Real pain, not just cramping. Sharp and low and insistent, radiating through my belly and down my legs.
I sit up carefully, breathing through it. It passes after a moment, leaving me shaky and scared.
Okay. That was different.
I check the time. It's been two hours. I slept through the afternoon.
Another cramp hits, harder than before. I curl onto my side, waiting for it to pass.
It doesn't pass.
I need to use the bathroom. Maybe that will help.
I make it there slowly, one hand on the wall for support. Everything aches. Everything feels wrong.
I pull down my underwear and freeze.
Blood.
Not a lot. But enough. Red against white cotton, unmistakable and terrifying.
"No," I whisper. "No, no, no."
The babies. Something's wrong with the babies.
I should call Tucker. He should know. He should be here.
But he’s not here. He’s hours away.
My hands shake as I pull out my phone and scroll to a different name.
Mel answers on the second ring. "Hey, what's up?"
"I need help." My voice cracks. "I'm bleeding. I’m scared, Mel."
"Bleeding? Sloane, where are you?"
"Home—Tucker's apartment. He's in Boston and I'm bleeding and?—"
"I'm calling an ambulance."
"No, I don't need?—"
"Sloane." Mel's voice is firm. "I can't drive. I can't get you to a car. You need an ambulance. I'm calling now, and then I'm coming over. Which hospital?"
“Magee Women’s, I guess. Where Dr. Patel is."
"Stay on the phone with me. Don't move. I'm calling 911."
I sink to the bathroom floor, phone pressed to my ear, and start to cry.
The paramedics arrive with the doorman and, despite their professionalism, I feel embarrassed.
They find me still on the bathroom floor, phone in hand, trying to explain that I'm fine, that it's probably nothing, and that I'm so sorry to bother them.
"Ma'am, you're pregnant with twins and you're bleeding," the taller one says. He looks biracial like me. Like how my babies might look when they’re grown. I feel so dizzy. "This isn't nothing."
They help me up, check my vitals, ask me a hundred questions. How far along? Any pain? When did the bleeding start?
