It was a non-Erin week, and I had to run errands in town. Noah asked me to stop by his tailor and pick up three of his suits. I needed to get waxed, and I ordered a few outfits for Erin that I needed to pick up.
Noah had business in Houston but was coming home this evening. Tomorrow we planned to take a four-day trip together to Colorado. We wanted to check out wedding venues in Colorado then we’d be back by Sunday for Erin’s arrival.
I finished everything, and I stopped to get a late lunch. I was starving, and I thought I might pass out. I stopped at the first restaurant I saw and viewed the menu posted outside. Standing there, I thought I heard someone yell out my name. I looked around and there was Gregory.
He walked towards me and I smiled and waved. As he came upon me, he swept me up in his arms for a big hug. “Natalie, it’s so good to see you.”
“Same here. How have you been?” I felt a little awkward thinking back to my discussion with Noah.
“Good. Hey, are you eating here?” He asked.
“I think I must, I’m starving and I may not make a few more steps.”
“This place is good. I’ll join you.” Gregory did not understand what kind of man I was engaged to.
Sheepishly, I agreed to have lunch with Gregory. Noah was in Colorado so he would never find out.
“It’s a beautiful day let’s sit outside.” A table right behind us was free so
Gregory gestured to the hostess, and she sent out a server.
I wasted no time ordering. I had never felt so hungry. Gregory saw the look on my face and asked Millie our server to hurry things along.
Thankfully, ten minutes later our waitress brought the food to the table. I inhaled the first five or six bites and then I settled in savoring my food once my body registered that I fed it.
Gregory and I enjoyed a lovely lunch together. He is a nice man and I find him interesting but I felt nothing for him. There was never an attraction for him but I felt he could be a nice friend.
Unfortunately, Noah would never allow that to happen, at least not now. In the future when Noah and I built more trust maybe than he’d let me have male friends but not now.
Gregory walked me to my car, and we parted ways with a simple, “see you around.” I would not mislead him by letting him think this could be a normal occurrence. As I drove home, my cell phone rang. I looked at the screen and hit my car’s Blue-tooth.
“Hi, Mrs. Ross, is everything okay?” Mrs. Ross never called me, so I feared the worse.
“Natalie, where’s Noah? He’s not picking up his phone.” Her voice sounded frantic.
“Mrs. Ross what’s wrong? What happened?”
“Oh Natalie, Erin was in a car accident. She’s in the hospital.” She was crying.
“What hospital? Is it serious?”
“UCLA. I’m not sure yet.” She sobbed into the phone.
“Are you there?” I swerved over to the right and almost hit a parked car.
“Not yet, I’m headed there now. I got the call and I can’t get in touch with Noah. I didn’t want to leave him a message so I’ll just keep trying.”
“Yes, don’t leave a message. I don’t want him panicking. I’m coming right now. I’ll try calling him.”
“Natalie, the mother’s dead.”
Erin’s mother died. “Oh God! What did they say about Erin’s condition?”
“I don’t know yet but she’s alive.” She barely could speak through her tears.
“Okay, I’m only fifteen minutes away.”
“Tell them you’re his wife when you get here or they won’t let you in to see her."
“Okay, okay. I’ll be there soon.” I clicked off from the call and tried to call Noah.
The call went right to voicemail. Where was he? It never went right to voicemail. Did he shut his phone off?
I pulled into the hospital and ran towards the emergency room. I told the girl behind the desk that I was Mrs. Westlake. She brought me into a private waiting area off to the side and said she would send the doctor in as soon as possible. I entered the room, Mrs. Ross waited there.
“Oh Natalie, thank God you’re here. Did you get in touch with Noah?”
“No, it went right to voicemail. What have they told you so far?”
“They are doing a CT Scan and she has a broken femur and arm.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t have all the details but Erin’s mother swerved into oncoming traffic and hit a truck head on.”
“She’s dead?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“She went through the windshield.” Mrs. Ross body shook.
“And Erin?”
“She was in the back seat but she didn’t have a seatbelt on.”
I broke down sobbing as I pictured Erin’s little body being thrown around the backseat of a car. Mrs. Ross tried to hug me but I didn’t want anyone touching me. I needed to pace. I needed to absorb what was happening, and I needed Noah.
Where the hell was he!
My hands shook as I tried to call him again. Same outcome, it went right to his voicemail but this time I left him a message to call me ASAP.
Mrs. Ross and I paced the waiting room waiting for more news from the doctor. He saw us once to update us on Erin’s condition. She had been in and out of conscious at the scene of the accident but they’re monitoring her. Erin’s spleen ruptured in the accident and her stomach filled with blood. They were taking her in to do surgery hoping to repair the tears and save the spleen.
Mrs. Ross looked to me. “Natalie, she’s alive, we need to be thankful for that.”
“I am, I wish I could get in touch with Noah.” It frustrated me that he wasn’t picking up his phone.
“We will, but don’t worry, I’m not leaving you here alone.” Mrs. Ross reassured me.
It was eight o’clock at night and there was still no word from Noah. The doctor came out to see us around six. The surgery went well, and she was just coming out of recovery. Erin’s situation was improving, but they were moving her to Pediatric ICU. We followed them as they transferred her up to the ICU. She looked so small lying on the gurney. She was conscious but could not recall what happened and they expected she could not for sometime.
Mrs. Ross and I sat around her bed just staring at Erin as she drifted in and out of sleep. All I wanted was to hear her incessant chatter but hours passed and nothing changed. I became restless and felt sick. “Mrs. Ross would you mind going to the house and leaving a note for Noah. Maybe, he lost his phone, and that’s why we haven’t heard from him.”
“Will you be okay?” She asked as she stood up and stretched.
“I’ll feel better if you check on the house. Maybe, he’s home wondering where I am.”
Mrs. Ross gathered her pocket and keys and started towards the door. “Mrs. Ross, when you right the note just tell him something happened and to call one of us. Then go home and sleep. Come back in the morning.”
She shook her head as if speaking took too much energy. We were both exhausted, but she was older and needed to sleep.
I sat up in the chair all night watching Erin. At one point, exhaustion took over, and I fell asleep. When I woke, the next shift of nurses came in to take over for the day. A sweet young girl greeted me. “Hi, I’m Joanie, I’m Erin’s nurse for the day.” As she went through Erin’s chart and took her vitals, she kept glancing back at me.
“Excuse me, but you don’t look well.” As the words left her lips, I saw black then light then black, again. She was talking but her voice faded in and out. Then there was only black.
I opened my eyes to green fluorescent lights above me. I looked around at my surroundings. I was in a hospital room in a hospital bed. I called out but my voice sounded weak. I turned to my right then to my left. There was a red call button on the side of my bed; I pushed it. A minute later, a nurse walked in.
“Ah, you're finally awake. How ya feeling?”
“What happened?”
“Honey, you passed out. Thank goodness, you did it in a hospital. I always say if ya gunna pass out do it in a hospital.” She had the sweetest southern accent.
“Where’s Erin? Is she alive?”
“Your daughter is doin fine. She’s gunna be okay and so’s your baby.”
“Oh thank God!” I was so relieved. “Wait, what did you say…my baby?”
“Why yes child, your baby?” She pointed to my stomach.
I placed my hand over my stomach. “I’m pregnant.”
“Ya didn’t know!” She clapped her hands together. “Well isn’t this a blessed day! Your daughter is in the clear and ya found out yer pregnant.”
“Where’s Noah?”
“Noah? I don’t know but we can find out for ya.”
She walked out to call up to ICU to see if Noah was there with Erin.
A few minutes later Mrs. Ross came into my room.
“Have you heard from him?”
“Nothing. He hasn’t been home and his phone goes right to voicemail.”
“Mrs. Ross you look exhausted. Erin and I are in good hands if you want to go home.” I assured her.
“Okay. I’ll come back later after I get sleep.”
Mrs. Ross left, and I looked around the room for my phone. I opened the drawer to the side table and found my clutch. My phone was there. I scanned through my missed calls then my messages. There were no voicemails, but I had three text messages.
The first text read: I saw you today with Gregory.
The second text read: You lied to me.
The third text read: And that’s why I turn to my whores.
I gasped as I read the last message and then a violent fury took over my body and I felt my blood boiling behind my eyes.
I texted back: Your daughter and ex were in a car accident, Erin’s mother is dead and Erin is in ICU. Come see her at UCLA medical BUT DO NOT LOOK FOR ME AND TELL YOUR WHORE TO WAIT AT HOME FOR YOU BECAUSE YOU’LL NEED A NEW PUNCHING BAG WHEN THIS IS ALL OVER!