One Enchanted Summer

Chapter 27

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Quinn

I think I’m going to be sick. And not just because I’m pregnant. Oh my god, I’m pregnant. The two lines on the pregnancy test are staring back up at me. I don’t know how this happened. I mean, of course I know how, but what am I going to do? I sit down on the bathroom floor as my head spins. I’ve never been so grateful for the freezing temperature that Gertie keeps her house.

I have no idea how much time has passed when I finally stand up. I shakily open the door, and tuck the test into my pocket. I’m not ready to tell Gertie yet. I’m not prepared to tell Grayson yet. I don’t even feel ready for myself to know yet. Gertie looks up from her chair as I enter the room. She eyes me up and down curiously.

“Are you okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, uh, just fighting a cold I think,” I reply. She hands me a blanket and motions towards the couch.

“Do you want some soup?”

I remember the nausea I felt from smelling the food earlier, and I almost gag again.

“No, thanks,” I quickly say.

A quiet falls between us, and Gertie continues working on her word search. My mind is swirling. I can’t stop the thoughts long enough to have a fully coherent one. I feel queasy, and I don’t know if it’s from my emotions or morning sickness. How can morning sickness even be an option? I can’t comprehend it. I look down at my stomach. A baby is growing in there right now. The thought makes me even more queasy.

“Hey Gertie, how did you know Grandpa was the one?” I ask.

She glances up at me, and must recognize something on my face because she puts her word search down. She smiles her sweet smile that I notice every time something makes her think of Grandpa.

“Your grandpa and I are different from you and Grayson. You fell hard and you fell fast, and that is magical in its own way. But your grandpa and I were friends first, for a while. Then, one day, I was working at the library, and the power went out. I was a little scared. I didn’t like being alone, in the dark, in such a big place. I don’t know how your grandpa knew, but he showed up at the library in the middle of the storm with a flashlight so that he could bring me some light, and so I wouldn’t have to be alone. That was when I knew I didn’t want to be just friends.”

Tears well in my eyes and I try to blink them away. Is it possible pregnancy is already making me emotional? I think of Grayson bringing me an umbrella while I worked and how similar it was to her story. My grandpa and Gertie lived a long, happy life together. I would love to follow that.

“Are you okay?” Gertie asks softly. She searches my face, and I desperately want to tell her the truth. But I can’t. I can’t even imagine saying the words out loud.

“I hope so,” I reply.

I call in sick to work, but I don’t want to stay home, so I drive while my thoughts race. I pass by a lake and pull over without even thinking. After walking a mile around the lake, I sit down and close my eyes. It’s hot and sticky, but before I know it, I’ve drifted to sleep.

I awake with a jolt as a group of kids giggle a few yards away. It’s dusk now, and I realize I slept for a few hours. I sit up and feel a pang in my back from sleeping on the ground. I feel exhausted, both physically and emotionally. I grab my phone and see three missed calls from Grayson. Then a text:

Hey, there was an accident and I’m in the hospital. I’m okay but call me.

It feels like my stomach drops out of my body. I jump up and run to my car, fumbling with my phone. I call Grayson, but he doesn’t answer. My heart is racing as I speed towards the hospital. What does he mean there was an accident? What kind of an accident? Why didn’t he say anything else? I was already on the verge of a panic attack, and now I can feel it bubbling over the edge. Why was his message so cryptic? He must be okay if he was calling me. But why didn’t he answer when I called him back? My heart pounds in my ears as I pull into the hospital parking lot and run inside.

I have no idea where I’m going. Hospitals are so confusing, and I simply rush to the first desk I see and practically shout Grayson’s name at the nurse behind the counter. She looks up at me in surprise.

“Sorry, can you repeat that, please?” She’s more patient than I deserve, considering the absolute mess that I am right now.

I can barely say his name, my voice shaking uncontrollably, but she understands and smiles kindly.

“He’s on the second floor, room 213,” she tells me, and I’m gone before she’s even done talking.

I glance at the elevator, but rush to the stairs instead, taking them two at a time. I burst through the stairwell door and look around the white hospital halls, trying to figure out which way to go. I feel like I’m spinning in circles. I walk down the hall, peering at each of the doors and the numbers when I freeze. Gertie is standing in the middle of a hospital room. I look at the number by the door- 230. My brain is so foggy and confused. Why is Gertie here? She’s simply standing in the middle of the room. She seemed fine when I was with her earlier. Is this some horrible dream that I need to wake up from? Am I still sleeping in the park? I feel moments away from collapsing in this hallway.

“Gertie?” It comes out in a desperate cry while I’m still frozen in the doorway.

Gertie turns and looks at me in surprise. “Quinn? What are you doing here?”

“What are you doing here?” I shoot back. “Are you okay?”

“Me?” she looks confused. I watch as realization dawns on her face, and it softens. “Oh, dear, yes, I’m okay. Doris had a minor spill, and I’m just here checking on her,” she explains.

Just then, the bathroom door opens. Doris hobbles out.

“Oh, hello Quinn; so kind of you to stop by,” she says.

Relief floods through me. Gertie wraps me in a hug, and I breathe in her sweet vanilla smell. It calms me as my heart struggles to slow down.

“I didn’t mean to scare you,” she says gently.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” I whisper and my voice cracks.

“Well gee, I’m the one that’s actually hurt,” Doris mutters.

“Wait, why are you here?” Gertie asks.

And then suddenly, I remember. “I have to go!” I exclaim. “Grayson is here.”

“Why?” Gertie asks with concern.

I’m already halfway out the door as I yell, “I don’t know!”

I run down the hall, despite a grumpy nurse telling me to slow down, and I finally make it to room 213. The door is closed, and I peek into the window and see Grayson lying in the bed. His eyes are closed, and my heart stutters. I open the door quietly and slip into the room. His leg is in a wrap and he has a bandage on the side of his head. My breathing quickens as I get closer. This isn’t something I could have ever pictured. He’s usually so full of life and strength. Seeing him like this feels like a punch to the gut.

“Hey,” I say quietly as I reach his bed. His eyes flutter open, and the corner of his mouth pulls up in a small grin.

“Hey, you made it,” he says.

“I’m sorry. I tried calling you.”

“I turned his phone off,” a voice says from the corner of the room, and I spin around to see Grady sitting on a chair there. In all of my haste earlier, I didn’t even notice him.

“You did what?” Grayson demands.

“You needed your rest,” Grady replies with a shrug.

“Are you okay?” I ask, my eyes searching Grayson’s body.

“Yeah. Just had a bit of an accident at the pirate show,” he explains.

“A bit,” Grady snorts.

Grayson rolls his eyes. Their joking should put me at ease, but I’m still desperately trying to figure out what happened.

“You should see the video,” Grady says.

“Don’t,” Grayson warns him.

“There’s a video?” I ask in shock.

“Oh, someone is always recording these days. And, of course, they already put it all over the web. Actor falls and almost dies during pirate show,” Grady answers.

“Almost dies?!” I look at Grayson in horror.

“No, you know people exaggerate,” he assures me. But I don’t know if I should believe him, considering his leg and head are wrapped in bandages.

Grady stands up and hands me his phone. I watch as Grayson is performing as usual during the pirate show. I don’t notice anything wrong. Suddenly, he flips over the blue pirate and I watch him land weirdly. I notice he isn’t standing up, even though the rest of the show is continuing, and I glance at his leg, now wrapped in a cast. I look back at the video; Grayson is struggling to stand up, and just as he does, he’s hit in the face with the large mallet. He flies backward before smashing his head against the side of the boat. I gasp as I watch him fall face down into the water. The crowd gasps as the other pirates rush to pull Grayson from the water.

“Oh my god,” I whisper.

“It’s kind of funny, huh,” Grady chuckles. “I mean, what are the odds?”

Grayson glares at him. “It’s not funny.”

“He was face down! He actually could have died!” I say in horror.

“He was surrounded by actors and the audience. No one was going to let him die,” Grady shrugs as he slumps back into his seat.

“I wasn’t going to die,” Grayson agrees. “But it hurts like hell.”

I place my hand gently on the other side of his face. “I’m so sorry.”

He moves his head to kiss my hand, and then the door opens and a doctor walks in. He looks around the room and then at Grayson and says, “Can we talk for a minute?”

“You can say anything in front of them, I give my HIPPA permission or whatever,” Grayson replies.

“Okay, well, your concussion is mild, but it’s going to hurt for a few days. After looking at your scans, you’re going to need surgery for your knee. You hyperextended it, and while that can sometimes heal on its own, in this case, you’re going to need surgery,” the doctor says.

“What’s the recovery like for that? Like how long until I’m up and working again?” Grayson asks.

“Three to four months.”

Grayson’s face crumbles. “I can’t do that, I have to work. What about the movie?”

“I’m sorry, Grayson. There’s nothing else we can do.”

Grayson looks more broken now than he did before. His face is twinged in pain from the news. My stomach twists, I hate seeing him like this. I wish there was something, anything I could do. For the first time since I’ve gotten here, I realize he doesn’t know I’m pregnant, and there’s no way I can tell him now.