"Well, I have good news and bad news,” the doctor began.
Denise stood up and placed her hand on AJ’s back to let him know that she was there.
"The good news is that the baby is just fine".
"Thank god", AJ said with a sigh of relief. "What’s the bad news?"
"The bad news is that this is a very high risk pregnancy. Dawn may not be able to carry the baby to term. Her cervix was widened in the surgery she had a few years ago. I have strict orders for her to remain on bed rest, at least for a couple months until we see how things are progressing. I want her to maintain as much of a stress free life as possible".
‘Surgery?’ AJ thought to himself, then he chuckled at the mere mention of Dawn having a stress free life.
"This is serious, Mr. McLean, if there is anything in her life that causes her a lot of stress, or any at all, it needs to be removed,” he said to AJ in a stern voice.
"Don’t worry, I’ll take care of everything,” AJ replied, hoping that it wasn’t him that needed to be removed from Dawn’s life. "Can I see her?"
"Sure, she’s been asking for you, but keep in mind that she does need her rest".
AJ walked away, leaving the doctor to talk with Denise. He got to Dawn’s door and poked his head in.
If she was sleeping he didn’t want to disturb her. He walked over to her bed and saw that she was sleeping.
He stood there and watched her. He looked around at all the equipment in the room, all the things they had Dawn hooked up to overwhelmed him. He heard a familiar beeping amd he walked over to the machine making the noise.
As he watched it he noticed a little heart flashing at the bottom of the screen and paper coming out the bottom of it.
‘This must be the baby’s heartbeat’, he said to himself, picking up the roll of paper, trying to make sense of it. He didn’t know what it was, it just looked like a bunch of scribbles to him.
He just stood there watching the light flash across the screen every time the machine beeped. He thought the heartbeat sounded a little fast. The fact that he was listening to the baby’s heartbeat and he could see it on the screen completely amazed him. Suddenly, nothing in the world mattered more to him than Dawn and the baby. Everything else just seemed so irrelevant.
He glanced over at Dawn, she was still sleeping. He walked over and sat down on the bed next to her. He gently caressed her cheek.
"I love you so much,” he whispered.
She started to move as if she was going to wake up, but she didn’t. He placed his hand on her stomach, right above the monitor they had on her.
‘There’s a baby in there’, he thought to himself, still amazed.
He had to chuckle himself. He was acting like he’d never seen a pregnant woman before. The truth was, he had never been this close to the situation and he was fascinated by it.
Dawn’s eyes fluttered open when she felt AJ’s hand on her stomach.
"Hey beautiful,” he said, smiling.
"Hey,” she whispered. "How long have you been here?"
"Just a few minutes. I didn’t want to wake you".
Dawn looked down at AJ’s hand on her stomach as she pulled herself to a sitting position. He blushed and pulled his hand away.
"No, it’s okay,” she said taking his hand, placing it back on her stomach. She covered his hand with hers.
"That over there is the fetal monitor. It monitors the baby’s heartbeat,” she said, motioning to the machine across the room.
"Isn’t the heartbeat a little fast?" He asked, worried.
"I asked that too, the doctor said it’s supposed to be like that".
AJ looked back down at Dawn. There was so much he wanted to say, so much he wanted to tell her. It just never seemed to be the right time and he didn’t want to stress her out right now.
Dawn noticed the way AJ was looking at her and she so desperately wanted to hug him and tell him that she loved him and never wanted to be without him, but she didn’t. She had to keep her distance from him. She had already hurt him enough.
"What are you thinking?" He asked her.
"Just how lucky I am to have someone like you in my life. How unfair I’ve been to you," her voice trailed off.
He brought his hand up and placed his finger on her lips.
"Sshhh,” he whispered. "I don’t want to hear you talking like that. You have NOT been unfair to me. I’m the one who’s been unfair to you, and I can promise you, from this day forward that I will not pressure you whatsoever or try to tell you what to do. You do have to promise me one thing though".
"What’s that?" She asked.
"You have to promise me that you’ll let me help you, you’ll let me take care of you. The doctor wants you to be stress-free and I’m gonna take care of everything".
"I can’t let you do that Alex, what about the group? Touring?"
"Let me worry about that,” he replied. "The group won’t suffer, I’ll make sure of that, but they do know that there are priorities".
There was silence for a minute.
"I’m so glad you were there, I was so scared,” she said, choking back tears.
"I know, so was I, but everything’s okay now. We’ll get through this, but you can’t do it by yourself. You have to let me help you".
Dawn thought for a minute, there was no point in trying to fight him, he wasn’t going to back down on this one, she could tell.
"I’m not moving into your house, though".
"Sure you can,” he said. "I have plenty of room, you know that".
"I can’t do that, AJ. I need to be on my own and live my own life. I can’t keep depending on everyone else to always make things better".
"I know, and I understand that, but the doctor has strict orders for you to be on bed rest at least for a couple months and someone needs to be there with you all the time".
"I feel like a cripple,” she scowled as she folded her arms and looked out the window.
There was a light knock at the door then Denise poked her head in.
"Can I come in?" She asked.
"Sure!" Dawn replied with a smile.
She walked over and gave Dawn a hug, then kissed her forehead.
"How are you doing, Hon".
"Okay, I guess. I’m just sitting here fighting with your son about where I’m gonna live because he thinks he has to tend to my every need".
"No fighting,” Denise said as she looked at both of them. "Doctor’s orders".
"We’re not really fighting, just discussing, or I should day, disagreeing,” Dawn said, looking at AJ.
"I just don’t think that you should be alone,” he said, matter of factly.
"You could stay with me. I’d love the company,” Denise suggested.
Dawn sighed. "Thank you both for offering, but I want to live in my OWN place,” she said.
"We’ll work something out,” Denise said. "Don’t worry yourself over it. We have a few days to think about it anyway, the doctor wants to keep you here for another day or two".
"Oh yay,” Dawn rolled her eyes. "I feel like an orphan. I was supposed to move into my new place this weekend and it doesn’t look like that’s gonna happen".
"You don’t have a lot of stuff. AJ and I can move your things in for you", Denise suggested. “And we can take turns stopping by to check on you after you come home.”
"I don’t need a babysitter,” Dawn said angrily. “And I don’t want you guys to go out of your way for me".
"Nonsense. We’ll take care of it", Denise replied. "And we’re not trying to ‘babysit’ you. We just want to make sure you’re okay. I still don’t know how you’re going to abide by the doctor’s orders of bedrest when you’re by yourself”.
Dawn rolled her eyes and stubbornly turned her attention to the view outside the window.
. “We should probably go so you can get some rest,” Denise suggested.
"Yeah, I can go and pick up some of your stuff, too", AJ suggested. "Get some rest".
He kissed her on the forehead and headed towards the door. Denise gave her a hug and followed AJ.
"I’ll be back in a little bit,” he said turning around and winking at her.
A few hours later, after picking up some of Dawn’s things and searching all around town for the perfect flowers for her, AJ went back to the hospital.
He opened the door to her room and just about passed out at what he saw. Anthony was sitting on the edge of Dawn’s bed, he had her hand in one if his hands and a ring in the other.


Chapter 33
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