The Wedding

by Lorhainne Eckhart

  “You okay?” he whispered.

  She offered him a quick smile and nodded rather sharply. “Yeah.”

  Neil turned to the minister, a tall, thin, dark-haired man with a collar, and said, “Let’s begin.”

  Then Candy stumbled, her face went pale, and she cried out, clutching his hand as she keeled over.

  Ignoring the commotion from everyone else, Neil was on his knees. “Candy, talk to me, honey!”

  She tossed her head slowly from side to side. Her eyes were glazed and open but didn’t appear to be registering anything. Her breathing was shallow, with beads of sweat on her forehead and upper lip, and the color in her face paled.

  “She’s bleeding,” Emily said with a gasp as she lifted Candy’s skirt. Neil glanced at her skirt and the floor, which was stained with blood. Everyone was talking, hurrying, and someone was beside him. It was Diana, and she set towels under Candy.

  “There’s a lot of blood here,” Diana said. “She must be miscarrying.”

  “I’m calling an ambulance,” Brad said sharply.

  Jed touched Neil’s shoulder just as Danny started crying, and another child fussed. They were scared, and someone started organizing and ushering the kids out.

  Brad hurried back, the phone to his ear. “Ambulance is ten minutes out. They said to raise her legs, get them elevated.”

  “Neil, you can’t wait. She’s bleeding too much,” Becky said.

  Jed grabbed his keys, and Emily kneeled down with a blanket. Neil was holding Candy’s trembling hand, her teeth chattering.

  “She’s going into shock, Neil!”

  He didn’t know who had said it, but he lifted her with the blanket. Emily helped by holding the dress as he hurried to the door. Jed was running to his truck and had it backed up to the door, while Rodney held the door open. It seemed everyone was helping. Neil climbed into the truck, and Candy was lifted on his lap, a blanket on top of her. Everyone was talking at once, and all he could see was Candy’s pale face, her eyes distant right before they fluttered closed.

  Chapter 21

  Neil couldn’t remember ever having felt so helpless. Even through the storm with Candy, keeping her safe over and over, nothing compared to holding her on his lap as she hemorrhaged and went limp in his arms. Even when she had fallen into that hole after the storm, when she was running from him, the icy terror he had felt then had nothing on this.

  Jed had driven fast and furious, blasting his horn as he swerved around slow drivers, crossing the center line over and over as he pulled up to the emergency doors of Well Grey Hospital. Those had been the longest ten minutes of Neil’s life.

  The emergency personnel raced out with a gurney, pulling Neil’s door open before Jed could stop.

  “What happened?” a doctor asked as Neil set Candy on the gurney.

  “She just collapsed. She’s pregnant. Is she losing the baby?” he shouted as he ran beside the gurney. Candy was wheeled into a room, and a monitor appeared. Her gown was cut off, and there was so much blood. That gorgeous dress was ruined. There was yelling and orders, and then a nurse touched Neil’s arm and said, “You have to leave.”

  He started to say no, but the doctor barked, “Get him out of here!”

  “Type match her blood,” he heard someone saying. Then the door was shut, and he just watched through the glass, staring at all the blood and at how still Candy was.

  ****

  “Neil, sit down. They’ll come out and tell us what’s going on as soon as they know something,” Jed said, sliding his arm around Neil’s shoulder as he squeezed and then hugged him.

  Neil allowed himself a moment to lean on Jed as he fought the sting of tears burning the back of his eyes. He felt completely hollowed out inside, and somehow Jed directed him to sit in one of the vinyl padded seats in the waiting area. It was then that he looked down at his bare hands, stained with blood, Candy’s blood. His white shirt and tux jacket were stained, as well, ruined. He pulled on the bow tie and undid his top button so he could breathe, and he noticed Jed had already tossed his coat aside and rolled up the sleeves of his white shirt, loosened his tie.

  “So what do you think happened?” Jed asked, standing in front of him.

  The waiting room was filled with people, young and old. He couldn’t sit here and wait, so he got up and started pacing, running his hands through his hair and picking up the metallic scent of blood.

  “I don’t know. I know she wasn’t feeling well last night. She had a headache, threw up. I thought it was just nerves. She was overwhelmed by the family.” He paused. “Oh my God. I just realized—maybe I hurt her. I tossed her over my shoulder yesterday after I found her on a horse. I hauled her off and spanked her. I was so mad. What if I did this?” Neil was rambling, and a few people in the waiting room gave him a look. They had obviously heard.

  Jed didn’t smile, but there was something in his eyes when he glanced away and then back again. “Doubt that, Neil. What is it with our women? Don’t know how many times Diana did the same thing. Horses and pregnant women don’t mix. Did you really spank her?”

  “Well, I smacked her bottom while she was over my shoulder. It wasn’t a spanking, geez. Don’t turn me into one of those guys. I just lost it,” he said.

  “Well, I gotta tell you that what you did, I’ve thought of doing more times than I’ll ever admit. Don’t tell Diana. I’ve had to walk away, but Diana… she pushes it a lot. She’s a stubborn woman. I worry about her sometimes.” Jed tapped Neil’s shoulder. “Doctor’s coming.”

  Neil stood up, fully alert, as the doctor approached. He was older, a little round in the middle, gowned up, with blood spattered on his shirt.

  “You’re the young woman’s husband?” he asked, moving Neil into the hallway away from the others. Jed stood beside him.

  “Yes,” he said, very aware they weren’t technically married.

  “Your young wife had an ectopic pregnancy. The tube ruptured, and she’s on her way to emergency surgery. She lost a lot of blood. We had to give her two units already.”

  “I don’t understand. What does ‘ectopic’ mean? Is the baby okay? Did she lose it?” Neil was frantic.

  “It’s one of those things that just happen. It was never a viable pregnancy. The egg sometimes implants in the ovarian tube instead of the womb. Her ovarian tube ruptured, and I’m afraid there was no way to save the baby. There are other complications, as well.” He touched Neil’s shoulder and guided him around the corner so no one could hear.

  Neil felt a sharp ache inside his chest at the mention that his child was gone. He’d gotten used to the idea of being a father. He wanted children so badly. This was a blow he hadn’t expected. He had everything to provide for his children: money, status, love. He had so much love to give his child. Candy was going to be devastated. He had to clear his throat to be able to speak. It helped to have Jed there.

  Jed must have known, because he put his hand on Neil’s shoulder and asked, “What complications? Is Candy all right?” He squeezed Neil’s shoulder, and it was the anchor and support Neil needed as he crossed his arms over his chest.

  “Can I see her?” he asked.

  “I’m sorry. She’s being prepped for emergency surgery. I’ll have someone update you. Just be prepared for the possibility that we may not be able to save the fallopian tube, not with this amount of bleeding.”

  The doctor walked away to the elevator just as the doors opened and Neil’s family stepped out. Everyone was still in their good clothes except for Diana and Emily, who both wore jeans. All of them had such worried expressions.

  His mother was the first to reach him, and she hugged him as if he were still her little boy. He held her tight as his emotions got the better of him, and for the first time since he was a kid, he wept.

  Chapter 22

  After three hours of sitting in the surgical waiting room, Diana was the first to leave, going home to nurse Christopher and help out Laura, who, along with their neighbor, June, had
stayed with the kids. Andy and Jed sat across from Neil, chatting and taking turns pacing with him. Brad and Rodney sat on either side of Neil, and he could feel their support. Brad had long since ripped off his tie, shed his suit jacket, and rolled up his sleeves. He was so much like Jed. The two of them lived in their scruffy jeans and hated wearing anything formal. Neil could go either way, and he enjoyed days and nights of dressing up in his finest. It was who he was, and for so long he’d pictured Candy beside him. His dream had evolved over the weeks they’d been together, and he pictured her on his arm, drama free, so down to earth and real. He finally had her, and it was tearing him up inside to think he could lose her before they’d even started their lives together.

  “Neil,” Andy said, gesturing to a man in scrubs fast approaching. Everyone stood up and surrounded him.

  “She’s stable” was the first thing the doctor said as he looked up at the men surrounding him.

  Neil felt like weeping, and he heard everyone murmur sighs of relief. Someone patted his back, and Brad said, “Good news, Neil.”

  “We’ve removed her ruptured fallopian tube. There was no saving it, and we had to control the bleeding, but we ran into a problem. Even after we took it out, we couldn’t stop the hemorrhage. We had no choice but to do a hysterectomy.”

  Neil wasn’t sure he’d heard the doctor right, but he heard a gasp behind him that barely registered. Then someone said, “When can he see Candy?”

  His head was spinning as he tried to understand what the doctor had just said. “You did a hysterectomy?” he said, voice gruff.

  “I’m sorry. We didn’t have a choice,” the doctor said. “If we’d seen her sooner, we could have taken other steps. We don’t know how long it’s been since it ruptured. She was already bleeding internally. Generally, there are signs beforehand, symptoms: cramping, discomfort, shoulder pain. If we’d seen her earlier, an ultrasound would have picked it up. I’m sorry.”

  “She’s alive, Neil. That’s all that matters,” Brad said.

  Neil shrugged off his hand and stepped away, wiping his mouth between his thumb and forefinger. “So we can’t have kids, but she was pregnant. We wanted children. If you’d seen her sooner, she’d still have her uterus, and then she could still get pregnant.” Neil knew he wasn’t making any sense.

  “Son, you need to take some time. Take a minute,” Rodney said, resting his large, wrinkled hand on Neil’s shoulder.

  “I need some air,” Neil said as he walked away.

  ****

  It had started to rain, and not one of those light rains. It poured, and Neil stood outside the hospital, soaked, as the rain poured on him. His tux, his shirt, everything was pasted to his skin as the water poured around him. He blinked and watched the rain pound the concrete. Puddles were forming, and the water was running in streams into the gutter. He could smell the underlying scent of rotting leaves, dirt, and vegetation that only a hard rain could stir up, but eventually the earth would be clean and fresh for a new beginning.

  There was a chill in the air, and he was cold. He hissed steam as he struggled to breath. He couldn’t think. His mind was racing, so he just watched people running to their cars, newspapers over their heads, hoods up, some with umbrellas. A few glanced his way, and then an umbrella appeared over his head. He glanced behind him and was surprised that Andy was there, holding it.

  “I need a minute” was all Neil could say. He wasn’t interested in playing nice, especially with Andy.

  “Take all the time you need,” Andy said.

  Neil glanced back at Andy with the shrewdness that often appeared in his expression. “Did you hear what the doctor said?” he asked. His throat was thick and scratchy. Neil wasn’t an emotional man. He was passionate, he was strong, he was a Friessen. But this was not in his plan, and Neil was a planner. He was an organizer. He made things happen. He didn’t know how to adjust his perfectly outlined marriage-and-baby plan and mold it into something different with this curveball he’d just been thrown.

  “I heard.”

  “So what am I supposed to do with this? Come on, Andy, what would you do?” Neil crossed his arms and continued to watch the water pound the pavement. He glanced over at the sympathy in Andy’s light blue eyes.

  “I can’t tell you what to do, Neil. This is your life. I honestly don’t know what I’d do, and my situation is entirely different,” Andy said.

  Neil watched his cousin, a man who had surprised the hell out of him, marrying Laura the way he had. Neil knew that in the beginning, Andy had done so out of obligation over her circumstances, but even now, after they had reconciled and Andy had stepped away from his family on his own, Neil could see he loved her. He was carving out his own way for the first time in his life, with newborn twins that Neil would have given his right arm to have. “How are things going with you and Laura?” he asked.

  Andy let out a soft chuckle and flashed a grin that Neil hadn’t seen before. “Pretty good, actually, considering…” He let his words trail off and then shook his head, which was so like him. He held on to everything, good or bad, and sometimes Neil wondered where he was or what he was up to.

  “Considering what?” Neil asked.

  “She’s young. She’s been through a lot. She wants to go back to school. She never finished high school, getting pregnant with Gabriel. I mean, she dropped out, got a job to support him,” Andy said.

  “Well, good for her,” Neil said, wishing it was more of a distraction for him, but then he noticed the way Andy didn’t seem enthusiastic. “Are you kidding me, Andy? She wants to go back to school and you don’t want her to? Let me guess. You want her in your bed, raising your children at home. You want to tell her what to do, how to think?” Neil snapped. He was angry at the crap life had just dealt him, and he was taking it out on Andy.

  “Exactly what you’re doing here, cos. Don’t think I didn’t notice. I listen. A lot has happened to you over the past week, and the family hasn’t missed how you’re exactly like Brad, Jed, and myself. We just don’t make excuses. You arranged everything for your lady, even bought her dress, bossing her around, tossing her over your shoulder. I heard it, so don’t go throwing back at me what a selfish bastard you think I am. I am selfish, because I do want my wife at home with my children. I want to take care of her, handle things for her, and you were doing exactly the same thing.” Andy said it so matter-of-factly that Neil actually bared his teeth.

  “You bastard,” he barked out, but he was really saying it about himself, because Andy was right. He was just like his cousin.

  “I never said I wasn’t,” Andy replied. “I’ve never tried to be anything different. Laura knows I’m not going to change, and there are things she doesn’t need to know. She needs protecting, and I intend to do just that for her. Can you not say the same thing?” he asked.

  Neil watched Andy and wondered if his cousin knew everything he’d done. Could he read his mind and know the secrets he’d kept from Candy? Her property wasn’t gone—he had bought it. She just didn’t know it yet. He planned to tell her eventually. He was just waiting for the right time. He’d kept her out of the loop and away from anyone who could have hinted that some local had bought her property, because then she would have asked questions, and that he couldn’t have; not with the resort he wanted to build still on the backburner in his mind. Neil was aware she wouldn’t forgive him if he went ahead and started building.

  “I had plans, you know,” Neil said. “I’ve wanted her for so long, but I thought she hated me. My God, she’s the only woman who ever had me at hello, stumbling around like a fumbling first-timer. I know how to woo women, could have had any woman I wanted, but I wanted her. She didn’t give a crap about flash and glitter and money or how big the rock was that glittered from her finger. She was uncomfortable with my money, with my power. She was barely scraping by. I watched. I knew, but I couldn’t help her. She wouldn’t take anything from me. She hated me, or so I thought, until that storm hit and I found her pinn
ed down and hurt. She would have died there for her animals, the horses, that floppy-eared pain-in-the-ass donkey,” he snapped. Neil didn’t miss the look of amusement in Andy’s gaze. “Don’t ask.”

  Andy still appeared amused as he nodded.

  “She didn’t have anything,” Neil continued. “She was so far in the hole that the bank owned her property, and they had foreclosed. I bought it only because I found out some rich developer had put in an offer and was planning on building condos up and down the beach. It would have killed her.”

  “I can see how you wouldn’t like that too much if you wanted the property.”

  “Yeah, well, that’s true. I wasn’t interested in having all that construction and all those people right beside our property. I wouldn’t have any control, and some prick would be flaunting his success right up my nose. This seemed like the easiest solution, although Candy wouldn’t have seen it that way at the time. I do plan on telling her. I just didn’t know how to do it without her thinking I planned it. I had every intention of just letting the bank keep it. That land was the one thing that came between us over and over, and I thought if it was gone, she’d know I only wanted her. The problem is that she believes it’s really gone,” Neil said with a sigh.

  “Oh, I see.” Andy still held the umbrella over both their heads. “I understand where you’re coming from, if it’s any consolation, and I may not be the right person to be asking. I have my own secrets that I’ve been holding on to and haven’t told Laura. They affect her, and they’d hurt her. I don’t want her to know.”