Chapter 6

I look at Marcus. He doesn’t seem to be with us, his eyes are glazed over. However, I do see Darleen’s arm gently moving back and forth under the table.

Jennifer leans in again, “Is Marcus getting a hand job at the table?”

“Probably. Darleen is quite the sexual deviant.” I say quietly to her.

“That’s hot, but pretty ballsy considering she’s in the middle of the dining room.” Jen says to me.

I know she is right on both accounts, but that is Darleen.

Our dinners arrive. Everyone digs right in. Dinner is delicious.

As the dinner is winding down, I pass my business card over to Mike. I write my personal cell phone number on the back.

“I would like you to start for me in two weeks. We’ll be out of town for most of next week on the east coast plus this gives you some time to resign from your current job leaving them on good terms.” I say to Mike.

I look at Jill. She doesn’t seem to be feeling well.

“Jill honey, are you alright?”

“Not really. I have lots of stomach pain. Can we get me out of here soon?” Jill says.

Dakota is the first to get up going right into the kitchen where she is met at the kitchen entrance by a manager. She explains that we have a sick pregnant woman and we need to pay our bill and leave quickly. He prints the bill out, she hands him her corporate AMEX, signs the bill and we all leave.

Fred is close by as well as the other limo.

I put Jill, Dakota, and Jennifer in my car directing the others to head back to the house in the other limo.

I tell Fred that we need to go to the nearest hospital as quickly as possible. He hits the gas and we are off, speeding through Friday night traffic heading towards the closest hospital.

Dakota is calling Dr. Ronda who agrees to get to the hospital as soon as she can.

Fred did an excellent job. He got us to the hospital in 7 minutes, pushing several yellow lights.

When we get to the hospital, Fred stops us in front of the ER doors. Dakota jumps out grabbing a wheelchair for Jill.

Fred holds his hand out to help Jill out of the limo. Dakota pushes her into the ER announcing to the security guard that we have a pregnant woman with severe stomach pains. He directs her to room 3.

Once in the exam room, Jill gets on the exam table very gingerly. She is wincing from the pain. Her breathing is short almost gasping. A nurse named Becky comes in. She is surprised to see me.

“Hey, don’t I know you?” She says.

“Yes, but we’re here because my wife is 14 weeks pregnant, she’s having incredible stomach pain. We phoned her doctor, Dr. Ronda who is on the way.” I say with a touch of desperation in my voice.

“Don’t worry, sir. We’ll take good care of your wife.” Becky says to me.

She begins to draw vital signs. Blood pressure, pulse ox, temperature, listening to her breathing and heart rhythms.

She heads out of the exam room calling for someone. She returns momentarily with someone who appears to be a doctor. He introduces himself as Dr. Patel. His accent is very thick Indian or Pakistani. He goes through the same steps that I just saw Becky accomplish.

Just as I was about to complain, Jill let out a scream.

Both Jennifer and Dakota are startled.

Dr. Ronda comes into the room. The three medical people quickly discuss what’s going on.

Dr. Ronda give instructions to prep Jill for emergency surgery. She grabs me by the sleeve of my shirt and pulls me into the hall.

“David, her body is rejecting the baby. It needs to come out of her immediately. We’re going to have to perform an emergency C-section to remove the baby. She’ll be alright, I promise you. However, this will take at least two hours. You should probably go home. I’ll call you when it is over.” Ronda says to me.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m staying right here. I’ll be in the cafeteria or the surgical waiting room.” I tell her.

“Ok, that’s fine. I’ll take good care of her David.” She says to me, giving me a kiss on the cheek.

I see the orderly pushing Jill out of the exam room. I stop them for a moment, Jill is in obvious pain. I lean down and kiss her telling her how much I love her. The orderly pushes her away down the hall.

I walk back into the exam room. Both Jennifer and Dakota put their arms around me hugging me and telling me Jill will be alright.

I’m stunned. My mind is a complete blank. I have no idea what to do.

Dakota takes my hand and leads me somewhere. I really don’t know where I’m going, I’m just holding on to her hand in a complete daze.

Although the walk was probably only a couple of minutes, it seemed to be an hour long in a maze with no end in sight.

Finally, I see a sign that says ‘Cafeteria’. I follow Dakota in, still holding her hand, still my mind completely blank.

She sits me down. Jennifer sits with me. Dakota goes to get coffee for Jennifer and herself and pineapple juice for me.

She comes back to our table setting a cup of juice in front of me. She takes her own coffee the condiment table to get cream and sugar. When she returns, Jennifer does the same thing with her coffee.

I just sit there, not saying a word. Neither Dakota nor Jennifer tries to engage in conversation. We all just sit there in silence.

For some reason, in a hospital time seems to move slower than anywhere else. I just stared at the same spot on the wall in front of me. Occasionally, either Jennifer or Dakota would squeeze my hand to silently reassure me.

I felt like crying, but I held it together.

I looked at the clock on the wall. In my head, I did the math. It had been more than three hours. Now I really began to worry.

I heard Dakota’s phone buzz.

She took the call. It was Dr. Ronda. She wanted us to meet her in the surgical consult area. She gave Dakota a room number to be able to find the room.

Dakota got me up, took my hand and led me out of the cafeteria.

Again, I walked where ever she led me. I was still in a daze.

We arrived at the designated room. I see Dr. Ronda with a pensive look on her face.

“David, come in here and sit down. We need to talk.” She says in a monotone.

My eyes are filling up. I’m worried. My mind is still blank. I feel numb. Dakota is still holding my hand. Jennifer puts her arm around me.

“David. Jill lost the baby. Her body rejected it and it tried to expel it all by itself. We were able to remove the baby from her. The baby had already died inside her and the body just wanted it to get out. However, she lost a lot of blood. It took us nearly an hour to get the bleeding under control. We ended up giving her several units of blood just to stabilize her. She’s OK right now. We’ve induced a coma to allow her body to begin healing itself. I expect we’ll take her out of the coma on Sunday. She’ll be in the hospital for at least a week. So maybe, just maybe by next Sunday she will be able to go home.” Dr. Ronda explains.

I’m still numb. I feel a single tear roll down my cheek. I don’t know what to do. Dakota reaches up to me and wipes the single tear away.

Dr. Ronda says that we can see Jill Sunday. Not tonight, not tomorrow. She gets up and leans in and kisses me on the cheek.

Dakota takes my hand and leads me out of the room and to the ER entrance. Jennifer follows along with us. I feel like this is happening to someone else. This is so surreal.

I get outside. Fred is waiting there for us with the door open. He says something, but I have no idea what it is.

Fred gets back in the limo and heads out.

I don’t really remember the drive home. When we pull into the driveway Fred opens the door for us to exit the vehicle.

I’m still in a daze. I feel Dakota reach into my pants pocket, I’m not sure why. She pulls out the money I have and hands the entire amount to Fred who begins to say that it’s too much. She dismisses him and takes me inside.

Jennifer follows, putting her hand on my back caressing me.

We enter the house. I can’t even face anyone. I just head down the hallway. I shed my clothes and climb into bed. Once there, my eyes erupt with the tears. I don’t know what to do. I turn my back to the door, as I don’t want anyone to see me like this. I pull the covers up to my neck hoping sleep will come soon.

My eyes open during the night. I feel someone in bed with me. I turn over to find Dakota snuggling to me. She is sleeping. I’m so very happy she is there. I put my arms around her and pull her to me. She smiles without opening an eye.

I don’t see or feel anyone else in the bed. Just her and I.

I drift back off to sleep.

It wasn’t until mid-morning that my eyes opened. Dakota was still snuggled into me. I laid there trying to recount what had happened last night.

I leaned into Dakota and kissed her lightly and proceeded to get out of bed.

“Daddy, where are you going?”

“I gotta pee.”

I head into the bathroom to do my morning rituals.

I put a pair of basketball shorts on and a white tee shirt. I head out of the bedroom and down the hall.

I get to the kitchen, pour myself a glass of juice and sit at the kitchen table just staring at the clock on the microwave.

It reads: 10:11 am.

I think about the calls that I need to make.

I look for my phone but don’t see it. I get up and head back down the hall to the bedroom. I push the door open on Tina’s room and see Darleen and Marcus entangled in Tina’s bed.

I push Dakota’s door open and see John and Diane.

I think to myself, where is Jennifer? I spin around and head out to the living room, no Jennifer. I go to the TV room. Still no Jennifer. I’m thinking ‘what the fuck’?

I go back down the hallway to get my phone. Dakota meets me at the door to the bedroom.

“Where’s my phone darling?” I ask.

She pops her head back into the bedroom and grabs it handing it to me.

“Where’s Jennifer? She’s the only one I can’t seem to find.” I say.

“I sent her home via Fred last night. She didn’t feel comfortable sleeping here when you were such a wreck last night.” Dakota explains.

“That’s really nice of her.”

“She really loves you, I hope you know that. Maybe not as much as Jill and I do, but she loves you none the less.” Dakota tells me in a heartfelt manner.

“I need to tell Bob and Melanie that I’m cancelling our east coast trip until Jill is better.” I say to Dakota.

“Daddy don’t do that. Call them. Tell them that Jill was rushed to the hospital last night and had emergency surgery. Tell them that she’s in a coma. However, let them suggest that you cancel the east coast trip until she is better. It will make them feel better that they are ‘helping’ you. If you tell them, then they will think you are just trying to get out of seeing Melanie. Trust me on this. I worked for them and I know how they think. Melanie will be the one to suggest that you reschedule the trip for another time.” Dakota explains to me.

I think about what she said to me. It makes perfect sense.

I head back out to the TV room and dial Bob Jaxson. I tell him about Jill being rushed to the hospital. Having emergency surgery. Losing lots of blood. Falling into a comma. Bob hands the phone to Melanie. I must tell her the whole story again. She says to stay home, take care of Jill and not to worry. We can do the east coast trip anytime. I thank her and end the call.

“You were right my darling.” I say to Dakota who joined me on the couch during the call.

Dakota puts her arms around my neck and places her head on my chest. We just sit there for a long while like that.

At some point, I had drifted off to sleep. I woke when I heard Dakota’s phone buzzing.

She was getting a text from Dr. Ronda: No change on Jill. Still in a coma, vital signs good. More later.

Dakota shows me the text. I hug her.

John and Diane are up but trying not to make any sound. They are quietly putting shoes and socks on heading to leave. I stop them.

“Hey, where are you two going?” I say surprising them.

“Oh, sorry. We didn’t know you were awake. We were going to catch a cab home.” John says.

“I’ve got a better idea. Why don’t you join me and Dakota, Marcus and Darleen to go see the new house? I’m calling it ‘The Commune’.”

“Are you kidding us?” Diane asks.

“No, I’m really not kidding.”

Dakota gets up off the couch heading to her bedroom to change clothes.

“Can either of you go wake Darleen and Marcus asking them to get ready to join us?”

I shout down the hallway for Dakota to call us a car, a limo large enough for 6.

I guess I was too loud as Darleen comes stumbling out of Tina’s room. “What the hell, don’t you guys ever sleep around here?” She asks.

“Darleen, it’s after 11. How long were you going to sleep?” I rhetorically ask her.

She just smiles at me and pours herself a cup of coffee. She heads back down the hallway to wake Marcus.

I head to the bedroom. I grab some clothes and get into the shower. It kind of felt odd being alone in the shower. That really hasn’t happened in quite a while.

With no one in the shower with me, the whole event took less than 10 minutes.

I get out of the shower, dress, grab the new house keys, my wallet, my cell phone, and of course $500 out of the firebox.

I’m sitting alone in the living room for a bit before Dakota joins me. John and Diane were sitting in the TV room watching SportsCenter.

“Daddy, I hope you know that we all love you and hope for the best for Jill.” Dakota says heartfully to me.

“I know Darling. I love all of you as well.”

As Fred arrives with the limo, we all head out. As I’m waiting to get in the car, Fred pulls me aside trying to give back some of the money Dakota handed him last night telling me it was too much.

I declined. He has been professional, trustworthy, and able to handle everything that we have asked of him. I told him to keep it, he had earned it.

I got in the limo and asked Fred to take us to the new house.

John asked, “Are you really going to call this place ‘The Commune’?”

“Absolutely! Oh, and by the way, I have asked your Mom to move in with us.” I said as I watched John’s eyes grow large. He never saw that one coming, I thought to myself.

Diane was now smiling. I could see the wheels in her young brain begin to turn thinking about how maybe she might be able to move in with him.

“Marcus, we didn’t get a chance to talk yesterday. Diane came over asking if I could find you a job inside the organization, but I have no clue where to put you. What have you done as jobs before?” I ask.

“Sir, I’ve done lots of things. None of them well though. I’ve been a dishwasher, a line cook, a busboy, a warehouse forklift driver, a truck loader, a car mechanic, and my last job was working at the ticket office for the Staples center. However, that was too inconsistent. Some weeks there was an event every night, other weeks nothing. I couldn’t survive on basically one weeks pay for two weeks.” Marcus says to me.

“Out of curiosity, what does your Mom do for a living? I’ve never met her.” I say.

Diane enters the conversation, “Oh, you’d love Mom. She’s just your type. She’s a maverick. Speaks her mind. Often Marcus and I wonder if she has a filter between her brain and her mouth. She’s a hard-working woman, she’s a nurse at a surgical place that does plastic surgery. Mostly boob jobs for vain ‘wanna be’ actresses.”

I see both Darleen and Dakota smiling. I just knew what they were thinking.

“Marcus, what would you LIKE to do?” I ask him.

“Well, for a moment you mentioned a call center where John works. I wouldn’t mind trying to do that, if you’re willing to take a chance on me.”

“Marcus, I’ll be happy to take a chance on you. You’ve done nothing that warrants me to suspect you would do anything shady or try to embarrass me. How about I put you with John at our Pasadena call center? John will be your mentor, teaching you how to do the job and how to be successful. He’s one of our top Customer Service people, so learning from him would be good for you.” I say.

Marcus is smiling. John is smiling. Diane is smiling.

The drive seems shorter, but it mostly was because we were engaged in the conversation.