by J A Fielding
“Give us a good deal or give you the deal?” he asked.
“What is that supposed to mean?” she asked.
Julie knew exactly what he meant and where this was going.
“That guy was flirting with you. Do you think he offered us a stay at a five star hotel at a discount?” Phil asked. Julie looked at Allan. She opened her mouth to talk but Allan shook his head, a sure sign that she shouldn’t get involved. She took a long deep breath and faced forward. She would have given anything to get out of this moment in time. Rue and Phil’s fights always ended up bad…really bad.
“So what if he was? Don’t you trust me enough to make my own decisions or do you think that I might just jump into bed with the next guy who shows me a kind hand?” Rue asked.
“You always do this, Rue. What the fuck!” Phil yelled.
“Hey!” Julie said but Allan put a hand on hers and she turned around, focusing her attention on the road ahead. Allan looked at her and smiled before he turned on the radio and turned it up. But even then, Julie could still hear Rue’s high pitched voice and Phil’s violent voice.
“Come on, Rue. You are always leading guys on so that you can have your way,” Phil said.
Rue flipped her hair around and laughed cynically.
“Fuck you Phil!” she yelled.
“Fuck me? Fuck you bitch!” Phil said.
“Alright guys, you need to tone it down a little,” Allan said as he looked at the two through the rear view mirror.
“It is just…you know what, Allan. Stop the car. I don’t need this fucking trip,” Rue said.
“Oh please. Now she gets all dramatic,” Phil said.
By this time, the atmosphere in the car was getting out of control. Julie could not hear herself think and Allan found himself concentrating more on Rue and Phil than the road. Everything was moving too fast for everyone in the car and the next thing they knew was the loud crash as they collided head on with an oncoming utility truck.
Allan groaned and his eyes fluttered open. He could see Julie on the hood of the car. There was broken glass and blood everywhere. He opened his mouth to call her but it seemed almost impossible to get any sound out of his throat. He could hear someone talking on the phone…calling the emergency services or something…but he could also feel himself drifting off.
“Julie…” he groaned before he drifted off.
*****
When Julie came to, everything around her was moving fast. A little too fast.
“Crash victim, eighteen years old. Female. Sharp forced trauma to the abdomen and upper torso. Possible trauma to the cranium,” the EMT reported as he helped push the gurney down the aisle towards the elevator. “We’ll need traction on the right leg too,” the EMT added.
“Prep an OR and someone put pressure on that abdominal wound. Get me four pints of O neg,” the ER trauma surgeon yelled as she held her stethoscope to Julie’s wrist. “Pulse is erratic,” she said again as she cut the shirt Julie had on open.
“Where…where am I?” Julie asked in a low voice.
“Ma’am you are at the hospital. Do you know your name?” the doctor asked as she pressed some gauze on an open wound.
“Julie…Julie Miller,” Julie said. Her head felt so heavy and her eyes could barely remain open as another doctor shone a light in her eyes.
“That’s good Julie. You are going to be okay,” the doctor said as she motioned to one of the nurses to take over. “My name is Dr. Castillo. You were in an accident and we are going to take care of you.” Dr. Castillo said.
“What about Allan?” Julie asked. “My…my boyfriend,” she asked as she closed her eyes again.
“We have him. He is being treated,” Dr. Castillo said as the elevator doors opened. “What OR do I have?” she asked as they pushed the gurney out.
“OR four,” one of the nurses said.
“Dr. Leslie and Dr. Keating are with me,” Dr. Castillo said. “Scrub in guys and you, prep the patient,” she added as she began scrubbing. They had just finished and were walking into the operating room when one of the interns bust into the OR with her mouth covered. “What is it, Taylor?” Dr. Castillo asked.
“One of the crash victims…it’s a code blue,” the intern said. “None of us…” she started and Dr. Castillo looked up.
“Where is Dr. Walsh?” Dr. Castillo asked.
“He is still in surgery and…” the intern started but Dr. Castillo was way ahead of her. She looked up at one of her assisting residents. “Leslie, get on it. Stabilize the patient and do the repair. Keating and I will handle it here,” she said. Dr. Leslie ran out and Dr. Castillo looked at the anesthesiologist. “All done?” she asked.
“Yeah. She’s under,” he said.
“Ten blade,” Dr. Castillo said holding out her hand. As the young doctor looked down at her teenage patient, she could not help but think of the best and most efficient way to repair the damage done. Thanks to the patient not wearing a seatbelt, she had shards of the windshield embedded in her tummy. She did not only need to save a life, but also ensure that her patient would have a normal life as a woman. She needed to make sure she saved her womb too. “Suction,” Dr. Castillo said as she managed to pull out one of the shards causing a massive hemorrhage. “One down, fifteen to go,” she said under her breath. “Stats,” she asked as she began pulling out the next shard.
“BP stable. Prepping for cranial CT,” Dr. Keating said.
“What are we doing about that temple bleed?” Dr. Castillo asked without looking up.
“On it,” Dr. Keating said as he pressed some gauze against the wound.
“And why isn’t ortho here yet? We need traction on that leg, stat,” Dr. Castillo said as she pulled out yet another shard.
“Only two ortho surgeons are on call and they are both working on the multiple limb…” one of the nurses said before Castillo looked up and shook her head.
“Get one of them in here, now,” she said in an authoritative tone. The one nurse walked to the phone as the other one wrapped drop off aprons on the doctors in preparation for the CT. “Alright. Last shard out. Prep the patient for CT,” Dr. Castillo said as she packed the last wound. The nurse put an apron on Julie before the doctors stepped back. It took a few minutes before the doctor cursed under her breath. “We missed one,” she said as she looked at a piece of glass deeply embedded inside Julie. It was so near her liver, it made the thought of removing it almost impossible. “Let’s have a look at her cranium,” Castillo said as the nurse hovered the machine to Julie’s head.
“Good news,” Dr. Keating said with a smile. “The cut on her temple is superficial,” she added.
“Thank God. Patch that up. I’ll need all the help I can get with this bugger,” she said as she looked at the work cut out ahead of her. Five hours later, Julie was in recovery and her father was at her side thankful that his daughter was okay. But what neither of them knew was that the damage had been so much more than they could have ever expected.
Chapter Four
It had been four months since the wedding and Julie was getting antsy because it had also been four months since she and Steven decided to start a family. She had never thought herself as having any problems that would threaten her dreams of being a mother. She was standing in the walk in closet of one of the houses she was showing that day and she didn’t even realize that she had been in there for a long time until her client Maura knocked on the door. She turned around and smiled at Maura.
“I’m sorry…I…um…I guess I got carried away,” she said with a smile.
Maura nodded. “That is quite a beaut, huh?” she said. Julie raised an eyebrow in confusion. “The Hollywood dressing mirror,” Maura said pointing to the huge mirror in the closet.
“Oh yeah, that. It is…quite fabulous,” Julie said still having a problem snapping back to reality.
Maura looked at her and then pushed a stray strand of her hair behind her ear.
“That is what you were looking at, right?” she aske
d.
Julie smiled uncomfortably. “Uh sure,” she said as they walked out of the closet and into the master bedroom.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Maura asked looking at her.
“I’m great,” she said with a smile. “So, what do you think of the house? You like it?” she asked in an attempt to change the topic. “It is everything you asked for. Four bedrooms, three bathrooms, master en suite with walk in closets, pool and front yard. I threw in the swing as a favor,” Julie said smiling as she looked at Maura who was busy doing something on her phone.
“I love it but I cannot make a decision until I get through to Paul,” she said. She looked up at Julie apologetically. “He was supposed to be here and I have been trying to text him for the longest time. None of my texts are going through... I am not sure what happened,” she added as she looked at her phone screen again.
Julie smiled and shrugged. “Well, men huh? Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.”
Maura looked at her and rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. But you should still be in the bed of roses that is the honeymoon phase,” she added as she put her phone into her purse.
“Yeah I guess I am,” she smiled.
Maura punched her shoulder playfully. “Good for you. How long has it been now? A couple of months?” she asked.
Julie shook her head no. “Actually, it’s been four,” she said.
“Oh I remember those days when I was still in that phase. No kids, perfect life, quiet house,” she said.
“Well, your life has not changed much. I mean, your kids are adorable and so well behaved and…” Julie started before Maura put a hand up stopping her mid-sentence.
“If you would have come to my house when the twins were two, I swear you would have sworn off my house for the foreseeable future. Probably until they were both old enough to be shipped off to college or something,” Maura said. “And I wanted two kids. So imagine my surprise when my OBGYN told me he saw two babies floating around my tummy,” she added shaking her head. “I wanted to die.”
Julie laughed. “But kids are a great thing and two are always better than one, right?”
“Not when you have one who is barely two years old causing havoc,” Maura said shaking her head. “But I’ll let you have your own experience. I mean, that was mine and as much as it was terrible, I enjoyed every minute of it,” she added with a smile.
“So you would do it all over again?” Julie asked.
“In a heartbeat,” Maura said just as the front door open and close.
“Well I can hardly wait,” Julie said in a whisper.
Maura squealed excitedly. “Wait…are you…” she started before Julie shook her head.
“We are planning on it…we’ve actually been talking about it for a while”
“Well, don’t let me talk you out of it. It’s the little imperfections that make motherhood worth it,” Maura said with a smile. Julie shrugged and then walked to one wall of the room before she leaned against it. “Uh oh, that look is telling me that there is something else going on in your mind,” Maura said as she slowly walked towards Julie.
“Just tired I guess,” Julie said.
“Really? It has nothing to do with what we are talking about?” Maura asked.
Julie wanted to nod and scream yes. Of course what she was feeling had everything to do with the subject at hand. She shrugged and shook her head but the look Maura gave her made her nod. Maura seemed to have a sixth sense about things.
“Well….” Julie started. “I am feeling a little pressured about everything,” she said.
Maura shook her head as she looked into her eyes. “Don’t you want a baby?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. I am excited…over the moon about having kids but maybe I am not doing something right,” she said. Maura shook her head again and Julie took a long deep breath. “I’ve been trying to have a baby for the longest time but every test I take is always negative…” Julie said.
Maura smiled. “Oh that. I went through that too….It’s the worst feeling ever.”
“You too?” Julie asked.
“It’s a naturally occurring thing. Don’t force it. Just let everything play out at its own time,” she said. Julie looked at her and smiled. “I tried for three years before I got my first and then after that, bang! Double blessing,” she said. Julie smiled. “Trust me. Just take it easy. Everything will come at its own perfect time,” Maura said as Paul, her husband walked in.
“I’m sorry I’m late,” he said as he walked towards them. “I got held up,” he said before giving his wife a quick kiss. “Hey Julie,” he said smiling at Julie.
“Nice to see you again Paul,” Julie said as she held her folder to her chest.
“I have been trying to reach you for the last hour,” Maura said.
He looked at her and frowned.
“Yeah about that, we may need to drop by the Apple center for a new phone,” he said.
Maura’s eyes lit up. “You are getting me the iPhone six?” she asked excitedly.
“Well, this is embarrassing,” he said under his breath. “Actually I am getting myself a new phone,” he said.
Julie tried hiding her smile.
“Oh,” Maura said in a disappointed tone.
“I’m sorry honey,” Paul said.
“What happened to your phone anyway?” Maura asked. Paul looked at her and then at Julie before his eyes darted back to his wife again. “Well?” Maura pressed.
“It…uh…it…there was an accident and let’s just say that the city’s sewers have a little more apps now than they did an hour ago,” he said.
Julie’s laughter was now imminent. Her cheeks were red from holding back.
“You dropped your phone in the toilet?” Maura asked laughing. “What the hell were you…” her words trailed off and she shook her head. “You know what? I really don’t want to know,” she said still smiling.
“Good choice,” Paul muttered under his breath.
“Ahem…so, we had just finished the tour and Maura was waiting for you before she could make her final decision,” Julie said.
Paul looked around the master bedroom and smiled. “Well, I saw the photos of the house on your website and I love it. I am game if she is,” he said as he looked at Maura.
“Great. You will have to come down to the office so we can close the deal,” Julie said as she handed them some forms from her folder. “Fill this out before you come to the office,” she said. Paul looked through the forms and shrugged.
“Guess this looks okay. How’s tomorrow?” he asked.
“Sounds good enough to me,” she said. “I’ll just head back and set everything up. Congratulations on your new home,” she added with a smile before she walked out of the room. As she made her way to the front door, her smile was slowly disappearing. She had been faking her smile for almost half an hour but now, she was right back in her reality. The reality that seemed to be frowning at her. The reality that dictated that she would not realize her dream of being a mother. She took a long deep breath as she climbed into her car. She would need to get to the bottom of this…and fast. She was just about to start her car when Maura walked up to her car.
“Here. That’s my OBGYN’s number,” she said as she handed Julie a card. “You know, if you’d like some kind of advice or anything like that,” she said.
Julie smiled and nodded. “Thanks.” And she really meant it.
“Any time. And thank you for my new house,” Maura added with a smile as Julie backed out of the driveway.
*****
When she got to the office, she made sure she got everything Paul and Maura would need before she went into her office to have a look at the other listings her assistant had put on her desk and for the longest time, she sat there looking at file after file but she really had no idea what she was looking at. Her head was not even there. All that time, she had been thinking of what Maura said. Maybe she had been right about everything.
“Maybe it’s just not my time yet,” she thought as she flipped the pages. “Maybe I should be a little more patient.” Just then, her assistant walked in and placed a file on her desk.
“That’s the final on Paul and Maura Keegan’s house,” he said before he took a seat in front of her desk; Julie never looked up. She was still flipping through the files as if no one was there. “Hello, earth to Julie,” Andy said but Julie still didn’t look up. “Yo,” he said waving his hand in front of her face.
Julie looked up and raised an eyebrow. “Oh hi, Andy. What can I do for you?”
“Nothing. I brought you the file on the listing you closed today, that’s all.”
“Oh, thanks,” she said as she looked at the files on her desk. She closed the one she was currently reading and gathered the files on her desk before she put them in a drawer. “Did legal already settle everything?” she asked as she reached for the file that Andy had brought in.
“Yes. Everything has been finalized,” Andy said as she looked through the pages. “I was thinking we could go out and have a drink or something.”
She went on flipping through the pages without looking up. “Sounds great.”
“Really?” On a week day? That used to be a definite no-no with you,” he said almost impressed.
“Mh hm,” she said.
At this point, he was sure that she was not listening to him.
“And maybe later we can all go to the moon and hear firsthand what the aliens have in store for earthlings.”
“Sure,” Julie said without looking up.
“Aha!” Andy suddenly yelled pointing at Julie who had been snapped back into reality.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” she asked as she looked at him. “You scared me there for a minute,” she said somewhat annoyed at Andy’s ‘outburst’.
“You are here but you are not really here,” he said as he crossed his arms over his chest and then put one leg over the other.
She looked at him and shook her head. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“There is something up with you,” he said pointing at her.
“Andy please…this is not the time or the place…” she started before he put a hand up. “What?” she asked.
