"Mr. and Mrs. Matthews, the tests have come back. You're pregnant."
Groggy, having just woken up 10 minutes earlier, from fainting, after saying my 'I do's' to Marc, I found myself in a hospital bed.
Not fully understanding the situation, I was looking around, IV in my arm, beeping sounds periodically displaying my heart rate, my nurse's fingers pecking away on the keyboard next to my bed, I asked, semi consciously, "I'm.... I'm pregnant?"
My nurse, hearing my soft, hoarse voice, turned to me and confirmed the question I was asking. "Yes, Mrs. Matthews, all the tests we took when you arrived show no health issues other than you are now with child." She continued, "the dizzy spells you encountered, according to your husband (she glanced at Curtis), are ominous signs of pregnancy. So being at the advanced age you're at, in regards to child birth, means you're going to have to be very, very careful as you move forward with this pregnancy."
She then turned her attention to Curtis, "Mr. Matthews, I'm sorry your wedding had to end with you and your new wife in the emergency room, but we recommend keeping her here over night for observation. We are concerned with trauma to her vaginal area."
Hearing this, and slowly starting to come out of my fog, I was going to correct the misconception that Curtis and I were married, until I looked at my left hand and saw it. The 2 karat ring, 4 hours old on my finger that Marc put on my hand.
The nurse resumed typing away on the computer and proceeded to leave a few minutes later.
After the door closed, I looked up at my son, caressing my hand. Giving him a tired, yet concerned smile, I asked, " Where's Marc? Why isn't he here?"
"Just relax mom, you've have a traumatic few hours", Curtis had responded, completely side stepping my question.
Not satisfied I perked up saying, "Honey, where's my husband? Is there something wrong that youre not telling me?" Pressing the issue.
The monitor, next to my bed, sensing my tension and anxiety, started beeping a little more frequently. "Curtis, WHAT'S GOING ON!" As my hoarse voice started ramping up.
"He ain't here mom, he ain't gonna be here," Curtis opined, with a clearly indifferent look on his face. "He knows, ok?," Curtis continued.
As soon as he said 'he knows', my face went even more pale than it already was. "OMG! How!?," I muttered, completely unaware of all that had happened after I fainted.
For 15 minutes Curtis explained how they both were tending to me, there on the floor. How, when the ambulance and paramedics arrived, Marc, was trying to take complete control of the moment, completely ignoring Curtis. And when Curtis finally got mad, how he shoved my husband and a minor tussle occurred. When some people at the wedding broke them up, Curtis admitted, in a fit of rage to have been "fucking my mom all throughout your engagement."
After he finished, I was silent. Softly, I was crying. What was suppose to be the happiest day of my life, suddenly became the worst.
After a few minutes, I looked at my son, the father of the baby I'm confirmed to be carrying, and in a firm, but calm voice I said, "Get Out!" pointing to the door.
Once he left, I broke down in tears, staring blankly at a ring, that was suppose to be the culmination of a journey between two people, that now, had absolutely no meaning whatsoever.
.................
After being released from the hospital, I was angry, upset, and full of shame, knowing my dream of being married was now just a bitter memory. I tried phoning Marc, left messages, wanting to explain, but for obvious reasons, never bothered returning my calls.
Days passed, weeks passed. No response. I received a certified letter just alerting me the marriage certificate, was never signed, and that my marriage was not valid. Curtis, had tried getting me back in bed, which he succeeded at. But as he would pump me, I somehow managed to piss him off from my lack of passion. I would just lie there under him, hands on his shoulders, looking, blankly, at the wall to the left of our bed. Not showing the passion I had shown, prior to my wedding, virtually non existent now, the sex we had was just more of the "pump and dump" variety. I was nothing more than a receptacle, a release for his animalistic needs. Eventually, as time moved forward, I reluctantly accepted my new reality.
I was now 5 weeks along, and was sitting in the waiting room, silent holding Curtis' arm. The nurse called my name and we went into to our examination room. Lying on the table, the technician began doing the ultrasound.
About 10 minutes into it, her face was contorting with a 'hmm' or 'interesting' breaking the, otherwise, silence of our examination room. Putting the stethoscope around her neck and. turning her attention to me and Curtis, she broke the ice saying, "Well I have some good news and some bad news," she said, with a look not of worry, but of trying to bring a little light into the room.
"The good news", she quipped, "The heartbeats are indeed very strong." Hearing that I immediately cut off any continuance of what she was saying. "Heartbeats?" I queried, trying to understand the plurality of her statement. "Yes Mrs Matthews, HEARTBEATS, you're carrying twins."