Shattered

Chapter 41

            Mya whined loudly as she watched me pace about the kitchen floor occasionally checking my phone to see if I had any messages, which was silly because I had my phone turned up just so I could hear it whenever it went off. I had been pacing ever since Keith rushed Gia to the hospital and that was over eight hours ago. My feet were now numb from all the pacing, but I couldn't stop myself and I wasn't going to stop until my phone rung. Finally, after five more minutes of pacing, it rung and I immediately picked it up without seeing who it was.
"Hello? Keith?"
"It's Ericka," Ericka replied sounding a bit confused as to why I called her Keith.
"Oh, how are things?" I asked.
"Well, Gia gave birth to Ryan a few minutes ago. There were very little complications with the delivery. In fact, the only problem we had was her not wanting to push. Other than that, everything went smoothly. She's resting now."
I almost breathed a sigh of relief until I remembered Ryan.
"What about Ryan? Is he healthy?" I asked.
"Well, he was born two months premature and his lungs aren't fully developed yet. We had a hard time getting him to cry and he only weighs 4 pounds. They are doing more tests on him to make sure he doesn't have any other problems."
I stopped pacing and sat down at the table. Mya immediately walked up to me and licked my hand. I petted her and smiled.
"So, how'd she react?" I asked. "You know, after he was born."
"Do you have to ask? Of course, she acted like she didn't even want to see him. She doesn't want to hold him. She didn't even bother asking if he was alright when he didn't utter a word. I'm honestly afraid for Ryan's life. You know how you see all these women putting their babies in the oven and leaving them in the car to die? I'm worried Gia might do that to Ryan just because he's Tyler's son."
I froze before saying, "You don't think she'll do that, do you?"
"I don't know, October. It's clear that she doesn't want him."
I couldn't help but feel sympathy for Ryan.
"I feel bad for him. I'm not sure what his life is going to be like because I don't know what it's like to not be wanted by a parent," she muttered.
"I do," I answered. "It's the worst feeling in the world. It makes you feel like such a burden. It makes you want to just end your life. I've been there before and I'm going to tell you, I don't want Ryan to have to go through that."
"Poor Ryan. I hope she comes around soon. Right now, I think she's just broken and trying to find herself."
"That's going to take a while. Trust me. I know. It took me a year to find myself and that was because of Keith. If it wasn't for him, I would probably still be lost or dead."
There was a long pause and I stared at the floor for a long moment until she spoke again.
"Keith just left a few minutes ago. He probably would've been home sooner, but we had to restrain Gia. She kept trying to leave and hurt herself."
"Dear God," I whispered. "I knew she was unstable, but I didn't know she was that unstable. Maybe it's best if you do keep her away from Ryan."
"That won't be hard. The last thing she wants to do is be near him. She hates him that much. It's so heartbreaking."
"Yeah, it is, but I can't say I don't understand her pain. Back when I thought I was pregnant with Tyler's baby again, I wanted to kill the child. Like her, I wanted nothing to do with it, but Keith talked some sense into me. I told her the same thing he told me, but I'm not sure if it really got to her or not. She did say something though. She said that she did love Ryan, but she was afraid that he would turn out to be like Tyler."
"He doesn't favor Tyler at all. He looks just like her. The only feature that he has of Tyler is his hair. Everything else is Gia. It's hard to believe she loves him when she's treating him so badly."
"Just give her some time. How long will you be keeping her in the hospital?" I asked.
"Well, we usually keep a new mother for about three days, but in Gia's case, we'll keep her for about a week or two to make sure she doesn't do anything to harm herself and until we can find out what to do with baby Ryan."
"You can always put him up for adoption," I suggested.
She sighed heavily before saying, "We can't unless Gia agrees to do so, but she won't even talk about Ryan. Right now, we are literally stuck between a rock and a hard place."
"Can you give her the phone? Maybe she'll talk to me."
"I doubt it, besides, I can't let you talk to her right now. I think it would be better if you talked to her in person about this."
"I don't know when I will be able to come see her," I said getting up and walking into the living room.
"You can ask Keith to bring you up here tomorrow. She might be in a better mood by then," she murmured.
"Good idea. I will do that. See you tomorrow," I said.
"Okay, bye."
"Bye."