“I’ll call your dad and tell him where we are going. You get the car out and ready to go. Maybe you should pack some clothes, just in case we stay the night, again.” I backed the car out of the garage and got Pat and Kat buckled in. “No, Chet. Grandma Tuttle is coming in a couple minutes to watch the young ones.” Just then, she pulled in the drive. “Thank you for watching the kids on such short notice, Julie.”
“It’s the least I can do,” Grandma Tuttle said. “Chet, I sure hope Jess is okay. I know what you two mean to each other.”
“Thank you Grandma. I hope she is too.” Grandma Tuttle took Pat and Kat back to the house. “Let’s get going, Mom.” She got in the passenger side. I am sure she knew I wouldn’t give up my place in the driver’s seat. We headed out stopping near the edge of town to fill the tank.
I drove half the way there without saying much of anything. I just mumbled occasionally about Jess’ condition being my fault. Mom finally asked, “How is it your fault?” Just then, I saw a roadside park. I pulled in and parked the car.
“Mom, I have a confession to make. I am in love with Jess.”
“That’s no secret,” Mom replied.
“We tried to have sex, yesterday. She said she was feeling crampy before we started and thought that it would be our last chance before she got her period. She insisted we take our relationship to the next level. I wanted her so bad, I wasn’t about to argue with her. Well, we stopped, because I was hurting her.”
“I thought there was something different. I am amazed you waited this long. But don’t you see? She was already in pain before you started. She was complaining of cramps the night before. None of us took it as seriously as we should have. So don’t blame yourself. She doesn’t. I am certain of that.” Now, let’s get back on the road, before they send the rescue squad to search for us.”
“Thank you, Mom.” I started the car and got back on the highway, feeling a little better. I was still deeply worried for Jess’ wellbeing.
We arrived at the hospital in just under two hours after we left home. I will admit, I was driving a little too fast. We went into the emergency waiting room where Grammi was. We all hugged. “How is she Grammi?” I asked.
“She is resting right now. They gave her some strong pain medicine, and they are planning on doing an MRI in a couple hours, when she has had a chance to rest a little more. Her blood pressure was dangerously high when the ambulance came.”
“So all we can do is wait,” Mom said.
“That is precisely what they told me.” We sat together and prepared to wait for a couple hours.
We waited for little more than an hour, when a nurse came out to give us an update. “Jess is resting easier now,” she told us. “ We managed to get her blood pressure down to a reasonable level and we will be taking her in for her MRI, shortly after lunch. We will know more after that.”
“Thank you,” I said. The nurse turned and went back to wherever she came from.
We waited and waited for word on Jess’ condition. I must have paced a couple miles up and down the hallway in that area of the hospital. Finally, just before two o’clock, her doctor came in the room. “Are you the family of Jessica Tuttle?” he asked.
“Yes,” Grammi answered. “Is she going to be alright?”
“She needs immediate surgery. She has a rather large tumor in her uterus. It is about the size of a tennis ball.”
“Why is it just bothering her now?” Mom asked.
“Yes, why wouldn’t it have cause problems before?” I added.
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