Sunday, April 30th 2023
Harry had been downstairs in the basement recording room, and Nora was feeling frustrated and out of touch. He had grown unsettlingly distant; burying himself in his work, Nora knew he was drinking more. However, she was worried above all else. She just wanted her Harry back. Peter's socks made a soft sliding sound as he scuffled across the wood floor. Nora was watering her plants on the back patio when he poked his head out. "Mummy, Rosie keeps breaking my Lego ships."
"Oh, that is not very nice...where's María?" He shrugs, just as tears slip from his pretty blue eyes. Nora puts her watering can on the ground and bends down, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Baby, you're okay...come on, let's go and have a chat with your sister." As she closes the screen door behind her, a sudden and sharp pain shoots through her belly. She winces, her breath hissing as her palm grasped her bump.
"Mummy?" Peter asks, worriedly, "What's wrong?" She tries to remain calm in his presence.
"You know what, baby...why don't you run upstairs, I'm going to talk to daddy for a minute." Peter looks entirely freaked out, but hesitantly, he does as she says and runs away from her. Once again, more cramps surge through her and she falls to the ground. Crawling the rest of the way, she struggles to reach the basement door handle, finally she does so and she tugs it open. Her breathing is ragged and she clutches her tummy. "Harry!" She calls, though the music coming from down below is rather loud. "Harry!" More lengthy seconds pass and she grows increasingly more upset, and more in pain. She manages to raise her voice, loudening her shouts. As she does so, she crushes her fist, multiple times, against the basement wall. "Harry!" Bang. Bang. Bang. Finally, the music halts and she's able to lower her tone. "Harry, please come quick!" His footsteps are instant and he's running up the stairs. It's not until he's steps away from the top, does he spot her.
"What happened? Oh, baby..." Nora's crying now.
"I was calling you...you couldn't hear me..."
"Nora, what's wrong?"
"It hurts, my stomach hurts...something isn't right..." He looks like he's seen a ghost. "We need to go to the hospital—I need you to drive me, I need to see Dr. Ghausi." He shakes his head, looking helpless.
"Nora...I've been drinking—fuck, I don't know what to do..." She sobs quickly before trying to pull herself together. "I can't drive, I won't put you in danger."
"You...you what?"
"I'm so sorry..." Before she can ask how much he's consumed, another gush of cramps roll through her.
"Go get María...go fucking get María." Harry doesn't have to, because Peter's already told her about his mother's distress. The woman who'd been apart of their family for so long, and who had never disappointed.
"Oh, Nora...oh, god..." She says, fearfully, as she bends down beside the writhing girl.
"María, can you drive me to the hospital?"
"What about Mr. Harry?" She's clearly frantic and scared for her employer.
"He can't...he's impaired, currently..." María looks as though she might bitch-slap him, but she quickly stands up, taking charge of the situation. Harry stands as well, but he's much less helpful. In fact, he's quite stunned. Utterly shocked and ashamed, as well. The next few minutes are truly a blur as he watches María rush around, getting ready to whisk his wife away to the hospital. Just before they step out of the brownstone, He grabs his employee's arm.
"Can...can I go? Please..." She rips her arm away.
"You stay right here...you don't move. Watch your children." He knows he deserves her attitude, and he doesn't blame her for giving it to him straight. He gulps and steps back inside, praying that she's alright. Praying she doesn't lose the baby, especially since he isn't by her side.
===
Dr. Ghausi walks into her room, and he looks calm. Nora is still frantically stressing out but he puts a hand on her shoulder, easily...comfortingly. "Is it the baby? Is it okay—oh god, please tell me it's okay..."
"Nora, I assure you, the baby is fine."
"Then what was that...what the fuck was that pain...it was unbearable."
"I don't doubt that. You had an ovarian cyst, and it likely burst. The burst is probably what caused the pain—"
"But the baby wasn't effected?"
"It occurred outside the womb, and it will likely pass within the next few hours, you are going to be alright." Nora breathes out a sigh of relief and María smoothes her hair back, tenderly. "But, if it makes you feel more comfortable, I can run a few more tests?"
"Honestly, I would feel better if we did that...I just want to be safe."
"I completely understand." He says, "What are your pain levels, right now?"
"Jesus...like an eight or nine...it feels like a pile of cinderblocks are pressed down on my pelvis."
"I figured as much. Alright, I'm going to have a nurse put you on a drip, that's safe for the baby...hopefully that should ease some of your pain, but I'd like to keep you for a few hours until I'm sure that you're in the clear." Both women nod and he smiles at both of them. "I'll be right back."
"Will you call Harry?" Nora asks. "I can't talk to him right now, María...I'm so hurt by him right now."
"Of course, of course. I'll call him right now." María pulls her phone out and leaves the room, while Nora rests her head back on the pillow. She was doing everything she could to breathe and not demand to speak to her husband—although her speaking would be more like screaming. She was absolutely infuriated. How could he? And what the fuck was he doing drinking, enough to be drunk, so early in the day? She'd been at the hospital for a good forty-five minutes, and it was only twelve in the afternoon. What time had he started? She got her phone out and dialed the only number she knew would ultimately help her, and Anne picked up on the fourth ring.
"Hi petal! Happy Sunday..."
"Anne...I need you to know something—well, first...I'm in the hospital." Anne's voice began to go into panic mode, but Nora elaborates on the reason for her visit. "It's nothing too bad, the baby is fine, but I had an ovarian cyst burst, I guess...so Dr. Ghausi has me here for the next few hours just so he can monitor me."
"Oh, Nora, darling..."
"But, that's not why I called."
"What is it, dear?"
"It's Harry..." She begins to cry. "He's been drinking ever since Evelyn's death...he's not himself. María had to take me to the hospital today because he was too drunk to drive me." She was quiet on her end. "I'm so, so sorry I haven't told you sooner, but...I guess, I thought I could handle it, or that he'd move on from this phase, but he's not. He's getting worse and I—I don't know what to do." She wipes frantically at her eyes. "I feel like I'm losing him, Anne...I feel like he's slipping away from me and it's breaking my heart."
"I'll be there tomorrow, Nora. Everything will be alright, I promise you. If I know anything that is certain, it's his love for you. It just might take a bit of tough love on your part. We'll get through this, darling."
"Thank you...I love you—thank you."
"I love you too, sweetheart. I'll see you tomorrow. You rest and take care of yourself." She ends the conversation with her overly supportive mother-in-law, but after dropping her phone back on the bedside table, she lets her head fall into her hands and she begins to cry some more.
===
By the time they pulled in front of the brownstone, the sky was darkening and Nora was weak from the pain medication she'd been put on. But she couldn't wait to hug her children. Sundays were normally her favorite day of the week, because she got to spend the entire day in the company of the three most important people in her life, but today...it had taken a shitty turn and now, here she was. Walking, lethargically up to their front door, while María unlocked it and helped her inside. The sound of two little pairs of feet came clambering down the stairs and they practically launched themselves into Nora's arms, and suddenly she was grateful for there pain meds.
"Oh my perfect little monkeys...I missed you so much, I'm so sorry I didn't get to be with you today." Peter's finger, mindlessly, twirl his mother's blonde hair and he admires her.
"Do you feel better, mummy?" She nuzzles her nose against his.
"I feel much better, baby." Nora's eyes averted to Harry as he walked down to the entryway.
"Kids, be easy on mum, okay? She's had a long day." She shoots him a nasty pair of daggers.
"They're fine, Harry."
"You should rest, Nora...Dr. Ghausi said it's what you need." María's tone is cautious as she delivers this warning.
"Would you mind starting on dinner, Mar? I'll be down to help you in a bit."
"I will start on dinner, but you will not be helping me. Harry bring her upstairs and put her in bed. Her body doesn't need an ounce of strain. Not right now." He nods, taking her orders like their roles have been entirely reversed. He tries to reach for her but she quickly pulls away. "Rose and Pete, who wants to help with dinner?" Both of their hands shoot up and they follow her down the stairs. Nora trudges up the steps and each one hurts a little bit more, but she says nothing and does her best to hide the pain. Upon walking into their room, she goes straight to his side of the bed and begins tossing the pillows onto the floor.
"What are you doing?" He asks, defeatedly.
"You're sleeping in the guest bedroom."
"Nora, please...I'm sorry—"
"Fuck your sorry's!" Her eyes fill with tears and her voice that was just so loud with anger, suddenly became quiet and mousy. "I don't want to hear them anymore. I don't want you to lie to me about your drinking. It's been a problem for too long and I can't just stand by and let you sink deeper...not anymore." He looks at her with nothing but shame painted across his exhausted face. "You couldn't drive me to the hospital at eleven in the morning because you were drunk. Do you even...do you know how that makes me feel?" He remains still and voiceless. "Alone. Betrayed...terrified. I don't want this to break you, because you're breaking me. You may not think you are, but you're dragging me down with you, Harry. You're pulling me with you and I can't escape...you have to stop. I need you and I love you and I'm begging you...please, just stop." His eyes fill with tears and they quickly become red and puffy. His lip quivers and he shakes his head.
"I don't know if I can..." Nora's tears begin to fall faster as this admission settles.
"Do I not matter to you? Do our children not matter to you?"
"No, no, you do. The three of you mean the world to me..."
"Then that should be enough! Why isn't it enough?"
"Because, I'm drowning Nora...I don't know how to swim right now, and there's this grief inside of me..."
"You need help."
"I know."
"I called your mom."
"You did what?"
"I called Anne. She's coming in tomorrow."
"Fuck, Nora..."
"I can't keep her in the dark. Not anymore. She deserves to know and you need all the help you can get."
"That wasn't your place."
"It is entirely place! I can't do this alone! You promised you'd be here with me...but the only thing that's beside me is the immeasurable distance separating us. I can't reach you anymore, not by myself." He bites his lip and then his hands viciously rub his face.
"What do you want me to do?" Nora stands there, her arms at her sides and her lips chapped as salty tears slip past them.
"Come back to me...find your way back to me." He uses his arm to wipe at his wet nose. Her shoulders tremble and she cries as the words leave her mouth. "Fight for me—for Rosie and Peter...for this baby...because if you don't, you'll lose us, Harry, I promise you, you will." Despite the pain, she reaches down and picks up the pillows. As she hands them to him, he watches her carefully.
"I love you." His words are raspy as he sniffles loudly. "I do love you, Nora...that hasn't stopped."
"But right now, you don't love me enough. Fix that. Deal with that before it's too late."