Severing Ties (Book 2. Ties)

33. State of Grief

The desire for my summer class to end was undeniable, but there was a long time to go. We were starting the third week of summer school, and it was Monday. I wanted the day to be over, but I had to read two chapters of law and answer questions about them. The day was far from over. What an understatement.

"Hello?" I answered my cellphone that had begun ringing.

"How was class," Mom asked.
I flung my backpack around my shoulders and walked into the June heat. "It was its usual boring self. Is something wrong?" The beginning of a scowl spread through my forehead.

She chuckled. "There has to be something wrong for me to call," she questioned.

"Well you usually don't call me while you're at work. So is everything fine?"

"I don't, do I," she asked in an agreement tone. The atmosphere then changed. "Not completely. Do you think you could come to the museum?"

A nervous feeling settled in my stomach. "I'll be there before you know it."

As soon as the call ended, I half-ran, half-walked. In minutes, I was in my mom's office with sweat on the back of my neck. She smiled up at me when I arrived as if there was nothing out of place.

"I need you to take me to my doctor. I'm having some pain, so I need him to get rid of it."

I nodded my head, and we immediately left the office to go get her car. I drove us to her doctor's office while my mom constantly told me to slow down and abide by the law of the speed limit. Once arrived, we waited a few minutes before she was called in.

A nurse asked her various questions while we waited for the doctor in one of the rooms. My mom listened to the nurse, and she changed into a patient gown. After the nurse left, my mom's phone rang.

I grabbed it from her purse and handed it to her. "I'm fine," she said into the speaker. "I don't know... It's just some pain. I'm sure it's nothing, but I have to check just in case." She held the phone to her ear and listened. "Don't come. I'm sure it's nothing." She laughed. "I keep saying it because I'm sure it's nothing. It's too early for her to come. Don't... No... No..." My mom pulled the phone away from her face and sighed with exasperation.

I assumed it had been Lucius. "He's coming," I asked her.

She raised her gaze to me and nodded. "He's coming all the way from Water Mill."

With a scowl on my face, I asked, "what is he doing there?"

"Ezra called him. Apparently they're having a friend meeting with Lucius. Seems like an intervention too late." She laughed.

"I haven't spoken to Ezra, David, or any of them in a long time."

"That's logic—" The doctor came in with a nurse, so we stopped talking.

The man appeared fatigued. "What does the pain feel like?"

"It feels like contractions, but I'm nowhere near forty weeks," my mom answered the tired doctor.

"Lay down," he ordered.

She did as she was told, and he instantly began revising her southern regions. Soon his face was turning from tired lines into worry ones. He stepped away from my mom and told the nurse to do an ultrasound. My mom and I exchanged looks of concern as the nurse spread the clear jelly on my mom's abdomen; the black and gray screen produced images that made the doctor look wide awake.

"Prepare an ambulance," the doctor told the nurse. She left the room in a haste while the doctor stayed with us. "The baby is coming today," he said as he wiped the belly clean of the half liquid, half solid that had been applied to observe my baby sister. "She's ready and it's too late to stop her."