"Stay in the bathroom so you don't get blood on the carpet," Deanne told a frantic Janelle.
"Is that really all you can think about now?" Janelle shrieked, nearly hyperventilating as Deanne closed the door and called an ambulance. She didn't want the lunatic in either of their cars. She just wanted to be done with her and never see her again.
A female and a male paramedic arrived at the house, and Deanne let them in. "She's in the bathroom. She woke up bleeding."
"She's pregnant?" asked the female paramedic.
"Unfortunately," Deanne said. "It's Janelle Stone."
"Janelle Stone?" asked the male paramedic.
"I know who it is," said the female. "You don't recognize the name?" she asked her partner.
"I think so, but I'm not sure. How far along is she?"
"I don't know. Eight months, I guess. She's only here because my brother went out of town for a few days, and she was complaining about the paint fumes in their house since they recently repainted one of their rooms."
Janelle was placed on a stretcher, and Deanne placed her purse by her feet. "So you have your medical card," she told the sobbing Janelle.
After Janelle was taken out of the house, Deanne and Spencer waited a bit, then gathered her belongings to bring to the hospital, praying that they would be told Janelle had lost the baby.
Deanne drove, and Spencer pulled out the notebook Janelle had been scribbling in. "Let's see what scandalous writing she's been up to."
"I'm sure whatever it is will end up online or in the media’s hands somehow."
"Don't worry. They always omit last names," Spencer said sarcastically as if that made it okay.
He laughed a moment later as he quoted some of Janelle's ramblings. "I don't feel welcome. It's not my problem if they don't agree with our pregnancy methods either. It's their problem if they want to believe the media's bullshit. With the way Deanne's treating me, I'm starting to suspect she could be jealous. Makes me wonder if she's treated other pregnant women like this. I swear she told me she was okay with her sterility in the end, though. They're feeding me crap. No pregnant woman or diabetic should eat like this. They're giving me way fewer calories than even a fat woman should have, even if she wasn't pregnant. I'm hungry all the time, and I feel so sluggish. Thank God I'm out of here in just a couple of days. Otherwise, I swear these people would starve us both to death. Oh, kiddo, I'm so sorry my crazy in-laws are doing this to you. I'll never bring you here again."
They both couldn't resist a chuckle over that one.
Once inside the hospital, they were directed to Janelle's room, where they placed her belongings on a nearby table as a doctor and a nurse spoke to Janelle.
The three of them turned to look at Deanne and Spencer, and Deanne said, "Just bringing her belongings."
"Oh, thank you," Janelle said as she placed them on a nearby table. "We're both going to be okay but staying overnight."
"Steven will pick you up tomorrow," Deanne said without another word as she turned to leave with Spencer following.
Embarrassed and hurt by their apparent lack of concern, Janelle tried to keep a straight face as the doctor asked if she had any more questions. She shook her head and gazed out the window.
Deanne was waiting just outside the hospital room for the doctor and his nurse. "Doctor, I don't know if you know who Janelle is," Deanne began.
The doctor nodded. "We're aware of who she is."
Continuing, Deanne said, "I just wanted to make sure she's not telling you any made-up stories, as delusional as she is."
"All she said was that she'd been very tired and woke up cramping. Likely it was just stress. Plus, she's a little older. How has she been eating?"
Deanne explained what they'd given her and why.
Spencer spoke up. "She had plenty of access to water, though. Gave her a cup and told her to fill it as often as she needed. Could feeding her what we did do this to her in just a couple of days?"
The doctor nodded. "It's possible. It was probably the lack of calories more than anything else, along with eating the wrong foods as a diabetic, but she doesn't have to know that. We’ve quoted the number of calories she should have and she knows to avoid carbs and sugar, especially sugar."
"okay. We just wanted to inform you of what really happened and make sure she wasn't telling you some crazy tall tale or anything like that."
"No problem. She doesn't have to know we talked," the doctor told them, wondering if their defensive attitude was a telltale sign of an attempt to cause a miscarriage in Janelle Stone, but the doctor still wasn't going to say anything, even if it was.
Steven picked Janelle up the next day. She tried to ignore the lack of concern he showed. "Hey," she said with a smile.
"Hey."
After an awkward moment of silence, Janelle said, "Well, the baby and I are going to be okay, in case you're curious."
"Oh."
"Don't act so relieved."
Ignoring his wife, he placed a bag on the table and said, "I stopped by the house for some clean clothes to wear on the way home."
"Oh, that was thoughtful of you. Thanks. How'd your trip go?"
He shrugged and said, "It was work, you know. Work is work."
"I signed the discharge papers, and after I get dressed and we get out of here, I can tell you just how crazy your sister truly is."
"Oh," Steven said with mock surprise. "Okay."
Janelle wasted no time whining as they left the hospital with instructions for her to take it easy. "Let's just say she damn near starved us and fed us nothing but crap."
"She was feeding you," Steven said, emphasizing the last word. Yet his darling wife, as clueless as she was, missed the point. That was unless she selectively chose to ignore it, of course.
"But it wasn't stuff a diabetic should have, nor was it enough for one person, let alone two."
"Ohhh," Steven said as if he finally understood.
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