My Number One Fan

We pulled up to the house to see Matt and my Dad was standing on the front porch, waiting for us. I got out of the car and breezed by them, they didn’t take notice of me. Jeff, on the other hand, wasn’t as fortunate. I knew they wouldn’t do anything physical, so I walked into the house and got right on the phone, dialing Amelia Grace’s office number.
“Amelia Grace’s office, Dr. Grace speaking.” my therapist answered.
“What happened to your assistant?” I asked.
“She took the day off, is this Mrs. Hardy I hear?” Dr. Grace replied.
“Might not be for to much longer,” I muttered, walking downstairs to the den.
“Marital problems? You know I offer marital counseling,” she replied, sounding confused.
“It’s more than that Dr. Grace,” I said, leaning my elbow on the desk. “Jeff’s been a drug addict for years, he’s been suspended from the company twice for failing the drug tests, and he was just arrested for having them in the house, with intent on selling.” I explained. “I was wondering if you could refer us to any Rehab centers for him.”
“Absolutely,” Dr. Grace replied. “I might suggest he checks out an NA meeting every so often as well. Narcotics Anonymous.”
“Yeah, do you know when the meetings and stuff are?” I asked her.
“I’m actually holding a meeting tonight, and they’ll decide when the next meeting will be and where it will be held.”
“What time is the meeting?” I asked, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. I jotted down the information along with the name of the building they would be meeting at. I ran down the stairs to find that Dad and Matt still had Jeff outside, but they were yelling loud enough for me to hear them.
“Don’t you think you need to start thinking about your wife in there!?” Matt was shouting. “She doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.”
“You don’t think I don’t know that?” Jeff shouted back. “That woman in there means more to me than anything…”
“Then start acting like it!” Dad shouted. “Stop with the fucking drugs and hiding shit from her and get your ass together.” There was a bang on the side of the house, followed by Jeff cursing profoundly.
“What the hell do you think I’m trying to do?” he asked. I noticed his voice was strained, as if holding back tears. “I don’t blame her for not talking to me, hell I wouldn’t blame her if she just packed up and left me right now. I’m not treating her right, and I hate myself for it.” His voice cracked, and I heard him clear it. “I’m wanting to kill myself right now, you have no idea how much I’m wanting to.” I couldn’t take it anymore. I burst through the front door and walked right up to Jeff, lifting my hand back and slapping it across his face.
“You listen to me Jeffrey,” I said, pointing my finger at him. “I don’t ever want to hear you say that again. You do stuff I don’t like, you lie to me, you keep things from me, but you don’t deserve to die because of it. If you go on a murdering spree, then I’ll be the one there with the gun pointed at your head, sure, but lying and keeping things from me isn’t worth ending your life over.”
“I was just arrested Riley, do you know how much that fucked up my future, our future, the future for our kids when we have them?” he said, tears streaking his face faster.
“You was in jail for 4 hours, wow you’re a harden criminal now!” I said sarcastically. “If you want me to leave, I’ll leave. I’ll go to Dad and Sara’s house, leave you all alone in this house we made together. Is that what you want? For me to say fuck off to ‘till death do us part?’” He didn’t reply, just stared at the floor of the porch. “I need to know Jeffrey, do you want to forget the vows we swore to each other just barely 16 months ago?”
“No, I don’t,” he said finally. “I don’t want to lose you, you know that. I never kept how much it killed me when you left after the hotel mix up, how much it killed me when you didn’t know who I was.” he grabbed for my hands, but I moved them out of his reach, still to angry for him to touch me, mainly because I knew when he did, all my anger would subside quickly.
“Then stop keeping things from me,” I said, crossing my arms over my chest. “Stop the lies, stop the secrecy. You know my past Jeff. If there was anyone people would think would lie and keep secrets all the time, they would automatically think me, but I don’t. I’m honest with you, I’m honest with everyone.”
“Not to much so,” Jeff muttered.
“What are you talking about?” I asked, confused.
“When you first started talking to that therapist, you didn’t tell her about the chair shot to the head, or the amnesia it caused.”
“She did a brain scan on me, I would of thought if there was any more damage it would of showed up on the scan.” I said. “And there was no need for me to talk about the amnesia when talking about my mother’s family’s health because I was 7 when she died, I wouldn’t remember she was Bi-Polar even if I hadn’t been knocked senseless. Don’t try to turn this around on me, I’m not the one who hid drugs in our home and get caught by getting arrested.”
“I’m not taking this shit,” Jeff muttered, running from the porch.
“Where the hell are you going?” I shouted after him.
“Taking a page out of your book Riley Michelle,” he said, turning around and smirking at me. “I’m trying to run away from my problems.” I felt as if I had been slapped in the face. I ran down the front porch stairs, only to stop from a sudden pain shooting through my stomach. I screamed, realizing it was the same type of pain I felt in my nightmare while on the road.
“Jeff!” Matt shouted, running down the stairs. He and Dad reached me a second later. Jeff came sprinting up the yard, concern and guilt in his eyes.
“Riley, what’s wrong?” he asked, grabbing my hand. I didn’t fight him off this time.
“Remember the nightmare, the one that prompted the therapist idea?” I asked, taking in a deep breath. When the three men nodded, I noticed Jeff’s eyes go wide.
“Your having pain like the dream,” he said. I nodded, taking in another deep breath. The pain was dull, but still there.
“Let’s get her inside,” Jeff said.
“No, we need to take her to the hospital,” Matt said, reaching to pick me up.
“I got her, go start the car,” Jeff said, tossing his keys to Matt. Matt and Dad got into the car as Jeff carried me and put me in the backseat. The trip to the hospital and through the preliminary check-up was a blur. All I could think about was the pain that was radiating through my lower abdomen. Something felt off, I just didn’t know what it was. I was given pain killers, so I was getting drowsy as Jeff sat beside me. When I felt a leaking come from between my legs, I tried to scream again, but couldn’t. I just shook Jeff’s hand, which he still had locked with mine. I pointed to below my waist, and he looked.
“Fuck,” I heard him mutter before calling for help. “Honey, you’re bleeding.” he said as the nurses ran into the room. They sent him out, but not before he kissed my hand and muttered “I love you, don’t ever forget that.” The nurses worked to stop the bleeding until the doctor came in. By then, my eyes were so heavy, I couldn’t keep them open. The last thing I remember was the doctor’s frantic face before I succumbed to the darkness.

~POV: Jeff~
I paced in a private waiting room while Matt and Mark sat in chairs.
“Jeff, relax will you?” Matt asked as the door opened. I perked up when I saw it was a doctor.
“How is she?” I asked immediately.
“Mrs. Hardy will make a full recovery,” the doctor replied. “But I’m afraid I have grave news.”
“W-what?” Mark asked, his voice soft.
“We received a mass on an ultrasound, it wasn’t doing anything, so we extracted it. After we stabilized her, we ran tests to see what the mass was. Can either of you tell me the date of her last menstrual period?” Matt and Mark turned to face me.
“About a couple months,” I answered. “But that was normal for her every once in a while, with our professions and stress levels.” The doctor shook his head.
“It was normal this time, but not in the way that you thought it was.” The doctor rubbed his eyebrows and sighed, looking back up at us. “I’m sorry to have to tell you this, but your wife was 3 months pregnant. The pain and the blood was her miscarrying the fetus.”

~POV: Matt~
“P-pregnant?” I stammered, turning to face Jeff. He had a blank look on his face. When I looked at Mark he was just as horrorstruck as I was.
“You’re sure?” Mark asked. The doctor nodded.
“I’m sorry,” He said, placing his hand on Jeff’s shoulder. Jeff snapped from his trance for a second before looking into space again.
“Does she know?” I asked.
“Not yet.” he replied. The doctor left the room, leaving the three of us in a shocked silence. I looked back over toward Jeff, who had tears flowing down his cheeks again.
“I’m sorry man,” I said, wrapping my arm around his shoulder.
“I-I’m going to go call everyone,” Mark said, walking from the room.
“It’s my fault,” Jeff said a few minutes after Mark left. “It’s all my fault.”
“No, it’s not.” I said. “It’s like you told the doctor, you have a lot of stress, and she was 3 months, who the hell knows how many kicks and punches to the stomach she’s taken through that time.”
“I triggered it though. My fucking drug problem and yelling at her.” he said, pulling on his hair. I didn’t reply, mainly because I knew there was nothing I could say that would make him think otherwise. Mark returned an hour later, Mary, Paul, Mandy and Dad following him. Mandy walked up to me and wrapped her arms around me.
“What happened?” Mary asked, looking at Mark.
“Riley,” he stopped and cleared his throat. “Riley was 3 months pregnant.” he informed his sister-in -law.
“Was?” Dad asked, confused. He looked down at Jeff, who was still trying to yank his hair out. Realization dawned on him, along with everyone else.
“Oh my,” Mandy muttered, grabbing my hand. Dad walked up to Jeff and sat down next to him, wrapping his arm around his shoulders. Dad knew what it felt like hearing something happened to your child, so he knew just how Jeff was feeling.
“Son,” he said, causing Jeff to look up at him. “Whatever you think, it wasn’t your fault.” he said. “It was stress, and it’s not the right time for you two to have a kid.” Jeff just nodded.
“We should go see her,” I said. “She doesn’t know yet.” Everyone nodded, including Jeff. We walked to the room the doctor told us she was in before he left, and knocked. When she didn’t reply, Jeff opened the door and peered inside.
“She’s still out,” he said. We walked into the room to wait for her to wake up. I was dreading it. I knew that when she did, we would have to tell her that she lost a baby. The waiting was unbearable, and when she opened her eyes, my gut heaved. We had to tell her, and we had to do it now.