By the time Sophie got to the hospital entrance, it hurt too
much to stand upright. She took a detour to the hospital secu
rity office and reported that she’d been accosted two blocks away.
She’d be back later to fill out a report. Right now she had to get
upstairs.
“Can I get you a wheelchair?” the security officer asked.
Not wanting to wait for the help, she hurried to the elevator,
praying it would be empty. The pain was getting worse. Bent over,
she stepped off the elevator and walked into the NICU. Instantly
she felt a searing pain in her abdomen—cramping that felt a hun
dred times worse than the worst period ever. She ran to the nearest
bathroom—the one for the NICU staff. She pulled down her
underwear, and just as she feared, there was blood flowing out of
her. With each cramp came another gush of blood. She screamed
out Kim’s name as she sat on the toilet, feeling lightheaded.
She was about to lose consciousness when a nurse came in
and caught her from falling face-first onto the bathroom floor.
The nurse pushed the emergency button in the bathroom that
connected to the front desk.
“I need some help in here!”
Two nurses came rushing in, and the three of them got
Sophie into a wheelchair. She started to vomit, throwing up her
last meal all over herself and the nurses. They hurriedly wheeled
her down the hall, onto the elevator, and to a procedure room on
the second floor. They lifted her up onto the examining table.
156
JULIE HATCH
“What are you doing?” Sophie asked in a daze.
“We’re getting a doctor.”
Feeling like she was about to faint, Sophie managed to say,
“Please, just not Dr. Wagner.” Then she lost consciousness.
When she came to, Kim was with her, as well as a doctor pulling
off his gloves. Sophie had on a clean johnny and was tucked
into a hospital bed. The on-call physician spoke to Sophie and
explained that he had done a D&C to stop the bleeding. He put a
gentle hand on Sophie’s shoulder and explained that he removed
a tiny piece of old placenta from her uterus.
“You know, Sophie, that punch was a blessing in disguise.
Retained placenta, even a tiny piece like yours, would have
eventually caused bigger problems.”
There was a quick knock on the door, and without waiting
for a response, Adam rushed in. “What happened, Soph?”
She told him about her visit to Rihanna’s and the attack on
her way home. They looked at each other, neither wanting to say
what they were thinking.
Kim and the doctor excused themselves.
Sophie finally said, “Either that guy was out to hurt me, or it
was just a random assault.”
Adam shook his head. “That wasn’t random. He was target
ing you.
