Against the Odds (7 page)

“
She was committed to the
Florida State Hospital where she was receiving treatment for
schizophrenia.”

Drake asks, “How do you plan on fixing
this?” 

Mr. Crawford clear his throat and says, “The
hospital is prepared to offer each family a lump sum of
money…” 

“
Jesus, you do realize
it’s not about the money. Don’t you?” Drake
asks.  

Before anyone can say anything, Chelsea says,
“My husband is correct. This has nothing to do with the money. How
do you plan on fixing this… mess?” 

Mr. Blake adjusts his tie nervously and says,
“We were hoping each family would agree on…” 

“
Some mutual bullshit
terms? Where we all share the children and live happily ever after?
This isn’t a damn book with unicorns and fairy godmothers. Real
life isn’t like that. You can’t mix up children and think it will
fix itself, or believe that we’ll swap them back and everyone is
happy,” Drake interrupts and I have to agree. It looks like he is
trying to maintain his anger and he’s losing the battle. I watch as
he stands and his wife and daughter stand with him. He adds,
“Sadly, one child is dead. Madison is ours, and she will always be
ours. I don’t give a fuck what your DNA says.” He turns to leave
and his family follows. Before he walks out the door, he says,
“Reed, if they don’t agree on our terms, then terminate this
meeting.” He follows his wife and daughter out the door and slams
it behind him. 

I look around the table expecting to see
someone from the hospital end the meeting, when Mr. Reed, the
attorney for the Sinclairs, says, “As you can imagine, my client is
very upset by this. They aren’t willing to part with their
daughter, Madison.”  

I run my fingers over my lips and across my
jaw. I get a text and it’s from Bobby. 

I say, “Just a moment, please. This is about
Leah’s contractions and it cannot wait.” 

Bobby: Leah’s contractions
aren’t stopping.
 

Bruce: What do you need me
to do?
 

Bobby:
Pray.
 

Bruce:
What floor are you on?
 

Bobby: Third, I called our
parents. They are on their way.
 

Bruce: Be there
shortly.
 

I put my phone away and say, “I’m sorry. It
looks like Leah’s contractions are getting stronger. We’ll need to
reschedule this meeting for a later date.” I stare at the stack of
gifts and say, “These are for Madison. Would you please see that
she gets them?” I slide them over to their attorney, Mr. Reed. I
also remove the envelope from inside my suit jacket and hand it to
him. “Please see that Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair get
these.”  

“
I will, thank
you.”  

“
They also brought this
for…” he stops mid-sentence. 

“
For Jamie. Her name was
Jamie. Thank you and I’ll see that Leah and Bobby get it,” I say as
I stand up and when no one says anything, I add, “I’ll be in touch
and let you know when a better time will be to resume this
meeting.”  

Drake Sinclair

Just before we pull up at
home. Madison asks, “Daddy, did their little girl die?” My heart
breaks for the little girl, for the family who raised her,
and
for us. Madison
really doesn’t know what death is. Other than my mother, her
grandmother, she has had no other dealings with
death.  

Chelsea looks over at me
and I say, “Yes, Madison, their little girl died.”
Our little girl died.
 

“
Is she an angel in
Heaven, like Grandma?” 

“
Yes, Madison. I’m sure
that she is.” 

“
That’s sad,” she
whispers.  

Chelsea says, “Yes, Madison. That is very
sad.” I watch as Chelsea wipes away her tears as she stares out the
window at the passing cars. I look in the rearview window and
Madison has her eyes closed. I wonder if she is praying for the
family or for the little girl. I look back at the road and think I
could learn a lot from her.  

I get a text from our attorney, Ryland Reed,
and I tell him I’ll meet him at my office. I know what he says will
be upsetting and I don’t want to upset Madison, Caden, or Chelsea
anymore today. I’m still working on controlling my anger and I know
I have a long way to go. 

Robert

After I fill out the damn admissions
paperwork and speak briefly to Bruce about the meeting, I try to
see Leah. “The doctor is still with your wife, Sir. It’ll be just a
few more minutes,” a nurse says from the other side of the nurse’s
desk. 

“
Look. If you don’t tell
me what room she’s in, I’m going to walk in every room on this
floor.” 

“
It’s okay, Nurse Greene.
What room is Mrs. Grether in?” I look over and one of the guys from
the meeting are walking up to the counter.  

“
Hello, Mr. Morrow. She is
in room 317. The doctor is still with her.” 

“
Thank you, I’ll take Mr.
Grether to his wife’s room. Follow me, please.” 

I follow behind him and I feel like I should
apologize for being rude or thank him for helping me, but I don’t.
I’m still pissed about the whole baby swap. He opens the door and
says, “She’s in here, Mr. Grether.” I nod and walk into Leah’s
hospital room. He closes the door quietly behind me. I thought he
might come in, but he didn’t.  

The curtain is pulled, but I can hear faint
talking coming from the other side of the curtain.  

“
Leah, it’s me. May I come
in?” I don’t want to walk in on her. Although we are married, she
is still very modest at times. I have a feeling this is one of
those times.  

“
Come on in, Robert. He’s
done.”  

I slowly open the curtain and walk further
into the hospital room. Leah’s doctor, Dr. Fouch, is standing at
the sink washing his hands and Leah is in bed adjusting the covers.
She smiles when she sees me.  

“
Are you all
right?” 

“
I’m better now that
you’re here. Dr. Fouch just examined me.” 

“
Are you in
labor?” 

“
I’m afraid so. I have
already started to dilate.”  

I’ve heard this word when Jamie was born and
I’m not sure what it means. It was good news then when Jamie was
full term. I’m certain this can’t be good. “So, your water did
break?” I ask sitting next to her on the chair nearest her
bed.  

“
It
did.”  

“
Are they able to stop
your labor?” 

“
I’m going to do
everything I can to prolong the birth as long as I can.” The doctor
says as he stands at the foot of Leah’s bed. “She is already
dilated, which means her cervix has begun to open. If we can stop
the contractions, we can schedule surgery and sew her cervix
closed. This procedure will give us some more time. But we need to
get the contractions stopped first.” 

Leah moans in pain and I ask, “How will you
do that?”  

“
We’ll give Leah some
medication through an I.V. It should stop her
contractions.” 

“
When will you do that?” I
look around the room and I don’t see an I.V. hooked up to
Leah.  

“
Someone will be in soon
to draw her blood and hook the I.V. up. I’ll give you both a few
minutes. Push the nurses call light if you need anything,
Leah.” 

She nods and inhales
through her nose and exhales through her mouth. “It’s painful?” I
ask, stupidly.
Look at her, of course, it
hurts.
She nods again. I hold her hand and
wish that our mothers were here. They are great for this kind of
stuff. 

Over the next hour, the nurses come in and
draw blood, insert the I.V. in Leah’s left hand and the doctor
examines Leah and checks her cervix to see if she is still
dilating. I am happy when there is no change. The swishing sound of
the baby’s movements and the sound of the heartbeat fills the
otherwise quiet room. The doctor comes in and begins to do an
ultrasound of the baby just before the nurse informs us we have a
waiting room full of visitors.  

Talking to Leah I say, “You stay here and do
this, and I’ll check on our guests,” I joke. The doctor laughs, but
Leah doesn’t think I’m funny. “I’ll just be right back.” 

I walk into the waiting room and I am
surprised to see our parents and Jo, Carl, Gus, Dove, Kyle, and
Bethany sitting there. As soon as they see me, they all stand. I
can see fear in the eyes of everyone in the room. I quickly say,
“Leah’s fine. The doctor is with her now.” I can hear the sighs of
relief as soon as the words are out of my mouth.  

“
Oh, thank God. Did her
water break?” Sue asks. Mom is listening
intently.  

I fill them in on
everything that I know and was told by the doctor. Everyone looks a
little relieved, but Mom and Sue are still insisting on seeing her.
I know Leah will want to see them. I tell Jo, Carl, Dove, Gus, Kyle
and Bethany to go home. Jo, Dove, and Bethany hand me a card to
give to Leah before they leave. Dad and Tim turn on the sports
channel and take a seat. They know they will be here for awhile.
Mom and Sue won’t leave until they are sure Leah
and
the baby are out of
danger.  

When we enter the room,
the doctor is gone and Leah is sound asleep. The swishing sound of
the baby’s movements has decreased and the heartbeat is loud and
strong.
My child and wife are finally
resting.
Mom and Sue walk over to the bed
and look at the monitor. They have no idea what they are looking
for, I don’t either. They continue to look and watch the screen. I
wonder whether Leah sleeping is a sign that her contractions have
stopped. I hope so.  

Mom and Sue take the seat on each side of
Leah and I am left standing. Leah doesn’t move when they take her
hands in theirs. The nurse comes in and brings me in a chair. She
checks on Leah and tells me it looks like the contractions have
stopped. I say a silent prayer. Mom and Sue leave to tell Dad and
Tim the news. I smile and walk towards Leah, who is still resting
in bed. “This is good news,” I say as I bend down and kiss
her.  

“
It is,” she agrees. “I
have more good news.” 

“
A delayed labor is about
all the good news that I can handle at the
moment.” 

“
You don’t want to know
that we are having a son or a daughter?” 

“
You know the gender of
the baby?” I ask in disbelief. 

“
I do,” she
smiles.  

“
How? I thought we were
going to wait until next weekend and find out together at the
gender reveal party.” 

“
During the ultrasound the
doctor slipped up and said he… or she was very healthy. Do you want
to know if our baby is a he or a she?” Leah is still smiling. As
long as the baby is healthy, that is all I care about. But to know
the gender would be nice. I look at Leah and it looks like she
wants to tell me. It also looks like she likes knowing something I
don’t know.  

She is still smiling and I say, “It’s a boy,
I can feel it.” 

“
Are you so
sure?” 

Am I sure? No, I’m
bluffing her.
“Yes, positive,” I
lie. 

“
Is there something you
want to wager on it?” she asks.  

Leah wants to play. As
long as Leah is playing, she isn’t depressed.
“Mmm, let me see.” I run my hand over my now 5:00 o’clock
shadow with the pretense that I am considering something
big.
I’m not.
“Are you talking sexual favors?” I tease.
 
 

“
Ace, they are going to
sew my cervix closed. I’m pretty sure sex is out of the question
for awhile.” 

“
Oh, right. I didn’t think
about that. Didn’t he say you’ll be on bed rest?” 

“
He did.” 

“
I guess breakfast in bed
for a month is out of the question.” 

“
Nice try,” she giggles.
“Since there’s nothing to wager, do you want a
hint?” 

If she knows than I want
to know, too.
“Do we need to buy trucks or
Barbie dolls?” I ask anxiously. 

“
Ace, you’ll need to
buy…”  

Just then, the door opens and in walk our
parents. “Oh goody, she’s awake,” Mom says, as she makes her way to
the bed. Leah smiles when she sees them and I stand to move out of
the way. Since Leah’s labor has been stopped, this is a huge relief
for everyone. I walk over and stand near the large window with Tim
and my dad.  

After a few minutes, Dad
and Tim walk over to the bed to visit with Leah. She smiles at
everyone and often looks over their shoulder at me. I smile and let
them visit. Leah and I don’t tell them we were in the middle of a
conversation when they entered the room. That would be rude — our
conversation will wait until they leave. Honestly, the gender of
the baby is the last thing on my mind. Madison, Jamie, Leah, and a
safe pregnancy are on the top of the list
of the things that will keep me awake for the next few weeks
— or months. I get a text and decide to check it while everyone
visits with Leah. I’m expecting to see something from Bruce and
surprised to see it’s from Leah.  

Leah: Ace, Your hint is…
sugar and spice and everything that’s nice.