CHAPTER 4
A.S.A.P
It had been a while since Angel worked the bar. He’d been so preoccupied the last couple of weeks with baby stuff he’d messed up on the schedule and three bartenders were off today so he was helping out. Raul had walked in minutes ago and was in the back getting suited up. He could have him work the bar today and when Sarah got there he’d have her take orders though she wouldn’t be carrying any of them out.
It was actually good every now and again to get away from the back room. Lately he’d been glued to computer looking through catalogs of all the stuff he wanted to shower his baby with. The backyard play set Alex got for the twins was awesome and Sarah had laughed when she caught him on the website that had them custom made. She said what he should be looking into was starting up a college fund for the baby. School was expensive and the sooner they got started the better. That was true but those websites were boring.
Raul came out from the back but stopped when David, one of the other waiters stopped him to tell him something and they both laughed loudly. “Hey when you’re done messing around I’m gonna need you in the bar today.”
Raul walked away from David with a smile. “Sure thing boss. Did someone call in?”
“Nah it was my fault actually. I messed up. I scheduled too many people off at once. I gotta double check next week’s, make sure I didn’t do the same thing. So I’ll need you to bartend today but not until Sarah gets here. I’ll have her take over your section.”
“Isn’t she here already?” Raul asked.
“No,” Angel wiped down the bar. “She was having breakfast with her mom this morning.”
“She was out in the parking lot when I drove in. I thought she’d be in here by now. Unless,” Raul smirked. “that guy whose arms she flew into stole her away.”
Angel turned and peered at Raul not sure if he was serious. He had the stupidest sense of humor sometimes. But apparently he was serious. “What are you talking about?”
“Some guy who got out of a cab and hugged your wife, man. He picked her up off the ground he hugged her so hard.” Raul pulled out the paper pad out of his apron’s front pocket and stuck a pen behind his ear. “I don’t know maybe he’s family. Does she have a brother?”
“No, she doesn’t.”
Raul shrugged. “She’s probably still out there.” He walked away to his first table of the day.
That was strange. Who would be visiting Sarah in a cab? Then it hit him. Something began to warm his insides just as he saw her walk in. He fully expected to see Sydney walk in behind her but she was alone. He met her by the hallway leading to the back room. As soon as their eyes met he knew something was wrong. “You okay?”
She nodded but looked away quickly and kept walking to the back.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just a little tired,” she said, sitting down with her hand over her belly.
“You should go home then, babe. I don’t want you working if you’re not up to it.” Then he remembered. “Who was out there with you?”
She seemed dazed and it unnerved him. “Huh?”
“Raul, he said he saw you out there. A guy in a cab hugged you.” He raised his eyebrow. “Picked you up?”
It was the strangest thing, she was looking at him and listening but it was as if she were a million miles away. She told him about Sydney swinging by between flights and how he couldn’t stay. If it hadn’t been for his concern over the way she was acting he might’ve been a little more ticked about the fact that Sydney had been so moved to see her he actually picked her up. Raul hadn’t been exaggerating since Sarah didn’t deny it. Instead he stared at her trying to figure out what this strange demeanor was about.
Angel got down on his knee in front of her and rubbed her belly. “Are you sure you’re okay, baby? You’re scaring me.”
Finally she looked at him and not through him like when she first arrived and smiled rubbing his hand on her belly. “I’m fine. But I think I will go home. I didn’t get very much sleep last night.”
“All right.” He stood up and held his hand out. “I’ll walk you out.”
Even after he knew she was home and safe in bed he couldn’t shake that feeling that something was wrong. Then he got the call.
Sarah was crying. “Please don’t be mad at me?”
His heart began to race. “About what?”
She sputtered out the rest so fast and he got most of it even in between the whimpering. She’d fallen just outside the restaurant but didn’t want to alarm him for nothing. His heart had immediately spiked the moment he heard her say she fell, but the last part nearly made him stop breathing. “I’m not feeling any kind of discomfort or anything but I had some pinkish discharge and my mom says I should go to the hospital just to play it safe.”
She hadn’t even finished saying it and he was already rushing through the restaurant with his keys in his hands. He called Sal who told him not to worry he’d take care of the restaurant for him. Memories of when Sarah had miscarried the first time slammed into him and he choked back the lump that was already forming in his throat.
~*~
It was pink not red. Sarah kept telling herself. Not like when she lost the first baby. And she wasn’t cramping or feeling any kind of discomfort. After checking everything, all of her and the baby’s vitals were fine but the fact that they wanted to keep her overnight for observation still made her very nervous. Were they not telling her something?
Sarah smiled trying to be brave and squeezed Angel’s hand. Everybody else that had come by, her mother, his parents, even Alex and Valerie had left hours earlier. Angel wanted to stay as late as possible but it was almost midnight and he looked so tired. “You should go home, honey. Get some rest.” His eyes were as anxious as she felt. “And try not to worry; the doctors said they’re just being cautious.”
He leaned in and kissed her. “No way, baby. I’m not leaving. I won’t get any sleep anyway. Not without you there by my side.”
She smiled. “But you have to. You’ll need to be rested so you can take me home tomorrow.”
He gestured to the recliner behind him. “I’ll rest right here. I’m not leaving you.”
As expected she had a hard time falling asleep. After a few hours Angel had knocked out on the recliner. The nurse came in to check her vitals. “So there really is no other reason why they’re keeping me, right?”
The nurse smiled reassuringly. “The fact that you spotted on the day you fell could very well be coincidental, but since it did happen on a same day, the doctor just didn’t want to take any chances.” The nurse touched her arm lightly and winked. “You’re fine.”
After the nurse walked out Sarah grabbed her phone and texted Syd. When she’d first fallen the absurd thought that it was God’s way of punishing her for loving Sydney. Maybe it was wrong. Maybe she shouldn’t feel for him what she did. But now she realized that was silly. She loved him like she’s always loved him—like the very best friend anyone could ever ask for.
She explained to him what happened and assured him that she was fine then ended the text with a goodnight and again she told him she loved him. Then she finally fell asleep.
She woke up about five in the morning feeling strange. Angel wasn’t on the recliner but his keys and jacket were there; he must’ve stepped out. Something was wrong. They’d dimmed the lights in her room but even with the darkened room she could see something when she pulled up the blankets. She reached for the lights and thought she might faint when she realized she was bleeding. Swallowing hard and trying to hold it together she rang for the nurse. Within seconds the nurse was there.
“I’m bleeding!”
The nurse quickly assessed Sarah’s condition then called the nurses’ station and Sarah heard the most frightening words she’d ever heard. “Get the doctor here ASAP, looks like Moreno is going to deliver.”
“Deliver? I’m only thirty three weeks!”
“I don’t know honey. Something’s happened and this baby is coming now.”
Sarah was already in tears. “Where’s my husband? I need him here.”
“You just relax, we’ll get him for you.”
The doctor was there within minutes. After examining her he confirmed what the nurse had said that she would have to deliver. He explained that the most common damage a fall or any kind of trauma that occurs during pregnancy is tearing of the placenta. It’s what had concerned him and why he’d kept her. Apparently he made the right call.
Angel rushed in just as the doctor explained what would happen next. At this stage of her pregnancy he strongly recommended no pain medicines for the delivery. “It’ll make the baby sluggish. Any chance of survival, we’ll need this baby as alert as can be. You’ll have to do this on your own.”
“Then don’t give me anything!” Sarah cried.
Angel held her hand tight, his face as terrified as she felt even though she could see he attempted to keep it together.
“Okay.” The doctor nodded. “Lets get started.”