“He’s at a friend’s house. Is she okay? What happened?” Nick exclaimed.
“She was driving home from my place. She went to switch lanes, but there was a truck in her way. They haven’t told me anything yet,” Jessica replied. Suddenly, she realized that Nick didn’t know Lauren’s secret. “Nick, there’s something Lauren-“
She was interrupted by the doctor entering the room. He had a solemn look on his face. Jessica and Nick held their breath, waiting for any news of their loved one. “Lauren will be fine, but I’m afraid she’s lost the baby.”
Jessica cringed, knowing both she and her sister were in for a major interrogation. Just by looking at Nick’s shocked expression, she could tell how angry and hurt he was. Why hadn’t Lauren told him?
“There was a baby?” he whispered. “Lauren was pregnant?”
“That’s why she went to visit me, Nick. She came to tell me,” Jessica said. “It was that night in Orlando.”
“She told you before she told me,” Nick stated in disbelief.
“Nick, she didn’t want you to be angry.”
“Didn’t she think I’d be angrier if I found out about it some other way, like this? What was she going to do? Just hide the fact that she was pregnant until she gave birth?”
“She didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Well, it’s a little late for that. How long had she known, Jess?”
“She’s known for about a week. She didn’t want to fuck anything up for you, Nick. That’s why she didn’t tell you.”
Nick buried his face in his hands. “Don’t. Don’t try to defend her. I knew something was wrong. I confronted her about it this morning, but she wouldn’t tell me anything. She kept telling me she was sick.”
Five minutes of silence passed before the doctor came back in. “Would either of you like to see her?”
Jessica glanced at Nick, who was still scowling. “I would,” she said. She followed the doctor into a small white room where her sister was lying on the bed. Her lip was swollen, she had a black eye, and there were cuts all over her face from where she had hit the windshield. “Hey.”
“Hi, Jess,” Lauren whispered. “Is Nick here?”
“I’ll leave you two,” the doctor said. He slipped out of the room, closing the door behind him.
“Yeah, he’s here, and he’s not too happy,” Jessica said.
“Did he find out-“
“Of course he found out, Lauren. He’s really upset.”
“God! Why am I such a wimp? I could have just told him this morning, but he had to find out this way. Is he mad at me?”
Unable to see the pain in Lauren’s eyes, Jessica turned away. “Uh, yeah. He’s really mad.”
“Is he going to come see me?”
“I don’t know. I wanted to warn you, so I jumped up to come see you before he could answer. I tried to tell him you didn’t mean to hurt him, but he wouldn’t listen.”
“He’s stubborn. Oh, Jess, how did I get myself into this?”
Jessica remained silent. She could see both fear and a desire to talk to Nick in Lauren’s eyes. “You want me to send him in?”
Lauren nodded and waited as Jessica went to find him.