Dolly (Part three-Max Mitchell series)

TWENTY SEVEN

"Max, are you trying to kill me?"
"I know how capable you are. You can handle it." I said, feeling exasperated by what sounded like whining to my ears.

I'd given Wendy a list of schedule changes to make, after deciding to get married in just two weeks time, there was a bit of juggling to do. As far as weddings go, she had a pretty easy task. The wedding party was small, and the guest list was quite short. We opted to not have our attendants segregated to sides, instead, we would all stand together as Tom and I got married. His sisters had become my family, and my sister had become his. Stef and Ben, our best friends, were like family too, so why split everyone up?

The Tree would be taking care of all of the food and decorations and cake taste testing was clearly not going to be needed. Martha assured me that there would be plenty of Grandma's cake to go around. Everyone had planned their own travel, so, all there was for Wendy and I to do was re-arrange my work schedule to make room for the wedding and the honeymoon. She said she was going to crack under the pressure, and I told her she was just being dramatic.

"I'm going to go finish writing up a few contracts, and then I have a Doctor's appointment. I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"
Wendy nodded, and waved me away, looking quite harried by the workload I'd just given her. Maybe she wasn't just being dramatic. I felt a pang of guilt, suddenly, for fear that I was relying on her too heavily. She'd always been so supportive and never questioned me, so I just carried on. After the wedding, things would settle back down for the both of us, I'd hoped so, anyway.

***

"Grandma, how did you know you wanted to marry Grandpa?"
There was a slight fog of flour hanging in the air, as my grandmother scuttled around the kitchen of the Tree, putting together a wedding cake.
"Oh, Maxine. I knew from the second I saw him. He took my breath away."
"Do you think I'll ever find someone like that?"
"Dolly, I have no doubt about it. However, you've got to get a few more years under your belt before you find your true love. Six years old is a bit young to find your prince."
"Then I'll be a princess."
"Sweet dear, you already are, and one day, a long, long time from now...you'll be a Queen and have little princes and princesses of your own."
"Really? I can be a queen?"
"Maxine, you can be whatever you want to be." She said, and her gentle smile crinkled the outer corners of her eyes.
"I want to be a Queen like you and my Mommy."
"Then you will be." She said with a smile as she swiped a dollop of cake frosting on my nose.

***

"Maxine Mitchell?" A nurse called me away from the waiting area.
"My fiancé is almost here. Can we wait just a moment?"
She nodded and I pulled out my phone to call him.
"Dolly, I'm almost there. Midtown traffic was wretched!"
"Hurry. The nurse is waiting."

"Follow me for now. They'll send him back when he gets here."
I nodded and followed the nurse back into the clinic, where she took my weight, height, temperature and blood pressure.
"Have you had any blood drawn yet?"
"No. Well, yes. Only when they tested for pregnancy, though."
"Ok, let's get to the lab and--"
"Mr. Hiddleston is here, for Miss Mitchell"  a voice alerted us through the intercom.
"Follow me." The nurse said, and led me out of the room.

"Dolly. I'm so sorry I'm late." Tom said, as he blew into the lab area. He greeted me with a swift peck on the forehead. His eyes widened with concern when they fell to the needle and tube, drawing blood from my arm.
"It's ok. This is totally routine stuff. You didn't miss anything."

Once back in the treatment room, Tom and I were left to wait for my Doctor to arrive. I could almost feel the nervous energy, rolling off of him in waves. He bounced his right leg up and down with such speed, it was making my chair shake. What a surprising thing, to see my cool, calm, and collected Thomas, all worked up and nervous. I placed my hand on his knee, and the bouncing subsided.
"Calm down, Sugar. Everything is fine."
He nodded and gave me a chaste kiss, as the doctor knocked and entered the room.

"Hello Max. I'm Doctor Nina Ambur."
Tom stood up and shook her hand, before I could even get a word out. He'd turned into such a nervous Nelly, I had to quietly remind him to sit down and relax.
"Hi Doctor Ambur. Nice to meet you. This is my fiancé, Tom."
"A pleasure, Doctor."
Thank god, he'd gotten a bit more composed. I was already nervous, and he was only making it worse.

"How have you been feeling?" She was deadpan, impossible to read.
"To be honest, quite awful. Tired, nauseous and generally grouchy. Other than that, just fine. "
"Ok. Miss Mitchell, are you familiar with the term hCG?"
"Yes. The pregnancy hormone, right?"
"Right. At this stage in your pregnancy, we expect a certain level of hCG, and your levels aren't at what we would classically expect."
"So...what does that mean?"
"I'd like to have an ultrasound, to see if your pregnancy is still viable."

Don't panic.
Don't panic.
Don't panic.

"Still viable?" I asked, and in my ears, my voice sounded distant. Far away. My vision went fuzzy, and the colors and shapes in the room started to blur together. I couldn't hear anything either, just static, like a radio that's not tuned in to a station.

"Max? Max?" Tom had come to kneel in front of me, and snapped his fingers in front of my face, causing me to focus again.
"Tom. I'm scared."
"I know you are. We're going to take this one step at a time, love."
I nodded as he took my hand and the doctor led us to the darkened room with the ultrasound machine.

"Miss Mitchell, come on up here, and let's take a look." the technician smiled, and patted the exam table. It was the same woman, who, just weeks before has shown me the first picture of our little jelly bean. I laid down, and after the customary blob of gel, the ultrasound picture of my womb was on the screen.

The woman moved the device around, prodding and pushing as if she was searching for something. My heart started racing, and I felt a cold sweat creep across my forehead. Terrified. It's the only word I can think of to describe how I felt.

"Miss Mitchell, I'm going to go get Doctor Ambur. Please excuse me." She said, and ducked out of the room. I looked to Tom, hoping he'd be composed enough to calm me down.
"Sugar, this is bad. This is really bad, I know it. What's happening? This doesn't feel--"
"Shhh. Max, it's going to be alright. I promise you, it is."

The door opened, and alerted us to the Doctor's presence, and I sat up, pin straight.
"What is it, Doctor?" Tom asked, quietly.
"Miss Mitchell, Mr Hiddleston, there's no easy way to tell you this...but your baby has no heartbeat."