34. Selena
Selena
Asteady beeping fills the air around me. The sound, loud and annoying.
The world slowly tries to creep its way back in. I try to open my eyes, but everything is blurry, swimming in and out of focus. My throat burns. My chest feels heavy. But why?
Then it hits me like a brick.
Fire. The building’s on fire. Mrs. Hinkley and I are trapped in my bedroom. Panic surges through me. We have to get out of here before we burn to death.
I jerk weakly, trying to sit up, but my body refuses to cooperate. I’m too weak to do anything and now my babies are going to suffer for it. My hands go to my stomach in an attempt to protect them.
"Selena, you're okay." A hand takes hold of my arm, not with roughness but kindness. I don’t know her voice. Is it a firefighter? “I’m Heather, and you’re safe.”
I blink several times, forcing my eyes to open, bringing the person in front of me into focus. A nurse. She's standing beside my bed, watching me carefully. Looking around, I see I’m in a hospital room.
Relief lasts all of half a second before terror crashes over me again.
"My babies?” I ask her frantically, tears already building. All I can think is the worst. "Are my babies okay?"
She smiles, squeezing my arm gently. “Your babies are fine.”
Thank God. Tears run down my cheeks and I don’t even try to wipe them away. I’m just so happy that I don’t even wonder how they know. Some test they must’ve performed.
"Your fiancé, Sam, called earlier when he found out about the fire. He told us you were pregnant and that you’ve been experiencing some pretty bad morning sickness."
My eyes sting. Sam; of course he called. But how did he find out?
Heather reaches over and points toward a machine beside me. "Hear that noise?"
I listen. Beneath the beeping of monitors is a rapid, rhythmic sound. Thump-thump-thump. Thump-thump-thump. My breath catches because I’ve heard that sound before. I know what it is.
"Their heartbeats," she says. "And they're strong."
A sob escapes me before I can stop it. My babies are alive. They're okay. Somehow God was looking out for us. I let my head fall back against the pillow and close my eyes for a moment.
"There's also a man waiting in the lobby," the nurse continues gently. "A firefighter. One of the men who saved you." My stomach tightens immediately. "Your stepbrother. Would you like him to come back?"
I shake my head before she can even finish. "No." The word comes out sharper than I intended for it to. “Can you tell him to go home? That I'm okay. There’s no need for him to stay."
The cuff on my arm starts to expand, and the room goes quiet other than the humming noise and the thumping of babies’ heartbeats.
"I'll tell him. Though I don't know if it'll do any good." Her fingers tap on the keyboard as she inputs my vitals.
Despite everything, a tiny smile pulls at my lips.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Selena. But having some family with you isn’t a bad thing.”
Yeah, it wouldn’t be if you hadn’t fucked all your new stepbrothers and gotten pregnant by one of them. Yeah, this is shit you’d find on Jerry Springer.
As she turns to check something on a monitor, another thought suddenly hits me.
"Mrs. Hinkley."
The nurse looks back at me, confusion on her face. "I’m sorry?"
"The woman. Older lady. She was in the room with me." I swallow painfully, dread building within me that she didn’t make it. "Is she okay?" My voice cracks.
The nurse smiles. That’s a good sign. Right?
"She is. She's already been moved to a room."
Another wave of relief washes through me. At least some good came out of this nightmare.
“When can I go home?" I ask. I’m not even sure that I have a home to go to. With the way the fire was, if the building is still standing, then it’s likely there’s not much to go back to. The nurse gives me a sympathetic look, and I know I’m not getting released. Not yet anyway.
"We'd like to keep you for twenty-four hours for observation and to monitor the babies. Your fiancé provided us with your OB’s name and we’ve contacted him. He’s given us orders, and he’ll be by in the morning to see you."
"Okay." As much as I want to go, I’m more concerned with my babies’ health. Honestly, I don't think I could stand even if I tried. And where do I go? My mother’s? No way in hell am I doing that. I could always go to Sam’s.
Every muscle in my body hurts. My eyelids grow heavy, and all I want to do is sleep. That’s when I notice I’m not nauseous. For the first time in weeks, I'm not fighting the urge to throw up.
It’s a small victory in the aftermath of destruction and I’ll take it as a win.
The nurse adjusts my blanket and smiles warmly. "Get some rest. I'm going to go update your brother."
I simply nod. “Thank you, Heather. For everything.”
“That’s why I’m here.” She turns and heads to the sliding door.
Then I remember she’s going to talk to whichever stepbrother is out there. Maybe it’s all three.
"Wait."
She turns.
“Is something wrong?” she asks.
"Can you not tell them I'm pregnant?" I clear my throat and force a smile. “We haven’t told the family yet. We wanted to wait until we hit the second trimester.”
"Of course. Your secret is safe with me. Now get some rest. I’ll be back to check on you in a bit." She offers one last reassuring smile before slipping out of the room, sliding the door closed behind her.
For a moment, the room is silent except for the monitors and the steady sound of two tiny heartbeats.
“We did it, Chicken Nugget and Jalapeno Popper.” I must be delusional calling them Sam’s crazy pet names. “We made it out of the fire.”
The fire may have taken everything from me, but it didn’t take them. I’ve never loved them more than I do at this moment.
Just before exhaustion pulls me into darkness, another thought forces my eyes back open.
My apartment. I don’t care about the items within it. The only thing that I’m going to miss are the pictures of my father. It’s like life is trying to take the last pieces of him that I have.
I close my eyes, but the questions keep coming. How am I supposed to replace everything? How am I supposed to prepare for twins if I don't even have a place to live?
For the first time since waking up and hearing those precious heartbeats, fear creeps back in. Because now it's not just my future hanging in the balance. It's theirs too.
My hand presses protectively against my stomach.
All I know is that when I walk out of this hospital, my life is going to be completely different than it was yesterday.
"I'll figure it out," I whisper to them. “Mama’s going to make sure you’re taken care of.”