In the dark of night,
Llanview, PA…
Starr Manning made herself comfy on the couch of her father’s house. She
had just finished a phone conversation with River Carpenter, her best
friend, and it was late at night. She turned on the TV low and had plans to
fall asleep watching it’s comforting but useless noises. She put a blanket
over her and sighed.
Starr could tell her father and Téa, her stepmother, were trying to put up
a brave front for the kids but they were scared inside. All of a sudden she
felt a presence over her and looked up.
“Taylor?”
Taylor Manning slouched down on the floor in front of the couch and leaned
her back against it. Starr delicately reached out and gently stroked her
sister’s hair.
“I can’t sleep,” said Taylor.
“I know that feeling,” said Starr.
“Starr, what’s the worse case scenario? Could Mom die?” asked Taylor. She
was in her pajamas.
“Yeah. That’s the worst case,” said Starr.
“I would really appreciate it if she would stick around,” said Taylor
sadly.
“Me too. Look, I seriously doubt she’ll die,” said Starr.
“Could she lose the baby?” asked Taylor.
“Yeah,” said Starr honestly.
“Dad wigged out the last time when Mom had a miscarriage. He tore the
house apart. He was moody for weeks,” said Taylor.
“He loves us all. It hurts him so much. You know, my mom had a series of
miscarriages as well,” said Starr softly.
“I’m sorry,” said Taylor.
“After her son died, they told her she shouldn’t have anymore kids,” said
Starr.
“That’s got to be tough Starr,” said Taylor.
“My mom’s a tough cookie,” said Starr, “And so is your mother. As for Dad,
I have no doubt he’d take it hard…if Téa miscarried again…we’ve just go to
be strong for him like he’s strong for us and help get him through it.”
“You know Terri counts on me a lot and she doesn’t really realize it. She
misses it when I can’t help her with her spelling words or when I can’t read
to her or go to the mall with her. She tells me so. I guess I didn’t
realize being a big sister is a big responsibility. I mean, that’s what I
am - a big sister. I guess what I’m trying to say is that sometimes…I like
being a little sister, too…” said Taylor softly.
Starr gave Taylor a light kiss on her head, “I like it too.”
*****
“Hey Trev, you up?” asked Tyler peering into his brother’s room. He was in
his pajamas. To Tyler’s surprise, Trevor walked away from his window.
“Yeah, I’m up,” said Trevor.
Tyler walked in and began to pace while Trevor watched him from a dark
corner of his room.
“I’m finally stressing out dude,” said Tyler, “About this baby stuff.”
“Stressing about it now isn’t going to help Mom,” said Trevor crossing his
arms.
“How come parents can do some stupid stuff sometimes?” asked Tyler.
“I dunno. Maybe love makes you do stupid stuff sometimes,” said Trevor,
imitating his brother.
“You know what man? I’m glad our father loves our mother and she loves
him. I mean our parents are together. Half the guys I know on the Hockey
team - their parents are divorced and they’re always complaining about
“Mom won’t let me see Dad.” Or “Dad ain’t got the time for us now he’s got a
girlfriend.” I mean, we don’t have those problems and I like that,”
said Tyler trying to calm himself down.
“I dunno Ty. Our father is a complicated guy…doesn’t his past bother you
at times?” asked Trevor, “Do you ever wonder about his father and how our
father grew up? Don’t you ever wonder about the anger?”
Tyler swallowed, “I don’t think about it too much. I guess that’s ‘cos
he’s always there for me. I wouldn’t trade Dad in for the world. I
wouldn’t trade Mom in either. You know what I want to do…more than anything
in the world?”
“What Ty?” asked Trevor masked in the shadows.
“I wanna’ go back to New York with just her. I had so much fun at
Christmas time,” said Tyler.
“Tyler Manning had fun hanging out with his mother?” teased Trevor, “Is
that the sign of a real man?!”
“Yeah!! And I want to do it again!” said Tyler defensively. He couldn’t
tell if his brother was teasing or not.
“I’m sure you will Ty,” said Trevor softly out of the darkness.
Suddenly the door opened and Terri walked in.
“I’m scared and Taylor isn’t in her room,” said Terri. She was clutching
her favorite stuffed teddy bear. Todd had gotten it for her birthday last
year and she treasured everything he gave her.
Tyler glanced at Trevor and stood taller, proud, and confident. Trevor
walked out of the shadows. The boys approached their younger sister.
“It’s okay to be scared little Tee girl,” said Trevor softly.
Tyler picked up his youngest sister in his arms and smiled at her.
“You’re strong. Like Daddy,” said Terri.
Tyler said nothing and Trevor walked over beside them. Tyler looked at
Trevor as if to say he didn’t have the words.
“It’ll be okay. It will,” said Trevor, “You know, sometimes it helps to
pray.”
“Will you guys pray with me then?” asked Terri.
“Sure,” said Trevor. He pointed to the door and they took her back to her
room.
Together, the three of said prayers of comfort that their mother had taught
them.
*****
The next morning,
Llanview General…
Todd paced Téa’s hospital room. She was in the operating room as he moved
around. He couldn’t stand to be just sitting. He was nervous and scared.
He had to be moving. It helped to ease his anxiety.
He wrinkled his brow. Téa had been restless the previous night. Finally
at eleven, the nurse gave her something to go to sleep. He had watched over
her, not getting much sleep himself.
Finally, he bolted out of her room and walked down the hall
to the OR where he paced there. After a few minutes, Dr. Clayton walked
out.
“Doc!” cried Todd.
“Todd,” said Dr. Clayton mildly surprised to see him.
“So how she is?” asked Todd.
“She tolerated the procedure well,” answered Dr. Clayton.
Todd wasn’t satisfied with that answer and got in the doctor’s face, “Look,
just stop it with the doctor speak and tell me what happened. Are my wife
and baby gonna’ be all right?”
Clayton paused, took a breath, and motioned for Todd to accompany him to a
nearby lounge. When they arrived, Clayton sat down and relaxed a little.
“We gave Téa a mild local painkiller to minimize the pain but she did feel
discomfort. We used a sonogram to pick a good location. The procedure went
well and we’ve sent the sample off to the lab to be tested. Téa’s in
recovery. We gave her some aspirin after the local wore off to help her
deal with the pain. Right now, we’re monitoring her in the recovery room
for an hour and if all goes
well, we’ll release her to her room,” explained the doctor.
“She’s okay?” asked Todd.
“She’s okay,” confirmed the doctor.
“And the baby? Ten fingers and toes?” asked Todd.
“Yes. There’s no abnormal development we can detect at this time…”
confirmed the doctor, “But…”
“But what?” Todd swallowed.
“Well, I want you to know Todd in case…the sonogram confirmed without a
doubt that the baby is a boy,” said Dr. Clayton soberly, “I assure you we’ll
be conducting a test for hemophilia.”
“A boy…” whispered Todd. He could feel his eyes misting up. He wanted a
boy. He did.
“Does Téa know?” asked Todd.
“She does,” he answered. He checked his watch, “As soon as we can, we’ll
have Téa out of recovery. We’ll monitor her in the hospital for a day and
if everything looks good, we’ll release her but Todd…”
“What?” said Todd crossing his arms.
“For the first 24 hours at home I want Téa on bed rest. Absolutely no
strenuous activity. You pamper her Todd. You got that?” said the doctor
firmly.
“Yeah. Sure,” said Todd.
“And if Téa starts cramping or begins spotting you bring her here
immediately, you got that? That could be very early signs of a miscarriage
and we’ve got drugs, if administered in time, which could help prevent
that,” said the doctor, “Is it possible to have someone with her at all
times?”
“I got a houseful of kids Doc. You bet,” said Todd.
“Good,” said Dr. Clayton. He got up and walked off.
Todd leaned back on the couch.
“I got my wish. I got a boy. He’s just got to be okay. He’s just got to
be…” whispered Todd.
Suddenly Todd got and went to call his sister, Viki.
As soon as he was done with his phone call he went back to Téa’s room and
was pleasantly surprised to see her there, lying down on the bed. Her eyes
were closed but he took her hand. She wearily responded to his touch and
looked at him.
“How do you feel Delgado?” asked Todd.
Lightly, he brought his hand up to her face and rubbed her cheek with his
thumb.
“I dunno. I guess “sore” is the best word I would use to describe it,” she
answered looking into his eyes.
“He’s a boy Téa,” said Todd.
“I know,” she said sadly.
“Don’t think like that. Don’t,” said Todd. He leaned over and nuzzled her
face.
She said nothing, internalizing her worries about her son’s potential
medical condition.
Todd stayed with her, tenderly holding her hand.
TO BE CONTINUED…
