The London Paradigm (book 4 of Adopted by the Josephs)

40. Jenna

I brought Rosie outside after I'd bathed her and gotten all the avocado out of her hair. We watched Sam and Tyler play basketball for a while. Rosie started struggling to go down so I put her down and she toddled over to the court.

"Watch out for Rosie!" I called out. Samantha stopped dribbling the ball and Rosie walked up to her with her arms up. Samantha handed her the ball.

"You wanna play basketball, RoRo?" Samantha asked using her new nickname for her sister. Rosie tried to pick up the ball and dribble it like Sam and Tyler had been doing. Of course, the ball is about as big as she is, so it actually knocked her over. She looked like she was trying to decide if she should cry or laugh. She was gauging how we'd react. Samantha scooped her up.

"Oh no! Did Rosie posey fall?!" She asked, spinning her around. Rosie was laughing.

Samantha stopped spinning and I saw her eyes were unfocused.

"Tyler!" I yelled. "Grab Rosie!"

He got to the girls just as Samantha hit the concrete surface and started having a seizure. I'd pulled out my phone and had the timer going.

As I looked on, waiting for the seizure to end, I noticed Samantha's head was hitting the concrete. And there was blood. Tyler must have noticed too, because he placed Rosie down, pulled off his t-shirt and balled it up to go under Sam's head.

"Should we call an ambulance?" He asked. I nodded. He grabbed his phone off the patio table beside the court.

Samantha stopped seizing. The seizure was only a minute, but her head was bleeding. I rolled her onto her side and held Tyler's t-shirt to her head. Rosie came over and knelt down beside Sam.

"SaSa?" She asked, looking at her unconscious sister. "SaSa?"

She patted Sam's cheek so gently.

"SaSa," she frowned.

"Samantha has a boo-boo I said to Rosie, while rubbing Samantha's back. I checked her over. She was breathing fine, but her eyes were closed still. Not uncommon after a seizure, but the blood coming out of her head worried me.

Tyler had run to the front of the house to meet the ambulance and came back with the EMTs. He was relating what had happened and presumably what we'd done. As soon as they reached Samantha, I scooped up Rosie and got her out of the way. She kept reaching for Samantha.

The paramedics assessed her, and loaded her on the stretcher. Tyler was going to go with and I'd stay home with Rosie for now. He'd tell me what was happening and I'd come to the hospital a little later. As much as I wanted to be there, I knew Tyler would have it well in hand and I didn't want Rosie any further distressed. She didn't handle Sam getting sick very well. As it was she was struggling to follow Tyler and the paramedics.

I held Rosie close to me trying as much to keep myself calm as as I tried to calm Rosie.

"Mama, SaSa," Rosie said.

"I know Rosie Ro. We'll go see Samantha in a little while."

I took Rosie back into the house and started packing some things for the hospital. Stuff for Rosie and stuff for Sam depending on how long they would keep her.  At some point she'd likely need a snack.

Out of curiosity, I checked the app to check her blood sugar. It was reading "Low". Which meant she was unreadable. How had we not heard the alerts?

I texted Tyler so he could let the paramedics know she was low. No doubt they'd checked her blood sugar as well, but just in case they hadn't yet.

I sighed. My poor girl. She was under such tremendous stress. Mark's antics were affecting her health. I made note of the seizure and the time. I was keeping notes to have included in our case to keep Samantha. I figured keeping track of the things that she dealt with, that we knew how to deal with and what may have caused some of them would help us.

Rosie was quiet while I was gathering things. I got phone chargers. A pair of pyjamas for Sam, in case she stayed overnight. I was hoping she wouldn't but I suspected she might. I also brought her a change of clothes. The whole time, Rosie just watched quietly.

Once I had everything together, I picked Rosie up and we sat on the couch.

My phone rang.  It was Tyler.

"Ty? Any news? How's Sam?"

"She's awake, and aware. She's upset, obviously. Her head's okay. She just split the skin on her scalp. She's got some stitches. They're going to assess her for a concussion and unless she shows signs of that, they'll let her go home. I'll call you when they're ready to discharge us."

"Can I talk to her?"

"Of course. Hang on," Tyler said. I heard some rustling.

"Hi Mom," Samantha said in a flat voice.

"Hi baby. How are you feeling?"

"Sucky," she said. "And I have a headache. And my head hurts where they put stitches."

"I know baby," I said. "I bet. But hopefully you'll come home soon."

"I hope so. I hate it here," she said. She sounded so defeated.

"Sam, besides the headache, are you okay?"

She was quiet for a second and then said in a shaky voice.

"I think this is from what Mark's doing. I can't sleep, because I keep having nightmares. I can't always eat enough and I always feel tense. The press is freaking me out. I'm scared about the trial I'm scared he's going to win and I'm scared he's going to take me away from you," she started crying. I heard Tyler talking soothingly to her.

"Hey, Jenna," Tyler said, taking the phone from Sam.

"Tyler, we have to tell Greyson about this. This can only help our case, no?"

"I hope so. This isn't healthy for her," he said.

"I know."

I heard Tyler shift the phone and I heard him move through the curtain that would be around Sam's bed.

"Jenna," his voice dropped in volume. "I think what Mark's doing, I think it's killing her. I didn't notice it before, but she doesn't look well."