The Sweater Next Door by Callie Cole

Author:Callie Cole [Cole, Callie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-11-24T18:00:00+00:00

Chapter 6

I join Patrick, who is sitting on the sofa in the living room. Olive is spread out on the loveseat.

“Your daughter is adorable.”

“She can be a handful sometimes, but I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“She told me about her mother. It must have been very hard for you. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”

“No. I don’t mind at all. To say it was a shock would be an understatement. Nothing about Meredith’s pregnancy was difficult. It was a smooth nine months without issue. She didn’t have any underlying condition that would put the pregnancy at high risk. Everything was perfect—until it wasn’t.”

“Was my mother close to your wife?”

“We were living in New York at the time. I met my wife in medical school. She was from New York and loved the city. She used to say she was a real city girl who married a real country boy. I was born in a small town like this, but much closer to Raleigh.

The pregnancy wasn’t planned. Meredith wanted to wait, which was understandable, given all the years working toward our careers. I have to admit, I was a little envious of our friends who had kids. But we were honestly too busy working to be there for a child.

When we found out she was pregnant, I was elated, but she wasn’t as thrilled as I was. I’ll give her credit, though. She adjusted and got used to the idea fairly quickly.

Soon, we were getting excited about being parents. We decided she would quit her job for at least a year. We figured it would be best for the child, especially living in the city and without family close by.

The day Ella was born; Meredith developed an amniotic fluid embolism. It’s not something you can prepare for. It all happened so fast. Everything seemed fine. They delivered Ella, but things deteriorated rapidly.

I was with her in the delivery room until the tension changed, and the nurses started pushing me out. I had to go be in the waiting room until someone came to explain what was happening.

I knew when I saw the doctor’s face as he approached me that something terrible had happened. I assumed we’d lost Ella. It was a complete shock when they said it was Meredith. I mean, who dies giving birth in the twenty-first century?

You think being a doctor somehow gives you special protection against such things. None of my training prepared me for her death, or for the fact that I couldn’t do anything to save her.”

As I listen to Patrick’s words, my heart breaks for him and for Ella. My words of support and sympathy somehow feel as if they fall short, but it’s all I have to give him.

“I’m so sorry, Patrick. I can’t imagine how horrible that day and the days that followed were for you.”

“Thank you, Laney. I appreciate that. In the beginning it was difficult, no doubt. My sister and mother came to take care of Ella and me during that time.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.