Page 100 of Fighting Jacob

Emily waits until she’s out of earshot before raising her eyes to mine. “I don’t know what’s going on. I’ve never done this before.”

"Could you ask someone? What about Jenni? She only had Jasper a couple of months ago."

She shakes her head. “I don’t want anyone to know. Noah deserves to know before anyone else.”

Although I agree with her, she needs to speak to someone...

My thoughts trail off when my brain finally switches off sleep mode. Emily stares at me in shocked silence when I yank my cell phone out of my pocket and type “pregnancy doctors” in the search bar. I scroll down the list of candidates until I find one that offers emergency appointments.

When I tap the number and raise my phone to my ear, Emily freaks. “You can’t tell anyone.”

Before I can assure her I’ll never share her secret, a chirpy female voice answers my call. “Dr. Morgan’s office.”

"Hello, I need to make an urgent appointment, please. My friend is...” I stop, remembering I have no clue how far Emily is. I cup my phone before dropping my eyes to Emily. “How many weeks are you?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. I think four or five months?”

I devote my attention back to my phone. “My friend is four to five months pregnant, and she started bleeding today.”

“Oh, dear. Let me see what appointments we have.” A keyboard being stroked sounds down the line before, “Will 2 PM work? I’ll need payment upfront.”

“That’s fine.” I dig my wallet out of my pocket before giving my credit card details over the phone.

“Wonderful. You’re all set. Ask your friend to drink lots of water before arriving. The doctor may do an ultrasound to check on things, so the fuller her bladder is, the better.”

“Okay, thank you. Bye.” I shove my credit card back into my wallet before returning my focus to Emily. She’s peering up at me with big, wide eyes. “Dr. Morgan, a local obstetrician, scheduled you for an emergency appointment at 2 PM today. It’s been paid; you just need to show up. The reception said to drink lots of fluids before you arrive, something about needing to have a full bladder or something?”

“Okay.” She sounds both relieved and panicked. “What about Noah? I don’t want to leave him.”

“I’ll stay with him.” When she hesitates, I sweeten the deal. “You’ll never forgive yourself if there was something you could have done to save your baby and didn’t. Noah is fine. I won’t leave his side.”

“Okay.” Fresh tears glisten in her eyes.

I wipe them away before they can fall, then nudge my head to Noah’s room. “Come on, let’s see how his session is going, then I’ll call a cab to take you to your appointment.”

“I... umm... have to... umm... get lady things.”

My cheeks heat. “Okay. I'd offer to get them for you, but I wouldn’t have the faintest clue what to get.”

“I’d never ask you to do that. I just...” Her words drop as quickly as her eyes. She's staring at something below her waist. Something bright red and utterly terrifying. A massive trail of blood is gushing down her leg. "Oh, god."

"It's okay. You'll be okay." I usher her into the bathroom, like hiding from the truth will stop it from happening. “I’ll be back in a few minutes, okay?”

I wait for her to nod before darting out of the room panicked. I don’t know what the fuck I’m supposed to do in these situations, but I’m hopeful the pharmacist in the hospital lobby will have more clue than me. I sprint down there as fast as my quivering legs will take me, blurt out my needs, and buy one of everything the female pharmacist suggests before bolting back to Noah’s room.

Something inside of me cracks when Emily opens the bathroom door far enough I can see the amount of blood that seeped into her pants during my five minute trip to the pharmacy. She’s bleeding—a lot.

Knowing I’m seconds from detonating, I move into the hall to pace. I drag my fingers through my hair before clenching and unclenching my fists. I’ve never wanted to punch something as badly as I do now.

When will the pain stop?

Hasn’t Noah been through enough?

When Dr. Miller joins me in the corridor, I stop violently tugging on my hair. “Is everything okay?”

“I’m...ah...it’s... ah...”

With words eluding me, I raise my finger, requesting a minute. If I speak, my voice will crack, then the emotions I’m trying to strangle are at risk of being freed. Dr. Miller uneasily smiles before returning to Noah’s room.

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