Royals: Part 7

Chapter 8

Harry practically drug Jackie down the stairs of their flat, running to the door. She kept a hand on her stomach, as if feeling for signs of life from her baby. However, her years of experience as a nurse told her there wasn't hope. She'd cared for countless mothers coming into the emergency department, panic in their eyes, begging her to save their unborn child. She knew that once the body's process started, there was nothing that could be done to stop it.

"Come on," Harry urged, putting an arm around Jackie's waist, rushing her down the halls of Kensington Palace. They didn't encounter a patrolling night guard in the public halls, now dimmed, who certainly would have gotten them some help. Instead, Harry had to pull Jackie outside into the cool October night, shouting towards the guard station, "Someone help!"

In a few seconds flat, a Range Rover sped over. James, Harry's body guard, leapt out, looking concerned. 

"What's the matter?" James asked. Then his eyes found the red stain that crept down Jackie's silk pajama bottoms, a look of understanding passing over his face.

Harry led Jackie to the passenger's side, shutting the door. While Jackie was in the car for just a few moments by herself, she thought of how fruitless his desperate acts were. She didn't have the heart to tell him. She knew it would be best for him in the long run to feel like he had tried everything he could to save their baby. And besides, she felt paralyzed by shock, she wasn't sure if she could speak even if she wanted to. 

Harry got into the driver's seat, James jumping into the back. Jackie could hear James speaking hurriedly on the phone. "We're coming now, something's wrong with the baby. We'll stop at the entrance to the Lindo Wing. Someone needs to meet us out there and get her inside so no one sees." 

He was calling St. Anne's to arrange for her arrival. Jackie had been there just 5 months ago, under much happier circumstances. She listened as James called someone at Buckingham Palace, probably a member of the Queen's staff, to inform them of what was going on. It was important to have an upper hand in every situation that involved the media. And the media was certainly going to be involved in this mess. She heard him call Nanny Sophia, who had thankfully spent the night in her room in Kensington 1B to help Jackie get the children ready in the morning, as she sometimes did. 

Harry drove quickly, bordering on recklessly, through the streets of London. It was a remarkably quiet night in the busy city. Jackie felt Harry's hand grab her's, giving it a tight squeeze. She felt too weak to squeeze back, her eyes glazed over as they stared out the windshield. Her belly gave a painful cramp, bringing tears to her eyes, a sob welling in her throat. It stayed there, choking her. 

"It's going to be okay," Harry said firmly. 

Jackie didn't respond. She felt as though her entire core was made of lead. Heavy and cold and numb. 

Harry slammed the car to a stop outside of the Lindo Wing, where two nurses waited on the steps with a wheelchair. He opened the door for Jackie, helping her out of the car. The nurses ushered Jackie and Harry inside while James went to move the car, hiding any trace that a member of the royal family was there. 

Jackie was given a private room. The nurses helped her into a bed, giving her a gown to change into. Once she changed, Jackie laid back on the bed, feeling defeated.

Movement in the room around her was a blur. Hospital staff walked in and out, Harry talking hurriedly with them, explaining what happened. Jackie couldn't hear what was being said. Her ears were filled with the noise of her own heartbeat, deafeningly loud. The choked-up noise of anguish remained in her throat, no matter how many times she tried to swallow it back. 

The first doctor available at the hospital came in, dragging an ultrasound cart with him. Harry shook the doctor's hand before sitting down in a stool next to Jackie's head. The doctor pulled up Jackie's gown, squeezing jelly onto her stomach. Her mind flashed back to just a few days earlier, when Dr. Brown came to Kensington Palace -- telling her the baby was a boy, that he was perfectly healthy.