Fragile

Jackson

"Jackson!" April hissed, speed-walking down the hallway. Her scrub cap was falling off of her head. "Jackson!"

"Hm?" I mumbled, reading a patients chart. He was in for facial reconstruction and I was not nearly caffeinated enough to be doing that type of surgery this early in the morning.

"Read this!" She waved a crumpled piece of paper in my face.

I took it and read it. My eyes widened as I scanned the words over and over again. "She wrote this?" I asked, mouth gaping.

April nodded. "She won't stop talking about how Santa will make everything better. How if Santa can't do it, God will always be there and be able to fix it."

I half-rolled my eyes. "She has to know that Santa can't bring things that are broken."

Your mothers eyes widened and filled with tears, but just as quickly as they did, she wiped them away. "She's hopeful Jackson. You're going to break her heart this Christmas."

"Wha-me!?" I was cut off.

"Drop the lawsuit," she whispered, the look of absolute desperation in her eyes, "drop it and forget it ever happened. Come back home. She's alive and happy and that's all that matters. Please."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "This could be something big! Something-"

"No Jackson! No! It can't be anything! You're choosing the money over your own child. Your friends. Over your wife. If you do this, you're throwing everything away. Because if you do this, I'm done. I will take Harriet and leave. You'll never see us again. You're children will never know you."

I almost blew a gasket- but stopped myself. Children?

"What children?" I nearly whispered, hoping I'd heard her wrong.

She sighed and looked me dead in the eye. Her hair was slipping out of her scrub cap and dangling at her cheeks.

"I'm pregnant, Jackson. Merry Christmas."

She shoved the pregnancy test in my hand. There it was in plain sight; two bright blue lines indicating a baby. "Not how I thought I'd have to tell you." She choked on a sob.
And with that, she turned on her heels and stormed down the hall.