly began crying again. “I know you probably look at me like some of the girls at school did. But I’m not the typical jock. I don’t care where a person comes from, I care who they are on the inside. I promise you, you can talk to me.”
“You’ll hate me,” she said.
“Trust me. After all I’ve been through, as hard as I try, I’m still not capable of hate. Tell me what happened.”
“It was Mike.”
As soon as the words left her mouth, Bri’s rage ignited. She’d been wrong. She could still very much feel hate.
“Did you…” Bri couldn’t even bring herself to ask the question without tearing up. She tried to hold it, but her eyes quickly overflowed a single tear from each eye. “Did you lose your baby?”
Molly erupted into tears again. She nodded. “He kicked me over and over again. I started bleeding everywhere. When I started puking up blood he left. I managed to crawl to my phone and call 911. I was able to get my name and address out bef
ore I went unconscious. When I woke up, they told me that I had to have emergency surgery because I had so much internal bleeding. They told me that…”
She stopped for a moment, taking a deep breath and trying to control her tears. “They told me that my baby had died. My little boy. Josiah. That was his name. After my grandfather. They did a C-section and fixed the internal bleeding all at once. They tried to get me to talk, but Mike said that he’d kill me if I told anyone. Honestly, I don’t know why I told you. The only reason that Mike didn’t find out sooner was because Dad had me quit school before anyone found out. He saw me out at the grocery store with my mom. That’s how he figured it out.”
“I’m so sorry. But hey, you did the right thing by telling me,” Bri said. She tried to shake off what she’d just been told. She couldn’t imagine the horror this girl went through. Bri had gone through a similar beating, but her baby had made it. “The same thing happened to me. The beating, I mean.”
Molly looked up, shock in her eyes. “Is the baby Matt’s?” she asked, having remembered seeing them together in the hall.
“No. Not biologically, though I’m putting his name on the birth certificate. He wants to be the father. I’m a little shy of eight months along now. I found out when I was around three. I kept it from everyone, but I made a mistake and told Melanie. When I did, she went straight to Mike. He told me to have an abortion, but I refused. When I wouldn’t, he attacked me. He and his buddies attacked me outside the gas station. They broke bones in my face, ribs, hands, and even my leg was damaged really badly.”
The girl smiled. “But the baby survived?”
Bri nodded. Molly couldn’t turn on her side, but she could still reach out. She stuck her hand through her bed rail and laid it on Bri’s belly. It caught her off guard for a moment, but she let her. The baby kicked then and Molly smiled again.
