Once the Russell-Mays crew had retired to Dina’s suite for the night after making sure that I was safely tucked away in bed with everything I might need through the night was within arms’ reach, I set up my iPad to Facetime Aiden in New York. While his line rang, I crossed my fingers that he was in his hotel and not hanging out since it was a little after one in the morning on the east coast.
“Hey, what’s up, babe? Everything okay?”
As soon as I saw his face and heard his voice, I burst out in tears. I told him most of what Dr. Margolis had said, leaving out the eight weeks bed rest. He didn’t need to know that until he came home.
“And I’m so worried, Aiden,” I finished. “What if I have a stroke or something? I could die. Our daughter could die!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down, Sunny. Take a deep breath and gimmie a minute.”
Aiden closed his eyes and ran his hands over his face. He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. For a second, I saw my own fear and worry reflected on his face but it was just momentarily. He grinned that special grin he has only for me.
“First things first; you know I love you, right?” I nodded. “Good. So, if you know that then you know I’m not going to let you have a stroke and die. Second, what’s a NST?”
“It’s a test done to make sure the baby is getting enough oxygen and make sure the placenta is functioning properly. They monitor her heart rate while she moves around.”
“That doesn’t sound that bad. And I’m not mad at all that you just slid in the fact that we’re having a girl like I already knew.” He smiled again. “Summer’s gonna have a little sister.”
“Hopefully,” I mumbled.
“Stop. We are not going to even think like that. I’m gonna finish up here tomorrow and I’ll be back home. We’ll figure this out together with Dr. Margolis. Don’t worry about anything, babe. We got this.”
“Okay.”
“Sunny, baby, listen to me. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that,” I sobbed.
“Yes, I can. Everything is going to be okay. I need you to believe me when I say that. Do you believe me?”
I could only nod my head. I wanted to believe that and hearing him say was just part of what I truly needed.
“Just come home soon, please.”
“Go to sleep. Joey can finish up here. I’ll find a flight out when the sun comes up. I’ll be there when you wake up. I promise.”
But I couldn’t sleep. I knew that in New York, Aiden wasn’t sleeping either. I pictured him lying on his back with his hands behind his head. He probably was worrying and if he were alone, nothing would stop a tear or two from dampening his pillow. He was probably listing to Are You Experienced. I grabbed my earbuds and plugged them in to my iPad. I opened Prince’s ‘The Question of U’ and put it on repeat. Then I just lay back with my hands on my belly and listened with my eyes closed.
“We got this, Winter,” I whispered then began singing softly. “All of the questions in my life will be answered when I decide which road to choose. What is the answer to the question of you?”
***
“Sunny!” Leilani’s frantic cry pierced the quiet serenity of my living room.
Bed rest, after Aunt Kat and my mother went home after a week, wasn’t that bad. I had an abundance of all my favorite fresh fruits and vegetables and wonderfully handsome chef to prepare them for me any way that I wanted. Aiden was gone during the day and home at night. It was peaceful and relaxing. The NST results were decent, not great, but definitely good enough to alleviate some of Dr. Margolis’ concern. I was feeling pretty good so I could see how seven more weeks of this would be better for me and the baby.
My mother will be back in a couple of days to hover over me. There’s no way she’s leaving her husband for eight weeks without flying home every few days...on my dime of course. I was cool with that arrangement and the peace in my house so Leilani screaming into my phone nearly in tears was definitely not a welcome interruption.
“What is wrong with you?” I asked as I lowered the volume on my phone.
“You are not going to believe this! Do you remember Carlie? Nevermind, I know you remember her. Anyway, tomorrow is my black tie dinner for the Hughes Foundation. This bitch promised she could get me the perfect dress. Then that bitch called me this morning talking about she and Damien are in Fiji and not only was she not able to get my dress, she won’t be able to dress me at all for this event. What the hell am I going to do?”
“Lei-Lei, please stop yelling. Facetime Delilah and see what we have in the studio. I’m sure she can find out a dress that we can overnight you.”
“Delilah? Overnight? By who? FedEx? Do not say UPS, Sunny! Do not!”
I’ve known Leilani Miller-Hughes nearly all her life. I’ve never heard her this frantic before over anything that wasn’t a test or her medical school application. She’s currently married to Damon Hughes, the power forward for the Sixers. Leilani is smarter than anyone I know, a true genius, but she’s still an NBA wife and sometimes that supersedes rational thinking.
“What do you want me to do, Lei-Lei? This may not be an “I told you” so moment but I definitely warned you about Carlie. She’s always been flaky and unprofessional.”
“Can you please come help me?”
“Come help you? Leilani, you’re fam but I can’t come to Philly.”
“Please, Sunny,” Leilani simultaneously cried and begged. “You know how important this charity is to Damon and I missed his last two events because I had to work. I can’t miss this one too. I’m the host!”
I tried to reason with the blubbering basketball wife. “How about I send Delilah and Kirk with a few dresses?”
“Your assistants? Come on, Sunny; don’t play me like that. If you do this, I will triple your rate for every event you style me for a year. Please! This is an emergency.”
The poor woman sounded so desperate and it wasn’t like I had anything else to do. Aiden would probably be okay with a two-day trip out of town. He was still under the impression that I was taking some time off work, not eight weeks of bed rest.
“I’ll even call Asia and see if she’ll let you use her jet,” Leilani offered before I could say yes.
“You don’t even like Asia.”
“I know. That’s how much I need you here. I’m willing to beg and plead with that stuck up bitch because I know she loves you. Will you please come here?”
“Alright, Lei-Lei. But don’t make this a habit and I’m in and out. I can’t stay in Philly for more than two days. Got it.”
“Got it. Thank you so much.”
***
Armed with two garment bags holding four possible dress options for Leilani, Delilah and I walked slowly up the driveway to her house in Chester.
Aiden was going to hold me to my forty-eight hour promise. Truthfully, now I understood why Dr. Margolis insisted on limited mobility. As soon as I started moving around the studio pulling dresses for my friend, my legs and feet began to swell. By the time we made it to Asia’s plane, I was exhausted.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Delilah asked for the hundredth time since we landed. “You look awfully pale.”
“I’m fine.”
Delilah didn’t believe me. I was kind of grateful for her worrisome personality because it meant that I didn’t have to do much once we were inside of Leilani’s dressing room. Delilah took charge of putting each head-to-toe look together with my suggestions while Leilani chattered and rambled on about benefits, charity dinners, and general NBA gossip.
“Sunny, I’m not supposed to tell you this but I know how you are about surprises. All the New York wives”–she paused for a brief moment–“well, the ones that matter are thinking of throwing you a huge baby shower and they wanted me to find out what you’re having.”
“Why would they want to do that? I haven’t been a part of their clique since I left New York.”
“Well, I guess you made
an impact on them.”
The last thing I wanted or needed was another baby shower. Mama’s already planning one in Atlanta. Sara and Dina are planning one in Los Angeles. I may not even be able to travel to New York. I didn’t want to put Leilani on Chanel and Daniela’s shit list but I was going to tell Daniela to forget about a shower.
“That’s not going to work. I’m not supposed to be traveling. I’m supposed to be on bed rest for the next seven weeks.”
Leilani and Delilah both gasped dramatically, sounding like two characters in a telenovela. I just shook my head and continued to examine the four pairs of shoes Delilah sat in front of each dress.
“Are you serious?” Delilah screeched. “My brother is going to kill me for letting you on a plane. Thanks a lot for that, Sunny!”
“Why did you agree to come?” Leilani asked. “You didn’t say anything about bed rest. Why are you on bed rest?”
“Just pick one of these dresses. You don’t have a lot of time before your hair and makeup people get here. I’m fine.”
Leilani shook her head and laughed. “You still be tryin’ to boss me around. We’re not in high school anymore.”
“And Mikayla isn’t here to save you. Wear the black Marchesa Trident,” I told her. “It’s your size and I guarantee it will fit like a glove and I know how bad you’ve wanted this dress.”
“You’ve had this dress the entire time?” Leilani spun around and glared at me. “This is the dress I wanted Carlie to get. She said that she couldn’t get it unless she called Georgina Chapman.”
“That’s because…”
Out the blue, my head started throbbing. I could feel my heartbeat in my temples. I started massaging the base of my neck.
“Carlie doesn’t have the connections, clout, or money that I do.”
Delilah came out of the closet and rushed over to the chair I was sitting in.
“You need to lie down. I can handle getting her dressed. Matter of fact, I’m sure Leilani knows how to put on a dress and shoes. I’m getting an Uber to take us to the hotel.”
Leilani stopped Delilah from whipping out her cell. “I have three guest rooms in this house. You both can stay here. Just go lie down. I don’t want your fiancé coming after me if something happens to your or his child.”
“Same here,” Delilah muttered and helped me out of the chair.
I know my way around Leilani’s house so getting to the guest room was easy. I sat Indian style on the plush light purple bedspread and searched my purse for the Tylenol that I was allowed to take. Delilah handed me my water bottle that I carry with me everywhere now. After swallowing the two pills, I looked up to see Delilah staring at me.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong with you? Why are you on bed rest?”
“Dr. Margolis thinks I may have preeclampsia.”
“Really, Sunny? That’s dangerous as hell! Does my brother know?”
“Some of it. He doesn’t know that I’m supposed to be on bed rest. I took some time off work and my mom’s been there, you know that. I just didn’t want to stress him. You know how he gets when he’s stressed and both of us can’t be freaking out right now.”
“Does he know you’re in Philly?”
“Yes, I left him a voice—Oh my God!” I gripped my stomach as a contraction—or what I thought was a contraction—ripped through my abdomen.
“What?” Delilah panicked. “What happened?”
I couldn’t answer. Instead, I took slow deep breaths and closed my eyes until the pain passed. I wasn’t prepared for that and now wasn’t the time to be cool, calm, or collected. As soon as the pain eased up to the point I could talk again, I started crying.
“I swear, Bubbles, I just had a contraction. Tell Leilani we need to borrow her car. I’m going to the hospital.”
“That’s probably a great idea.”
Delilah ran down the hall to Leilani’s room. I knew that I could make it to an Emergency Room and opted to direct Delilah to the nearest hospital than to have paramedics show up at Damon and Leilani’s house because with the paramedics would be a shitload of media attention. I didn’t need that and neither did they.
Delilah and I made it to the Temple University Hospital without too much damage. I had another contraction but it wasn’t nearly as bad as the first one was. I was just praying that the ER doctor could stop them. I couldn’t have my baby three months early in Philadelphia without Aiden. That could not happen.
***
A few hours later, I woke up to an IV in my hand, a fetal monitor strapped across my belly, and hooked up to a heart monitor. Most importantly, standing over my bed in the Emergency Room was my mother, Dina, Sara, Delilah, and my fiancé. The look of scorn and contempt in Aiden’s eyes ripped at me. I didn’t want him to be angry, not now, not when I couldn’t handle his anger. It wasn’t that I hadn’t expected Delilah to call him as soon as she could. I expected nothing less. I did not think he’d fly across the country though.
“Aiden,” I croaked out. “I’m sorry.”
“How come that’s the first thing you say when you end up in the hospital for some shit that I didn’t even know about? You should have told me that you weren’t supposed to be on a damn plane! You’re killin’ me, Sunny. For real. I can’t even talk to you right now.”
Aiden just shook his head and walked right out of the door. It wasn’t like I could go after him, but I knew he’d be back, even if it was just to cuss me out. I just watched him walk out of the room with his little sister chasing after him.
“You are one lucky little girl,” my mother said as she slid a chair closer to my bed and sat down. “That man loves you more than I think you love yourself, if that’s even possible. More importantly, he loves those two babies of yours. He would die or kill for those two and this is what you do? You don’t tell the father of your children that you’re on bed rest? You don’t tell him that you’re not supposed to be traveling then hop your know-it-all, workaholic ass on a plane? You are selfish and inconsiderate and I didn’t raise you like that,” she snapped. “Make a change, little girl. Today.”
I felt tears welling up in my eyes and they fell as soon as I blinked. I hated to hear that kind of disappointment from my mother, especially when I wasn’t being selfish. I was trying to help Leilani and I didn’t want to worry Aiden.
“Don’t cry now,” Mama said, her voice void of any kind of sympathy. “What you got to cry about? You knew doing anything other than what your doctor told you was dangerous for you and the baby but you did it anyway. Got us all worrying out of our minds about you. All over some damn dress! I swear, Sunny, are you deaf and dumb?”
“Mama, please,” I pleaded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this would happen. I felt fine and Lei-Lei needed—”
She cut me off. “Leilani is a trained medical professional. That girl is more intelligent than any doctor in this hospital. If you had told her why you couldn’t travel, I’m pretty damn sure she would have told your ass to stay in LA. You’re lucky they were able to stop those contractions. Do you even realize what you’ve done? Now I gotta stay in Los Angeles to watch over you and you know that Aiden is going to clear his entire schedule until you have that baby. Is that what you wanted? More attention?”
“I didn’t want anything. I thought I’d be okay. I made a mistake.”
I looked over at Sara, the only real doctor in the room. “Are we going to be okay?”
“I’m not an obstetrician but the doctor here thinks you’ll be well enough in a couple of days to fly back home. But you have to see Dr. Margolis and you’re going to have to do exactly what she says, Sunny. You can’t risk going into real pre-term labor. With the preeclampsia, they will have to deliver the baby early. And it’s too soon. She might not make it if that happens. And it’s possible that you might not either.”
“Can someone please get Aiden,” I begged.
He was the only person I needed to talk to; the only one I truly needed by my bedside. Once we got
back to LA, I promised myself that I would do better, but for now, I needed him to know that I was sorry.
He refused to return to the room though. When he did return the next day, he didn’t say a single word, no matter how hard I tried to get him to speak to me. I really messed up. I honestly don’t know if he’ll ever forgive me.
Chapter 24: Up in Flames
“ARE YOU GOING OVER Sunny’s today?” Mom asked while we were having breakfast. “You haven’t been over there in a couple of days.”
“Why are you monitoring how much time I spend over Sunny’s house? Do you know how many people are over there? She doesn’t need me hanging around.”
“She’s having your child, Aiden.”
“Don’t look at me like you’re so disappointed in my behavior, Mom. Sunny was pregnant with one of my children before and managed just fine without me, remember? I’m not trying to be a bastard about the situation but I need you and everyone else who has an opinion about me and Sunny to stay out of this. We’re allowed to have a fight.”
After we got back from Philly, I was still pissed off at Sunny and no matter what she said or how hard I tried, I couldn’t snap out of it. I just wanted to get through Christmas. Maybe by the time of my big New Year’s party, I’d be ready to mend things with my fiancée. Right now, that was not an option.
I pushed away from the table and walked out of the kitchen. I had other things to worry about other than my negligent baby mama. She had Kat, her mom, and both of my sisters hovering over her. The last thing she needed was me there stressing her out. If I have to stay away from her in order for my daughter to come out as scheduled and healthy then so be it.
“Spence!” I yelled as I walked upstairs to my guitar room. “You in there?”
“Just checkin’ out your ladies,” my guitar tech called back.
We were gearing up for a big Christmas benefit concert that Cash and his team put together. The band and I have been rehearsing for weeks because this is a performance that we can’t screw up. This cancer awareness benefit is to raise money for childhood cancer research. I don’t know any kids with cancer but I met the little girl that Cash and Savannah practically adopted. Michaela is the cutest kid and such a diva. She’s older than Summer but the two of them together is such a refreshing sight.
UNBROKEN (Friends, Lovers, or Nothing Book 5) Page 25
