"Alright Ms. Easterling, are you and miss Madeline ready to begin?" The doctor comes bouncing in our room with a big bright smile.
"Yes we're ready." I lift up my t-shirt up so the doctor can begin the ultra sound. "So how are we feeling right now? Any pains? Have you felt any recently?" She ask as she puts the cool gel on my stomach. "Pretty good for the most part, she has been kicking some, there has been lots of pressure on my bladder, not a lot of sickness, so pretty good I'd say."
"Okay that all sounds good and normal. Nausea should be less frequent and the kicking is a sign she is developing nicely. My only concern right now is her heart." She brings the motor where we can see Madeline and starts pointing to her heart rate in the corner, "so right here, we can see she has a nice strong heart beat but then you see how these drops are a lot lower than these ones? That is showing some small complications, she is healthy as of right now but we should probably figure out why this is happening, this could lead to future issues."
Holy shit. I can feel my own heart race speeding up rapidly. God I wish Harry was here.
She moves down to her stool and pulls out her laptop, "are you on any medications or are you doing any sort of physical activities that may be questionable?"
"Uh no questionable activities, most I do is walking and stretching and for medication I am on this pain medication for my elbow but that is about it." The doctor begins typing on her computer looking at my files as she lets out a soft hum while shaking her head.
"How often are you taking these medications, Ms. Easterling?"
"Only when the pain becomes too unbearable, I'd say like once a week, maybe?"
"Yeah okay so I am gonna recommend you not take those anymore. I could be wrong since we don't know exactly what is wrong with her but if I had to take an educated guess, I'd say it's that medication, these are very strong and by putting these in your system, you're putting them in her system."
Fuck fuck fuck. My heart hurts now by how fast it is pumping. This is literally all of my fault. If she dies- don't even think that. But if she does this is all my fault, oh God Harry is gonna hate me. He isn't gonna want to marry me anymore.
"Alright, what do you want me to do about my elbow then? I can't take the generic over-the-counter stuff since it doesn't work so is there anything you can prescribe to me?"
"I can prescribe a lighter version of this medication but even then I don't think it'll be safe for her." She gives me a look of pity, "I'm sorry Ms. Easterling, the only thing we can do right now is the over-the-counter stuff, we want Madeline to get back on track naturally so adding in a different pain medication could only potentially worsen it."
"Thats okay, it'll be okay. I just want her to be healthy." I give her a small smile as she gets me cleaned up so I can check out and leave.
*****
I wish Harry was there with me, I don't know how I'm gonna tell him about what the doctor said. He is with Mitch right now. Apparently there was this huge shipment and he promised Mitch he'd help, forgetting about the fact we had an appointment today. He offered to come and leave Mitch but I said that he needed to stay with him. I wish I didn't say that though. Its selfish but I haven't been able to breathe properly since she told me about Madeline.
I am driving home now like a mad woman with a hole in her chest. All I can feel is guilt for what I have done. I didn't mean for this to happen but my one job is to protect my baby and I can't even do that right. I am finally pulling into my driveway, Harrys Jeep isn't in the drive but another car is. A small sleek black car, the windows are tinted so I cannot see who or how many people are in the car.
I park the car and slowly leave the car. I should probably just stay in the car and drive away but I go against my better judgement. As soon as I shut my car door the other car's driver side door opens and I can make out who is there.
She walks up, heels clicking on the drive way as she comes up to me. "I tried to let myself in the house, good job for keeping the doors locked, I didn't think you would have." Her snippy tone turns my sad and worried mood into anger.
"What are you doing here?"
"That's no way to speak to your mother, Juliette. Now be a good hostess and let me in the house." I give her a hard look but nonetheless bring her to my front door and let us in.
She keeps her shoes on even though I asked her to remove them. She moves to sit on the edge of the couch, crossing her right leg over her left. "The place looks much different that how mother had it."
"You haven't been here since you were in your twenties." I set my keys down in the small bowl by the door and set my purse next to it. "Yes and since the last time I was here it looked different, didn't say it was a bad thing."
"What do you want mom?" I feel my patience wearing a little thin, I'm normally able to keep my cool but I simply cannot around her. "Can I not just pop by to see my favorite daughter?"
"Your only daughter. And no you can't just 'pop by' you live across country, what do you want?" She lets out a small sigh before speaking. "I didn't like the way you spoke to me last time you were home. I don't have your number but I have your address. I would appreciate an apology." I cannot believe that she flew all this way for me to apologize, she should apologize.
"I'm not apologizing to you? I truly believe you need to be clinically checked." A large gasp escapes her mouth as the front door knob turns.
"Juliette you need to lock the door even when you're home, safety first! You don't want your own special on a serial killer Netflix special! Also who's here?" Harry yells from the front entrance before turning into living room stopping in his tracks at the sight before him.
"Harry, wonderful to see you again." My mother spit out at him a fake tone. "Hm, you too." He mumbles wrapping is arm around my lower back and pressing a kiss to my temple before whispering "hi, my love."
"Now, to my apology." My mother clasp her hands in front of her awaiting something that sure as hell isn't coming. "Apology? What apology does she owe to you?" Harry snapped at her. His eyebrows are furrowed as he stares at my mother.
"For her behavior, you need to apologize to me as well." She said matter-of-factly. "I will not apologize to you and Jules damn well won't apologize to you either. You can apologize to her for ruining her life and then you get get the hell out of our house."
"'Our house?' This is my mother's house and I gave her life. I didn't 'ruin' it. You know nothing about me or the way I have decided to raise my child." Now she stands up from her seat trying to size Harry up from a distance.
"It was grandmas house but she left it to me, this is my house, this is our house." I say standing up for myself for once. "Stop acting like this Juliette. He isn't your husband, the only reason he is here is because he knocked you up. Stop pretending like you're married or something like that, this has got to stop. You need to stop disrespecting your mother. This has all got to stop." My mother starts to ramble on sounding flustered.
"No, you need to stop saying that bullshit. Who the fuck are you to say that I'm only here because that? I'm with her because I love her, you need to leave." Harrys face begins to turn red as a vein pops out. He is trying to keep down his rising temper. "You are not going to tell me to leave." My mother snaps.
"You need to leave." I say staying calm so at least as a pair, Harry and I are level-headed.
"You are the most disrespectful, disgusting, ungrateful brat ever. I cannot believe I gave birth to you, slut!" She stomps away to the front door and slams it behind her.
Harry's P.O.V
That bitch. Juliettes eyes had began to water as the door slammed shut. I want to comfort her but I have a few things I need to say before hand.
I storm out after her mother, also slamming the door and meeting her in the front half of our driveway.
"You are fucking insane, you know that? Like absolutely clinically insane! I have no clue how Juliette turned out the way she did knowing the shit I do about you and what you have out her through. And yeah. I do know about you and the way you decided to 'raise your child.' I know all about you and what you've done. You fucking disgust me. I never want to see you around her or my daughter again!" I yell at her with so much pain in my chest. She doesn't say a single word and just stares at me.
"Go knock someone else up again you f-" she begins but I cut her off. "I didn't 'knock her up.' I did fuck her though. Really good. She is so good in bed. God I swear I'm getting hard just thinking about it. I think I can even recall the time where Madeline was conceived. I remember the way she-" Mrs. Easterling gets in there car and slams the car door, starting it up and driving off.
I hate that woman. I turn around to go back inside when I see our neighbor staring at us. A middle aged man with grey-ing hair.
"Hey Ted!" I yell to him raising my hand to wave to him with an awkward smile. He waved back with a confused smile and I go back in the house.
Juliette was standing at the door with her mouth hung open slightly. As soon as I walk in and shut the door she slaps my shoulder. "What the hell? Why would you tell my mother that!" She announced and I break out into a grin.
"Sorry lovie, it sorta just happened. It wasn't planned, swear." I raise my right hand and put my left hand on my heart. She lightly puts her hands on my cheeks and pulls me into a deep but gentle kiss.
"I love you so much."