Chapter 5; She needs surgery

Coraline's POV

Shit! Elijah sat opposite me, drenched in a mixture of my saliva and lukewarm coffee. He gritted his teeth, brought out his handkerchief, and wiped his face.

"That was not how I saw this going. Why the hell did you do that?!" He asked, scrubbing the coffee stain out of his white shirt.

"What the hell did you expect from me? You just dropped a huge bomb on me. What the fuck is ' I want to make a baby with you '? Who the hell talks like that?" 

" Look, I'll set you up nicely with a lot of cushion money if you agree to do this with me. I need a baby and you're the only woman who I know wouldn't try to use a baby to lock me down." 

I couldn't believe the words this Asshole was spewing out.

"Why the fuck will I want to have a child with you? Why would I hurt an innocent child by doing that?" 

" Because I'm richer than you can possibly imagine and you need my money. I know you're fertile since you already have a child, I need a baby and you need money." 

He knows I'm fertile, what in the misogynistic shit was he going on about? 

I began to clap as I stood, "Wow, ladies and gentlemen, the award for the misogynist of the year goes to Elijah Warren, who sees women as nothing but birthing machines." 

His face reddened and he tugged on his tie," Now Coraline, I didn't mean it that way, I'm sorry if that's what I implied. We need each other, we have what the other person needs…"

I raised my hand, " Shut up, just shut up. I'm never going to make a baby with you, I'm never going to hear your child. You're despicable. I'm leaving, I can't stand the sight of you." 

I started to walk away but Elijah grabbed my hand, pulling me back, " Coraline, think about this carefully, you're going to regret it if you don't take my offer. You're going to come begging and by then, it will be too late." 

I looked into my coffee cup, there was still a little residual coffee, I shook the cup a bit and then threw the remaining coffee in his face.

"Go to fucking hell." 

I flipped my hair and walked away, I got back to my spot and started to busy myself. I blocked all thoughts of Elijah from my head through the day until it was time to close. I didn't usually stay behind with Mei to do inventory and whenever I did, Mei knew something was up.

"Okay, what happened? You're usually the first person out the door, so why are you still here?" She slammed her diary shut. Most business owners used iPads to keep track of their business but not Mei, she was very… vintage.

"Mei, what the hell did you tell Elijah my business, I told you that in confidence not for you to quack like a hen and tell everyone." 

Her eyes widened a bit and she quickly looked at the ground, " Fudge, Cora, I'm so sorry, it wasn't like I was gossiping or anything. Tyler and I had dinner with Elijah last night, I was still feeling the rage from our conversation so I told him about it because I wanted a legal view on things. I wanted to know if there was anything you could do legally to get the house back, Elijah just happened to be there when we were talking about it. If I knew you would be uncomfortable with it, I would have never said anything." 

I sighed, it was hard to be mad at her when I knew she was concerned about my well-being and just wanted to help.

"It's cool, I just don't want you talking about my business around Elijah or anyone else. There are some things you have to keep to yourself, not even Tyler has to know." 

She lifted her head, " I promise never to tell people your business, especially Elijah." 

I lifted an eyebrow and crossed my arms over my chest, " How do I know you're being serious?"

She made a cross sign with her hands, " Cross my heart and hope to die. Now you know I'm deadabs serious." 

I laughed and hugged her, " Okay, I believe you." 

**********

"Baby, come on, let's get ready to go to daycare." I shook Becca as I got off the bed but she just groaned and dragged the duvet higher to cover herself.

"Oh baby, come on. I don't have enough energy for this tug of war, let's get out of bed so we can go to daycare. You love daycare." 

" Mommy," Becca let out a hoarse cough, " I don't feel so good." My heart sank, I quickly checked her temperature with my hand and she was boiling hot. 

"Shoot, baby, you have a fever. Okay, don't worry, Mommy's going to take care of you." I quickly called Mei and let her know that I was going to be late because Becca was sick. 

I found my thermometer and took her temperature, it was high and I knew I had to quickly bring down her fever. I grabbed a bowl and fetched some water from the bucket under the leaky tap. I soaked an old t-shirt in the water and used it to dab her forehead and neck.

I quickly made some soup for her and brought out some kiddies' flu pills. 

" Baby, please eat, you're not feeling well, you need to eat so you can get better." Becca was a drama queen when she was sick so I was prepared.

We managed to finish half of the soup I made and she cried while taking her medicine. After a while, she fell asleep and I hurriedly got ready to go to work. I could have asked Mei for the day off but I didn't want her to feel like she was obliged to do it because she was my best friend, I did not receive handouts from anyone.

I wiped Becca down and changed her sleeping ass into fresh clothes and drove to work. At work, I made a makeshift bed for her in Mei's office while Mei hovered over me.

"You could have just asked for the day off. I don't understand why you had to come in. I would have given you the day off if you had asked. Becca needs to be resting in a proper bed, not on my uncomfortable couch."

" Mei, please, we'll make do, this couch is not uncomfortable and I didn't need the day off. I need to work." 

I left her office, put Becca in her trusted hands, and returned to my spot behind the counter, making coffees. 

Barely an hour into work, Mei rushed out of her office, her pastel pink sundress bearing a huge beige stain at the front. The paper cup in my hand crumpled.

"What happened?" I left the customer I was attending to and rushed to Mei's side.

"Oh, Cora, it happened so fast. Becca woke up and said she wasn't feeling good so I sat her up and got her a cup of water. She kept rubbing her tummy saying she was in pain, just as I was about to come get you, she barfed all over me. I took her to the toilet because she didn't stop throwing up. I'm worried." 

I practically shoved Mei aside as I ran into the bathroom in her office. My poor baby lay on the tiled floor clutching her belly, in tears. I dropped to my knees and cradled her.

"Baby, what's wrong, tell me where it hurts?" I brushed strands of hair away from her face.

"Mommy, my tummy hurts, it hurts so much." She wailed, her fever had returned and from what I could feel, it was worse than before. Shit I had to get her to the hospital. Fuck, I didn't have insurance and healthcare was fucking expensive.

I sucked in a deep breath, lifted my daughter and stood. This was one of the sacrifices that came with being a mother. 

"Cora, what's your plan? Are you taking her home?" Mei asked worriedly as I came out of the bathroom.

"No, I'm taking her to the hospital, she seems very unwell and I don't want to take any chances by keeping her at home."

She gasped then covered her mouth with her palm, " Holy moly, this is terrible. Do you want me to come along with you?"

I shook my head, " No way, stay here and take care of the cafe. I'll take her and get her treated, I'm sure it's just a stomach bug that she picked up from daycare." 

Mei gave me a solemn nod, " Okay, I'll be praying for you guys. Keep me updated all through the way, okay? Anything the doctor says, you'll call me or text me."

" Alright, see you later." I left the cafe and drove to the hospital.

Becca was taken into the emergency room, I followed the nurse closely as they laid her on a bed, the chaos in the hospital increased my anxiety, and my hands were clammy and sweaty.

Becca's cries rivaled that of a child in the bed next to her, I took a quick peek behind the curtain and a little boy of about seven had his left leg in a weird twist, his mother cried slightly as she tried to soothe him. Damn, some people had it worse than us, poor kid. 

"Baby, everything's going to be alright, the doctor going to check you and tell us what's wrong so you can get treated." I sat on the stool beside her bed and ran my fingers through her hair.

"Mommy, it hurts so much, my tummy hurts a lot." She clutched her belly, I removed my fingers from her hair and began to massage her belly, I knew it would do no good but I just had to try. Where was the damn doctor when you needed one?

I got up from the stool, ready to match to the nurses' station, and demanded to see a doctor when the curtains pulled apart and a doctor entered with a nurse. I exhaled, feeling some tension leaving my body. He gave us a wide smile, exposing his dimples and slightly crooked teeth, and spoke warmly. I read his name tag, Doctor Jordan.

Becca clasped my hand tight as the doctor examined her. She laid out her complaints and I chipped in when needed. 

"Ma'am, I'd like to do some blood tests and also some scans. Something just isn't right about her complaints." The towering doctor folded his stethoscope and put it on his shoulder. 

My heart dropped in my stomach, blood tests and scans, but all Becca had was just a stomach bug. 

"Erm, Doc, is that really necessary, doesn't she just have a stomach bug and the flu? I thought you were just going to prescribe some drugs for us?" 

He cleared his throat and scratched the dark, chopped hair, " While her symptoms relate to the stomach bug and flu, she shouldn't be in this much pain, and from what I've checked, I'm certain, she isn't suffering from a stomach bug and flu. So it is very important we do the tests and scans."

My account balance flashed in my eyes and I could already see all the debit alerts, I gave my consent and the nurse told Becca's blood then led her away to the radiology department. After everything was done, we waited for some time before Dr Jordan and the nurse returned with the results. 

As Dr. Jordan scanned the results, I folded my arms on my lap and tapped incessantly.

"Okay, Mrs. Baxter, from the tests and scans, we found Becca has acute cholecystitis, her gallbladder is inflamed. From the scans, it shows that she has gallstones and this is what caused the inflammation of the gallbladder."

Oh my God, my baby was really sick. This wasn't just the flu, what if I had been hardheaded and didn't bring her to the hospital? I closed her eyes and placed my head in between my hands.

"Mrs Baxter, we'll have to commence treatment immediately, nurse Darlene will get her fixed to the IV and we'll need to do surgery." 

My shoulders sagged as he mentioned surgery, the chair shook under my weight and I slid off it and hit the ground. The world turned black.