Never Enough - By Ashley Johnson Page 0,64

Trevor carried me to the car with Marcus right behind him.

Marcus drove with the hazards on all the way to the hospital. It was only about fifteen minutes up the road, but I swear we got there in five. He pulled up in the Emergency Room entrance and screeched the car to a halt. Trevor flung the door open and carried me in. A nurse walking by looked like she were going to point us towards registration but noticed the pain in my face and looked at my belly.

“Bring her back this way; we’ll get her paperwork done later.” She led the way and Trevor followed her down the hallway past the nurses’ station and into a room with a sonogram machine. “What’s wrong honey? Tell me everything so we can make sure you and your baby are ok?”

I drew in a deep breath on the table as she hooked up some contraption to my belly. She said she was measuring contractions. Contractions? She was mistaken. I wasn’t due for three to four more months. “I began cramping today and within the past hour they have gotten worse and worse...”

“She also fell once but I was there to catch her.” I glared at him wishing he hadn’t just said that. I didn’t want to stay the night and now they were probably going to want to monitor me overnight for nothing. I was fine. The baby and I are fine.

The nurse stared at me then pulled my name up on the computer. She was also watching the machine. “You, my dear are having contractions. We need to get you admitted and monitor this a little further. I’m going to call Dr. Riley and he will be here shortly.”

Trevor looked about as puzzled as I did. Only he was able to speak up as I sat there in silence. “What do you mean she’s having contractions?”

I lay there staring at the ceiling praying that our baby would be ok. This was just a scare. We would go home tonight and everything would be just fine. “Where’s Halley?”

Trevor squeezed my hand and smiled trying to offer any reassurance he could. “She and Marcus are in the waiting room.”

The nurse got off the phone with Dr. Riley and turned to look at us. “Dr. Riley will be here in about five minutes. I’m going to do an ultrasound and see if I can see anything before he gets here.”

I nodded as if I could say anything else and she squeezed the cool goo onto my belly and began moving the wand around listening for the heartbeat. It seemed like an eternity passed in that one minute. Where was my baby’s heartbeat? She tried to look calm but I could see through her act. She was worried, and that began to freak me out.

“Ma’am? Is everything ok? Is the baby just hard to find?” I asked hopeful, just knowing our baby was safe and sound in my belly. I’d been doing everything right just like Dr. Riley told me to. I held onto every ounce of hope I had inside of me. I held Trevor’s hand a little tighter as she turned to look at me and her pale face said it all.

“I’m sorry. I can’t find the baby’s heartbeat.” Hot tears filled my eyes. I wasn’t hearing this. If ever there were a moment I prayed to be asleep and having a horrible nightmare, this was it. Our baby was fine I knew it. I looked at Trevor who had tears silently beginning to stream down his face. Did I do something wrong? I kept telling myself that I had done everything right. How was this happening?

“Are you sure you’re looking hard enough? I mean our baby was just fine at my appointment last month.” I tried to ask as calmly as I could but sheer panic shot through my voice.

She didn’t answer me but kept searching and then a knock at the door came and Dr. Riley walked in. The nurse stood up to meet him and waved him out the door so she could speak with him. Neither Trevor nor I spoke a single word. No one knew what to say. The silence alone was terrifying. Would our love be able to survive this? It had to.

Dr. Riley and the nurse came in and he took over searching for the heartbeat. He searched for what seemed another eternity when another cramp hit. I winced until it passed. Dr. Riley looked at