And now her mom. Her mom would be crazy mad at her. Forcing herself to hit the button that said mom&dad, she listened to it ring. It was only after one ring that her mom answered the call.
“Amanda Marie Nordskov, where have you been? I have been calling you since you took off during the baptism. During thebaptism, Amanda. Math and Tess are furious with you. All you had to do was be there for an hour, and you couldn’t even do that. When they asked you to be the godmother, you at least owed them today. I know you let the holidays bring you down, but the holidays are over. It was one day, Amanda.” Her mother Dolly berated her. Three “Amandas” in one breath was a feat for even her mom. Especially since her mom hadn’t called her Amanda in years. Always just Mandy.
Her mom had wound down and took a breath, so Amanda asked, “Is Dad there?”
“Of course, he is. Where else would he be? It’s late.” Amanda looked at the clock, but it was only 6:20 p.m.
“Can you put me on speaker phone, so you both can hear?” she asked, and her mom sputtered a little. Her mom hated speaker phone. She listened to her mom talk to herself until she called over her husband to help her, then she got the phone on speaker.
“Okay Mandy, we are here.” Her dad’s cheerful voice came through. They were on speaker phone. Dad to the rescue.
“I am going to tell you guys something, and I don’t want you to get mad,” she prefaced, because that had always worked. They couldn’t be mad because they were told not to be. Taking a deep breath, she went on. “Today I left the baptism because I was having a miscarriage.”
“Not again, Mandy,” her mom said, and Mandy could see her face in her mind. She had told the older woman that enough in her life to know exactly what her mom looked like.
“Yes. I didn’t tell you that I was pregnant because I knew I would lose him. I didn’t want to hurt you again,” she explained, hoping it was enough of an explanation.
“But Mandy, it always hurts you more than us. We want to be there for you. We only hurt because you hurt. Well, we hurt too, but you hurt more. Do you want me to come and get you? Will you get out tomorrow morning? I will be there. You should stay here for a little bit, and I will take care of you. Daddy will get you ice cream and pizzas and those candies you like,” her mom said firmly, already planning. It hurt Amanda that her mom had a protocol for her miscarriages.
“No, Mom. I won’t be out for a few more days. David tried a C-section this time. Recovery is longer; close to a week.”
“I will visit right away tomorrow. Or did you want me tonight? I can be there in no time. I will just need time to pack. Dad will drive me in.”
Amanda took a calming breath. At least her dad was back to being Dad and no longer daddy. Only when things got rough was he daddy in her mom’s vocabulary.
“No, Hue is here with me. You just stay there. But what I want to tell you is that the C-section worked. The baby is alive.” She could barely say the words because they still made her cry happy tears.
“What do you mean the baby is alive?” Her dad finally spoke. Her mother must be in too much shock.
“I’ve touched him. He’s little, but he is doing great. Breathing.” Mandy couldn’t stop the tears.
“Congratulations, Mandy,” her dad said, sounding choked up, which made her cry even more because her dad never cried.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I spent a long time just waiting to miscarry. It always happened before. I didn’t think this time would be any different,” she explained again, hoping the more she said it, the more they would realize she had done it for them. Hidden things to protect them.
“That’s why you’ve been so depressed. You should have told us. We didn’t know what to do, Mandy. What to say. Nothing we tried helped this time.” She, too, sounded like she was crying.
“I know. I messed up. I’m sorry.”
“What’s his name?” her dad asked, ignoring what had happened before the birth and focusing on the baby.
“Noah,” she said, still loving the name Hue had given him.
“When can we come? Tonight? Dad will be happy to come tonight,” her mom asked eagerly. Even if Amanda knew her dad hated driving at night, if she told them they could come, they would.
“Tomorrow. It’s late today. But can you wait to tell everyone until tomorrow? I want to make some calls, and I don’t want to share him with the world until tomorrow. I want a night.”
“Okay, but if you tell Tess, you will have to tell Math,” her mom reminded her, knowing that Amanda was closer to her group of friends than she was to her brother, but not by much.
“I will have Hue call him,” she said, forgetting her parents didn’t know about her and Hue.
Her mom didn’t even question why Hue would be the one calling. “Good. And call your sisters—unless you want me to. I would do that for you,” her mom said, wanting to tell someone, anyone at this point. Keeping this until morning was going to kill her.
Amanda agreed to let her call Julia and Kit, but not for an hour. And she was sure that by the time that hour was up, she will have called her sister Dottie to rub in a new grandchild. Which would cause Dottie to tell all her girls that she needs more grandchildren. And all this would happen before Hue got back from getting clothes in Landstad.
After she said her goodbyes to her parents, she sent a text to Hue saying that he could call Math and tell him because she was going to tell Tess. And she had told her parents. And her parents were telling everyone soon enough.
Once the text was sent, she waited for her phone to ring. The half an hour mark passed, and no call came in. Maybe she was pushing too much to get everyone on the same phone call. She should have told Mia to get as many as possible on the phone call.