“More than you plan to give me,” I snarled as I brushed past him and headed to the locker rooms.
The locker room was open plan, and I genuinely hated that. There were three stalls only, and they were usually occupied, but today I was in luck as one was free. Grabbing my stuff from my locker, I headed to one of the stalls. With a quick squirm and a tug, my suit was off, and wrapping my towel around me, I headed to the showers. I didn’t need to wash my hair, as the cap had protected it, but I strongly wished I’d had that to my advantage. I didn’t want to talk to him, Jett or any of them. Not about this.
They knew enough. The rest? They seemed to be filling in the blanks, and I was not okay with that. But I also knew they had found out more, and they wanted to ask questions of me that I didn’t have the answer to. To do that, they were going to tell me what they had found out, and I knew I didn’t want to know. What could I do, and more importantly, what good would knowing do me?
As I finished my shower, I slowly made my way back to my stall. Another girl was in the locker room, and she gave me a courteous reflexive smile before I was in my stall and locking the door behind me.
With a heavy heart, I sat on the small bench and stared at the floor as I considered what they were going to say to me. Or ask me. Could I do this again? Jett and I had been through this when he collected me from the hospital.
“Where am I?” I asked as I looked around the sparse white-walled room. Looking down the length of my body, I realizedI was in a single bed, with a really bad blanket and only one chair in the corner of the room. A nurse was at the bottom of the bed.
Why was there a nurse at the bottom of the bed?
“Am I in . . . the hospital?”
“Hey there, you’re awake, been waiting for you.” Her smile was kind, and she looked gentle and calm. Soothing.
“Who are you? Where am I?”
“My name’s Susan. You’re at Nashville Memorial Hospital,” she told me as she walked around the side of the bed to stand beside me.
Pushing myself up the bed into a sitting position, I watched her warily. “Are you with them?”
“Them?” She had wide eyes, slightly set too far apart. They were light brown in color and . . . kind. Everything about her screamed kindness. It was weird and unnerving.
Looking back down at me, I saw the horrible hospital gown, and a feeling of dread overcame me. With a trembling hand, I placed it over my stomach, above the covers. With closed eyes, I asked the question.
“I lost the baby?”
“You did.”
Tears slid down my cheeks as my fingers tightened on the blanket that covered me. Covered my loss. “How?”
“We don’t know a lot.” Susan sat gently down at the side of the bed. “I was hoping you could tell me?”
Shaking my head, I kept my eyes tightly closed. “I don’t remember.”
“You took a fall.” Her voice was soft and even. “You have a cut to the side of your head, which we think is the cause of your unconsciousness.”
“It happened because I bumped my head?”
“You were found at the bottom of some steps; do you remember falling?” Susan asked me.
Did I? No . . . wait. Yes, I was running. My head snapped up as my eyes looked around the room wildly. “Are they here? Did they get me?”
Susan grabbed my hand; her gentle squeeze soothed me. “Shh, no one’s here. You were taken in because a lady found you at the bottom of thesteps. You were unconscious, your head was bleeding, and you had bleeding elsewhere.”
“The fall caused it?” I asked as I tried to keep my voice calm, even, soft, like Susan.
“I think so. Do you have someone we can call for you . . . ?”
“Quinn, my name’s Quinn.”
She gave me a warm smile as her other hand stroked over the hand she was holding. “You’re going to be okay, Quinn.” I felt her hesitate. “You still have to pass the baby.”
“What?” I could feel the sobs building, and I fought them back; this was no time to cry.
“You’re about sixteen weeks, yes?”
