Stop, I ordered myself. You have to stop thinking like that.
After the shower, I helped my dad and brothers load all the gifts up. There were so many that we would need several vehicles to transfer them to Laura and Frank’s house. As we worked, Samuel kept giving me strange looks, and I found myself getting paranoid that he’d seen the news already.
“You okay, sis?” he asked quietly as we worked together to fill my SUV.
“I’m fine,” I said automatically. “It’s nothing, Sammy. This is just how the stupid media is.”
“Sure.” But I could tell he didn’t really believe me.
When my dad announced we’d all be having dinner back at Laura’s house, I was sure I was going to scream. I couldn’t imagine getting through the entire night with so many people. And if Samuel knew about the rumors, it was only a matter of time before the rest of them heard the news as well.
I’ll just drop off the gifts and make some excuse, I told myself as I climbed into my SUV. Before I started the engine, I stared at my purse, not sure if I desperately wanted to turn my phone on, or if I never wanted to hear it ring again. Finally the curiosity won out, and I pulled it from my purse and powered it on.
There were seven missed calls. Two from Heidi, which I ignored, and two from Thomas, who hadn’t left a message. The others were from numbers I didn’t recognize, and I immediately worried that they were reporters. How had the press gotten ahold of my cell phone number?
Before I could try Thomas and attempt to get to the bottom of everything, my phone rang in my hand. Callie.
“Hey, Cal.”
“Lizzie, are you okay?”
I sighed, putting the car into gear. I may as well get to the house so I could drop the gifts off and leave as soon as possible. “I’m fine. Kind of numb, to be honest.”
“Have you talked to him?”
“No. I was at the shower. He called a few times but didn’t leave a message.”
She was quiet for a minute. “The pictures are bad, Lizzie. I’m sorry, I wish I could just be indignant at the press on your behalf, but—the pictures are bad.”
“He didn’t do anything, Callie.”
“I’m not saying he did,” she said quickly. “I’m just saying, if I was a reporter…well, it looks like there’s truth to it. There’s a theory that he didn’t announce your engagement because he didn’t want her to know about it.”
Some of the numbness seemed to edge away a bit, a shot of fear threatening to get in. Thomas had been so reluctant to make an announcement, had been so upset when the news leaked. Could that be because…Stop it!
“What are you going to do?”
“What can I do? I’m going to wait until I can talk to him and see what’s going on.”
“You sound remarkably calm about all of this.”
I didn’t tell her how close I was to a full out freak out. “There’s no point in getting worked up over something when I have no way of knowing the facts,” I said, much more reasonably than I felt.
“Good girl. Look, if anything is going on—”
“It’s not.”
“Okay, okay, it’s not. But if it were—I just want you to know that I have your back, okay? Me being with Charlie has no effect on which way my loyalties lie.”
I was torn between feeling touched at her assurances and annoyed that she seemed to be taking the allegations seriously enough that she thought they were warranted.
“Thanks, Cal,” I told her, for lack of anything else to say.
“Will you call me later? After you’ve talked to him?”
“Of course.”
We hung up just as I neared my sister’s house. I was surprised to see that I was the first car to arrive. Carlos was usually the lead foot in our family. I got to work unloading the presents in the garage, happy for the solitude. It was much easier to keep the scary thoughts at bay when I didn’t have to try and explain myself to anyone.
My peace and quiet was short lived. I had only unloaded half of the gifts when Laura and Sam pulled up in the driveway, our parents, Maria, and Sofie’s mom and dad following closely behind. I was surprised to see Sofie pull up right behind her folks, having thought she’d get out of dodge as soon as her obligation to Laura was fulfilled.
“Lizzie!” Laura cried, pulling her awkward pregnant self from the car. “What’s going on? Why didn’t you tell us?”
I stared at her blankly, not following her, until I saw Sofie from the corner of my eye. I turned to glare at her, but she looked back, unabashed. “I didn’t tell them.”
“That, uh, was me,” Samuel admitted, joining us in the driveway. The rest of the family was slowly exiting their vehicles and walking toward me. So they all knew. Perfect.
“Are you okay?” Laura asked, clearly concerned. I felt a momentary rush of panic. I did not want to have to talk to them about this, not without talking to Thomas first.
“Listen,” I said loudly, holding my hands up. “This is just a stupid rumor. Thomas didn’t do anything wrong. This kind of crap happens all the time with celebrities, okay?”
Not one of them looked convinced. I glanced at my mother, and my heart dropped. She looked absolutely horrified, as if someone had mortally wounded me. My dad’s face, on the other hand, was a rigid mask of anger.
“I mean it,” I said, my voice shaking. I was too close to losing it, too close to completely breaking down. “If you’re all going to act weird around me, I’m going home right now.”
For once, Maria came to my rescue. “Of course we won’t act weird.” She alone looked calm. “Let’s go in and eat. It’s been a long day for everyone.”
As if to confirm, Laura let out a little moan and rubbed her belly. Every eye swung from me to her. “I’m fine,” she said quickly. “Just a little cramp. Come on, let’s go eat.”
Everyone filed into the house, and I hung back to catch Sofie. “I’m sorry,” she said once we were out of earshot. “I swear I didn’t tell them.”
“I know. Sam must have read it online or something. I could tell he knew as soon as he got to the church.”
Sofie stopped before we reached the porch and turned to me, her eyes flickering across my face as if she was trying to read something there. “Do you really think this is a misunderstanding? Do you really trust him?”
That was the real crux of it, wasn’t it? Did I trust Thomas? Did I trust him enough to ignore all the rumors, to explain away the pictures? To think the worst of Franny, a woman I had never met?
Do you really trust him?
“Yes,” I said firmly. “Of course I do.”
She merely nodded. “Okay. Then I do, too.”
I felt a rush of gratitude to her, for not pressing it, for having my back. Just the fact that she was here, that she hadn’t gone straight home after the shower even though she was still uncomfortable around the family.
“Thank you.”
She made a move as if to hug me and I flinched, knowing I would lose it if she did. She must have realized it, because she reached out to squeeze my hand instead. “Let’s go in.”
We ate pizza off of paper plates in the living room and talked about the shower. There was plenty of family gossip to be shared and conversation flowed freely. I didn’t really participate, and every once in a while, I noticed that someone’s gaze would linger on me, but I tried to ignore it. I felt awkward and out of place, on the verge of tears. All I wanted was to talk to Thomas. I sent him a text, asking him to please call me. There was no response.
After a while, I began to notice that I wasn’t the only quiet one in the group. Laura had barely said a word since we’d started eating. And she hadn’t had much of her pizza, either, a marked change from her enormous appetite earlier. As I watched, the color seemed to drain from her face and I saw her grimace.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, not noticing that I was interrupting my mother’s recount of Cousin Christina’s new living room remodel.
“Nothing,” Laura said quickly,
but she set her plate on the side table and moved to stand. As she did so, her entire body swayed and she let out a little cry of pain.
“Laura!” Sam cried, quickly moving to her side. He grabbed her arm to steady her as she continued to sway, looking like she might pass out any minute.
“I just need…bathroom,” she muttered. As she took a step aside, the chair she’d been sitting in came into full view. There was blood on the seat.
I gasped, jumping up. “You’re bleeding!”
“What?” she tried to turn in a confused circle, but the motion only made her unsteadiness worse and she stumbled.
The room descended into chaos. Laura started crying, moaning that it hurt, while Sam and Matias both tried to push her back into the chair. Sofie ran to the kitchen to get towels for the mess while my parents hovered around Laura’s chair. “What’s wrong?” my dad kept asking. “What hurts, baby? How do you feel?”
“Everyone stop!” Maria shouted loudly. Immediately the room silenced, save for Laura’s continued whimpering. Maria leaned down in front of her younger sister. “Laura, tell me what hurts and how long it’s been.”
“My stomach,” Laura moaned. “For the past twenty minutes.”
“You’re dizzy?”
Laura nodded.
“We’re going to the hospital,” Maria said briskly. “Lizzie, grab some towels for the car. Sammy and Matias, help her walk.”
“But, Frank…” Laura whispered, face pale. Her husband was out of town on business for the weekend, not expected back until the next evening.
“We can call Frank on the way,” Maria told her. She turned to look at us, her voice transitioning from soothing to commanding. “What are you waiting for?” Everyone moved under her orders. Maria grabbed Laura’s purse. “Is your phone in here, Laura?”
Laura nodded, wincing as Sam pulled her into a standing position. “Good,” Maria said. “We’ll call your doctor on the way. Come on, Sam, Matias. Let’s move.”
I rushed out ahead of them to spread towels on Laura’s seat. I caught her eye as she was helped from the house—she looked absolutely terrified. “Hey, you’re fine,” I told her, reaching for her hand as they helped her into the front passenger seat.
“Will you stay with me, Lizzie?” she asked.
“Of course,” I replied, not even thinking to argue.
“Maria, too, please.”
We both piled into the back seat. Sam barely waiting for us to secure our seatbelts before he pulled out down the driveway, nearly knocking Matias over in his hurry. “What about Mama?” Laura moaned.
“They’ll meet us there,” Maria assured her, her voice entirely calm and controlled as she reached into Laura’s purse to get her phone. “What’s your doctor’s name, Laura.”
“Romero.”
“Give me your phone, Lizzie,” Maria demanded, holding out her hand.
“Shit,” I muttered. “I left it inside.”
“It’s fine,” Maria said, pulling her own phone from her purse and handing it to me. “It’s the weekend,” she explained, seeing my questioning look as she searched Laura’s contacts list for Romero. “The doctor’s office should have an after-hours number to call on their answering machine. I’m going to read it to you, and you punch it into my phone.”
I barely had time to marvel at her cool head before she was barking numbers at me. I dutifully typed them in and handed the phone back to her. She hung up Laura’s phone before bringing her own cell phone to her ear. I shook my head, my mind spinning. I had barely had the presence of mind to put the towels in the car, and here was Maria, completely in control of the situation.
I listened as she explained what was happening to the nurse. “Okay. We will. Thanks.” She hung up the phone. “Your doctor’s already on call at the hospital, Laura, so he’ll meet us there.”
“It hurts, Maria,” she moaned.
“I know, sweetie. Everything will be fine though. Here, hold my hand.” She reached over the seat so Laura could grip her hand. “Good girl. See how strong you are? Nothing to worry about.”
But I was worried. Was this just labor? She wasn’t due for another four weeks. It had all seemed to happen so fast. And the blood—was there usually that much blood when a woman went into labor? Was the dizziness normal? I wished I had any frame of reference for this kind of thing. I tried to take comfort in the fact that Maria, who had given birth twice, seemed totally calm. But when she turned slightly to better grip Laura’s hand I caught sight of her eyes. My heart started to thud faster. No matter how in control she seemed, Maria was scared. And that scared me more than anything else.
I said a quick prayer of thanks that Laura lived so close to the hospital as we pulled into the emergency entrance. “You go help her in, Sam,” I said, unbuckling my seatbelt. “I’ll park the car.”
“Take my phone,” Maria said, slipping it into my hand. “I’ll text you where we are so you can find us.”
I climbed into the driver’s seat as Sam moved around to help Laura out. An orderly joined him and together they helped my sister into a waiting wheelchair. As Maria passed my open window, I reached for her arm. “Is this bad?”
She met my eyes and I could see the fear there—but there was something else, as well. A strength. A quiet confidence. Something I could only describe as faith.
“She’s going to be just fine.”
***
Placental abruption, the doctor said. In other words, a small portion of the placenta was separating from the uterus, causing the pain and bleeding. A serious condition, but a manageable one, now that they caught it. The bleeding had, mercifully, stopped. They did, however, want the baby delivered immediately.
I sat in the waiting room along with my parents, my brothers, and Sofie. Maria had gone into the labor room with Laura and her doctor. I was grateful that she was there—I couldn’t think of anyone that would help Laura feel more in control of things than Maria, particularly with Frank absent. I was even more grateful that we were at the local hospital, not the one at which my mom had been treated. I wasn’t sure I could deal with that.
I felt the weight of the day piling up on me. Sofie arriving at the shower with her news. The horrible phone call with Heidi. And then the sheer panic of realizing something was wrong with Laura. I wasn’t sure how much more I could take.
“Are you okay, Lizzie?” my mom asked, coming to sit next to me.
I held my breath for a moment, scared that if I didn’t, I would let out the torrent of fear and doubt that was weighing on me. “I’m fine, Mom,” I finally said.
“Everything is going to be okay, you know,” she soothed. “Your sister and the baby will make it through perfectly, I know it.”
“I’m sure you’re right, Mama.”
She paused. “And things will be fine with Thomas, too. I think you were right, Lizzie—it must all be a misunderstanding. That’s the only explanation.”
I felt tears prick my eyes. I wanted nothing more than to let her hug me, to assure me that it would all be okay, that he loved me as much as I had always thought, that stupid rumors and lies could never take us down—
“Lizzie?” I looked up to see Maria standing in the doorway. She looked calm and steady, just like always.
“Is she okay?” I asked, standing.
“She’s doing great. But she’d like you to come in, if you don’t mind.” She smiled a little. “Said she wants her girls.”
The relief I felt at her words was mingled with a measure of fear. I’d never been around childbirth before. “You may as well,” Sofie said cheerily from my other side. “You need practice for when you do it with me.”
“You, too, Mama,” Maria added, and I took Mom’s hand to follow her down the hall to Laura’s room.
She was sitting up in bed, her hair plastered to her face. She looked exhausted already, and she had barely started.
“Mama,” she said, tears filling her eyes, and we both went to her. I held her hand while my mom brushed t
he damp hair from her forehead. “Do you guys mind?” Laura asked, her voice pleading. “I just don’t think I can do this alone.”
I met Maria’s eyes on the other side of the bed. She was nodding encouragingly at me. “Of course, Laura.”
“Thank you.” She relaxed back into her pillows. “Mama, I don’t know how you did this five times. And with twins!”
“You’ll do it, too,” my mom said, kissing her head. “You’ll do wonderfully. We Medinas are strong woman.” She turned to look at me, as if wanting to make sure I heard her words as well. I nodded at her, a lump in my throat.
Then Laura whimpered again, her body tensing up, and I tightened my hand in hers. She needed me right now. She was about to bring a new member of our family into the world—it was an honor that she wanted me here for this. There was no room in my head or my heart to worry about anything else, not even Thomas.
My sister needed me, and this was exactly where I was meant to be.
***
“She’s so gorgeous,” Sofie whispered, reaching out a finger to gently rub over the baby’s soft cheek. “I can’t believe how small she is.”
“Right? Look at her fingernails.”
“They’re like little slivers!”
“I know!”
“Can you guys stop gushing?” Laura asked, but I could hear the pride in her voice. “You’re going to wake her up.
“Sorry,” I said, lowering my voice. It was pretty hard not to gush—Maia was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. Well, as beautiful as my other niece and nephew, of course. But I felt slightly more proprietary over this one, considering I had watched her come into the world.
Laura had labored for only three hours before pushing. Another hour later and little Maia was born—right into her daddy’s waiting hands. Frank had arrived just before the pushing had started, but Laura convinced the doctor to let all of us stay in the room for the delivery. It had been messy and kind of disgusting, if I’m honest. It had also been the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.
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