It was just after the forty-five-minute mark when the call finally came in. “Mia?”
“I got them all,” Mia said happily. “But we are all at Ruth’s, even Tess. Natalie set up some speaker phone thing, so we can all talk. P.S. Tess is pissed at you.”
“Tess?” she asked, wondering if Tess could forgive her for what she did. Because she had promised to be there and broke that promise.
“I’m here.” Her angry voice came on the line.
“I’m sorry I left today. I did tell you I wasn’t feeling very good. I wanted to be there and hated leaving.” Amanda knew it wasn’t enough.
“I thought you could hold out for a few hours,” Tess stated. Not happy, not forgiving.
“I’m sorry. But I had to get to the hospital. I didn’t have time to do anything but get there.” She waited as the women on the other end whispered amongst themselves.
“Why didn’t you come and get me?” Mia’s words were quiet, the sadness not hidden. “You said you would tell me. You promised.”
“Because I wasn’t thinking. Once I realized what it was, I walked home to get my car,” Amanda explained, but couldn’t because she wasn’t thinking at the time.
“Mandy, we were all at the church. You just had to get one of us. And half the people in the church left their keys in their cars. You were in Landstad!” Natalie said, a little louder than she usually talked.
“I didn’t want to ruin Zia’s day.” She took deep breaths to stop the tears that were starting.
“You drove yourself while you were miscarrying a baby?” Mia asked in disbelief, making everyone on the other end gasp because Amanda hadn’t told them yet what had happened.
“Baby?” Tess demanded. “What do you mean miscarrying?”
Amanda was relieved Mia seemed to be the one suddenly taking the heat. Though her cousin had done nothing wrong.
“Hey, she swore me to secrecy. Stay mad at her.” Mia must be pointing at the phone.
“It’s not Mia’s fault. She’s right; I asked her not to tell anyone. I didn’t want anyone to know because I usually miscarry. It’s happened far too many times, so I didn’t want to share. I wanted to enjoy the baby while I had him. I knew it wouldn’t last, and I wanted every day I got. I got Thanksgiving, and I got Christmas and even New Years. I know it seems stupid, but this was my last chance. And I know that Zia’s first Christmas was special, but for me, it was his only Christmas. When I had him, he would be gone. So, I held on to every moment I had with him. And that meant not sharing him with anyone.” Amanda wiped her eyes on the sheet that covered her.
“You did not say we would need tissues!” Ruth yelled toward the phone. She must have been moving around the apartment.
“Did you really drive yourself, Mandy, alone?” Mia asked, her voice filled with tears.
“No, Hue followed me, picked me up, and drove me. He’s been with me the entire time,” she said, knowing the others were giving each other looks on the other end of the phone.
“Hue? That’s where he went. You both disappeared. I didn’t think you left at the same time. So, I didn’t think you went together. It makes sense, though. How long has that been going on?” Natalie asked.
“He drove me to the hospital,” Amanda stated, not wanting to go into her possible relationship with Hue. Things were to up in the air for that conversation.
“Really? And you got lost on the trail ride the day after Thanksgiving?” Tess demanded.
“It was freezing out that day. What do you think happened?” Amanda blushed at the memory of what had happened on that cold day in the woods. She wasn’t going to talk about that either.
“All I know is that you two were forty-five minutes slower than everyone else, and you both looked guilty as sin,” Tess said. “Is that when you got pregnant? At my house!”
“No, it was before that.” Amanda sighed, and she thought that she heard Tess say something else but couldn’t quite make it out.
“So, Hue nicely drove you to the hospital and stayed with you. Is he still with you?” Ruth asked.
“Well, no, he’s running home to get us stuff so we can stay here. Neither of us has anything that we need to actually spend any time here. We left so quickly,” she explained, hoping that they don’t ambush him the moment he gets into town.
“You’re staying? For how long?” Mia demanded.
“A few days. I had an emergency C-section,” Amanda explained.
“Wait, how far along were you? They wouldn’t to a C-section until twenty weeks,” Ruth said. She must have been reading her maternity books.