Wedding for Revenge

Chapter 8 – Unexpected Emergency

Alice Walker's POV

Julia called Mary and asked to take care of the kids and to call her if any of them woke up. We went out through the front door. On the way, I saw a car parked in the garage and I asked.

“Is Jacob still here?” I pointed towards the car.

    “No, Jacob has gone to the bank. That is our old car. Jacob doesn’t want to sell it as it’s the first thing he bought for himself. We use the car till now and it is well maintained. I too love this car more than our new one. I have a lot of memories related to this car.” Julia’s eyes got wet.

“I wish if we did use this car on that day, our son would have been with us.” I fell silent at her words.

“Jacob didn’t drive a car after the accident for about four months. He used to go with Joseph in his truck. Then when it became really hard, he bought a new car. Our new car is black but I love this red car.” Julie said as she walked to the garden.

Julia took me to her front garden first and started to show me the varieties of flowers in her garden. She had almost all colors of roses and orchids. I loved the white lilies and red roses the most. She told me that she sells the flowers to a florist in the city. Mary’s husband takes the flowers once a week to the florist. Mary’s husband has a truck and he helps Julia to sell all her farm yields. She then took me to the backyard through the side of the house. On the side too, they had a well-maintained flower garden.

When we reached the back gate, she opened it and led the way. I could just see boundless greenery as far as my eyes could reach. At the beginning of the field varieties of vegetables are being grown. Julia introduced me to all the plants and I watched with amused eyes. There were even vegetables whose names I didn’t even know. In the beginning, there were tomatoes and chilies. They had varieties of chilies on their farm. It felt as if the red tomatoes were screaming at me to pluck them. Most importantly, they were not using any sorts of chemical pesticides. I saw some men working in the place and they were plucking the vegetables.

“These men are helpers of Mary’s husband Joseph. We had our own workers when we shifted here. But after James’ death, we weren’t in a condition to look after the farm. Initially, our parents were there and they did know everything about farming. That was when Mary and Joseph came to help us. They too had lots of lands but had to sell them to treat their son. Their son had some chronic illness. They tried their best but couldn’t save their son. They now have only a daughter but didn’t have any means of living. Jacob helped him to get a loan to buy a truck. Now Joseph goes to the city every other day with the farm products. All the villagers now give their products to Joseph as they get more money by selling directly to the market rather than to the middle man. Now Joseph takes care of our entire farm. Both Mary and Joseph are of great help to us.” Julia said.

“How old is their daughter?” I asked.

“She is now fifteen and they are planning to send her to the city for her higher studies. Joseph promised them to find the best institution for her. She is a bright student and wants to become a doctor. Mary and Joseph save at Jacob’s bank for that.” Julia said and walked further leading me to her barley farm.

“How much land do you have? I just can’t see the boundaries.

“Well, the entire land including the house is 4 acres. We haven’t cultivated anything on 2 acres. Jacob says we should grow some pulses there but I wanted to start a dairy farm there. If we have a dairy farm, we won’t need to buy any dairy products. It really costs a lot to buy dairy products.” Julia said with a grin.

We walked further inside the farm. I looked at my watch and it’s already 4.00 in the evening. It’s been more than an hour since we left the house. I didn’t realize we had spent so much time outside.

“Julia, let’s go back. It’s been more than an hour and the kids will already be awake.” I said and she nodded. We started walking back. I wanted to hurry back but couldn’t as Julia was walking slowly. She is heavily pregnant and so I couldn’t ask her to walk fast. There was no one around us and so I had to walk with Julia.

“When is your due date?” I asked.

“There are still two weeks but Jacob says that it would be safe if I got admitted next week itself. He is really scared because of the complications. The doctor already suggested having a c-section.” Julia replied.

We were just halfway when suddenly Julia screamed. I looked at her and she was crouching down. I tried to support her and that’s when I noticed the water flowing down her legs.

“Oh my God, the water is broken, Julia. What are we going to do?” I asked but she was not in a condition to answer me. Julia went to her knees and fell to the ground. I looked around and screamed for help but to my dismay, no one came. I searched for something and saw a trolley carrier that is used to carry the farm products. I ran and brought it near Julia and with great effort helped her to sit in the carriage. I used all my strength to pull the carriage to the backyard. I called Mary when I reached the back door and she came running. She stood shocked for a few seconds seeing Julia in pain.

“Help me, Mary.” Mary came running when she heard me.

“What happened?” She asked while helping me to carry Julia inside.

“Her water broke when we were coming back. We have to rush her to the hospital.” I said.

“But, Jacob is not here,” Mary said.

“Okay, then help me to take her to the car. Julia, where is the car key?” I asked.

“I know where it is. I will just bring it.” Mary went to get the key while I struggled to hold Julia. She came back within seconds and helped me to take Julia to the car. Once we carefully laid her down at the back seat, I turned and went to the driver’s side. Before getting in I said to Mary.

“Kids will be awake in no time. I know it will be hard for you to control them. But we don’t have an option as I can’t take them with us. Tell my daughter that I will be back before dark and console Toby. Give them something to eat and switch on the cartoon and they will be silent for the time being. Please inform Jacob and tell him that I have Julia’s phone.” I got inside the car and tried to start it. It took a few tries to start the car and by that time Mary ran towards the gate and opened it wide for me to rush out. I drove the car through the road by which I came here. I haven’t driven a car this fast before. There were no other vehicles and it was easy. I kept peeking backward to see if Julia was awake or not. The weak groan from her kept me at ease. I reached the small hospital I saw while coming here within a record time of 15 minutes.

As I stopped the car, I called out to bring a stretcher. A man sitting at the reception came towards the car. He came and looked inside the car and said.

“Take her to the hospital in the city. We don’t have any doctors here right now. They are on leave.” He said.

“Then call a midwife or a nurse. Her water is broken.” I said.

“Madam, this is not a maternity hospital and the nurse here doesn’t know anything about labor.” He replied.

“Then please arrange an ambulance.” I asked again.

“We don’t have an ambulance.” He said.

What am I going to do now? It’s already half an hour since the water broke. I don’t have time to waste. I reversed the car and took it to the road. Again I took the speed and within five minutes I reached the main road. I turned to the right and sped the car to the nearest hospital. The speed neared 100 most of the time. I heard the phone ringing and without slowing down I answered the call.

“Julia, what happened, and where are you?” Jacob’s voice came through the phone.

“Jacob, I am taking her to the nearest hospital in the city,” I said.

“Alice, why didn’t you take her to the government hospital in the village?” Jacob asked.

“Jacob, I did take her there but there were no doctors or other staff at the hospital. So I had to take her to the hospital in the city. I will call you once I get there.” I said and hung up.

I reached a multi-specialty hospital within twenty minutes. I almost hit two other cars while coming here. As soon as I pulled over in front of the hospital, the attendants came with a stretcher and took Julia inside. I parked the car and followed them inside the hospital. I called Jacob and informed him about the hospital. I waited patiently outside the room where Julia was taken. Jacob came within ten minutes and asked how Julia was.

“They have taken Julia inside. I just pray and hope that both the mother and baby are alright.” I said weekly. I knew that Julia was unconscious by the time we reached here. I hope she is fine. I closed my eyes and prayed for her safety. I opened my eyes when I heard a door opening. A doctor came out and asked.

“Who is the relative of Mrs. Julia Wiseman?” Jacob moved forward and introduced himself.

“I am Jacob Wiseman, Julia’s husband.”

“Hello, Mr. Wiseman. I am Dr. Nathan Smith. You brought your wife on time or else it would have been really difficult to save your wife and baby.” Doctor said,

“Well, I didn’t bring her here. It’s Alice who brought her here on time.” Jacob said pointing towards me.

“When Mrs. Wiseman was brought she was unconscious and the baby’s head was out. If you were a few more minutes late, you would have lost your baby. We had to use a suction pump to pull the baby out. Mr. Wiseman, you had a baby girl. Both mother and baby are alright. You can meet them after half an hour.” Dr. Smith said. He then turned to me and said.

“Well done Alice. You did a great job.”