Page 20 of Finding Hope

In her bedroom, she climbed into bed and sat against the headboard, then pulled up her shirt and watched her belly move as the baby shifted. She grabbed her phone and took a video of it. Maybe she’d post it on Facebook later. Maybe she should send it to Jonathon.

“Ow, Henry, your foot’s digging into Momma’s ribs.” When Josie had called her to tell her she thought they should name the baby Henry, Shannon had been tickled pink that Josie even thought about that stuff.

The baby moved some more when she called him Henry, so she knew he liked it. She loved it too. She was going to call her sister, but realized she left her sound processor in the bathroom on the counter and she was just too tired to get up. Shannon settled into bed and grabbed the book she was reading. It was about a girl who had wanted to end it all after a sexual assault left her traumatized. She met and fell in love with a policeman who was also a single father. They helped her heal and she made their family complete. This was her third time reading it and she loved it. She still cried every time, but she didn’t care.

Felix purred while he draped herself across Shannon’s stomach, which he was suddenly obsessed with. It seemed that Henry had his first best friend. She set her alarm clock and put it under her pillow. With a jaw-cracking yawn, she shut off her light and settled deep into her bed.

Before she slipped under, she decided she would call Jonathon the next day. She wanted to try. She wanted to give him a chance. For the first time in a while, she went to bed feeling hopeful.

***

Shannon jerked awake coughing. Felix was hitting her in the face with his paw. She pushed Felix off her and that’s when she smelled the smoke. Flinging back the covers, Shannon jumped out of bed. Smoke was rolling under the door. She grabbed a t-shirt and held it over her mouth. Trying to keep herself calm, she moved toward her bedroom door and reached out to touch the door. When she had moved out on her own, her dad had gone over every emergency that could happen.

Her belly dipped when she felt the door was hot to the touch. Smoke was starting to seep in all around the doorframe. She ran to her phone and picked it up. Looking around the nightstand, she couldn’t find her sound processor, and realized she’d left it in the bathroom. “Shit!”

She sent a text to her sister.

Shannon: Mary, my house is on fire I’m trapped in my room. Please call 911.

While she waited, she ran to her windows, opening them to get air. Her room was almost completely engulfed in smoke. She popped the screen out and grabbed Felix. “Go baby.” Poking her head out, she watched with relief as Felix ran toward her neighbor’s house.

Shannon felt her phone vibrate in her hand. It was a text from Mary.

Mary: WTF!!!!!!!! I’m with Dad he called 911 someone else already called they’re on their way. Get out of the house!

It was getting too smoky. She needed to get out before it was too late. Looking down at her belly and then at the window she knew she had to move, and quickly. At the window, she decided to go out backward, because if she fell she could protect her belly and it was only a one-story duplex, so she wouldn’t fall far. Moving as quickly as she could, Shannon pushed her bed toward the wall, then climbed up onto her bed and got to the window.

She gripped the top of the windowsill and pulled herself up so she was sitting on the lower windowsill. Shannon wobbled but tried to gain her balance by gripping the upper windowsill tighter. She wished she could hear if the sirens were close, but instead she looked down toward the end of the street, letting out a sigh of relief when she saw a fire truck turn down her road.

The firefighters would get her out. Just then, the house shook. She lost her balance and felt herself falling out of the window. With her hands wrapped around her belly, she closed her eyes and braced for impact.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed before her eyes fluttered open. She was lying on her back, but moving. Her vision was blurred, but she recognized the face in front of her. “Jonathon?” His lips moved but she couldn’t make out what he was saying. He touched her face tenderly, but her eyes started to close again. She didn’t miss the panic in his eyes before she slipped under.

***

Jonathon

Jonathon’s cruiser came to a screeching halt. Shannon’s house was completely engulfed in flames. He was out of his car and up to her sidewalk when he noticed the paramedics pushing a gurney toward the ambulance. At full speed, he ran toward it. He knew the paramedics and called out.

“Tim, what happened? That’s my girlfriend and my baby.”

“When the firefighters were pulling down the street, they saw her in the window. It looked as if she lost her balance and fell out. She’s unconscious right now and we need to get that baby on a monitor.” He watched helplessly while they lifted her up into the rig and then climbed in behind them. Tim’s partner looked like she wanted to argue, but Tim put a hand on her arm and shook his head.

Jonathon called Hunter to let him know that his squad car was there and that he was with Shannon. The paramedics closed the doors as Jonathon slipped his hand into hers. He watched silently as Tim took her vitals and then started an IV. Jonathon looked at her face and noticed she was bleeding through the bandage. Nausea swirled in his belly. He looked down at her stomach and with a trembling hand, he placed it on her belly.

He needed his son to show him he was okay. Give me one tiny kick, please. There was nothing. In the background, Tim was talking into his radio, but Jonathon had no clue what he was talking about. All he could do was look at Shannon and silently beg her to wake up and give him that beautiful, bright smile of hers.

They pulled up in front of the emergency room. Nurses were standing outside with gloves on. As soon as the ambulance stopped, Tim and his partner were moving Shannon toward the opened doors. He followed behind them until they were outside, then he grabbed her hand, looking down at her. They were moving down the hall when he watched her eyes flutter open. “Jonathon?” she whispered.

“Baby, you’re going to be okay. They’re going to take good care of you.” He watched as her eyelids fluttered and then her eyes rolled back in her head. “Shannon!” They moved into a room and the nurses moved him out of the way as they began to work on her.

He answered questions the best he could, but the only one he could answer for certain was how far along she was and that she had a cochlear implant. His fingers were laced behind his head as they wrapped straps around her belly. His son’s heartbeat echoed through the room and Jonathon closed his eyes tightly and listened to that beautiful sound.

In a daze, he watched as they stapled the back of Shannon’s head and then raced her off to get a CT scan. He sent his sister a text, asking her to get Josie. He told her what was going on and promised her that he’d text or call her later with an update, and for the time being she was not to tell Josie what was going on. There was no sense worrying her until they knew for sure what was happening. In the hall, he could hear lots of voices and he poked his head out to see Shannon’s entire family and Kasey rushing down the hall.

“Where is she, Jonathon?” It was her dad.

“They took her back for a CT scan.” He went on to tell them what happened and then they waited.

---