Forever with You

“Wait.” I wet my lips. “What do you—what do you mean I’ve already miscarried?”

“The ultrasound and the exam revealed there is no fetus. When you started bleeding, did you notice any large clots?” she asked.

Of course, the clots . . . I knew that. I’d read about the warning signs on one of the various mommy board splurges, but I hadn’t thought . . .

I hadn’t thought it would happen.

God.

I squeezed my eyes shut. Those clots had come when I was . . . I couldn’t even finish the thought. How had I not known it was happening at that exact moment?

What if I had come to the hospital the very second I’d felt that pain?

The doctor was talking again. “It’s very common at this stage in a pregnancy for the fetus to stop developing without you knowing. Sometimes it can happen days or weeks before the body starts to heal itself. That’s what’s happening right now.”

My eyes flickered open. Had the baby been . . . gone for days? Weeks? And I didn’t even know?

She was talking to me about options and what to expect, the follow-up appointments I needed to make and symptoms I needed to watch for in case everything didn’t . . . didn’t come out. She was rattling off all this information, and that damn nurse was still squeezing my hand, and I wanted . . .

I wanted my mom.

“Why?” I asked hoarsely.

Out of the corners of my eyes, I saw the doctor stand. “This isn’t ever easy to hear or to understand, but sometimes, there is no reason, Ms. Keith. It just happens. It doesn’t necessarily mean you won’t be able to carry a baby, but I do suggest that when you see your doctor, to talk to him or her about your concerns. . . .”

There was no reason? No. That couldn’t make sense, could it? My thoughts whirled around the things I’d read, and yes, the logical part of me realized that the body was a crazy thing that did insane things, but I wanted a reason. Pain as sharp and as real as what was cutting across my stomach expanded in my chest. I wanted to know what I did or didn’t do—

The ache expanded and tears climbed up my throat, swelling in my eyes. The pregnancy hadn’t been pla

I cut those thoughts off, and I shut it down, all of it down. Locked myself right up. Pushed all of it down, because I couldn’t . . . couldn’t deal with this right now. I just couldn’t.

“Do you have anyone you can call?” the nurse asked.

“What?” I looked at her, and realized that the doctor wasn’t in the room anymore. It was just us. When had she left? A cramp seized up my insides, and I fought the urge to roll onto my side.

Sympathy poured out of the nurse’s expression. “I asked if you have someone you can call?”

Yes. That was what my head said over and over again. Yes. There were people to call. There was a person to call, but that wasn’t what I did.

I didn’t even know why.

That’s just not what I did.

Per the doctor’s suggestion, I called off work early the following morning, and with her excuse, I was able to take the rest of the week off. I told Dea

It was a very smart idea not to attempt to go to work like nothing had happened. The cramps and the bleeding were like nothing I’d ever experienced before. For a good hour after I spoke to Dea

I didn’t think about anything.

Nothing.

Hours ticked by, and any moment my brain started to drift toward what was happening, I quickly forced my attention to the TV. Around lunch my phone went off, and pressure clamped around my chest. It was Nick.

I froze, a second away from answering it. What . . . what was I going to tell him? Then I reached for the phone and, sitting up, brought it close to my chest and closed my eyes. God, he’d already lost so much in life, and he was going to be so disappointed, and I—

Without answering the call, I dropped the phone on the couch and pressed my palms against my forehead. “Stop it.”

I knew there was nothing I could do about any of this. It had already happened. Lurching to my feet, I went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. I passed the fridge and stumbled to a halt.

Held up with the corny heart-shaped magnet was the sonogram. For a moment I was simply stuck right there, not moving, barely breathing as I stared at the picture. If the doctor hadn’t pointed out the baby, I wouldn’t have been able to find it. The baby had been so incredibly small, the size of a raspberry.

Was this some kind of punishment since I . . . since I hadn’t wanted to be pregnant? Like some kind of cosmic karma since it hadn’t been pla

Pressure returned to my chest, and I snapped forward, yanking the photo off the fridge.

I wanted this to be over with.

I hurried back to the bedroom, ignoring the cramping in my stomach as I stepped into my closet, shoving the picture between two shoe boxes. I walked back to the living room and picked up my phone.

Mom answered on the third ring. “Hey honey.”

“Hi.” My fingers curled around the phone. “Are you busy?”

“Of course not,” she replied with a little laugh. “Aren’t you at work?”

I started pacing. “No. I have today and Friday off, because I’m not feeling very well.”

“Oh no.” There was a pause and I could hear Loki barking in the background. Mom shushed the dog. “What’s wrong? Is it the baby?”

Is it the baby?

Squeezing my eyes shut, I drew in a shallow breath. “Um, I . . .” The words were unbelievably hard to say. “I had a really weird pain last night in my stomach, but it went away. I thought it was something I ate, so I went to bed.”

“Oh,” Mom whispered into the phone, and I thought . . . I thought she already knew. “Oh, honey.”

I pressed my hand on my stomach, just below the navel. “I went back to sleep. I probably shouldn’t have done that. I just didn’t think that something was wrong, but I woke up a couple of hours later, and it was . . . I was cramping and stuff. I went to the hospital.” I opened my eyes and started pacing again. “The doctor said that the ba— That it probably stopped developing. That could’ve happened weeks ago, I guess. I don’t know.”

“Honey,” Mom choked out. “I’m so, so sorry. Are you—?”

“I’m fine,” I cut in, wrapping one arm over my waist. “I’m actually okay.”

“Honey—”

“I’m fine. I’m just going to take today and tomorrow off, then use the weekend to relax, but I’m okay. I told work I had the flu. I guess it was a good thing that I hadn’t told them before. I mean, this was probably a blessing in disguise, right?” I was rambling at this point but I couldn’t stop myself. “Something was wrong and this . . . these things happen.”

There was a pause, and then Mom said, “I’m going to come up there. I’m going to pack Loki in the carrier and we’re going to come up there and—”

“That’s not necessary. I’m okay and there’s nothing that anyone can do,” I told her. “I just need to spend the next couple of days relaxing.”

“But—”

“Mom, I’m okay. I promise. You don’t need to come up here. Okay? I’ll see you at Christmas.”