Still Waters

Chapter 55

When we got to the car, Jasmine was already behind the wheel and already had the baby strapped in. She told me that we were going to the hospital, and that she had called my parents. She said it like there was nothing that I could do about either of those things. She also told me that the baby and I would be staying with her until my parents got into town the next day. Drama and Shayna were down visiting Kenney, and just happened to be at Jasmine's house when I called. And Kenney just happened to be at work. Divine order, she called it. They probably hadn't told Kenney anything about this, or he would have definitely been there, too.

And things would have probably gone...the opposite of how they thankfully went.

Jasmine made it clear that I would not be staying with them at Kenney's house. Drama co-signed. They were right. I was waaay too wide open to be around Kenney right then. Shayna was most likely already back over at Kenney's smoothing over any suspicions.

A mess.

What a mess I brought to the table.

I looked over at Sammie, nice and snug in her new car seat...no idea why Jasmine had that...and held her hand. My precious baby...who almost lost her life that day.

I prayed quietly. "Thank you God, for my beautiful precious baby girl," tears started to fall uncontrollably. "Thank you. Thank you..."

"Tanch chu," Samantha repeated and I smiled at her.

Then I thought about Jasmine and looked at her in the rearview mirror. She was already looking back at us, a faint smile on her lips.

"Thank you Jasmine. Thank you for coming to get us."

"No problem, kid." She looked back out at the road.

"Thank you, Drama." I gave him as big of a hug as I could with the seat in the way. "I love you so much. I love you, too, Jasmine. Thank you for letting us stay with you. I love all of you. All of you." I teared up again and stopped talking.

Sammie picked up where I left off. "Tanch chu!" She raised her little arms above her head and started clapping. Then she started munching on her snack again. Jasmine...or Drama...or Shayna, had thought of everything.

The hospital was one of the most horrifying experiences of my life. My exam was pretty bad. I didn't realize how much pain I was in until the adrenaline wore off and they started poking at my ribs...three of which were broken. But that wasn't the bad part. When we got there, I told the doctor that I had fallen down the stairs. And, of course, Jasmine and Drama immediately gave each other the side eye. I guess the doctor caught that, and peeped the blood on my pants, because he immediately brought the baby into it by asking if I was holding her when I fell. I said "yes" because she may have also been hurt and I wanted to get her checked out, too. As soon as I admitted that she was a part of the "accident," he went straight into the "legally obligated to examine her for abuse" speech.

I didn't know if that was true. But I also didn't know what Collin had done to her while I was locked in the closet to make her scream so loudly, either, so I gave my consent...like I had a choice at that point, and we went our separate ways. Jasmine went upstairs with the baby and Drama went with me. He waited in the waiting room while they examined me, and then as soon as they were done we rushed upstairs to the baby's exam room. Again, Drama waited in the pediatric waiting room.

The killer part of this whole thing was seeing the doctor's hands on my baby. I know he was doing what he was supposed to do, but as soon as I walked into the room and saw him with her, I wanted to punch him right in the face. I guess Jasmine felt the same way, because she looked upset by the time I walked in. As soon as she saw me coming, she handed Sammie to me and exited stage left.