Sweetheart slammed the receiver down, frantically flipping through her phonebook for the next number to call. She was shaking uncontrollably with worry and fear. She fumbled while dialing the number. She stopped, took a deep breath, and tried again. She didn’t even bother with a greeting anymore. “Is he there??” she cried, her voice raised and trembling slightly.
“Sweetheart! Yes, calm down. He’s here, he’s with me.” The older stallion averted his eyes from the road for a moment to glance at his passenger. He was trying his best to appear calm over the phone, but the situation was far from it. Sweetheart was nearly nine months pregnant, and he didn’t want to stress her even further than she already was. “You need to listen to me, ok?” he said as he turned his eyes back to focus on the road. “You need to calm down, alright? Breathe. Think of the baby.”
“Ok. Yes.” Was all she could get out as she struggled to breathe and stop shaking all over. He was there, but she still knew something was very wrong.
“Alright. Now, is anyone home with you right now?”
“Yes.” She whimpered as she watched Thunder emerge from his room, concerned by the sounds of her sobbing in the kitchen.
“Ok, now please just stay calm. Everything will be ok, hear me? But you need to have them drive you to the hospital now, alright?” he heard her choke as the sobs grew stronger. She already knew somehow. “You need to be strong right now, Sweetheart. Ok? I have Teddy, that’s my job. You have the baby, that’s your job.” He said as firmly as he could manage. “I have to go now, alright?”
Sweetheart felt a stabbing pain in her heart, it was overwhelming. She fought to stay standing. The salty tears stung her eyes, flowing faster down her pale cheeks. “Ok, Mr. Shire…” her voice trailed off to a whisper as he hung up.
********************
Diego Shire hung up his cell and pulled right into the ambulance bay in front of the emergency room. He honked several times as he drove up…and even more desperately as his passenger’s body went into convulsions.
********************
Sweetheart’s heart, and mind alike, raced as Thunder drove her to the hospital. She lay her head back and closed her eyes, allowing her mind to wander to days passed.
Her life had changed tremendously since she’d moved in with Teddy six months earlier. Her parents were furious of course, but also powerless now that she was 18 and free to make her own decisions. Her father’s ploy to incriminate Teddy was royally botched. She had her friends to thank for that. They’d opened her eyes, and she’d finally opened her mouth. Sweetheart denied all of her father’s allegations to the judge and exposed his lies to them all. She’d saved Teddy from the hellish prison sentence, but the damage had already been done. He hadn’t quite been the same since the whole thing started, and it wasn’t until a few weeks after the Trial that she knew why.
It was a very difficult time in their lives. The hardest ever. She was out on her own for the very first time, pregnant, and scared to death. And he, just wouldn’t talk. She didn’t understand what was going on with him and blamed herself, and the baby, for the silence. But at long last Mr. Shire, teamed up with Ace, somehow managed to get enough out of Teddy one day to figure out what had happened. Sure, they’d had their suspicions, but it was different to actually hear it from him. Sweetheart broke her great-grandmother’s gold accented crucifix when she heard. She’d lost all faith. How could such a being exist, and still let something like this happen? To someone who’d already suffered so much??
She stirred as the car slowed to turn into the hospital parking lot. Her eyes cleared for a moment, looking up at the massive building marked with a cross. A single tear streamed down her left cheek. He’d been to the edge once before, but would she have the strength to pull him back again?
