Jessica
“OH, GOD!” Iwhisper.
Later, I’m proud that my first reaction is sympathy. After all, wouldn’t it be best for me if Quinn were to lose the baby? Surely this is a sign I’m becoming a better person.
But I’m not thinking of that at the moment. At the moment, the heartbreak of my own miscarriage is crashing in on me all over again, and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. “I’m so sorry, Zack,” I murmur. “I hate for anyone to lose a baby.”
He nods, a brief acknowledgment of my concern. “I need to get over there.”
“Of course. My rental car is blocking yours in—I’ll drive you.”
We head out of the house and into the black Maxima. I back out of the driveway. “Go left to the intersection, then take a right,” he tells me.
“What did her doctor say?”
“She got the answering service. She’s waiting for a call back.” He points to the lovely two-story house I remember from our aquarium outing. “It’s right here.” He opens the passenger door the moment I brake by the curb. “Thanks.”
I kill the engine. “I’m coming in with you.”
“No, I don’t think...”
I raise my hand. “There are no cars, which means everyone’s gone home from the party. Someone needs to stay with Lily and Margaret if you have to take Quinn to the hospital. If I’m not needed, I’ll just leave.”
“Okay.” He nods. “Thanks.”
I follow him through a gate into the backyard. He knows where the spare key is hidden—in a magnetic container attached to the garden hose holder. “She said to let myself in,” he says. “Margaret and Lily are already in bed.”
He fits the key into a door off the brick-paved patio. We step into the large kitchen and cross to the living area. I follow Zack to the staircase, and faintly hear Quinn’s voice from the second floor. It sounds as if she’s on the phone. “I’ll wait down here,” I say.
Zack nods and bounds upstairs. I stand at the bottom for a bit, trying to make out what Quinn is saying, then decide to climb to the landing, where the staircase takes a turn. I can hear Quinn more clearly from this vantage. I sit on the step just below the turn, out of sight, and listen.
“Yes, he just got here,” I hear Quinn say. She’s silent a moment. “Okay.” She pauses again. “All right. Thank you.”
“Was that the doctor?” Zack asks.
I hear no response, so she must have nodded.
“What did she say?”
“She’s out of town—she was calling from Destin.”
Zack and I took a trip to Destin a couple of years ago. It’s a popular beach spot in Florida, about four hours from New Orleans.
“She said there’s not a lot to do for an early second trimester miscarriage.” Quinn’s voice quavers. “Bed rest is the only medical treatment that’s recommended.”
“What about going to the hospital?” Zack asks.
“She said I can go to the emergency room and get a standard ultrasound, but they don’t send patients to the obstetrics floor unless they’re twenty weeks or more.”
“I can take you to the ER if that’s what you want to do. Jess came with me so she could stay here with Margaret and Lily.”
“Oh! That was kind of her.”
“Yeah, it was. So do you want to go to the ER?”
“Oh, Zack—I don’t know. Dr. Mercer said the ultrasoundwould be done by an ER doctor, not an obstetrician, and there’s a chance the machine won’t pick up the heartbeat even if everything is all right. She said I should come into her office first thing on Monday.”
“I’ll accompany you to that,” Zack says. His voice is so gentle that my heart cracks a little. “Do you want to try the fetal Doppler again?”
