The faint sound of the heart monitors were the only thing making any sense to me. After hours of flight and struggling with the doctors, the beeping was almost serene. Harry was rubbing my back gently. My head was in my hands as I prayed to God my mother could recover.
The harsh reality was coming in. There wasn’t anything I could do to stop it. My greatest fear was here. I was going to have to accept the fact that my mom could possibly die. And even though I didn’t want to think about it, I had to be strong. I just hated the fact that I let my mom down. I had to tell her I was pregnant. It was the only thing I could do now. I didn’t have time on my side anymore.
“Mitchie!” A loud voice came running around the corner. I didn’t have to look up to see it was Chance. I recognized his voice. I heard Harry growl under his breath. He was not happy to see Chance. But I didn’t want a fight to break out in the middle of the hospital.
Harry shot up and blocked Chance from seeing me. “I think it’d be best if you left.”
He looked at Harry completely confused. “I don’t know who you are or what you’re talking about. Let me see my best friend.”
“Leave.Now,” Harry growled.
“No, Harry. It’s okay.” I assured him. Harry looked at Chance with a glowering stare. Then, he reluctantly moved to the side, allowing Chance an opportunity to come to me.
Chance wrapped his arms tightly around me. “I’m so sorry, Mitchie.”
I looked over at Harry, whose arms were showing veins and knuckles were strained white. The look on his face was pure hatred towards Chance. I knew if I left them alone in a room for five seconds, Harry would straight up murder Chance in cold blood. No remorse, no regret, just straight up kill him. When I noticed he was looking at me, I gave him pleading eyes. I was silently begging him not to do anything, at least not tonight. He understood and nodded.
Chance took my head in both of his hands, noticing that Harry was hardly able to tolerate him, and he kissed the top of my head. Harry’s eyes shot wide open. Chance gave a wide smirk to me and shot a look at Harry. He ran his hands down my stomach and stopped in cold. He looked down at my stomach, and then he looked to Harry.
“Are you alright here, Mitchie?” He asked.
“I’m fine,” I said. It took Chance a few seconds to put together the obvious puzzle pieces. But when he did, he turned to Harry to talk to him.
“You got her pregnant, you bastard!” He shoved Harry against the wall.
I ran towards Chance to pull him off Harry. “Chance, stop! Stop!” I knew that Harry wasn’t going to be hurt badly. Chance only looked strong. He was by no means a boxing champion like he wanted everyone to think. Still, I didn’t want them fighting. Especially in a time like this.
Around the time I was trying hard to pry Chance off of Harry, a security guard for the hospital came running to my advantage. He could tell I was pregnant. I was a small girl to begin with, and the slightest bump was showing on me. With one quick grasp of Chance’s shoulder, the tall, big, and muscular guard threw him to the side. He quickly picked up Chance.
“Listen here, boy,” the man said with a sour tone. “I don’t put up with trash like you putting a young pregnant girl under stress.”
“I’m sorry, sir..” Chance said while shaking.
“You better be, boy.” He said. He turned to look at Harry. “Are you the daddy?”
Harry said nothing, but he nodded to the guard. He nodded back to Harry. It was almost as if he knew what Harry was thinking. He spoke to Chance like he was a dead bug on a shoe. “You’re going to leave. I better not catch you here while these two visit. I will have your head on a spike if you disobey me, do you understand?”
Chance nodded. The guard dropped him, and he went running for the door. I knew that wouldn’t be the last I saw of him. I had to go home soon, and he would be waiting there for me to talk. The thought of facing him about this made my core shake with fear and nausea.
The guard helped Harry up and walked away. He looked at me, and I must have been crying because he pulled me into his tight, strong arms. I had to go in and tell my mother. Harry understood this, and he promised to go in with me.
When the time came, we walked hand in hand. My mom was lying there watching. She knew what was going to come. That was my mom for you, she always knew things before she was even told. Much to my surprise, she wasn’t disappointed.
“Harry’s the father, isn’t he?” She asked me.
Harry was completely shocked. His mouth popped wide open, but I shut it before my mom made a scene just to scare him. I nodded and said, “Yes, mom. How did you know?”
She chuckled at me. “It’s kind of obvious, Mitchie. When you left, you weren’t a small baby bump, and now you are.”
“It hasn’t been that long though,” Harry said. “How did you figure it out?”
She rolled her eyes, “Cierra called me. She told me because you left England early with Harry. She didn’t put in a ton of details, but there was enough for me to guess.”
Harry walked over and sat next to her. He didn’t tell me anything he was going to say. We hadn’t even thought about how to tell her. He just took her by her hand and kissed it.
“Ma’am,” He said. My mom looked at him. He sighed and continued. “I want you to know that I plan to stay with Mitchie. I do love her. The moment I met her, I knew she was special. I’m not going to be a dick about this and leave her stranded. With your permission, I would like to move in and help out with the house. Since you’re in the hospital, I figured you needed help.”
My mom looked at me, and then she looked to him. Without a moment to lose, she spoke softly. “You’re a very sweet boy, Harry. I’d be more than happy to take you on in my home. There’s just one condition.”
“What would that be?” He asked.
“You have to meet my other daughter,” She smiled, “And I need a moment alone with Mitchie.”
Harry smiled and nodded. Kayla ran in at that moment. Realizing who was in the room, she started to squeal with delight. She was even more happy when he offered to take her out to get some ice cream while I talked to mom. Being the five year old she was, she was more than happy to accept his offering.
*****
My mom didn’t say much until she was positive Harry had taken Kayla away. She looked like death was knocking on her doorstep. I was holding back a massive wave of tears. When she noticed what I was doing, she signaled for me to come over to her. When I did, her arms were wrapped around me. Weak, but strong at the same time.
“Mitchie, you knew this day would come,” She strained to say.
I gasped a breath of air and struggled to speak as tears swelled in my eyes. “I don’t believe that, Mom. You’ll be okay. You can’t just go like this, mommy.”
She began to cry. She pulled my head so she could look at me. “You have to be strong, Mitchie. I know you don’t want to believe this is actually happening, but my time is up. Although you’re going to struggle with this, you will be okay. I have left everything I own to you, and you will take on Kayla for full custody. If you marry that boy, which I’m sure you will, he’ll get a share of the profits too. For now, I want you to hold on as long and as possible as you can. This will all be okay. It’s only a part of life, Mitchie. It’s only a part of life. I love you and your sister with all of my heart, but this is just a part of life. I have to go when the lord comes knocking on my door.”
I shook my head. “I’ll miss you, Momma.”
“I’ll always be with you, Mitchie. I love you.” She smiled weakly.
“I love you too.” I said.