Growth | z.m.

Chapter 30

(Dedicated to xforever_and_a_dayx for her nice comment. I'll be doing dedications to my favorite commenter from the previous chapter from now on.)

Eve's POV

Pneumonia was an absolute hell hole. Honestly, I would give birth to quintuplets eighteen times instead of being in this stupid hospital away from my family and feeling like absolute shit. I felt delirious for what couldv'e been hours, could've been days. I tried to keep track of how many times I saw Zayn's face in front of me. It seemed like I was blinking so slowly that every time I opened my eyes he was in a different outfit.

I remember Zayn putting the phone up to my ear so I could hear Aiden speak to me. The words just weren't transferring to my brain. It felt like my brain was in some sort of fog. It did feel good to hear my son's voice though. That was something that put me in good spirits no matter what.

I was on constant medication, on bed rest full time, and the smell of hospital was starting to smell like home. To be perfectly honest, I think I needed to get pneumonia to just have some time to relax by myself and recover from the trauma of having a miscarriage. I was treated like a a newborn child or something.

There was one nurse in particular who took impeccable care of me. Her name was Mary, a loving name within itself. She was lovely enough to not only give me the care I needed with a smile on her face, but she would sit with me and speak to me even if I didn't respond. I could tell she knew that I'd had a miscarriage just by the special treatment she gave me.

My thoughts were confirmed when she brought it up to me, not really to express her condolences but to share her own story with me.

"You know, I had a miscarriage before I had my first child, Daniel." Mary said as she sat in the chair next to my bed. I couldn't help but wonder if she had work to do, but I listened anyway. "He was a boy too. I hadn't had the chance to figure out a name with my husband yet. We had a list of names to consider. Daniel was actually one of them. I was about twenty weeks into my pregnancy when I went in for a regular check up. And the doctor told us there was no heartbeat."

Instead of crying, Mary kind of immersed herself in relating herself to me.

"We were absolutely gutted. It was physically painful, as you know. But it was mentally excruciating, as you also know. If it's not, you're a psychopath and you shouldn't have children." She chuckled.

That made me crack a smile.

"I was in a state of depression for years." Mary continued. "I wasn't myself. My husband didn't know what to do with me, and I'm surprised he didn't divorce me after the first year. It wasn't until I got up out of my bed and decided to let myself live my life that I was freed from the cloud over my head. I decided I would never have another chance at having a child if I sat there on my arse all day eating crisps."

"So you had another baby." I said.

Mary nodded. "Daniel was born a year later. I'm not saying that you shouldn't give yourself time to heal emotionally and physically, but I would advise you to give yourself the opportunity to try again if that's what you wish. Never deprive yourself of the joys of life, whatever they may be."

"Thank you Mary." I whispered. "You're an angel."

"I would say angel is my middle name, but it's Helena and I'm very proud of that."

I promised myself that I wouldn't ever allow myself to forget my Nurse Mary Helena and all of the things she told me. I didn't want to limit my family, myself, and my life to the sadness and depression I was feeling at the moment. People move on. Things change. We learn from the struggles that come our way. That's life, whether we like it or not.