“She is deceased.”
“From the same car accident Angel was involved in?”
“Yes.”
“How long had you known Jocelyn Baker before you allowed your child to go unsupervised with her?”
“Not very long.”
“What a month? Two months?”
“I’d met her just a couple of times.”
“So, you let your daughter go unsupervised with someone you barely knew for a joyride?”
Vicky whispered, “Yes…I mean no.”
“Which is it Mrs. Martin-Rutherford? Yes or No? It can’t be both.”
“Yes.”
“How long had you known Mr. Jason Rutherford before you got pregnant with his child?”
Mr. John Lucas stood “Objection. That has no bearing on this case.”
“Your honor I am trying to establish that Mrs. Vicky Martin-Rutherford seems to prey on rich men and uses her children as if she’s won the lottery. The court has already established that she’s gotten money from my client. It appears she got a marriage proposal from Mr. Rutherford.”
“Over-ruled. Please answer the questions.”
“Three or four months.”
“How long had you known Mr. Ryan Carter before you got pregnant with his child?”
“Three months.”
“So, it seems to take three or four months to get pregnant by rich men, then you extort them, and you’d only met Mrs. Jocelyn Baker once or twice before you left Angel in her care. Does this sound like a stable person to you Ms. Martin? I’m sorry
Mrs.
Martin-Rutherford?”
“Objection.”
“Withdrawn.”
Mr. John Lucas never looked rattled but he looked a little unsettled. “Your honor I’d like to take a thirty minute recess with my client.”
Judge Zimmerman looked at her watch, “It’s Friday and it’s 3:30pm. I’m going to grant you a recess and adjourn until Monday at 10:30am. Mrs. Martin-Rutherford, please be aware that you are still under oath.”
Vicky left the stand and took her seat next to Mr. John Lucas.
The bailiff spoke again, “All Rise”
Everyone stood for the judge to leave. Once Judge Zimmerman left the courtroom Jason rushed over to be by Vicky’s side.
John Lucas motioned for them to go out the back way, “The press is ridiculous.”
Vicky and her family followed John Lucas to a private meeting room.
“They killed me up there Mr. Lucas.”
“We knew today would be rough. Keep in mind I haven’t crossed you yet and we haven’t put on our defense. Have heart my dear, Monday is another day.”
It had been a long day. Jason and Vicky finally made it back to their hotel. They were on edge and exhausted. Angel was going to sleep in bed with them tonight.
Vicky whispered to him as she rubbed a sleeping Angel’s back, “I could really lose her.”
Jason poured himself a drink from the mini-bar “We’re not going to lose our daughter.”
Vicky looked at the drink in his hand. He’d been doing more and more of that.
She sat up on the bed and put her hands over the one that held the drink, “I wish you wouldn’t do that?”
“Do what?”
“Have that drink. You don’t need it.”
“I’m having a drink to relax Vicky. This was a pretty intense day.”
“I know it. But, you’ve been doing this a little more often than usual.”
Jason’s voice was elevated, “Well, we’re experiencing a pretty unusual situation wouldn’t you say?”
Vicky could understand why Jason would be feeling frustrated; even feeling some kind of way about her. After hearing how she was described in court. That would be hard for any man to take.
“Jason are we okay?”
He couldn’t look her in the eyes “Why wouldn’t we be?”
Vicky swallowed hard, “What they said about me in court today…it wasn’t true.”
“Vicky, I really don’t want to rehash that. I know it wasn’t true.”
Jason’s cell phone alerted him to a new text. It was Franklin asking him to meet him at the bar downstairs. That was perfect timing because he really didn’t want to deal with any of this right now.
“It’s Franklin. I’m going to meet him downstairs.”
“Jason we should talk.”
“We can talk in the morning. Go to sleep, it might be late before I get back.”
*****
Jason met Franklin down at the bar. He’d gotten them a private booth.
“I don’t know how you always know when I could use a reprieve. It probably saved me from having an uncomfortable conversation with Vicky.”
“I figured you might. Today was pretty rough.”
The waitress came over to take their order. Franklin ordered a Brandy and Jason ordered a black coffee.
“Coffee?”
“Vicky’s worried about how much I’ve been consuming lately.”
Franklin definitely understood her concern because he was concerned too. “Excuse me Ms., can you change my order from a Brandy to a black coffee too?”
The waitress smiled and made the change on her order form, “I’ll be right back.”
“So…you don’t have to pretend with me Jason. How are you really holding up? Are you doing okay?”
Jason slid his hand down over his face “Honestly, I’ve never felt more helpless in my life. I don’t know what else to do…at least within the boundaries of the law.”
“I know this is hard for you. You’re ‘Mr. Fix It’ and you can’t fix this. You’re going to have to trust Vicky and John Lucas on this one.”
“Man, when she looks at me with all that pain in her eyes it just tears me up. I’d give anything…”
“I know it and so does she. All you can do is take it one day at a time. Whatever happens, lean on each other Jason. She needs you and you need her.”
The waitress came back with their coffees.
*****
Vicky was angry that Jason wasn’t willing to deal with how he was feeling. Or, at least express it to her. It was so important that they communicate right now. It would be way too easy to misinterpret something and cause each other unnecessary pain.
That lawyer made her sound like a gold-digging whore. Vicky just hoped that it didn’t create any doubt in him about her. There was nothing she could do or say to plead her case since he was having drinks with Franklin.
Vicky decided to try to clear her mind and lay down next to her baby girl. She’d taken these precious moments for granted. There could come a time where she might not get to do this. Tears started to leak from her eyes. Vicky didn’t know exactly when she fell asleep because she was so exhausted but she cried herself to sleep.
About an hour or so later, something woke her up. When she looked over on the other side of the bed Jason hadn’t come back yet.
A stabbing pain hit her in her stomach. At the same time, she felt something wet in her bed. Vicky pulled the covers back and that when she noticed all the blood.
“Oh my god. No.no.no!”
Another pain racked her body. She reached for her cell phone sitting on the table next to the bed but knocked a glass to the floor. It went crashing down and shattered into a million little pieces. The pain was unbearable.
Angel woke up “Mommy…you okay? Mommy!”
Vicky bit her lip so hard she knew she drew blood. The pain was so intense she could barely speak, “Mommy needs Jason.”
Vicky knew the blackness was just around the corner. “Angel…mommy broke some glass please don’t come on this side of the bed okay.”
She tried again to reach for her cell phone but it crashed to the floor and the blackness overtook her.
Jason walked through the door and heard the crash. Angel hopped from the bed running toward him,
“Daddy daddy something is wrong with mommy.”
Jason ran over to Vicky’s side of the bed and saw the broken glass and the blood. He immediately called 9-1-1. He felt for a pulse and thanked god he found one.
The EMT’s got to the scene within a few minutes of his call but it felt like forever. Jason put Angel’s jacket on and followed them into the ambulance.
He listened intently as they talked to each other and started working on her. Someone finally asked him a question,
“Do you know how long she was like this?”
Jason frustratingly ran his fingers through his hair, “No, I’d just made it back to our room.”
“How many weeks is she?”
“She’s about 30 weeks. Are they going to be okay?”
“Well, it looks like there was a rupture of her uterus. It doesn’t feel like a complete tear but she’s losing a lot of blood.”
The ambulance pulled up to the emergency room entrance. The team of doctors met them at the door. They put Vicky on a gurney and took her immediately into surgery.
Angel was crying. Jason didn’t realize it but he was crying too. “Mommy’s going to be okay sweetheart.”
Jason held Angel tight. She laid her head on his shoulder and sobbed. His shirt was soaked. He used his other hand to call his mom and dad. They came rushing through the hospital doors with Aunt Shirley within a half an hour.
Aunt Shirley was still wearing her head-wrap and robe. “Have you heard anything? Are they alright?”
Jason shook his head, “I don’t know. They’re still in surgery.”
“Let me have the baby.” She reached for Angel but Angel held on tightly to Jason’s neck. He shook his head. “That’s okay. She needs me and I need her.”
Shirley understood.
His mom wiped his tears from his face, “Jason, what happened?”
“I don’t know. We argued and I left for a couple of hours. When I came back she was bleeding and unconscious. I don’t even know how long she’d been that way. I should have been there.”
Mr. Rutherford patted his son on the back, “Jason, this is not your fault.”
“I should have been there dad. My god, I can’t believe we’re back in a hospital again so soon after... If anything happens to her…”
“It won’t son. They’ll be fine.”
A half an hour later Angel cried herself to sleep and Sandy came running through the hospital emergency room doors. A few minutes after that Franklin came crashing through the doors too.
Shirley finally convinced Jason to let her have Angel. She lay across her lap sleeping while everyone waited for news.
Jason couldn’t sit; he couldn’t stand; he just didn’t know what to do with himself.
Nobody could really. Miriam left her son’s side for just a moment and sat next to Shirley.
Still rocking back and forth with Angel on her lap, Shirley whispered hoping Jason couldn’t hear her “I just found her again, Miriam. I’ve wasted so much time and I’ve already lost her mother. Children are supposed to bury the old not the other way around.”
Miriam put her arms around her. “Shirley, Vicky and the baby are going to be fine. We have to believe that. And, neither one of us is
old
per se. We’re…seasoned.
On the other end of the emergency room waiting area, Sandy stood with her arms folded across her chest, chewing on her bottom lip.
Franklin watched Sandy try to be strong. Before he knew what he was doing he walked over to her and gathered her into his arms.
After a moment, she whispered “What are you doing Franklin?”
“I’m doing what I felt I wanted and needed to do.”
Sandy’s face was buried into the side of his neck. It felt so good to have his strong arms wrapped around her again. For just a little while she wasn’t going to question it.
“Frank…you know I hated Vicky when I first met her. It’s funny how we’ve become the best of friends, almost sister-like in such a short time.”
“I had my suspicions of her when I met her too. It’s rare that you actually meet someone who shows you who they are and it’s the truth.”
Franklin absentmindedly kissed Sandy on the side of her temple. He looked up just as one of the doctors came out from the surgery area.
“Mr. Jason Rutherford?”
Jason almost ran over to him, “Yes, that’s me. How is she? How are they?” Everyone else followed eager to hear some good news.
“Your wife lost a lot of blood she’s in critical but stable condition. You should be able to see her in recovery in about an hour.”
“And...my child?”
“We’re sorry but we did all we could to save your son.”
Miriam covered her mouth to keep the scream from escaping and John held her tight while squeezing his eyes closed trying to hold the tears at bay.
Shirley wasn’t able to keep the pain inside and screamed out loud, “NO! Oh my god No!”
Sandy and Franklin stood still in utter shock.
Jason stood for a moment….then he crumbled to his knees.
No one really thought Vicky and the baby weren’t going to be fine. It was a possibility but unimaginable. However, when the surgeon said they lost the baby, the sound of Mrs. Rutherford and Aunt Shirley’s cries and then Jason’s knees buckling, was just too much. Sandy’s own tears began to fall.
Franklin held her tighter before burying his face into hair. She felt the dampness of his tears. How could this happen?
The Rutherford family had never experienced a loss like this. To watch his only son in such agonizing pain and not be able to do a damn thing about it was torture. His grandchild, the next generation of Rutherford’s was dead. God, how were they going to deal with this? As a family. Mr. Rutherford gave his son a few more minutes to process the news before he walked over to him and helped him up.
Jason’s eyes were glazed over. He was still in shock.
Mr. Rutherford wrapped his arms around his son and held him tight. He continued to pour love and strength into him until he felt his son’s soul return to his body.
“I’m so sorry. The pain you must be feeling is unbearable. Just breathe. One breath at a time. Just one moment, one second, one minute. We’re all here for you and Vicky.”
They stood like that for what seemed like hours; Mr. Rutherford would be the strength his son needed for as long as Jason needed him to be.
The nurse came out an hour later to let them know that Vicky had been moved to recovery and should be moved to a private room very shortly. However, she was still sedated from the anesthesia.
Jason took his father’s advice. He just needed to breathe. He took a deep breath and cleared his throat, “I’m going to go up and be with my wife. Aunt Shirley, please take Angel home. It’s been a scary night for her. Mom, Dad, Franklin, and Sandy…it’s late. I’ll call you all in the morning. ”