Scornful Revenge

Chapter Twenty-One

As the days went by, Tom was in full director mode. He would often come home late from rehearsals, well after Daniel and Emma had gone to bed. Some nights, he'd come home to find everyone asleep, but he knew that after opening, everything would go back to the way it was. When it was the show's opening, Tom had left with Daniel to drop him off at school before he went to work. As Alice was cleaning off the table, Emma was in the living room with some coloring books. Her cell phone rang and she felt her heart stop seeing the number on the phone. She knew calls like these might mean something terrible. Nonetheless, she answered.

"Hello?"

"Good morning, Alice. How are you doing?"

"Alright."

"Your test results came back and I've looked them over." Michelle spoke.

"Um, what do they say? Are we all good?" Alice inquired.

"With your urine sample, we did find several traces of protein and in your blood test your platelet count was a little bit lower than usual. These are signs of preeclampsia."

Alice swallowed hard as she nodded her head.

"So... what happens now?"

"Well, I'd like to schedule an appointment with you this weekend to talk to you in person so that we can talk about the methods to help keep your blood pressure at a normal rate as well as managing stress. Now, I know that these results may cause you to stress out but we've caught it early which means we can treat it so that when it comes time for the birth, you won't have to worry about anything." Michelle explained

"Okay."

After scheduling the appointment, Alice hung up and put her phone back in her pocket. She then placed her hand over her belly and began caressing it as she did her best to hold back her tears. She knew if she called Tom to let him know, he would drop everything to be by her side... but this was the one day Alice knew she couldn't do that to him.

That night, everyone gathered at their home. Tom had left early to ensure any last minute changes or issues came up. Alice kept checking the time as everyone's voices overlapped, making sure they left the house on time.

When it was time to leave, Alice ushered everyone out the front door and locked up. George helped her down the stairs as Daniel and Emma ran over to Diana's car. George helped them into their carseats before taking his seat in the back with them. Alice sat in the passenger seat next to Diana and they all made their way to the campus.

Once in the visitor's parking lot, Alice took a deep breath as she looked over the buildings. It was all so familiar as she walked down the paths, seeing some students out late just having fun while some others flew by them on skateboards. As she made her way to the theater with Daniel and Emma holding her hands, she couldn't help but remember her years here and how fulfilling they were. She remembered walking down these paths with Tom going from his office hours to class with him, laughing with him and having deep conversations together.

She was taken from her thoughts when they reached the building as Daniel began pulling on her arm. Once inside, they went to take their seats. Alice kept the seat to her right empty for Tom. George sat to the left of the empty seat with Emma in his lap and Jamie wiggled her eyebrows as she passed Alice to sit next to George. Before Alice could say anything, she heard Tom greeting the others as he made his way down the aisle. Upon reaching Alice, he sat down in the empty seat, shared a quick kiss, and took Daniel into his lap.

"They should be starting in a few minutes." Tom told her.

He then directed his attention to Daniel and Emma and smiled brightly.