Gone

You Said Forever And Always... You Lied 36

8 CHAPTERS LEFT WHAT WHT

“Yeah she’s fine. So is Kennedy.” Kennedy. She was a mother. And she was alive.

Andrea’s POV

I tried to turn on my side, but something in my arm stopped me. I pulled my arm back but it didn’t go as far as it should’ve. Finally after a minute of thinking, well, trying to remember, I opened my eyes. I was facing a curtain. Slowly, I looked at my arm. It was covered in cords in and out of my skin. I turned back over and faced Adrianna who smiled. There was a metal crib with padding on the inside so only people sticking their heads above it could see inside. Adrianna held a blanket to her shoulder, using both her hands. I didn’t get my hopes up. I dismissed the idea as soon as I thought of it.

“Hi, Sleeping Beauty.” She knew that was my favorite Disney movie. “How’d you sleep?”

“Where am I?” I asked, quickly figuring I was at the hospital. Blankly, I starred at the wall. It was pink with blue storks. “Why am I here,” I croaked. My throat was dry. I reached for a cup of water on the small table.

“You’re at the hospital. Boy, do I have a story to tell you.” She shook her head, throwing it back in laughter. “Yesterday while we were at the funeral the baby got the umbilical cord wrapped around her head, and she went into distress. She kicked an organ causing bleeding, and also kicked the water, which mixed with blood. Niall raced up to you, and I swear, if he wasn’t there, you and Kennedy wouldn’t be alive right now.” She smiled warmly, as if she was telling a child a bed time story. “You went into shock and passed out. They preformed a C section, pulling her out, reparing your organ, and you and her were fine. She was born at 8 months old, and the doctors say if she was born a day earlier she’d need to be hooked up to a bunch of tubes, and maybe have health problems. She was a lucky little baby.”

“So, Niall saved my life?” I tilted my smile. All I remembered was holding my stomach and screaming once, and that was all.

“Yep. Wanna see her?” She gestured to Kennedy. My veins began to burn in excitement. I nodded with an unsure smile. What if she didn’t like me?

Adrianna laid her in my lap, my hands holding her head. She was so tiny. “Hi little Kennedy...” I murmured to her. Her body was warm, even through the blanket. I pulled her blanket down a little so she could reach a hand out. I took her hand, and stuck a finger in between her tiny ones. She immediatley closed them around my finger. I smiled and laughed lightly.

“I’ll go get the nurse.” I nodded, but focused on my baby. To me, she didn’t have one sign of her father in her. She made a cry, and squeezed her eyes shut. Slowly she peeked open at the word. She had blue eyes - not to much like mine, more like Niall’s.

It seemed like the baby’s eyes were Niall’s. I wished they’d stay that color. His eyes were so beautiful. I slowly pulled one hand away from her legs, and rested the legs on my thighs. My hand slowly reached down to wear my stomach was. It didn’t hurt when I touched it. Actually, it was fully numb. When I pressed down it wasn’t hard, or moving. It was small, and flabby.

The nurse came into the room with a clipboard full of papers. She checked my heart rate and lungs before sitting in an extra chair. “How are you feeling, Ms. McDonald?” I tilted my head, and smiled.

“Wonderful.” 

“No pain?” I shook my head, and smiled. For the first time I meant it. 

“Ok, now the birth certificate. You live in the UK right?” I nodded. “Well this can be taken over there with you. Ok, who’s the father? Is he coming in?” I bit my lip. 

“I don’t know her father.” Her eyes widened in an excited way.

“We can do a DNA test if-”

“I have absolutley no idea who her father is - and if I did - he’d be in jail.” Her excitement was gone.

“Oh. Ok. Well, her name?” 

“Kennedy Violet McDonald.” I spelled it for her.

“Ok. Thats almost it.” She had me write my signature down, and insurance information, and we were finished. I held my baby close to my chest.

“Tomorrow William and Jon are going to be here.”

“Okay,” I answered. Kennedy fell asleep, so I laid her on my lap, and surfed the television channels. “Do I have a roommate?” I asked when I put Two and A Half Men on. Nothing else was on. 

“No. But when you walk by you can see right into the room so I thought it was easier this way. The doors don’t close.” She shrugged and watched the television. Bored out of my mind, I played with Kennedy’s hair. She barely had any hair, but what she did I brushed with my fingers. 

“Do we have anything for her? Like clothes?” Adrianna said she had the nursery all did up, but I never seen it. Surely, I doubted her bringing anything baby needed.

“Nope,” she answered still watching the show, confirming my suspicions. 

I looked at the clock on the bedside table. It said it was 4 Pm. “The doctor said you can leave tomorrow.” I looked at the nurse who just barged in. “Just thought I’d let you know. Is she sleeping?” She smiled as I laid my hand on her chest, feeling its slow uplifts in breath.

“Yeah,” I looked down at her, smiling. 

“She’s beautiful.” I never though newborn babies were beautiful. To be honest, they looked like rolled up peices of raw meat. This baby though ... she was beautiful. She didn’t look gross, she looked like a newborn princess. 

“Yeah. Yeah she is.” One day she’d ask me why didn’t she have a daddy. She wouldn’t understand but I’d tell her daddy wasn’t nice to mommy. She’d ask what happened, and I’d only say, ‘He hurt mommy.’ If a teacher asked where her daddy was, she’d repeat what I said, and she’d be treated in pity.

The nurse turned and smiled, and said abruptly, “You have visitors.”