When I regain consciousness, my head is so heavy. I am not able to open my eyes. I hear voices echoing in the room.
"Mrs Grey, please just let me..." I hear a male voice trail off, "Alright I'll leave." I hear a deep sigh. Before I could comprehend what is happening, I am swallowed by darkness once again.
When I wake up again, I am finally able to open my eyes. The light is too bright for me and I squint. My head is still hurting and my whole body feels like it is paralysed. Where am I? I hear the sound of monitors beeping and see only white walls. I try to recollect what happened in the past few hours. I was with Dan. He...he was going to kill me. Someone rescued me. I had to take a right but I took a left. Ahhh. I scream escapes my lips as I try to tolerate the pain in my body.
"April?" I hear someone call out softly, "Hey." Nathan's face appears before me and he gives me a small smile. I am still loopy and unable to gather myself.
"What happened?" I ask. I cannot recognise my own voice. It's so weak and small.
"You are safe. Everything is okay." He assures me. I try to sit but I have no strength in my body. Nathan stops me and clicks a button on the side panel. My bed starts to move and I am able to sit face to face with him. I recollect the events of the past few days. I remember falling forward when Dan was shot.
"Dan was...?" I begin.
"Yes, he was shot. He survived and is now undergoing a trial. April," Nathan moves closer to me and takes my hand in his, "I'm so sorry you got caught in the middle of this. I can't even begin to apologise for that you have been through."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I thought we were past this. When I took care of Max I thought all of this is over." His eyes meet mine and my heart skips a beat. I move forward towards him but groan as my body disagrees with me.
"Hey, hey. Don't move. What do you need?"
"You. I need you." I croak as tears fall from my eyes. How do I begin to apologise to him? I have said so many awful things to him. "I'm..." I sob, "I'm so sorry, Nathan. I am so sorry I didn't believe you." I cry. He shakes his head and tries to calm me.
"Shhh. It's all okay, April. None of this, not even an iota is your fault." He wipes my tears. As he gets closer I wrap my arms around him pulling him into me. I feel relief rush through me and I instantly feel better. "April, the doctor has said that you cannot be taking even a little bit stress. Your blood pressure has been low for some time and you cannot be taking even a little bit stress." He tells me while stroking my hair.
"You don't need to worry, Nathan. I'm all okay now, here in your arms." I hug him tightly, "Everything will be okay now. You, me and our little baby will live together peacefully." Nathan body freezes at the mention of beany. He gently pulls away and looks at me with sadden eyes.
"April..." He begins and dread settles inside me.
"What? Is beany okay?"
"You lost the baby. I know you didn't want him in the first place so I guess..." He closes his eyes as if reliving a nightmare. Tears escape his eyes. I am unable to move anymore. "On the bright side, you don't have to for abortion. Your body is very weak and I'm not sure if it could handle it." He wipes his tears and continued talking.
I couldn't react. I couldn't say anything. I place my hand on my abdomen and try to feel beany. I don't understand. Why do I not believe him? It feels like he's lying to me or someone is lying to him. This cannot happen. I cannot lose my baby.
"How?" I try to say but my crying makes it incomprehensible. "No. No. No. Beany is right here with me. He wouldn't leave. I can't lose him." I say continuously.
"April, it's okay. You are absolutely fine. Everything is okay. You just need to rest to recover and keep your blood pressure in check." Nathan tries to comfort me. I grab his arm and cry on his shoulders. "April, now you can have kids when you are really ready." He continues, "You will be a fantastic mother. It will all be okay."
"I didn't want to abort." I say between my wailing, "I was going to keep the child. I just wanted to protect him from you and Alyssa." I feel my head spin. How did my life come to this?
"April, April....!" I hear Nathan call as darkness consumed me again.
---------------
When I next open my eyes, the pain is gone from my body. But my heart hurts. I remember. I remember the conversation with Nathan. He thought I didn't want the baby because I told him so. The guilt is gripping me. What a mess have I made? I blink a couple of times, surprised at the fact that my head is not heavy anymore.
"Welcome back." A strange voice greets me. There's a man standing next to me in white coat with a clipboard in his hands. "Look at that, April, we finally have your blood pressure at normal levels." He says happily, "I told you this new drug will work." He looks behind him at someone.
"Nathan!" I call out. When I try to get up, he stops me and pulls up the bed.
"You are still on complete bed rest for at least a month." He tells me. I look around to find my parents standing just a few feet away from my bed. No sign of Nathan. I reach out to my parents and they hold my hand. As soon as the conversation with Nathan runs through my mind, I begin to cry again.
"Hey, honey, what happened?" My dad asks gently as he tries to calm me down. He looks back at the doctor in confusion.
"It's okay." The doctor nods reassuringly, "You can say this is a mix of PTSD and pregnancy hormones. I have scheduled the visit of a mental health professional. It's mandatory in kidnapping cases."
I look up at him in confusion. Pregnancy hormones? Is he mocking me? "Excuse me?" I say to him between my sobs, "Are you trying to make this easy by kidding me?" I almost scream in anger, "I lost my baby and..." I am cut off by a shocked "What?" from the doctor.
He flips through his clipboard twice. My parents give each other a nervous look and turn towards me.
"Honey, your baby is fine." My mom says, "We...we..." She hesitates to continue but I urge her, "We told Nathan that the baby didn't survive to get rid of him. After the accident he wouldn't leave your side and we didn't know what to do. All we knew is that we needed to protect you two from him, so we lied to him." My mom explained.
"Yes, the baby is fine." The doctor added, "We ran thorough checks on the baby and he was doing good. By the way, would you like to know the gender?" He asks me. I give him a strange look. Do I look like I wanna know the gender? When my furious eyes meet his, he takes the hint and leaves the room.
"So my baby is okay?" I confirm with my parents with a smile forming on my face.
"Yes honey. Absolutely fine." My dad says, "We are here for you darling. You and our grandchild." He kissed my forehead.
"You guys have committed a grave mistake." I tell them and they look at me with confusion, "And so have I. You shouldn't have told Nathan that our baby is gone. He didn't cheat on me."
"What!" My parents say in unison.
"That day when Alyssa came to our...Nathan's house. She was trying to win him back by concerting with Dan. All of what she told me was made up story by Dan including the pictures which were photoshopped. I was so quick in believing them that I never gave Nathan a chance and broke his heart." I admit.
"Oh honey, that isn't your fault." My mom comforts me as I cry my guilt away. "Andrew what have we done?" She turns to my Dad whose face has turned pale.
"We need to fix it." My dad says, "You need to tell Nathan the truth tomorrow about everything."
"Yes honey. We will call him here tomorrow so that we can apologise and sort everything out. For tonight, you need to rest."
"No mom, tomorrow would be too late. I want to sort it out today itself."
"No April. You have had a very tough couple of days. The doctor has strictly said that you cannot even take a little bit of stress otherwise it may negativity affect the baby. If you don't comply, they may give you a sedative." My mom tells me seriously. I nod at her. I look at the clock in the room and it is past eleven already. It's late. I'll talk to him tomorrow.
I get down from the bed with the help of the nurse and my mother and go to the washroom. When I look at myself in the mirror I couldn't recognise my own face. There were multiple bruises under my eye and cheek. I had cut my lips. My writs and ankles still had bruises from the rope but they had almost faded. Unable to face this person, I quickly go back to the bed. My dad calls for some food for me after consulting the doctor. As I finish my food, we hear a knock of the door. My dad opens the door to find David standing there. I look at the time and it's almost midnight. Why is he here so late? Is Nathan okay?
"David?"
"Hi April!" He enters the room with a yellow envelope in his hands, "How are you feeling?"
"I'm better." I tell him.
"I'm so sorry about everything." He looks at me with sympathy. I give him a small smile. "Sorry to disturb at this hour but Nathan wanted me to deliver this to your parents as soon as possible. But I guess since you are awake, I'll give to you." He hands me the envelope.
"Thank you, David." I take the envelope from him.
"Take care April. I'm here for you." He gives me a small hug and leaves.
I open the envelope to find a letter and a document inside. When I open the neatly folded letter there is only one line written in it, "I have signed the divorce papers, you can sign them as well and deliver at my office. Have a wonderful life, Grey. Yours, Nathan."