Aching for Adam

Chapter 23

ELLE

I walk over to the bathroom, panicked and breathing heavily, trying not to spiral. I could feel a wetness in between my legs, and now there's blood on my hand, on the chair I was sitting on, and on my shorts.

"Should...should I call 911? What do I do?" I ask myself.

Too worried to care, I call the one person I was trying to avoid. "Pick up, please pick up, Adam." Straight to voicemail. I try again, same result. "Shit!"

I dial Suzie, and she picks up on the first ring. "Thank god, Elle, Adam has been worried sick about you. He's completely—"

"Suzie." I plead, my voice thick with emotion. I know she can tell I'm crying.

"Oh my god, Elle, what's wrong?" She asks, worry lacing her voice.

"It's the baby. I'm bleeding. I don't know what's going on. I'm scared, Suzie." I sob.

"Elle, get to the nearest hospital. Where are you? I'm coming sweetie, everything is going to be fine." I huff out a sigh, and her calmness soothes me a little. I tell her where to meet me and rush to the hospital as quick as I can, trying to stay calm to drive safely, protecting my baby.

____

ADAM

"Where are you? I'm coming to pick you up. Are you home?" Suzie asks in a panicked voice. I'm on my laptop, she got through to me on social media since my phone had exploded, and I was waiting to receive a new one.

"Why are you calling me on this? What's going on?" I ask, frowning.

"We don't have time for this. Where are you?" She asks again.

"Jeez. Calm down, Suz, you're scaring me. I'm at home." I answer, but my heart starts accelerating.

"Don't freak out—ok, I know it's useless to say that. But listen, Elle had a problem, she's heading to the hospital. And I'm not going without you. She needs you there, and you need to be there. I'll be there in 10 minutes, be ready." I feel the ground crumbling under my feet, and I have to grab the counter to steady myself.

No. No, no, no. This isn't happening.

Suzie arrives, and I jump into her car. She gives me what little details she has on what happened, and I try to breathe deeply to keep calm.

The drive is long, and Suzie doesn't try to distract me with small talk, which I appreciate. We finally arrive at the hospital, and we're directed to her room. I haven't seen her in a week, and this is where we have to reunite. It's killing me. I should have been with her. I can't believe she's all alone in a hospital, probably worried sick about our baby. Oh my god, our baby. I silently pray that he or she's alright, and mentally promise whoever is up there, that I'd take whatever was needed in exchange for my baby to be okay.

We make our way into a small private room, and the curtains are drawn all the way. I can hear someone whimper, and when I peak through the curtain, I see Elle, curled up in a tight ball, wiping her tears away with a tissue. My heart breaks, and I walk through to take her into my arms.

"Adam. You're here!" She grabs my arms and buries her head into my chest.

"I'm here, my love. I'm never letting you go. I'm here." I keep repeating. Suzie hadn't followed me, I'm guessing she wanted to give us a bit of privacy.

"What happened?" I ask, gently, trying not to agitate her further.

"I don't know, the doctor hasn't come by yet. I was bleeding, Adam. She said it can happen sometimes, early in the pregnancy. That it's usually nothing to worry about. But I'm so scared. I don't want anything to happen to our baby. And I've missed you so much." She sobs.

"I've missed you too, my love. I'm sure everything is fine. I'm sure our baby is fine. I'm here, love." I don't know what to say to comfort her, since I'm trying to work through my emotions at the same time. I rub her back gently, and kiss her hair. I do my best to stay strong, so that she can lean on me.

The doctor comes in, and we both look at her with as much hope as fright. "Your baby is fine. This is just due to—"

I sigh. I listen to the words that are coming out of the doctor's mouth, but all I can think of is how grateful I am. Relief floods through me and I can see Elle finally settle down and thank the doctor so many times she has to walk away backwards until she disappears behind the curtain.

"Elle," I whisper. She turns around and crashes into me, sobbing from what I can imagine is her worry dying down, and her joy welling up.

She looks at me then, and a strange look crosses her face. "Adam... I'm so sorry. I can't believe I left you again. I feel so terrible, believe me. I know I said I would never—"

"Don't." I say, cutting her off. "The only person that should apologize is my mother, and that's not going to happen, so... I understand that it was a lot to handle, Elle. I wish you would have talked to me instead of running away, but it's over now. I don't care about them, Elle. You're the only one that matters to me. Do you understand? You don't have to worry about them anymore." I stroke her hair and kiss her forehead.

"I love you," she whispers.

"I love you too," I answer.

"Marry me," she then whispers again, barely loud enough for me to hear.

"What?" I gently touch her cheek and look into her eyes.

"There's a chapel, I saw it on my way in. Marry me, right now. Right here. I don't want to waste another second. We can do the whole wedding thing when we get back home, but I want to commit to you right now. And that'll be a nice way to make it official, don't you think?" She gives me a crooked smile, and I know that I would do anything in the world to see that smile on her face.

"Let's do it. And hey, we even have a witness." I laugh. As if on cue, Suzie peaks through the curtain.

"Did I hear someone propose?" She gives us a wide toothy grin, and we all chuckle.