Not What I Expected

Part 19

A couple days had passed since Chad had passed away, but it had felt like a lifetime to Nicole. Since Ryan had brought her home from the hospital she had shut everyone out, except her son. At that point, that little boy was the only one that was able to make her smile. Holly, her mother, had offered to take Hudson and bring him home for dinner every night until she was ready to pick herself up and start living her life again. Nicole had been extremely appreciative, but she did miss her son more than she could put into words.

Besides her mother, her father and her son, she hadn't spoken to anyone. Beth had tried to get through to her, but Nicole would quickly tell her she couldn't talk and hang up the phone. Ryan, Alex and Anna had all sent her text messages, but she didn't respond to them. She had no idea what to say to them and even though Chad hadn't been a part of her world for several months before he passed away, she felt alone and lost without him.

Nicole was sitting on the couch in her living room, wearing Chad's favorite pair of sweat pants and a baggy old t-shirt with their wedding album in her lap. She had been sitting this way for two hours and hadn't gathered up enough courage or emotional energy to open the album. The picture on the front cover of the album was one of her and Chad smiling happily right after they had been introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Sanders. It had been the best day of her life and now all of that was gone with no possibility of reconciling. The happiness, the love, Chad's presence, all the feelings were gone and she was left feeling heartbroken, devastated, sad and lonely. Even the thought that at the end Chad had wanted to end things with Anna and come back home to her and Hudson hadn't made her feel any better.

Nicole looked down at her stomach as she felt it lurch and in a matter of seconds the album was on the floor and she was running down the hall to the bathroom. The nausea came out of nowhere as she fell to the floor and emptied the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She hadn't eaten very much since Chad had died and she wasn't sure what was causing her sickness. Other than the nausea, she felt fine. She didn't have much time to think about it before another wave rolled through her.

Once Nicole had cleaned herself up she made her way down stairs for some ginger ale when her home phone rang. She hurried into the kitchen and looked at the call display and answered it reluctantly when she saw that it was Dr. Mason. She hadn't talked to her since her counselling appointment with Chad the evening before he passed away.

"Hello," Nicole said quietly.

"Nicole, hi, it's Dr. Mason," she said nicely on the other end, "I was just calling to book another appointment for you and Chad. Although I know that things are coming to an end between you, I still think it's wise that we try to work through some things so that you two can make it easier on Hudson when the divorce actually happens."

Nicole sighed and stared up at the ceiling. Clearly Dr. Mason hadn't heard the news of Chad's death. She took a deep breath and prepared herself and mentally tried to plan on how she was going to tell Dr. Mason.

"I should have called you earlier Dr. Mason," Nicole responded quietly, "Chad was in a horrible accident the same night of our last counselling appointment with you. Unfortunately, his injuries were too numerous and way too serious and the doctors were unable to save him. He passed away two days ago..."

There was silence on the line, clearly Dr. Mason was trying to process the information. This gave Nicole time to regroup as she quickly brushed the tears off her cheeks.

"Nicole, I don't even know what to say," Dr. Mason replied sympathetically, "I'm so sorry for your loss. Did you want to talk? I can make an emergency house call if required."

"You would really do that for me?" Nicole questioned.

"Yes, absolutely," Dr. Mason replied, "I have all morning tomorrow open. Did you want me to stop by?"