Chapter Twenty-One
Brent
#PreWhatSyia?
Of course, every time the stupid cuff expanded and squeezed my arm, I freaked out, worried it was saying I was dying. That in no way helped out. Not even a little bit. I was my own worst enemy. More than once, my systolic was close to 180 which even I knew was terrifying, especially while pregnant.
After I peed in a jug repeatedly, and they running some tests on both it and my blood, the doctor finally came in without the furrowed brow that had me pretty sure I was never leaving the hospital.
“So good news is, it isn’t HELLP.”
I didn’t even know what that was, but from the relief on Jay’s face, it was awful.
“The not-so-good news is, it is preeclampsia, but we can treat it with medication and change of lifestyle.”
I’d heard of preeclampsia. I didn’t really know what it was, but I knew it wasn’t good. Maria who owned the gas station outside of town had suffered from it, and her baby came way too early. I’d assumed it was a baby issue, but it sounded like more of a parent issue.
They needed to stay in and grow. Being born now was not an option, especially with twins.
“I already cut out salt.” It was all I had to offer.
“Which is a start.” The doctor continued, looking more at Jay than me, which had me more nervous than the diagnosis, “I’m not saying you can’t work, Brent, but, it would be better if you didn’t. And drink lots of water, sleep as much as your body wants, and take walks.”
“So, no bed rest.” Because I had finals to get through and shifts to do.
“Bed rest used to be the norm, but recent studies indicate reducing stress, eating healthy, and some medication lead to the longest pregnancies, and with twins, we want to keep those wee ones in there.”
“So I can go home.” I loved the sound of being anywhere not there. Of course, if he said I was there until the babies came, I’d do so without argument. They came first.
“Not yet.” He tapped on his tablet and I was fairly sure he wasn’t messaging a friend about football stats. “I want to get your blood pressure stabilized first. You’re lucky your alpha is a nurse because it makes me more inclined to let you go home sooner rather than later.”
I nodded. I was lucky, and not just because of all the things he just mentioned.
“Joaquim‘s bringing you in here at first signs of an issue means we have the best chance of controlling this before you see any ill effects on your organs or babies. You have a keeper.”
“This I know.” What I hadn’t known was how bad things could have gone if I had waited until my next appointment like most people did.
“The hospital is always looking for skilled nurses, by the way.” He winked at Jay.
“I’ll take it into consideration.” I was so proud of Jay and how in demand he was.
The doctor had barely walked out of the room when Jay began the conversation I knew was coming.
“I want you to quit your job.” Of course he did. I did, too, but that didn’t make it possible.
“What a lead-in.” I just shook my head, not wanting a fight. “No ‘I’m glad you’re not dying,’ first?”
He sat on the edge of my bed, taking my hands in his. “Fine. I’m glad you’re not dying. Quit your job, please.”
“I can’t.” I couldn’t even meet his eyes. We weren’t that far apart in age, but he had already accomplished so much in his career, and I was a non-trad student after failing in my career.
“One good reason,” he demanded, and it was a demand.
“Bills.” A lot of them.
“Not a good reason. I can take care of them.”
Can and should were two very different terms.
“You don’t even know how big they are,” I countered.
“I don’t need to. I know what TAs and college staff make. If you were covering it, I can, too.”
“But that’s not fair.” He shouldn’t have to cover all things. That wasn’t how relationships built on equality worked. It just wasn’t.
“Riddle me this, what would you do to assure healthy babies?” He squeezed my hand. I knew he was setting me up, and I’d cave as soon as he asked.
“Anything.”
“Exactly. That’s what I’m doing.”
Darn him being all practical and right.
“But you don’t have a job.”
I was grasping at straws. He had offers for four with a possible fifth, based on the doctor’s comments.
“But I could have with one call.” He pulled out his phone for a prop. “We should probably talk about that, too. I think I know which I want, but it has to be both our decisions.”
“No, it has to be yours. Your career is important.”
“Not as important as you.”
“Table this?” Because I needed a clear head when we got back to it. That and the nurse loitered at the doorway, holding a dosage cup with some sort of pill in it and a Styrofoam cup with a straw. It was medicine time. I hated medicine, as a rule, but anything that kept my babies safe had me giddy.
“Sure.”
The nurse came in, checked my pressure again, which was still bad, and then gave me my meds. She said she’d be back in an hour and expected things to be much better. I really hoped she was right.
“What should we do? This place kind of sucks.” I was a whiner. But hospitals were such depressing places. It was probably the weird pale-yellow walls.
He was doing something on his phone, so I knew he had a plan.
“It does indeed, which is why I am glad you are going home soon. That medication usually works pretty fast, so I’m optimistic. And I have ideas.”
I knew it.
He tapped me to scooch over and lay beside me, holding out his phone, which was open to a real estate listing.
“Houses? You want me to look at houses five minutes after we decide I need to quit my job?” In what world was that a good idea?
“You decided.” He kissed my cheek. Yeah, I’d decided. I wanted the babies safe above and beyond anything else. “Excellent. And yes, I do to the house bit.”
“But houses cost money.” Lots and lots of money, and no one was going to give a mortgage to two out-of-work unrelated people with a baby coming. No one.
“Ah yes, omega mine, but I have an account that I can only use to buy a house, so let’s spend it. Neither of us will feel it so it is a no-brainer. Actually, it will save us money because no rent.”
I just lay there, jaw dropped, trying to figure out if I heard him correctly.
“Who has accounts just for houses?”
“People whose moms left them to them.”
His words slammed into me. I was such an inconsiderate jerk.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be fresh.” Or tear off scabs, or any of the million horrible things I’d just done.
“You weren’t.” He nuzzled into my side, still holding the picture up to me. “And it’s fine. She wanted this for me—for when I found you. So, let me show you my favorite.”
I finally looked at the picture. I’d played a ton of video games in that house. It had belonged to a high school buddy whose family moved away senior year. Last I knew, some city folks bought it as a summer place. Looked like that was no longer a thing.
It was an amazing house with lots of sunlight, a kitchen fit for a king, and four bedrooms. Complete with a wraparound porch and a fenced-in yard, it was perfect.
“The old Grimes place.” I swiped the screen to see what changes they had made, and it looked like weird paint colors but the same hardwood floors and bathrooms. And paint was easy.
“You know it.” He wasn’t even trying to contain his smile. He knew he had me.
“I do. A friend in HS lived there. It is amazing. I had no idea it was on the market.”
“Foreclosure, too, so super cheap.”
You could tell he was a city boy because for Mapleville, that wasn’t cheap. It was the norm, which meant they owed a butt ton on it.
“I want to look at it when we get out of here.”
“We can do that.” I rolled onto my side. “And, Jay?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“For?”
“For all things. I love you.” I leaned in for a quick kiss just as the auto blood pressure machine went off. I rolled back so as not to kink it and have the nurses thinking I died. They’d come rushing into the room, effectively ruining the moment more than the stupid machine already had.
“Not as much as I love you.”