"Are you okay?" Jeremy asked quietly, his voice filled with concern. He sounded echoey.
"Doctor says I need to stay calm, no stress or upsets," I murmured, trying to keep my blood pressure down.
"The baby's okay?" Jeremy slurred a little.
I frowned a little. "Jeremy, are you drunk calling me?"
"I'd be asking what you were wearing if I was drunk calling you, Mora," Jeremy slurred a little more. "Although, yes, I've been drinking with Dare all night. It's how I know what happened." There was background noise like air movement. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay and that ‘Two’ is too."
I was silent, not because I didn't want to answer him, but knowing he'd been drinking with Darius all evening. Thinking of Darius, my chest started shaking heavily with restrained sobs. I was trying so hard to calm myself. It was too soon and my body wouldn't handle it.
Again, there was that background noise like he wasn't alone in the room. I considered he was probably in bed with Cassandra, or even in the nursery with a restless Ashelynn.
"Mora?"
"Why did he... do it?" I sobbed. My breath catching in my distress. "I asked for... nothing. I just...wanted the...divorce."
There was a loud noise like something crashing to the ground and a loud grunt on the other end of the line. I thought I heard Warren's voice but was struggling to hear over my own hitched breathing.
"Mora, listen. He didn't do this," Jeremy defended. "He didn't even know about the papers before..."
I couldn't breathe. A low keening escaped my chest as I exhaled every bit of air in my chest continuously. I couldn't draw in a full breath, or even half a breath.
"Mora?" Bill came rushing into the room. His gentle hands taking my shoulders, the blur of his pale red hair and freckled skin hovering above my watery gaze. "Jesus, breathe, Mora." He pulled my body towards him, rolling me onto my knees, which instantly forced me to suck in a deep breath. "That's it, Mora. Just breathe," he comforted, rubbing my back. Bill took the phone from my hand. I could hear a commotion on the other end of the line but wasn't paying attention.
"Who is this?" Bill asked, still rubbing my back. He'd met Jeremy at my last performance in Paris two weeks ago. "Usually, yes, but I'm sleeping in the day bed in Jacob's room tonight in case he wakes up so Mora could rest. Hold on, Jeremy." Bill dropped the phone to the bed and helped me kneel back onto my ankles. "Easy, Mora." He handed me my glass of water.
I was breathing again, unsteadily, but easier. I took the glass, my hands shaking as I sipped the water to further help get my breathing under control.
Bill picked the phone back up and put it to his ear. "Jeremy, can you take me off loudspeaker please?" Bill walked away from the bed and put his back to me. "Fine. Then hear this. She can't handle much more, so wake the fuck up and leave her the fuck alone," Bill growled over in the corner. He said a few other things quiet enough that I couldn't hear before hanging up the phone and walking over to me. He pointedly put the phone on silent, opened my bedside table, and threw it in. "Idiot is drunk and not thinking clearly."
"Hey," I panted. "That idiot is my boss and therefore pays your wages."
Bill opened his mouth as if he was going to argue, frowned, and decided against it. "Yeah, well, he's an idiot too for making that call," Bill decided, sitting on the bed next to me. "Are you okay? Do you need me to get you anything?"
"Tell me it's going to be alright?" I asked.
Bill put his arm out, and I cozied into the hug offer. He laid us both back on the bed. "It will be alright, Mora. Get some rest."