Staring at Luke, I tried to let his words process as Noah pulled over on the side of the road behind Will’s truck.
“Grace!” Luke shouted. “Did you hear me?”
Nodding my head, I looked up the number and called the after hours emergency line.
My vision became blurry as I watched Will and Colt help Alex into the back of the truck. She looked over and gave me a weak smile as I tried to smile back. “It’s okay, Alex,” I whispered.
“Dr. Johnson’s after hours line. How may I help you?”
“Um . . . yes . . . my name is Grace Johnson, Alex Hayes is my cousin. She’s in the truck in front of us and her water just broke.” Wiping my tears away, I waited for them to tell us what to do.
“When is her due date?”
A small sob escaped from my mouth as I said, “She’s not due for another month. March seventeenth. ”
“I’ll page Dr. Johnson right now. Take her to the emergency room. They’ll know to expect her. Just keep her calm and let her know everything is going to be okay.”
“O-O-Okay . . . I’ll tell them,” I said as I watched Colt pull back out onto the highway and take off toward Fredericksburg.
Turning to Luke, I said, “Tell them the doctors been paged and to go straight to the emergency room. They also said to keep Alex calm and to tell her . . . to tell her . . .”
Luke’s eyes widened as he shouted, “Tell her what, Grace?”
Attempting to keep myself from crying out of sheer fear, I fought to talk, “That everything is going to be okay.”
Luke’s face pained as he repeated everything I told him to Colt.
Noah took my hand and kissed the back of it as he concentrated on driving. “How can they say that?”
Noah glanced quickly at me and asked, “Say what?”
Shaking my head, I stared back at Will’s truck. Trying to imagine how scared Alex was. If I knew her, she was blaming herself and saying it must have been something she did.
“How can they say it’s going to be okay? They don’t know if it’s going to be okay? They have no damn clue if Alex or the baby is going to be okay.”
Noah squeezed my hand gently as he spoke softly. “Grace, I know you’re scared right now baby, but trust me, babies are born prematurely all the time. Let’s just take a deep breath, say some prayers and be there for Will and Alex.”
Slowly nodding my head, I said, “Okay.”
A few seconds of silence passed by before Luke said, “Shit. I better call Gunner and Ellie.”
“I’ll call Mom and Dad, even though I’m sure they’re all together.”
My father’s phone went to voicemail which wasn’t surprising and my mother’s only rang twice when she answered in a panicked voice. “Grace! What’s happening? Gunner is talking to Luke and Ellie is freaking out.”
“Mom, calm down. Alex’s water broke.”
I could hear my mother put her hand over the phone and said, “Alex’s water broke.”
“Mom, Colt is driving her and Will to the emergency room, and Alex’s doctor is meeting them there.”
I could hear Gunner and my mother say at the same time, “The emergency room.”
Turning around, I looked at Luke. He was staring straight ahead as he talked to Gunner. “Okay, you’ll be there before us. The doctor’s office said we needed to keep Alex calm.”
Luke nodded his head at something Gunner told him. “Yes, sir. We will. Bye.”
“Gunner told us to be careful and make sure Colt doesn’t speed. Josh and Heather weren’t at the restaurant yet, so Gunner asked if we would call them.”
After calling Josh and Heather and telling them everything I told my mother, we drove in silence. I knew each of us was saying our own silent prayers. Covering my mouth, I cried. Noah placed his hand on my shoulder and I knew he was feeling helpless. Just like I was.
“The other day Alex told me she had a weird feeling something was wrong. I brushed it off to nerves. What if something was wrong and I’m the reason she ignored it?”
“That’s crazy, Grace. Don’t sit here and blame yourself. Let’s get to the hospital and see what’s going on before we start thinking the worse.”
“Luke is right, Grace. Baby, just take in some deeps breaths. We’re almost there.
Leaning my head back against the headrest, I prayed harder than I ever have before for Alex and the baby.
Please let her and the baby be all right. Please.
Grace