Tristan’s POV
Maggie was rushed into the hospital room, and I was there by her side. She grabbed my hand, squeezing it, but I was panicking on the inside. I was frozen in my spot beside the hospital bed as the memories of that horrible night of Estelle’s accident came rushing back. I snapped out of that painful memory as Maggie squeezed my hand again. The doctors filed in. My heart raced wildly as I could possibly be losing another baby. Was I too harsh towards Maggie, which caused this? If it is, I will not be able to forgive myself if anything happens to my baby, no matter how much I despise this woman.
“Mr Crane. You need to step outside, please, “I felt like I was moving in slow motion. The doctor that I have known for years looked at me with sympathy. He was the doctor who was always helping Estelle and me. He is the only doctor that I go to for anything because I trust him. “Mr. Crane.”
“I want to stay,” I blurted out. It was my baby after all.
“We need to take care of Maggie and the baby. We can’t do that while you are in our way,” he said calmly. I looked at Maggie, who was breathing.
“I will be okay,” she encouraged, and then I nodded, letting go of her, and walked out of the hospital room. The door shut behind me. They were busy with her and the way that the nurses filed in made it even worse for my anxiety at this stage, not knowing what would happen to my baby. Tears stung the back of my eyes as I stood in the hallway. I didn’t want to go and wait in the waiting area. I wanted to be here, be the first to know what was going on.
A lump started to form in my throat. I have to keep it together. I stood against the wall across from the hospital room, staring at the door and then at the floor, patiently waiting. I should’ve just discussed the matter with her in peace rather than give up and be cruel to her. I’m the one who got her pregnant and that is my fault.
After a while of waiting, the door opened and the doctor stepped out. I swallowed, but the lump in my throat remained, trying to prepare myself for bad news. “How-How is the baby?” was the first thing out of my mouth.
“The baby is okay. However, Maggie’s blood pressure was high. Anything could trigger such as stress. Um… I would say that what she experienced was a threatened miscarriage. So, she needs to take it easy. I know that this may bring back those memories from your trauma of what happened with Estelle. But just keep an eye on Maggie to make sure that the threatened miscarriage doesn’t come to fruition. We got her blood pressure back to normal. But she needs to rest. We will do another ultrasound later, and then you can see your little one.”
I nodded, I felt guilt and relief, but that doesn’t mean that she is out of the woods yet. “Thanks,” I managed to say, trying to absorb this. This was like living in a nightmare.
“She can leave later. We will still monitor her for now,” he gave me a sympathetic smile and I nodded.
“Can I see her?” I asked.
“Of course. I will be back to check up on her in a while,” he said, and then he walked down the hallway.
I sucked in a breath, composing myself, that lump still in my throat before entering the room. Maggie was lying there looking at the ceiling and then her eyes found mine. I moved closer to her until I stood beside the bed.
“Hey,” she said weakly with a faint smile. I looked at the machine and her heart rate was steady, but it was beeping a bit wildly when she was in pain earlier.
“How are you feeling?” I asked. I shoved my hands into my pants pockets. I didn’t even call her work to inform them that she was in the hospital. I have no idea where she even works.
“I feel a bit better. Thank you for being here for me and the baby,” she said.
I nodded, “I’m sorry for the way I spoke to you. I don’t want to do this to our baby. If anything happens to her, I don’t want it to be on my hands. So, I apologize,” I couldn’t believe that I was apologizing to her, but I’m doing this for the sake of our baby.
“I’m used to it coming from you,” that made me feel even more guilty, but I had no choice, as I despised her.
“Do you have any family members that I can call to take care of you?” I asked. “You will be released later, and you should be monitored if anything happens.”
“I don’t have anyone. I only have myself and the baby.” she looked ahead of her, there was pain in her eyes.
“I will get someone to take care of you then,” I said.
“Why can’t you take care of me?” she snapped, looking at me, her eyes darkening. “Why does some other person get to look after me, and my baby’s father will not even jump in? It’s not like you have other responsibilities besides Cris, who is going to SNT after graduation.” I guess they have been in contact with each other more than I even knew about.
“Please, just remain calm.” I didn’t want her blood pressure levels to spike up.
“Then treat me the way I should be treated, Tristan. I deserve just that. You don’t care enough about getting to know me. Instead, I was just a good fuck to you.” she spat those words out at me, and I looked out the window. That made me feel worse because she was just that to me on that one mistaken evening. “At least be a man and take care of us.”
“I can’t leave work just to take care of you. So, I will get someone for you.”
“You are the CEO of your own company, surely you can work from the comfort of your own home,” she continued. I just didn’t want this to worsen the situation, so I said the one thing that would make her stay calm.
“You can stay with me for a week. The house is huge. You will be in a huge section of the house that I don’t use, while I will be in my own space. Don’t try anything funny there either. I just want this pregnancy to go smoothly. We have a lot to discuss when you’re feeling much better,” I said. I am numb right now. I lost Elona because of myself and my situation. I will do anything to make sure my baby is fine. I don’t want a repeat of losing a baby. I can’t go through that again.
“Where do you work? I need to call your boss.” I said with a sigh. I left my phone at home due to this emergency.
“Parker Tradings.” She replied, she was clearly still mad at me.
“I will give them a call later,” I replied.
When I grieved Estelle and my unborn baby, I was hollow, and I sobbed every night. I was not myself for a while until burying myself in my work helped me to build up the walls around that traumatic experience. I can’t go through that again and certainly not the grieving part of losing an unborn child. I don’t even think I’m over that experience, as I still get reminded about it with certain events such as this. I just wanted to go home and be alone. To think some more and deal with these memories.