The next few months passed quickly for Ambria, as she kept busy with her job and Dustin. She enjoyed working for Chad so much more than she had with Vernon and she and Amanda had become friends.

Her parents had started dating shortly after Ray was released from the hospital and Melanie had been hinting lately that marriage might be in their future. Ambria was trying to accept Ray into her life for her mother’s sake. She was happy for her mother, but was still having a hard time not to blame Ray for not being in her life as she grew up. Her mother knew where Ray lived all along and could have taken her to see him at any time, but to her it was still Ray’s fault.

She was still helping the police department on a regular basis. Sometimes the situations were so stressful and emotional it was almost too much for her, but finding a lost child safe, more than compensated her for any stress she went through. She had really been surprised after her last surgery she still had this capability, but she didn’t question it any more, instead she learned to accept her ability as a good thing.

She still didn’t know who the leak at the police department was, but since the media hadn’t given out her name or anything personal about her, she felt she was safe from them finding out she was the one helping. Then one day Martin made a comment that lead her to believe maybe he was the leak, as he mentioned something about wanting her to get some sort of credit for all the help she given them. She hadn’t questioned him about it, but simply said she didn’t want anyone to know she was the one helping.

Dustin kept a close eye on her, making sure she went to all her checkup, and when all the tests showed she was tumor free; he began to relax. In fact, they both did. They changed the spare room into a nursery, then started buying all the supplies an infant would need during its first few months of life.

As her due date came closer, she told Chad she was quitting to stay at home with the baby. He told her he hated to see her go, but understood why she wanted to be home full-time with her baby. She helped train her replacement, the company gave her a beautiful baby shower, and then she worked her last day with the company.

The first day of her unemployment, she started working on crocheting an exquisite baby afghan, then met Dustin at noon and they had a nice lunch. When she returned home, she lay down and took a nice long afternoon nap. When she woke two hours later, she began to pack her bag for the hospital. She double-checked to make sure she packed a bottle of shampoo, as a woman at work had told her hand soap wasn’t a good substitute when it came to washing one’s hair, she added a nursing gown and an outfit for the baby for when they came home.

On the morning of her due date, she woke up and started the day as any other, except today she felt marvelous. She didn’t feel bulky and uncoordinated, instead she felt she could clean the whole house, and that’s exactly what she did. It never dawned on her she was in the nesting phase of labor and that soon her contractions would start. She fixed supper and when Dustin came home, she had a lovely meal ready.

While Dustin cleared the kitchen, Ambria took her shower, and because she was in there when her water broke, she was unaware it had happened. She finished her shower and dried off, and had just put her clothes back on when she felt a twinge. At first, she wasn’t sure what she’d felt and when the feeling came again, she realized it was the same sort of stitch, she’d been having all day, only stronger. She quickly forgot about it as she left the bathroom to join Dustin in the living room to watch television.

During the next hour, Ambria couldn’t find a comfort way to sit and was up frequently to use the bathroom. All the other times Ambria had returned from the bathroom, Dustin had been busy watching the program and hadn’t been paying much attention to her. This time there was a commercial on when she returned and when he looked at her and saw her painful expression, he knew something was wrong.

“Honey, are you okay?” She sat down next to him on the couch and he put his hand on top of her extended belly. A contraction shot through her, causing the baby to kick furiously and Dustin jumped, jerking his hand away.

“I don’t think dinner settled right with me,” she grumbled as she rubbed her belly.

“Ambria,” he said taking hold of her hand, “isn’t there something you need to tell me,” he inquired, thinking she knew she was in labor.

Her innocent eyes looked over at him. “What would that be?”

“Don’t you know?” His eyes watched her closely as he waited for her to answer his question.

“Dustin, I’m sorry, but I don’t feel like playing twenty questions with you tonight,” she retorted sharply.

“Honey,” he said softly into her ear, “you’re in labor.”

She laughed at him. “How would you know that, when I don’t?”

“Because you aren’t listening to your body. You told me at dinner about all the cleaning you’ve done today, with that and I just felt a contraction, I think you’re in labor. Didn’t you feel it?”

“I’ve been have those twinges all day,” she said, not realizing what these twinges meant.

His eyes widened at her statement. “You’re kidding. Have you timed any of them?”

“I really haven’t given them much thought since I’ve been so busy cleaning today.”

“Maybe we should start timing them since we really don’t want you to give birth in our living room.”

She laughed. “You really think the baby is coming today.”

“Yes, I do. Why don’t you?” He watched her closely, wondering if maybe she wasn’t ready to have this baby.

“Mom told me she was a week late with me, so I figured my baby would be too.”

He laughed at her absurd comment. “Honey, that isn’t the way this sort of thing work.”

“How would you know?”

“I’ve read a few articles on labor.” He stood. “Don’t go anywhere.”

“Dustin where are you going? Don’t leave me,” she called, her arms reaching out to him.

“I’m going to get the kitchen timer.” He left the room and when he returned, he had a timer with him. “Okay, I’m ready when you are.”

Ambria took hold of his hand and gave it a hard squeeze when another contraction traveled across her abdomen, then when it was over; she let out a breath, and released her tight grip she had on his hand. “Start timing.”

They did this for about half an hour, and as the time passed, they realized they’d probably have a baby by this time tomorrow.

“Are you ready to call the doctor?” he asked, when the contraction were six minutes apart.

“No,” she stated firmly, refusing to look at him.

“Why not?” he asked as he gently grabbed hold of her chin and moved it towards him.

Her tear filled eyes gazed into his. “I’m afraid.”

He reached for her and pulled into a firm hug. “Why are you afraid?”

“I’m afraid I’m going to die.”

“Honey, why would you think that?” A tear ran down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb. “What’s going on in that head of yours?”

She looked away from him before responding. “I haven’t told you something I should have.” She looked back at him. “I’m afraid I’m going to die because the headaches are back.”

“What?” he shouted at her. “How long have you been having them?”

“For the last month,” she replied softly, “and each day they’re worse than the day before.”

“You have at least told your doctor, haven’t you?” After he asked the question, he shook his head thinking, of course she’d told her doctor.

“No,” she cried.

“Why not? Didn’t you think he should know?”

“I thought he would want me to abort the baby,” she said, sobbing into her hands.

Dustin moved her hands away and kissed her forehead. “Just because you’re having headaches doesn’t necessary mean the tumor has returned. It could be caused by something else,” he told her gently.

Relieved to think he could be right, a small smiled slowly covered her face. “You really think so? Like what?” Her eyes looked deeply into his.

“Honey, it could have something to do with you being pregnant, a sign something is wrong and needs fixing.”

She jerked back. “Oh, my God! You think I may have done something to harm our baby?”

He tenderly pulled her back into his arms. “Sweetheart, I’m sure your doctor would have found something if anything was seriously wrong with you or the baby. You’ve been going to see him every week this past month. He’s aware of your past medical history, I’m sure if something wasn’t right, he would have noticed.”

“I should have told him about the headaches,” she mumbled.

“You should have told the doctor and me about them,” he stated forcefully.

“I’m sorry,” she whined against his chest.

“I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have yelled at you. I know how scared you must have been thinking the tumor has returned.”

“You know you could be wrong, the tumor could be back,” she said so softly she wasn’t sure if he heard her or not.

He tightly squeezed her hand. “Ambria, let’s not create problems. Just call the doctor and let’s get to the hospital,” he said moving away from her and pushing her towards the phone.

The doctor and both set of parents were called, then they got into the car and headed for the hospital. Ambria was checked in, and then taken to a room where a nurse helped her change into a hospital gown and get into bed, then she checked to see how far she was dilated.

When she was done, she told Ambria she thought the baby would be arrive sometime in the next three or four hours. She hooked Ambria up to an external fetal monitor, then left the room and Dustin came in to sit with her. The nurse returned several times to check to see how far she was dilated, and an hour, the nurse told her, she was seven centimeters and at the rate she was progressing, the baby should be here in the next hour or so.

Finally, the time came for Ambria to be prepped for delivery. She had just gotten her feet into the stirrups when her obstetrician, Dr. Truman Parker, walked into the room. They talked for a few seconds, then she had the strong urge to push. Three minutes later, Brooklyn Nicole was delivered into the waiting hands of the doctor. He clamped off the cord, but before he could cut it, the nurse was shouting the patient’s blood pressure was dropping. He quickly cut the cord, handed the baby to Dustin, then told him to move back out of the way. “I don’t know what’s wrong. Everything was going so well,” the doctor said as he trying to stabilize Ambria. He looked down at his hands, which were now covered with a substantial amount of blood. “Where is all this blood coming from?” “Ambria told me the headaches were back,” Dustin told him as he held his crying daughter in his arms. “When did the headaches start?” he asked Dustin, but didn’t take his eyes off Ambria. “A month ago and they were getting worse.”

“Damn, I wish I’d known, we would’ve been more prepared.”

“I didn’t know anything about them until today. What do you think the cause of her problems is?”

“Without any blood test, my first guess would be she has preeclampsia, but I hadn’t notice an unexpected weight gain or any swelling of her hands or face. I just hope we don’t lose her,” he exclaimed as he wiped the blood from her body. Just as the words left his month, the nurse shouted Ambria’s heart had stopped.

Thomas started on CPR, trying to save the young woman’s life he worked on her non-stop for ten minutes.

“Dr. Parker, she’s gone. You’ve done all you can for her,” the nurse told the doctor, laying a hand on his shoulder.

The doctor looked at Dustin standing against the wall and saw the man crying. “I’m not going to give up on her just yet.”

“Sir, you’ve been trying to revive her for over ten minutes.”

“I want another two minutes,” he said, then called out an order for the nurse to administer some more medication and continued doing CPR on Ambria.

* * *

Ambria looked down at her own body as she floated skywards and the sight saddened her. It was too late now to save her, but how she wished she’d told the doctor about the headaches, then maybe she wouldn’t be in the predicament she was in now.

She was amazed at how hard the doctor was working to save her life. She looked away from the doctor and found Dustin sobbing against the wall, then she looked to the crying infant in his arms who was her daughter. A warm glow filled her heart as she took in the sight of her redheaded newborn child, thinking she was simply beautiful. Now she wished more than ever she’d told her doctors about her headaches.

Even though Dr. Parker was fighting hard to save her life, it was too late to save her. She laughed aloud, she had changed her life by going into the book she’d been reading, survived being shot, two tumors and a blood clot, only to lose her husband she loved, her new daughter and her life because she’d been too afraid to tell anyone about the headaches returning. She felt something sucking at her feet, and she tried to fight it, but the vacuum was too strong for her, and then she was suck away like smoke through a fan.

* * *

“Dr. Parker, you did everything you could for her.”

“I want an autopsy done immediately. I want to know exactly why we lost this young woman. She was bleeding heavily after the baby’s birth, so I figure something must have ruptured, but I’m not sure what it could have been.” Dr. Parker looked down at the child in Dustin’s arms. “I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you.”

“Karen, come take this child and get her cleaned up.” He turned back to Dustin. “If you go to the waiting room, someone will be out to get you once your daughter is ready for visitors.”

Dustin nodded, then turned and walked through the door he’d happily entered just moments before. He felt numb. His wife was gone and it was going to be up to him to raise their daughter on his own. Of course, he knew he would have help from their families, but the day-to-day care of her would be up to him.

While he waited to see his daughter, he called their parents to tell them the bad news. Ambria’s parents said they would be right there, and his parents would arrive in the morning. He called work and told Chad about Ambria, saying he needed more than three days to come to terms to what had happened. Once that was done, he began to cry, wondering how he was going to live without Ambria.