Authors: Janine A. Morris

She's No Angel (21 page)

BOOK: She's No Angel

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Chapter 40

T
he clock read 1:52
PM
and Charlene was staring off into space as she swung her legs in impatience. Her nails tapped the table and the room's silence absorbed the tapping sound. Finally a vibration added to the tapping noise. Charlene's cell phone, which was sitting on the table, started to vibrate as it rang. She looked at the display screen and pressed TALK.

“Yeah?” she said into the phone.

“I'm outside,” the voice said through the phone.

“Be right out,” she said.

Charlene jumped off the seat, grabbed her stuff and headed toward the door. She had been waiting on Isaac for an hour or so and she was ready to go. Not only was she starved, she was looking forward to a day out. Charlene waddled down the hall, slowly stepped down the stairs and continued to waddle out the door. Isaac was sitting inside his car directly in front of her building. As soon as he looked up in her direction, he began to smile. Charlene was a sight to see. She looked absolutely gorgeous as she made her way to the car. She was dressed in a turquoise baby doll top that hugged her swollen breasts and lay over her round, pregnant belly. She wore fitted jeans with turquoise beaded thong sandals. Her hair lay in curls on her shoulders, and hovered over her glowing, flawless face.

Isaac had stepped out of the car as she got closer. He met her at the sidewalk and leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her lips.

“Hey, babe,” she said.

He took her by her arm and walked her to the passenger side of the car. He opened her door and helped her sit inside. Once she was all the way in, he closed the door beside her and walked back over to the driver's side.

As soon as he sat down and closed his door, Charlene joked, “I feel like an old lady.”

Isaac laughed. “No, you're just getting older.”

“Oooh, I don't like how that sounds.”

“You still look good, baby,” Isaac said.

“Thanks, baby, even though I know you're trying to make me feel better.”

“No, never that,” he said, chuckling as he pulled out onto the street.

There wasn't too much traffic, but the cars ahead were causing Isaac to drive a steady 35 miles per hour. It was a sunny, clear day, and New Yorkers always tried to cruise in their cars to take pleasure in the nice weather because they never knew when it would be gone for good. That was the same reason why Charlene didn't mind the not-so-fast speed. She was starving, but she, too, was enjoying the day. She had her head leaned back against the headrest and she was tapping her thigh to the soft music in Isaac's car. That was, until she reached over and turned up the radio when she heard her song by Robin Thicke get introduced by the radio jock, Shaila. Charlene immediately started swaying side to side and humming.

“You and that dang song,” Isaac said.

“Yeah, the same way you are with the Young Lloyd song,” Charlene said as she snapped her fingers and swayed to Mr. Thicke's crooning.

As soon as she started to sing some, Isaac started laughing and reached out and turned down the volume.

“For real, babe, where do you want to go eat?”

“I thought you said we were going to Sea Shore,” she replied.

“Just wanted to make sure you didn't change your mind, you know how funny you have been with your food.”

“No, I can go for some shrimp, I'm starving since you took so long.”

“Sorry, my mother needed me to move something at the house, so I stopped on my way to you.”

“No problem,” Charlene said as she turned the volume back up slightly.

She sat and swayed to the R&B music the rest of the ride as she enjoyed the scenery.

Twenty minutes later they were sitting inside Sea Shore. There was a decent crowd but it wasn't congested in the restaurant at all, like Charlene and Isaac liked it. The waiter had been by to take their order and had already given them their water and bread to start with. In the section next to Charlene and Isaac sat a large party of eleven, it looked as if they were celebrating. There was a Latin couple sitting two tables away and an old man sitting alone about four tables in the other direction. Light jazz music played overhead, and the sound of forks and plates clanking together filled the area. Charlene looked around at the other patrons and wait staff.

“You look so happy,” Isaac said to Charlene as she chomped down on her bread.

“I'm hungry,” Charlene said with a smile and a mouth full of bread.

“No, not that ... That makes you look greedy.”

“Ha, ha, ha,” Charlene said sarcastically. “So what you mean, then?” she asked.

“I mean you just seem in a really good mood.”

“I am. Why wouldn't I be? I am at one of my favorite restaurants, with one of my most favorite people on a beautiful day.”

“That's good. I'm happy to see you're happy.”

“Thanks, babe,” Charlene said as she delved into her freshly buttered bread.

Charlene took a few bites and then went over his last response.

“Why, are you not happy?” she asked.

“Very much so.”

“Good ... What are you so happy about?”

“I'm happy to be spending forever with you. I'm happy that I'm with a woman that I love and that I can be proud of. I'm happy you're carrying my child inside of you and that we are going to make a wonderful family.”

Charlene was speechless. She had not expected him to say such sweet things, and definitely never thought she would hear him say he was proud of her when she thought she was an embarrassment.

“Thank you, babe,” she managed to say without breaking down.

“You don't have to thank me ... Thank you. Thanks for choosing me.”

“Izzy, you're going to make me cry ... Stop it.”

“I mean it. When I saw you walking toward the car today, I was mesmerized by how beautiful you were and how lucky I am to have you.”

“Thank you, baby, I feel just as lucky. That's why I look so happy,” Charlene said, giving him a big cheese smile.

At that moment the waiter brought over their salads with ranch dressing.

As soon as he walked away Isaac looked straight back into Charlene's eyes.

“I wanted you to start getting your stuff together to move in with me, so we are settled by the time the baby gets here.”

“Oh, I thought we were waiting until after the wedding,” Charlene responded, sounding a bit confused.

“Yeah, but we might as well get started this weekend, there's no real reason to wait. Besides, I don't want any more time to go by where I can't be with you.”

“This weekend it is, then. I will call a U-Haul truck and arrange it.”

“Great,” Isaac said as he dove into his salad.

Charlene had no idea where this excess of emotion was coming from with Isaac, but she wasn't complaining. She didn't know how to react, really, so she tried to act as if it was normal.

However, maybe Isaac was reading her mind, because he added, “It's like I fell in love with you all over again.”

“What, you had fallen out of love?” Charlene asked.

“Not at all. We all fall in love with our partners more than one time. It can be ten times throughout a long relationship. This is probably my second or third,” he answered.

Charlene took a second and then said, “Second or third?”

“Yeah, I think right before I proposed to you may have been the second time. I didn't put my finger on it that time, but this time I know.”

“Where did this come from?” she asked.

“I'm not sure. Maybe just thinking about how great our future is going to be together, or maybe seeing you waddle to my car today,” Isaac said with a giggle.

“Cute,” Charlene said with a hint of sarcasm.

“I feel like I'm in heaven with you right now,” Isaac added.

“Well, I am very flattered, and I am just as happy with you by my side. I love you so much already that I feel the way you do about us on a regular basis.”

“Well, I'm sure when you finally move in and we are always together, the novelty will wear off,” Isaac said, chuckling.

“Probably so,” Charlene said, laughing back.

A steamy plate of shrimp scampi and yellow rice was placed on the table in front of Charlene by the waiter. Then he placed lobster tails in front of Isaac. Charlene didn't even wait for the waiter to leave before she took her fork and stabbed at one of the pink critters on her plate. Isaac giggled at the sight of Charlene's hunger taking over before he even picked up his fork. The two of them sat there enjoying their meal and enjoying each other. Isaac was right about one thing, Charlene was so very happy.

Chapter 41

T
he sun was about setting, and the winds were picking up. The weather called for a light jacket, but Charlene wouldn't know because she was indoors, as she had been for several days now. She was on the Web looking up information about mentoring young girls. Ever since that day in the supermarket she felt like she'd found her calling. She'd always wanted to do more with herself, and now she'd finally found something. Charlene realized that she would feel better if she could help young girls that are misguided and use her own experiences as a guiding tool. Charlene knew that having access to someone like her when she was growing up would have been a huge help. Charlene had been too afraid and ashamed to talk to her mother or sister, and her friends made what she was doing seem like the hip thing to do. She knew that those friends had influenced a lot of her decisions, and not having a positive role model to consult with didn't help. Her sister was out doing her own thing, and although her mother tried to keep her on the right track, Charlene always had seen that as just one more way her mother was strict and annoying.

She found a few sites, including the Big Brother and Big Sister programs, and she was looking for which one worked primarily with ill-advised young girls. For the first time in her life she felt passionate about something that didn't deal with herself. The more Charlene thought about it, the more she really was excited about it. She even hoped that she could somehow make it a new career. She knew that she could make a difference by sharing with these girls her stories of being loved and left, and of mistaking sexual attention for anything more than what it is. She wanted them to know that what they needed to do was learn how to love themselvesâthat that was the key to being a self-confident young lady and a well-rounded adult. It's easy for females to rely on males to solidify their worth, Charlene thought, but if we left it solely to them we would never know how great we are. Charlene only wished that when she was younger she had known what she knew now.

She was printing out some information when she felt this sudden pain in her side. She took a deep breath and tried to wait out the pain. After a few inhales and exhales, she still felt the pain. She continued to breathe in and out heavily until the pain subsided. She went ahead and started grabbing some of the documents off the printer to make sure it was printing the right stuff and correctly. After she reached over to get the second sheet, she felt the pain again. This time it was close to excruciating and she shrieked with pain. She remained still until the pain passed, and then as soon as the relief set in she burst out in tears. She instantly panicked and called Isaac. The phone rang five times and then went to voice mail. Charlene quickly hung up and called Paige.

“What's wrong?” Paige asked as soon as she heard her sister sobbing on the phone.

“I don't know. I am having pains and they hurt really badly,” she said.

“Where?”

“On my side.”

“The side of your stomach?”

“Yes, and it's really sharp.”

“Maybe it's contractions, I'll be right over.”

“Hurry,” Charlene said through her tears.

Charlene patiently waited for her sister to arrive, as well as another pain. She lay flat on her back holding her stomach with both of her hands, praying that she wouldn't feel another one. For another ten minutes, she was pain free and almost relaxed when she felt another one. This one wasn't as severe but enough to make her hold her breath for a second. When the pain let up, more tears came down. She was so afraid and worried about the pains and where they were coming from. Last checkup she had, all was going well with the pregnancy, and her bed rest wasn't to begin for a few days so she didn't quite understand what she had done wrong. Her scheduled Cesarean was over two months away, and these pains represented warning signs to her. She tried to think of all the things she'd eaten, and if she had overworked herself at all that day. All she'd had to eat was some Polly-O cheese strips, and she had been cleaning up before she started research on the computer, but nothing strenuous that she could recall to trigger the pain she was feeling.

Paige arrived soon after and immediately grabbed some of Charlene's things to get ready to head to the emergency room. Once she had Charlene ready to go, they started to walk out together. Paige was holding Charlene's arm in case another pain started and overwhelmed her. They hadn't said too much to each other, and Paige seemed as worried as Charlene was. They both knew that this could be a bad situation, so they didn't want to say too much about it. They remained fairly silent until they got in the car.

“You're feeling OK?” Paige asked.

“Scared, but a little better ... I haven't had any pains since you came.”

“That's good, then. What did Isaac say?”

“I called him twice, I can't get him, I think he's still stuck in a meeting for work.”

“We will keep trying him. He'll probably be pissed off if we don't try hard enough to get him. Leave him a message and tell him we are going to Lawrence Hospital.”

Charlene reached in the backseat to get her phone out of her purse, and suddenly let out a loud groan as she felt another sharp pain in her side. She immediately sat forward and tried to brace herself through it. Paige looked at her frantically and with sympathy. After a few seconds, Charlene released her clenched hands from the seat and started breathing heavily. Her eyes began to well up with tears again.

“They're probably contractions, Leen,” Paige said in a low tone.

“Yeah, I know.”

They left the obvious unsaid: that if they were contractions, she would be having the baby prematurely. Neither of them wanted to discuss the possibility of losing the baby, or of it being too undeveloped to make it outside of Charlene.

Paige handed Charlene her phone and reminded her to call Isaac. Charlene took the phone and dialed his number. As much as Charlene was yearning to speak to Isaac she didn't want to talk with him about how this could mean losing the baby. She didn't want to hear the fear in his voice, or put the thought in his head that they may not have this child. She prayed that she would leave the hospital today with some medicine or information, and everything would be fine. In the back of Charlene's mind she also didn't want this to be a reminder of why she was having such a fragile pregnancy to begin with. She was hoping that this was just a scare and that it would all be over with soon. Despite all her fears, she wanted Isaac by her side more than anything right now. She dialed the number and waited for his voice mail to leave a message.

“Hey, Charlene,” he said when he answered the phone, obviously having looked at his caller ID.

“Isaac?” she asked, surprised he'd answered.

“Yeah,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Where are you?” she asked.

Isaac could hear it in her voice.

“What's wrong?” he asked, sounding alarmed.

“I am having some pains and I'm on my way to Lawrence Hospital with Paige.”

“Are you OK?” he asked.

“I'm not sure,” she replied, trying to sound optimistic.

“I'm leaving now, I'll meet you there.”

“OK, we will probably be there in a few minutes.”

Charlene hung up the phone and sat quietly beside Paige. A million thoughts ran through her mind. She was worried, afraid and optimistic all at the same time. She kept telling herself she hadn't come this far to lose the baby. She loved this little person inside of her, and it would crush her and Isaac both.

“What did Isaac say?” Paige asked, breaking Charlene's train of thought.

“He is going to meet us there,” she responded.

“Good, he needs to be there, Charlene. Regardless of its big or small, he should be there.”

“I know,” Charlene mumbled back, in no mood to talk.

Then, suddenly, the sharp pain returned. This time it caused Charlene to lift out of her seat in search for a comfortable position to endure it. With her upper body suspended halfway out of the seat, Charlene breathed her way through it. Just when she thought that the pain was going to subside, it started back. She once again started breathing as heavily as she could and clutched the seat. She continued to do this for a few minutes until she realized there was going to be no relief this time. Paige kept looking over at her, rubbing her leg as she drove as fast as she could.

They eventually reached the hospital. Paige jumped up and went around to Charlene's side of the car. Charlene was still clenched up in pain as Paige helped her out. They managed to make their way through the hospital doors and up to the nurse's station.

“She is pregnant, and it looks like she is in labor very early,” Paige said in a crackly voice.

It must have finally hit Paige, all the emotions and fear she had felt for her sister, because she began to cry. She wished she could remain calm and optimistic for Charlene, but she lost it.

The nurse, seeing the look of pain on Charlene's face and Paige's emotion, picked up on the sense of urgency and hopped out of her seat to assist Charlene into a wheelchair. Then she wheeled Charlene down the hallway into a Labor and Delivery room and placed her next to the table. Charlene tried to ask questions along the way, but she could barely respond. She'd had no relief from the pain since it had started in the car. She couldn't even cry, she couldn't release that energy because she needed it all to bear the pain. Paige answered most of the questions about the timing of the pains, and Charlene tried to describe what it was like.

A few moments later, another nurse arrived and with the help of both nurses, Charlene was up on the delivery table with a fetal monitor attached to her. They were taking vitals and all other information when the first nurse said to the other nurse, “She is bleeding some.”

“Where?”

“Her panties have blood in them.”

Charlene looked up to see what the second nurse's expression conveyed but it was too late, she had run out to get a doctor. Charlene then glanced at Paigeâshe was standing in the corner with her hand over her mouth, sobbing. Everything had gone so bad, so quickly that she had completely lost all her composure. Charlene started crying as well, and she reached out her hand to her sister. Paige hurried over and held it.

“It's going to be okay,” Paige said.

Both of their faces drenched from tears, it was obvious that neither one of them thought this was going to turn out okay, but it was the right thing to say. Paige rubbed Charlene's hand as they held on as tightly as they could.

Soon the doctor walked in. He immediately checked the fetal monitor. He then sat down at the foot of the bed, put on his gloves, lifted the cloth over her waist and began to examine her.

He told the nurse to connect an IV, they didn't have much time.

“You are fully dilated, you are about to have this baby.”

“I'm supposed to have a Cesarean,” Charlene managed to get out.

“Miss, this baby is heading out, its head is too low to wait. If I prep you for a C-section by the time I go in there to get it, the baby will already have come out and there would be nothing to get,” the doctor said.

“Can you call my doctor, Dr. Ginyard?” Charlene asked.

“You do not understand, there is no time for all of that.”

As soon as he made that point, Charlene shrieked with pain from another sharp contraction.

The doctor and nurses then started all that other medical preparation that they do. Paige stood over Charlene, looking like a mess. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her nose and eyes were running. Charlene was trying to see what was going on around her, and yet remain as calm as she could to endure the pain. There was so much noise and chaos, she could barely comprehend any one thing.

“I'm breaking your water,” the doctor informed Charlene.

Charlene could feel the large gush of moisture release from her body.

Then the doctor told to her push. Charlene hadn't taken any Lamaze classes, but she had seen childbirth portrayed enough on television to know what she was supposed to do. She began to push, and the pain was so overbearing, she let out a loud yell and stopped. The doctor began saying something to a nurse, and she came and injected something into the IV. The machine attached to Charlene was beeping and blinking, and the doctor and nurses kept watching it. Along with the machines in the room, nobody seemed to be calm. Everyoneâfrom the nurses, to the doctor and Paigeâlooked frantic and focused on what was going on. Poor Charlene was the only one oblivious to what everyone else saw, but if it looked down there anything like it felt to her she could understand the panic.

“Doctor, please bring my baby out alive,” she said with tears streaming down her face.

The doctor and the nurses looked back at her with looks of sympathy, none of them responding right away.

BOOK: She's No Angel

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