Chapter 49

Emerging from Sarah’s room, the group was met by Raoul and Tommy.  The guys’ expressions alerted the two bodyguards that something was wrong.  Quietly, Tommy showed them to an empty waiting room where each of the girls got comfortable in the chairs available.  Brian chose to sit with Sonja while Nick, Kevin, and AJ each took up positions around the room, all four not hiding their worry.

A couple minutes later, the door opened and Becca entered. 

“Is Sarah okay?” asked Tommy anxiously. 

“She’s scared but she’ll be fine,” assured Becca putting her hand on his arm.  “Alex, come on.  Sheena wants us to get ready.”

“Are they going to let all three of you stay with her?” questioned Lynne in amazement. 

“Sheena’s going to clear it.” 

AJ looked to Ali, “Are you gonna stick around?” 

“For a little while.  I’ll let you know when I leave.” 

Giving her a kiss, AJ followed Becca out and a tense silence filled the room again. 

Lynne watched as Kevin began to pace the length of the waiting room, anxiety and concern prevalent.  She looked over at Nick who was staring out of the blinds into the blackness of the night, his fingers running through his blonde hair and a tear in the corner of his eye.  Glancing at Brian, she saw that he was silent, playing with Sonja’s hair as she read a bridal magazine.  Something wasn’t right but she couldn’t put her finger on it.  Everyone seemed overly concerned with what she had been led to believe was a normal delivery.  Sure, it was twins but in all the conversations, she couldn’t remember anything being said about complications.  And Sarah.  While she hadn’t known her that long, she knew well enough that it was unusual for Sarah to be as scared as she obviously was. 

Wanting answers, Lynne started to ask Kevin but was interrupted by the door opening. 

“Mr. Richardson?” 

The man asking was wearing a suit with a hospital ID but Lynne couldn’t read the name from where she was. 

“I’m Kevin Richardson.  How can I help you?” 

Extending his hand, the man introduced himself as the two shook hands.  “I’m Craig Miller, hospital administration.  I understand one of your band mates’ wife is having a baby.” 

“Twins,” corrected Kevin with a smile. 

“Wow!  It seems the event has drawn quite a bit of attention from the press and your fans.” 

“We saw the crowd when we arrived,” said Nick joining Kevin. 

“Its gotten worse,” said Mr. Miller.  “That’s what I need help with. Would it be possible to have one of you to make a statement to the press and try to get the crowd to disperse?  It’s disturbing the rest of the patients.” 

“We can try but there’s no guarantee it will help,” said Kevin.  “It could make things worse.” 

“It’s worth a try.” 

“Let me get our security and we’ll see what we can do.” 

Mr. Miller left and Kevin pulled out his cell phone to call Billy.  A minute later, he hung up and turned to Nick and Brian.  “Billy’s waiting.  You two coming?” 

“Yeah, but don’t you think we should see if Howie and AJ wanna go with us?” asked Nick. 

“You really are as stupid as the papers are making you look,” shot Brian angrily.  “Sarah is already terrified enough.  You take Howie away from her and you could put her at risk of something happening to her or the twins.” 

“You know, I’m really sick of you,” growled Nick getting in Brian’s face.   

“That’s ENOUGH!” hissed Becca.  “What is the problem NOW?” 

“The hospital administration wants us to see if we can get the crowd to leave because it’s disturbing the other patients and I thought Howie should be with us.  He’s the only one the fans are going to listen to,” said Nick backing away from Brian. 

Kevin had heard the whole thing.  “Both of you are right.  Brian, we can’t put the other patients at risk.” 

“You’re both nuts if you think you’re going to get Howie to leave her now,” stated Brian. 

“Rational Sarah would understand,” said Nick. 

“But she’s NOT rational,” pointed out Brian. 

Becca spoke softly, “She will be once she realizes that she’s going to be okay.” 

“If Howie goes out, the rest of us really don’t need to,” said AJ.  “Becca and I can stay with Sarah and she’ll be fine.” 

“I think it’s a call that Howie needs to make,” said Kevin.  “Becca, go see if Sarah is ready so we can talk to them about it.” 

“Back in a minute.” 

Becca left the small group and a couple minutes later, Raoul stuck his head in to tell them they could go back to Sarah’s room.

Chapter 50            Index