by Lexy Timms
“This is my wife and unborn child you’re messing with,” I said.
“We are fully aware who we are dealing with, what’s at stake, and what goes down in situations like this. Take a deep breath, Mr. McBride, and let us do our job.”
I relented, but I wasn’t happy about it. The gallery officially opened for the day, and the door to the gallery shop closed. I watched the screens like a hawk as people came in and out, and I was so proud of how normal Hailey was acting. She was interacting with the customers and selling new paintings. She was guiding them through their emotions, which was a new tactic I’d never seen her do before. I stood there in awe of her as she rang people up and took personal orders, smiling as if it was an ordinary day.
But then, a message scrolled across the screen I was watching.
He’s here.
My eyes flipped over to the television that had a projection of the front door. A grungy looking man who was teetering on his feet was headed for the door. I felt my fists clench at my sides as I watched him walk in, and then I heard the dinging of the front door bell behind the wall.
He was here, and I saw Hailey tighten up on the camera.
“Keep calm, sweetie. We’re right here,” I said.
“Mrs. McBride,” the man said. “I think you know why I’m here.”
I could feel my heartbeat ramming against my sternum as my anger levels rose. I could already see the fear Hailey was in. It was in the way her body caved and how she was reaching for her taser already. I wanted to rush out there and ring this man’s neck. I wanted to watch the life seep from his bone marrow. I wanted my face to be the last face he saw, the face of the brother of a man his cousin had murdered in cold blood.
“I need my money,” the man said.
“Could you just give me a second?” Hailey asked.
“Now, I was very generous to you. I gave you more than enough time to gather those funds,” he said.
I watched him draw a switchblade from his pocket as he walked over to one of the paintings on the wall.
“How far along are you? Seven and a half months?” Ben asked.
“Y-yes,” Hailey said. “I am.”
“Why aren’t we going in now?” I asked.
“We don’t have enough to incriminate him on the stop. We need more. She’s going to have to pull why he’s here out of her,” the police officer said.
“Old enough to survive in a hospital stay if something were to, you know, happen to the mother,” Ben said.
I watched him thrust his knife through one of Hailey’s paintings as she ran from behind the counter.
“Please! Please don’t ruin any of my paintings!”
“I’m going out there,” I said.
“Not if you want this man in jail for extortion, you won’t,” the police officer said. “At best, we’ve got him for a misdemeanor vandalism charge. He could easily get off with community service.”
“Better than hurting Bryan. Or Anna, I would think,” Ben said.
“Please don’t hurt anyone,” Hailey said.
“You promised me my money,” he said.
“And I told you I would get it for you,” Hailey said.
“Then where is it? Huh? Where’s the money I need to pay off my boss?”
“Pay off your boss?” she asked.
“Good girl,” I said. “Bait him.”
“Yes, you idiot. My boss. The man who killed my brother for the drugs he lost on that drug-head girl in your class! You’re responsible for those drugs. You were then when my cousin dragged your ass out of bed, and you are now.”
“What about the girl selling the drugs, huh? Why isn’t she responsible for all this?” Hailey asked.
“We tried to hold her responsible, but she tried to run. So, she figured out what happens when people run from us,” Ben said.
“Wh-what happens?” Hailey asked.
The man approached her with the knife outstretched, and I watched Hailey back away. He backed her all the way to the register before she grabbed her taser and then held it out in front of her to defend herself. I could see her shaking on the screen as the police officer was muttering into his radio. I didn’t know what the fuck they were waiting for, but I had seen enough.
“Their blood spills on this knife,” the man said. “Now, where’s the money you owe me for the drugs that were lost in your fucking art studio?”
I couldn’t stand by and watch this any longer. I didn’t know what the hell the police were waiting for, but this wasn’t going on a second longer than it needed to. I barged out of the shop and stood in front of Hailey, my eyes piercing the man as he held the knife out in front of him. He smelled disgusting, full of mud and dirt and everything else you would find in a sewer. The man’s eyes were bloodshot, and his hand was trembling, but he moved quicker than I could’ve ever imagined.
He thrust his knife into his pocket and pulled out a gun just as the policemen from the shop came out with their guns drawn.
“Drop the weapon,” the police officer said.
But Ben kept his gun trained on my chest.
“Look, man, my brother is dead,” I said.
Ben’s eyes grew wide as the gun trembled in his hand.
“He’s dead, this girl’s dead, and your cousin’s dead. Hasn’t there been enough suffering? Are you really going to point a loaded gun at a pregnant woman to get money you’re not entitled to?” I asked.
“Someone has to pay,” Ben said.
“Sir. Drop the weapon,” the police officer said again.
I saw the man’s trigger finger tick, but the police must not have. They were standing there like lunatics, allowing this man to point a gun at us. What the hell would it take for them to shoot his man and get it over with? What would it take for someone to reach for their fucking handcuffs and end this damn nightmare? Part of me wanted revenge. I wanted to watch the cousin of the man who killed my brother bleed out right here on the gallery floor, but the other part of me wanted this to be over. I wanted him walking out in handcuffs and out of our lives forever.
“This is for your brother,” Ben said.
He squeezed off a round, and I threw Hailey to the ground. I flung myself on top of her as the police officers charged the man. Gunshots went off, and Ben started to groan. I covered Hailey with my entire body as I shielded her from all the commotion.
“Bryan,” she said breathlessly. “Bryan, we’ve, uh, I’ve-I’m ...”
I pulled myself away from Hailey’s body, and all I could see was blood. She was clutching her stomach, blood pooling on the beautiful white and blue dress she had worn to work that day. I looked down at my body, wondering if I was the one who had been shot. But there were no holes in my shirt or any pain ricocheting through my body.
“She’s been shot! Hailey’s been shot!”
I could hear myself screaming as I stood to my feet.
“Get me a fucking ambulance! Hailey’s been shot!”
I felt something warm and damp clamp around my wrist as I looked down. Hailey’s hand was wrapped around me as she tried to stand. I wrapped my arms underneath hers and lifted her to her feet as the blood started trickling down her leg.
“No, no. I’m, shit, not shot,” Hailey said.
“What? What did you say?” I asked.
I helped Hailey sit down on the stool as I bent down to inspect the damage. She was groaning in pain as her body hunched over. I peeled up the fabric of her dress, trying to figure out what the fuck was happening to her. Blood was everywhere, and fluid was trickling between her thighs.
Hailey hadn’t been shot.
Hailey was in labor.
Chapter 26
Hailey
I felt a nauseating pop as I hit the floor of my gallery. People were shouting, and someone was fighting back. Gunshots were going off, and my head was spinning. Everything happened so quickly that I wasn’t really sure what had gone on. All I knew was that a gun had been leveled at Bryan before his body was thrown into mine.
As he covered me on the floor, I felt a gushing sensation between my legs. I grimaced as the pain became overwhelming, robbing me of my breath. I tried to breathe as Bryan continued to cover me, fluid leaking out onto the floor. I could feel my abdomen warming with something as I squirmed underneath him.
I tried to call out his name, but I couldn’t catch my breath. My head was spinning, and my back was beginning to ache. My legs were trembling, and my vagina felt like it was on fire. It wasn’t until Bryan removed himself from me that I could sit up and evaluate what was going on.
And the moment my eyes saw the fluid between my legs, I knew what had happened.
Everything sounded so far away. The police officers. Ben’s voice. Bryan’s body. I felt like I was spiraling as my back contracted without my permission. I groaned as my baby began to shift, my pelvis feeling as if it was grinding together. I was in labor, and I couldn’t even catch my breath to tell anyone.
But Bryan’s voice pierced my hazy thoughts.
“I need an ambulance! Hailey’s been shot!”
Shot? I was shot? I looked down at my stomach, my hand and dress covered in blood. I didn’t feel like I had been shot, though my back wasn’t happy with me. No, I hadn’t been shot. But this amount of blood during labor wasn’t normal. It couldn’t have been. With all the books I’d read, there wasn't supposed to be bleeding. Just a trickling of clear fluids if my water ever broke.
“I need help! My wife’s been shot!”
Bryan’s voice was getting closer and closer as my haze began to clear. I reached up with my hand and tried to feel for him, wrapping my fingers around his wrist. I got him to shoot his gaze down toward me before he helped me to my feet.
“No, no. I’m, shit, not shot,” I said.
My back pain was getting worse and it was wrapping around to my stomach. I almost buckled to my knees, but Bryan’s strong arms caught me. I could hear him trying to murmur something in my ear as people surrounded me, their hands lifting up my dress as they began to speak in terms I didn’t understand.
“What was that? What did you say?” Bryan asked.
There was too much going on at once. Did the police officers have Ben? Was it all over? My back pain started to spread again as another gush of fluid ran down my leg. It felt like I was peeing myself, but I didn’t have to pee.
I felt Bryan’s lips against my ear as he kissed me repeatedly. The foreign hands I was trying to push away were lowering me onto something. My vision was blurred with tears as pain continued to ricochet across my abdomen, rendering my legs useless as I collapsed.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart,” Bryan said. “I’m right here.”
“Labor. I’m in ... labor,” I said.
“I know. I know. The paramedics are going to load you into an ambulance and get you to a hospital,” Bryan said.
“Is it over?” I asked.
I lobbed my head over and looked into Bryan’s worried eyes. He was staring at my abdomen. At the sheer amount of blood that was caked on my dress. This was too early. Too soon to be doing this. The doctor told me I had to make it to thirty-seven weeks. Thirty-seven was the magic number.
Not thirty-five.
“Is what over?” Bryan asked.
“Ben. Is it over?” I asked.
Bryan leaned forward and kissed my lips as the paramedics ran me off toward the ambulance.
“Bryan! Bryan! Don’t leave. Please.”
I held my hand out for him as he climbed into the back of the ambulance.
“I’m right here,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. And yes. It’s over. He’s gone. The police hauled him off. He’ll be in jail for a very long time.”
The pain in my back began to grow. So much so that it felt like I couldn’t breathe. Things were strapped around my stomach, and an IV was placed in my hand. I could feel the bile of my stomach teasing the back of my throat like, at any moment, I was going to puke up the last nine months of my life. The room was spinning, and I had to close my eyes as Bryan continued to kiss the shell of my ear. My back felt like it was ripping in two, and something was still trickling from between my legs.
“This hurts,” I said.
“I can only imagine,” Bryan said. “Just be strong for me, okay? Be strong.”
“Why is there, shit, so much ... ah!”
My back arched as another contraction seized my body.
“Ma’am, you’re going to have to stay still. We have to set another IV.”
Another IV. Why?
“Squeeze my hand,” Bryan said. “Squeeze down as hard as you can.”
It felt like I was hardly gripping his hand even though I was trying to bear down with all my might. My head was pounding, and the ambulance was swirling around. I could feel my legs shaking with exhaustion as my back continued to try and rip my body in half. I thought labor was supposed to happen to the front of the body.
Why didn’t I feel any pain in my abdomen?”
“Second IV set,” someone said.
“Check her vitals,” another voice said.
“Baby’s vitals are dipping,” someone else said.
That was the statement that caught my attention.
“What?” I asked breathlessly. “What ... what’s wrong with—?”
Another contraction rendered me speechless as I cried out in the back of the ambulance.
“How far away are we from the hospital?” Bryan asked.
“Two minutes out,” someone said.
I bore down on Bryan’s hand as he grimaced. He didn’t get to be in pain. He didn’t get to complain. My body was about to be ripped to shreds because I was carrying his damn child between my legs. I was about to shove a fucking human being through the pinhole between my legs. So, unless he ever gave birth through his penis hole, he needed to grow a pair of balls.
“I’m sorry,” I said breathlessly.
“For what?” Bryan asked. “You did beautifully today.”
“No, no, no. For my thoughts,” I said.
“Why are you apologizing for those?”
“Because they want to kill you for being a pussy,” I said.
The entire ambulance giggled at me as Bryan smiled. I took a chance and opened my eyes, risking vomiting all over myself. I found Bryan’s smile as he leaned forward and kissed my lips. I felt the warmth of him as the trickling sensation began to die down.
“I love you so much,” Bryan said.
“I need this baby out of me,” I said.
“One freed baby, coming right up,” he said.
The ambulance came to a halt and the doors flew open. I was being moved into the sun, and I had to shield my eyes. My back was aching, and my legs were shaking, but I still felt no pain in my abdomen.
That wasn’t good, right?
There were voices talking all around me as I was wheeled down a bright white hallway. Bryan’s hand was still in mine, but I could tell he was jogging instead of walking. They turned me into a room as I closed my eyes, trying to keep my nausea at bay.
“Baby’s vitals?” a doctor asked.
I opened my eyes and saw someone with a white coat standing beside me.
“Heart rate’s fluctuating pretty rapidly. Still can’t pinpoint the source of the bleeding,” a nurse said.
“What caused the labor?” the doctor asked.
“I threw myself on top of her after a gun went off in her art gallery,” Bryan said.
“Okay. We need to figure out why the hell she’s bleeding so much. Everyone move to the side.”
I felt myself becoming woozy as my legs were spread.
“Ma’am, I’m going to check your dilation and try to figure out the source of the bleeding. If this hurts, you let me know.”
I nodded as I closed my eyes and braced myself for the intrusion.
It didn’t hurt, but it sure as hell was uncomfortable. Bryan was kissing my sweating forehead as the doctor’s fingers slid within me. I grimaced at the sensation, embarrassed that
some random guy was down there fingering around. Bryan put his face up toward mine, blocking my sight as he smiled down at me.
“Whatever happens, I’m right here. I’m not going anywhere,” he said.
“I can’t—my back.”
“I know your back hurts,” he said.
“No. Shut up. It does. The contractions aren’t—”
“She’s trying to tell you she doesn’t feel her contractions wrapping around to her abdomen,” the doctor said.
I felt relief spread through my legs as he removed his fingers.
“Is that a good thing?” Bryan asked. “Less pain for her?”
“No. It’s not. We need to get her to surgery now. Nurse Delacourt, prepare an OR. She’s prepped with both IVs, so we can get her tapped and get her ready within fifteen minutes. Clear me something out now,” the doctor said.
“Wait. What? Surgery? What’s going on? Bryan?”
“Hey, hey, hey. You let me handle this. All you need to do is stay calm and focus on bringing our son or daughter into this world, okay?” he asked.
“Bryan, what are they about to do? Holy shit, my back!”
“Doctor, what the hell’s going on?” Bryan asked.
“The danger with having a child so close behind chemotherapy treatment is that the body is too weak, and many times with heavy treatment, organs suffer. When you threw yourself on top of Mrs. McBride, you ruptured her uterus. It broke her water, and that’s why she’s bleeding. But if we don’t get her into surgery and get this child out of her so we can get the bleeding stopped, she’s going to bleed out,” the doctor said.
“Oh my gosh,” I said breathlessly.
“I-I did what?” Bryan asked.
“The OR’s ready for you, doctor,” the nurse said.
“Bryan, you’re about to be a father. Follow Nurse Delacourt, and she’ll help you scrub in. We’re going to take Mrs. McBride to the OR and get her a spinal tap. You’ll come in, be there for the birth of your child, and then we’re going to save her life. Sound like a plan?”
I looked over at Bryan and watched him nod, but I could see how pale he was.
“Bryan,” I said. “Bryan, look at me.”
