Loves Deception

Chapter 19

Layla got up long enough to use the bathroom, shower and take her prescribed medications. She sat on the side of the bed and downed the pills with a glass of water Xavier had left for her. She climbed back into the bed and under the covers. Sighing heavily she closed her eyes, waiting for the sleeping pill to take effect. The times that she wasn't sleeping she was crying and when the medicine wore off that's when she felt the pain. The anger. The emptiness. The numbness.

It had been a month since she lost her baby. She squeezed her eyes tighter trying to seal in the tears that instantly pooled. She took a deep breath and shook her head trying to shake the thoughts away. Come on stupid pill! she silently screamed. She willed her mind to think of anything. Anything but that night. She turned on her side and pulled the covers higher. She was emotionally and physically drained. Had nothing left in her. She didn't talk to anyone, she didn't leave the condo. She barely said two words to Xavier when he was here and they hadn't touched since. But he had never left her side that night or any other while she stayed in the hospital. He just prayed, held her and kept telling her everything she needed to hear. By the time she went home without her baby she was emotionally detached from everything. Including him. She knew she shouldn't but she let her mind drift back to that night.

After the ambulance came she was rushed to the hospital and Xavier was with her until they arrived. He fought like hell to be in the room with her but they restrained him and threatened to arrest him. It took them two hours to assess her and find out the cause of her pain and bleeding. Her uterus was contracting and the placenta had started to tear away from her uterine wall. The doctors told her straight out that it didn't look good. They gave her Magnesium Sulfate to slow the contractions and bring down her blood pressure but the tearing was irreparable. The baby was still too underdeveloped to risk delivery and if she did deliver, the chances of survival were slim. It was a waiting game.

After Xavier was finally let into the room  he rushed over to her and the doctor repeated what he told her. That was the first time she had ever seen him cry. She held him and they cried together. She was admitted into the hospital and they waited. Layla didn't want him to call anyone. She didn't want to see or talk to anyone. Not even her mother or her best friend. Xavier wanted to call his parents but he held off, not wanting to stress her any further but his parents showed up at the hospital anyway. He promised her he hadn't called them. He hadn't.

Raina had came over that morning to visit with her but she never got an answer. The desk clerk informed her that they rushed someone on the ninth level to the E.R. She had rushed back upstairs and used her key to get in. She searched the apartment and when she went into the bedroom that's when she saw the bed. The blood. She called her husband in a panic and he came to get her. They had rushed straight to the hospital closest to Xavier's place. Layla allowed them in to see her out of respect. When Xavier explained what the doctors had said Raina rushed out of the room demanding to speak with the doctor in charge. Turned out they knew each other. He confirmed what he said, explained to her the causes, and the treatment. Which she already knew. He assured her that he'd personally do everything he could to save her grandchild but she knew like he did that the odds weren't good.

Xavier took his parents to the waiting room so that Layla could rest. He took a moment to just breathe. They prayed as a family and asked God to spare their child and for the first time since his teenage years he cried on his parents shoulders. But he found his strength in their unwavering love and support. They took turns staying at the hospital and Xavier only left Layla's side when he needed a fresh pair of clothes and a shower. Food and sleep didn't appeal to him. She had stayed in the hospital for two weeks. Her baby had fought for two weeks. But her contractions wouldn't stop. And because of the tearing in the placenta the baby was deprived of oxygen and nutrients. She delivered her baby stillborn. The doctors called it Placenta Abruption.