American Woman: Book 5 (Final)

Chapter 4

There had still been no sign of Lenny and within the hour, Mayte's parents strolled into the waiting room. "Prince." Mayte's father, John, greets him with a firm handshake. "What has happened to my daughter?"
"She and Lenny were in a car accident. He's ok, but it crushed the passengers side where Mayte was and she's hurt badly. And the baby...."
"The baby's dead, isn't he?!" Mayte's mother, Nelly, shrieked.
"Yes." Prince responded quietly and hung his head. "I'm so..."
"Save it! We don't want to hear condolences from you of all people! Why are you even here?!!! Were you driving the car that smashed them...."
"Absolutely not! We were behind them..." Prince stammered.
"Prince rushed to them. He performed CPR on Mayte. He helped save...." I interjected.
"He doesn't help anyone unless there's something in it for him. If anything he probably did something wrong and that's what made her lose the baby." Nelly fired back. "You have no right to be here."
I look over at Prince who is taking deep breaths and trying not to engage with her. "Nelly, he did help and he knows..." I begin.
"You stop talking. You are just as vile as him. He two are a perfect match. Both of you are narcissistic, lying, unfaithful, cruel human beings. You deserve each other, but I don't want either of you around my family. I don't know why Mayte has let you two back in. All either of you did was bring her sorrow. You both betrayed her, and now you flaunt your life and children in front of her, taunting her..."
"Nelly, we love Mayte..." Prince calmly replies.
"You don't know what love is! You came from a loveless family and you don't have any empathy for anyone. You only care about yourself." She fires back.
"I used to be that way. I'm not that way anymore. And I did love Mayte while we were married. Things just didn't work out, but I do care for her still and want the best for her." Prince argues. "We are heartbroken over all of this."
"You sure had a funny way of showing love! You were the most terrible husband I had ever seen and thank God it didn't work out for me to watch you be a father." She chuckled in disgust.
"Listen! That's enough!" I growl, taking a step closer to her. "You can hate Prince and me, that's fine. But now is not the place and time for any of this. It's not the time for you to insult us nor is it the time for us to try to persuade you otherwise. I'm not sure it would ever be possible anyway. What IS important is Mayte. We don't even know what's going on right now. All we know is she is in bad shape and the baby is dead. We all know even if she recovers she is going to be wrecked by that fact. Focus on your daughter. We are here bc we are her friends. She would want us here and you won't be able to convince us otherwise. We don't have to talk or even look at each other, but we are going to be together in this waiting room and act civil. Got it?" I lecture and point at her.
She doesn't respond but does turn away from us and walks over to a chair further away. John gives me an apologetic smile and nod and follows his wife to sit down. I turn back around and notice Prince is nowhere to be found. My heart fell as I knew he had escaped to be alone. All Nelly's words did was solidify all the things he was already struggling with about himself. I wanted to strangle her for putting the self doubt back into his mind. I didn't know whether to just let him be alone or to go try to find him and assure him she was wrong about it all. Before I could make a decision, the doctor walked back out, again looking for Lenny. I wanted to strangle him too for just disappearing. Mayte's parents introduced themselves and I stepped closer to hear the news. "Mr. and Mrs. Garcia, I'm so sorry for the loss of your grandson. We did everything we could to save him, but it was just too late. Thankfully life saving techniques were performed on your daughter early. That's the only reason she is still with us. But she is in very bad shape. We really need to get the baby out of her as soon as possible. It will help her chances of survival if her body wasn't still trying to nurture the baby that it doesn't realize is gone. That's why I keep asking for the father. I want to ask him if he wants to be in there when we deliver his child. Have you seen him?" The doctor asked them.
"No, we don't know where he has gone. Probably run off like everyone does on her once something bad happens." Nelly answered, while shooting me the side eye. "I will go in and be there...."
"Absolutely not!" I interject and walk right up to where they were huddled. "You will not take this moment away from Lenny. That is his son and he should decide whether or not he wants to be in there."
"Jensen, you have no say in this. You aren't even family. You stay out of it. He doesn't need to be in there. It will only make things worse for him. Just like Prince should have never been in there when Ahmir was born. It warped him even more than he already was. You should have seen his face when he came out of the operating room. No joy, just horror. That's when things went from bad to worse. Lenny doesn't need to see his dead child come out...."
"That's not your decision! Plus this child is perfectly healthy. Lenny will want to see him and hold him. I know Lenny very well and he would not want to miss it. But I'm worried about how Mayte will take the news that she missed it...."
"Me too." I hear Prince's deep voice from behind, agreeing with me. "I didn't let her go to the hospital to see Ahmir before he died. It crushed her. She needs to be conscious and coherent when Silas arrives. I messed up before. I won't let it happen to her again."
I turn and smile at him, so proud of his strength. He met my gaze but before we could say anything to each other, Nelly butted back in. "I don't know why either of you think this is your decision. Being "Prince" means nothing in this situation. The doctor isn't going to give into what you say just bc of who you are. You two just sit down and mind your own damn business. If Lenny wanted to be here, he would be here. But he's not. He's a coward who has run off. The doctor says the baby needs to come out to help Mayte. That's my daughter! I will do what is necessary to save her." She looks at the doctor. "Get the baby out now. I will come in and be with her."
"Nelly, please. Let's just wait for Lenny." John protests. "Coming from a man's perspective, he should be given the opportunity to choose. He may even say you can come too. We don't know where he's gone or what he's doing but let's wait a little while longer for him."
"Fine. He's got one hour." Nelly commands.
"We've got to find him." I whisper to Prince. "Come on."
He quickly follows me as I exit the waiting room. "God, that woman!" I huff as I walk briskly down a hallway.
"I told you. Bitch is too nice to describe her." Prince responds, hobbling with his cane to keep up.
"Baby why don't you just sit down and try calling him? I will look for him." I suggest. "Maybe one of us will get lucky."
"Ok momma. Keep in touch and let me know if you find him." Prince kisses me and sits down on a couch in a different waiting room.
About fifteen minutes into my search, I saw Lenny sitting in the lobby staring up at the ceiling. "Lenny, are you ok?"
He looks down and stares at me like I'm crazy.
"Ok, bad question. Look the doctor has come out looking for you twice. He says he wants to deliver Silas to help Mayte's body recover. Her parents are here and her mom tried to have them do it without you. You've got to go back and..."
"Just let her mom go in if she wants. I don't want to be in there." Lenny nonchalantly responds."
"What?! Lenny! I know that's not what you really want. You will be kicking yourself later...."
"How do you know?! When did you become so all knowing? Shit maybe you are. Maybe you do have some direct line to God or are in His favor or something. Even when bad things happens to you, you always bounce back. And quickly. I can't do that. I don't want to see my dead lifeless son be pulled out of the woman that I love who is also pretty much lifeless...."
"I understand. And I don't want Mayte to miss it either. I don't think we should make that decision for her. Maybe you can talk to the doctor about keeping the baby put until Mayte is better enough to be present at the delivery." I suggest.
"I don't know. If the doctor thinks the baby needs to come out, he needs to come out. Maybe we can wait to bury the baby until Mayte has had a chance to see him or something. I don't know. Why do they put so many decisions on people during times like this?! Like I have any idea what is right or wrong! Next it's going to be funeral directors asking what kind of casket I want and....." he breaks down and puts his head in his hands. "I don't want to make any decisions. I won't make the right ones. I never do."
"Lenny, that's not true. You make good decisions all the time. We all make bad ones too sometimes. And nobody knows any more than you do what's right in this situation. But Prince and I will support you in whatever you want to do. Just don't let Nelly persuade you. Do what your gut is telling you and we will stick with you. I promise." I rise to my feet and take Lenny's hands to pull him up with me. We embrace in a tight hug and I feel Lenny push me further into him. His grip is so tight and I wanted to break contact bc it was slightly uncomfortable but I knew he needed someone to lean on at the moment. "What should I do? Just tell me what to do. You always seem to know best, I swear. Things always seem to work out for you..."
"Lenny that's not true. I've lost both my parents, I have a deaf child, I've miscarried a baby, I've had postpartum psychosis. My life isn't easy and I don't have all the answers and I don't always make the good or right decisions. Somehow though things always seem to work out, or at least get better. You've just got to have faith that whatever decision you make, it will all be ok eventually. And whatever may happen, you will be ok."
He finally releases me and gives me a faint smile and begins to walk off towards the waiting room. I quickly go back to the waiting room where I left Prince and find him still on the same couch and the phone glued to his ear. "It just rings and rings. He won't answer." He tells me.
"I found him. I don't know what he's going to decide but I think he's heading that way. Come on. We need to be in there so Nelly doesn't sink her teeth into him and force him into something he doesn't want. He's super vulnerable right now." I explain.
"Wait." Prince grabs my arm and pulls me into his lap. "You know you don't have to be out to save the world all the time. Plus I kinda like it when you stick up for just me. My woman defending me is sexy. I don't really want you doing it for other men."
"Oh Prince, don't pull the jealous card right now. You know it's not like that. And if Mayte was out there, I wouldn't say anything. But she's not. And he isn't thinking clearly. He doesn't want to make any decisions and that's prime time for Nelly to manipulate him. I'm just trying to look out for him while he's in this state. He wanted me to make the decision for him, but I refused. I just told him we would support anything he wanted to do. So I know you want, and I want, him to wait for Mayte to be awake to give birth but if he decides to do it now, we have to just hold our tongues. I mean what if a doctor told you that removing a dead baby from me would better my chances of survival? I know you wouldn't hesitate to do it quickly. And Nelly is right about being the parent in this situation. Think if it was Devon or Waverly in that position. We would want it done immediately too. We really don't have any say in this."
"Damn momma, you're right. When I think about it being you or one of our baby girls, that does change my perspective. One of those scenarios where I feel like there's no good choice." He says solemnly. "You're one amazing woman, Mrs. Nelson. Did you know that?" He continues, pressing his forehead to mine and kissing the tip of my nose gently.
Laying my head on his shoulder, I whisper "I can't even remember the last time you have called me that. I'm so proud to be Mrs. Nelson." I raise up to look him in the eyes. "I want you to know that and remember that. No matter what others might say or how they may feel. I think you're the most incredible husband and father. There's nobody I want to do this life with besides you. And our girls think you hung the moon. I sometimes get jealous at the way they look at you. You're everything to them, you're everything to me." I give him a tender peck on the lips. He lets out an uneven exhale and I knew he was choking back the tears. "But I hate this. I absolutely hate these moments in our lives. I wish I just had a magic wand and could fix it for them. I'm so worried about Mayte. Worried she won't make it, but just as worried that she will and wish she hadn't once she learns about her precious baby."
"I am worried too. About the effect this will have on her body and mind. On her relationship with Lenny. Hopefully they are stronger than she and I were or this will tear them apart too. And I hope Mayte has learned to cope better than she did with Ahmir or she, and Lenny, have an even harder and longer road ahead of them than they already do."