“Where is she? I need to see her.”
“She’s in surgery. The only thing that we can do is be patient, wait for the doctor to come out and give us an update, and pray.”
I paced back and forth, unable to believe what he was telling me.
Lena had procrastinated about telling Paul that she was leaving him. For two weeks, she used the excuse that he was busy with work and couldn’t meet her, or he was only available whenshe was working. Paul had left town on a couple of business trips. Now here we were a month from when she told me that she was pregnant, and she had finally confronted him alone, putting herself and my baby at risk.
“What is he saying, Lieu?”
“He’s not talking. Paul has lawyered up. The only thing that we know is that she called him over. There were text messages in her phone asking him to come over because she had something to discuss with him. He called her minutes after the text went out, and their call lasted six minutes and fifty-two seconds. We found the divorce papers on the floor next to her body when we arrived.”
I found a corner where I could get away from the others and quietly prayed to God. Quite a few officers found me after I finished, to let me know they had my back and they would make sure that Paul paid for what he had done. There were encouraging words about her being strong and how she would make it through this. After all, Lena was a fighter, and no one expected less than that.
I thought about the last time we were together privately, which was a couple of days ago. We had gone back to the motel that we often spent time at and watched movies and held each other. We hadn’t even had sex that night. We had simply discussed potential names for our unborn son.
The motel was the safest place for us, because it was on the outskirts of town. Both of our places were off-limits because while we were partners, there was a certain familiarity about showing up at each other’s house. We didn’t want anyone to uncover our truth and create problems for her career or our relationship with our fellow officers.
There was a flurry of movement at the edge of the waiting room, and that was the minute that I looked up and saw a small room off from the lobby. Frosted glass on the window and a doorprovided privacy for its occupants, and when the surgeon walked into the room, I caught my first glimpse of who was inside—Lena’s mother, Joanna Jones, and Lena’s sister and brother.
I stood and quickly made my way over there, arriving at the same time the door opened again. The surgeon overlooked me and beckoned to my lieutenant.
I stepped forward, and the surgeon frowned and stretched his hand out as if he were going to stop me. “Only family and the lieutenant, please.”
“I’m family,” I growled, shoving his hand away from me.
“He’s her partner,” Lieutenant Edwards declared.
“He’s family,” Mrs. Jones confirmed, looking at me with a soft smile.
The surgeon nodded and held the door open for me to step inside. He looked around at us, and my heart stopped beating. No words needed to be spoken when the message was written all over his face and in his eyes.
“Mrs. Jones, I’m sorry. We did everything that we could to save her, but the damage from the bullet was just too extensive. We exhausted every effort to save her and the baby.”
Although I was numb inside, I immediately went into action the minute Mrs. Jones’s body buckled sideways as though she were about to fall off the chair. I grabbed her, and she held me tightly and cried.
“Baby?” my lieutenant and Lena’s siblings asked at the same time.
“Yes. She was pregnant,” the surgeon confirmed.
I had no words to offer, no comfort, or anything of value. I was an empty shell of a man, and all I wanted was to be alone. I had lost my woman, my partner, and my child. Unfortunately, I couldn’t walk away at the moment. So, I remained in place as her mother cried inconsolably over the loss of her daughter and her grandchild.
The surgeon continued to speak, but I ignored his words as I held Mrs. Jones and rocked her softly. When she finally finished crying, she turned back to the surgeon who looked uncomfortable and ready to leave.
The lieutenant stepped up and took her hand, and I stepped back.
“Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do,” the surgeon stated.
“May I see her, please?” I asked.
“Yes. You may. Mrs. Jones, would you like to go see her?”
“Not yet. I can’t,” she cried out, and my lieutenant held her close.
I followed the surgeon out of the room as Lieutenant Edwards spoke about what a wonderful officer Lena was. He didn’t even know the half of it. Not that any of it would bring her daughter back.
“She’s in here,” the surgeon stated, opening a set of double doors for me after we walked down a long hallway.
Lena looked like she was sleeping peacefully like she often did when we would hole up in hotels for a couple of days at a time.
