Broken Heart (Broken Heart #1) (31 page)

I opened my eyes and glanced up at her “We’re engaged. Thank you…for everything.” The tears trundled down my cheeks one after the other. I was devastated, and now I had to keep going with the lie just to cover up the truth.

“You’re welcome, now get some rest.” She smiled and squeezed my hand before she turned around and walked out.

It was Friday morning, and Michael didn’t return to the hospital last night.

I was supposed to abort today, but I guess God had other plans for me and in a way, I was relieved I miscarried instead. I woke up feeling nauseous.

The cramping subsided and I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was uncomfortable in my own skin and I felt I was being punished before I had even committed the act. 

“Ms. Heart? I’m Jenny. How are you feeling this morning?” a young nurse asked as she took my vital signs.

“A little better,” I said.

“Good, Dr. Kate said you should be going home in a few hours after you’ve had some more blood work and a sonogram,” she said as she started to hum a song.

“That sounds great.” I wanted to curl up and die. 

“Do you have someone to pick you up?” she asked.

“Can you call my girlfriend Margaret? She’ll pick me up,” I said as I scooted up the bed a little more then I gave her Margaret’s phone number. 

The nurse called Margaret to pick me up. I felt so guilty I couldn’t speak without bursting into tears. 

“She said she’ll be here in a few minutes.” She handed Margaret’s number back to me on a small sheet of paper. 

I slid down the bed and held my stomach for a moment. I’m sorry…I’m so sorry, baby. Michael…God…please forgive me. 

I was so grateful for Margaret picking me up without notice. I don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have her in my life right now. I needed my mother…I needed her to hold me, to comfort

me. I felt so alone and confused. Margaret walked slowly into the recovery room. Her face was stressed and she seemed to be more confused than I was. 

“Jenesis, what is it? What happened?” Margaret shouted across the room. 

Margaret walked in hurriedly and rushed to my bedside.

“Jen, sweetie, are you okay?” 

I looked up at her crushed, lying down curled up like a baby swaddled in the warm white blanket the nurse had given me. 

“Oh, sweetie, it’s going to be ok, come here. What happened?”  She held me in her warm embrace. 

“I...” I said as I burst into tears crying uncontrollably.

“Jenesis, my God…What is it? It’s okay…tell me,” she said consolingly.

“I…had a miscarriage,” I said the words slowly. I could barely spit them out as I was being choked by the lump in my throat.

“Oh my God! Does Michael know?” she asked as her eyes widened and her mouth fell open.

“Yes…” I said as I shook my head.

“Jen, when did you know?”

“Does it matter?”

“I mean, how far along were you?”

“Three or four weeks…or more…I’m not sure. I didn’t want to know.” “Oh honey, it’s going to be okay…Why isn’t Michael here picking you up?”

“He walked out last night and didn’t return,” I sobbed. “I don’t blame him, really I don’t. This is all my fault.”

“Look, I didn’t tell Dave I was here. Do you want me to call him?” “No…please don’t. I can’t face him right now. Jesus, Margaret, what a fucking mess I made. I wish I could get away for a while.”

“Hmmm…Let me think.” She placed her hand near her mouth. “I know…how about Tilly? She lives upstate.”

“She’s Michael’s friend. I don’t want her to know…or Eddie…especially

Eddie, he’s Michael’s best friend.”

“Don’t worry I heard Dave talking to one of the guys at work who knows Eddie, he’s going away with his brother this weekend. She won’t say a word…tell her it’s your ovary or a fibroid…look she has a house and lives in the country. You can definitely heal there over the weekend. Okay?”

“I’m not sure… Margaret, what am I going to do? How can I face him?” I said as I wept hysterically and wiped my nose with the hospital gown.

“Don’t worry…I’m here for you…I just don’t understand why you didn’t tell Michael you were pregnant?” She looked at me puzzled. I didn’t respond. I had nothing to say. “Come on… let’s get

you dressed and get ready to go,” she said as she handed me a tissue and gathered my clothing from the chair. I stared at Margaret and began to cry inconsolably.

Margaret hugged me tightly and kissed my forehead. 

“Jen, please, get dressed.” 

She helped me place my blouse over my head. I slipped on my slacks from the bed so I wouldn’t have to bend down. She tied my blue and white Roche runs and helped me stand to my feet to get

ready to leave. Margaret held my hand as the nurse brought over a wheelchair. I shook my head I wanted to walk. I looked at Margaret with agony in my eyes as tears slid down my face. We walked

to the car very slowly as I to felt the pain in my belly and as my cramps increased, I started to panic.

“Jen, you have to calm down,” Margaret said as we drove to her apartment.

I curled up in the back seat and then tried to stretch out my legs. I was cramping a little. I was sore. We finally arrived at the apartment building and walked up slowly to the door. 

Margaret unlocked the door and pushed it open with her butt for me as she held me by my arm. Dave was working and wasn’t home. Margaret then called Tilly and put her on speakerphone.

“Tilly, its Margaret. How are you?”

“I’m fine and you? How’s Dave?”

“I’m great…Dave is Dave.” 

“How’s Michael? I haven’t heard from him in a minute.” 

“He’s fine. Jenesis isn’t feeling well.”

“Oh, what’s going on?”

“Well, we just came from the GYN and she has some fibroids. She’s in a lot of pain. Do you think we can hang at your house for the weekend? I know Eddie is away for the weekend with his

brother. She’d like to recuperate from all of the probing and stuff. You know how that is…women things. Is that ok? It’ll be a girl’s mini vacation. 

“Jesus, I’m glad you called, I thought I’d be bored out of my bloody mind this whole weekend without Eddie.” 

“Great we’ll be there in an hour.” She hung up the phone. I looked at Margaret nervously and she looked like a nervous wreck herself. She wasn’t a very good liar. I hope Tilly doesn’t read right through her. I hope

Dave doesn’t get suspicious either. 

We headed over to her house in Bedford, New York. Tilly and Eddie lived in a beautiful house. A three-floor colonial that lay nestled on a 5-acre lot filled with gardens, just like the gardens in

England, with streams and ponds to match. The neighborhood was swanky, you can tell by the Mercedes Benz, Audi’s, BMW’s and Maserati’s in the driveways as we passed each house. The

manicured front lawns were the size of half a football field and every flower and bush was set fastidiously to compliment the eye of the passerby. 

Tilly came from money. Her family owned their own construction business in London and built her house here in the states. They were famous in England, and somewhere in their family tree,

they had ties to a royal bloodline. As we drove up to the gate, it opened up automatically. Dangerous? Anyone can go in and kill them, I thought to myself.

We parked the car in the driveway behind Eddie’s 2014 silver Jaguar XF as the gates closed behind us. Eddie was Michael’s best friend, though you wouldn’t know it lately. Eddie met Tilly three years ago in the city while she worked at an investment firm near the financial district. He was

delivering mail while she worked as an investment manager and offered financial advice to her clients. It was love at first sight according to Eddie.

Tilly didn’t have to work, ever, but she was determined to build her own empire one day. Eddie doesn’t have to work, either. Tilly really seems to spoil the hell out of him. I don’t know if she minds that Eddie isn’t rich and doesn’t have a great job, but at least now that he’s thinking of

joining the academy, he should be able to pull his own weight. I learned a lot on the ride up here to Bedford because when I met Eddie and Tilly at dinner, there wasn’t much conversation between

the four of us. Michael and Eddie spoke to each other and Tilly didn’t have much to say. Margaret has been very well informed. It’s funny how she spent the entire time talking about Tilly and Eddie

and didn’t have one conversation about her and Dave or me and Michael. I think Eddie and Tilly liked their privacy, but thank God Margaret loved to talk.

I didn’t know if Tilly was as trustworthy as Margaret and I wasn’t taking any chances. I just couldn’t believe how wealthy Tilly was. As we drove up the long winding road, we finally parked

in the circular driveway. Her house was breathtaking. It looked like an old fashion plantation house found in the south. It was spectacular.

“Margaret! Jenesis! I’m so happy to see you both!” Tilly shouted exiting from the front door. The front entrance was a double mahogany door with a floral design. My mother loved interior and exterior design and even though she worked at the medical center, she had tons of magazines about

decorating and upgrading homes. She would have loved Tilly’s house. She sat in a quiet corner in her room at night when my father was in a drunken state of sleep and would show me what her

dream house would look like, which included Tilly’s front entrance door. The dream was over as soon as he walked in to give her the beating of her life. Why did she stay with him?

Why did he beat her? What magic spell did he have over her? 

“Jen, are you ok?” Tilly asked as she gave me a tight hug. I loved her British accent. 

“Oh, I’m in a little pain. Tylenol?” I asked holding the lower part of my belly that cramped up. I cringed at the thought that there was no baby in there. My God… I lost my baby…our baby. I will pay for this.

“Of course, come on in, I have your bed ready and Margaret, you’re going to love this! I have the hot tub ready for us on the deck! Girl’s night out!” She said in a high-pitched voice walking over to the kitchen cabinet to get the Tylenol.

Margaret laughed and shook her head.

“She’s so overdone sometimes, isn’t she?” Margaret said with a sneer.

“You have to love her, though,” I whispered with an earnest smile.   

Tilly led the way and opened the door to a mini palace. The room had beautiful light blue satin curtains that hung to the floor. The king sized four-post bed had six pillows and the satin quilt matched the curtains. The bed was big enough for all three of us to sleep in. The Victorian bedroom

furniture was remarkable, cherry wood with intricate designs, fit for a princess from the Renaissance Era. She was rich…filthy rich. 

“Enjoy…and rest, Jenesis. We’ll be in the hot tub.” She giggled as she closed the door and shouted to Margaret, “Let’s get wet!” then headed down the stairs to get the hot tub ready. 

I fell asleep with my legs lodged up on two pillows. I wrestled with the images of the doctor’s office that invaded my dreams. I woke up on the floor, face down, with the two pillows on the floor near the bed. I slowly lifted my head and realized I was lying on my stomach. 

I got up slowly feeling dizzy and little disoriented. I walked over to the bathroom, pulling down my sweatpants and panties as I held on to the sink. I sat on the toilet and as I wiped myself and the red stained toilet paper pushed me over the edge I began to scream.

“Oh no!” I cried. My legs were trembling and my heart was racing.

Margaret and Tilly pushed open the bathroom door, both drenched from running out of the hot tub. Tilly slipped and felt straight on her ass.

“Jenesis, for fuck’s sake! What is it? What happened?” Tilly said as she tried to pick herself up from the floor, sliding on both hands around the bathroom floor.

“Jen, what happened?” Margaret said softly. She grabbed me by the shoulders as I stood up, placing toilet paper to line my panties as my hands shook. I lifted up my pants and stood staring at them both. 

“I’m bleeding,” I whispered, shaking and horrified at the sight of blood.

“Oh my God! Jenesis, I’ll call a doctor,” Tilly said as she glared into the inside of the toilet bowl.

“Please don’t…Tilly…please.” I walked out of the bathroom and back into the room. Tilly and Margaret followed. I looked at Tilly and Margaret in shame. I lowered my head and whispered,

“I had a miscarriage yesterday…” I started to sob hysterically and fell straight to my knees, grabbing the quilt from the bed and smothering my face into it. 

“Jen, it’s okay. Does Michael know? I mean...you’re bleeding. Did the doctor say that would happen?

I nodded my head. Tilly and Margaret kneeled beside me and wrapped their arms around me.

“I’m not really concerned about Michael right now. I want to make sure you’re okay; I’m calling my doctor. No one will know, I swear.” Tilly tearfully walked out of the bedroom into the hallway.