Grace's POV
Chester stood up and I took his hand. We walked together, our fingers nervously laced together as we were lead by the nurses to the infants ward. There, they carefully placed Charlotte in one of the see-through cribs and attached a smaller oxygen mask to her beautiful little face.
Chester and I sat by her side, silently and anxiously awaiting the results whilst we focused intently on the movement of Charlotte's chest. As we studied her breathing pattern, the doctor walked in with the x-rays in his hand.
"It looks like we have a case of neonatal respiratory distress." He looked down at the x-rays and walked over to us. "As you can see here, there is a substance, surfactant, in her lungs. It's a condition common amongst newborns. In your daughter's case, it's completely treatable."
I sighed a heavy sigh of relief. It felt like I could finally function again, knowing that my baby would be okay.
"Treatment is simple and won't take long. She'll just be receiving some moist air to loosen the fluid in her lungs and then she'll be fine. We'll be keeping her for one or two nights, though."
"Thank you." Chester smiled politely, a wave of relief over him too. The doctor nodded and walked out.
I still felt anxious watching Charlotte lying on the hospital bed. It was a common condition, but somehow it seemed so blown out of proportion and serious to me. I felt even more anxious when nurses entered, carrying the new oxygen machine that they would be using. It had harsh looking pipes instead of a mask, which they stuck into her little nose and taped to her face. When they turned on the machine, it whizzed and whirred and that added to my panic.
I clenched my fists in an attempt to calm myself. My nails dug deep into my palms and I fidgeted uncontrollably. Thankfully, Chester took my hard fists into his warm palms. I instinctively rested my head on his shoulder. Just being close to him made me feel safer and calmer.
"Charlotte's going to be alright. You heard the doctor. Don't panic, baby." He spoke softly, but my eyes remained fixated on the tiny little human. "I'd better call your mom. She's probably sick to her stomach with nerves."
Chester pulled out his phone and called my mom. The two spoke for a while, about Charlotte's condition and treatment and then my mom reminded us to spend as much time at the hospital as we needed, because Sophie was fine with her.
I remained cuddled into Chester's side and slowly felt myself drifting away into exhausted and anxious sleep.
Chester's POV
The next morning, the doctor gave us the all clear sign. Charlotte had taken extremely well to the treatment and was allowed to leave the hospital early. Despite the positive results, Grace was still extremely anxious and never left Charlotte's side.
Weeks later, I woke up and felt the bed in the darkness. It was empty and I knew where Grace had gone. I got up and fumbled through the passage, feeling the walls to guide myself to the nursery. I walked in, and found Grace, just as I thought she would be. Her face was lit with the small nightlight in the room and she was balanced precariously on the end of a chair, looking into Charlotte's crib and gently stroking her silky soft hair, which seemed to be getting lighter everyday, going from the dark brown tufts she had when she was born, to ashy blonde-brown colour.
"Grace, why are you up?" I whispered.
Her head swivelled and she looked at me, looking a little startled. The nightlight in the room displayed Grace in a different light. Her eyes had extremely dark circles underneath them, as a result of her worrying about Charlotte and taking care of both of our daughters as well as she could. I couldn't understand why she panicked about Charlotte so much, when we knew that her condition had been treated and she was healthy.
"Just checking up on her." She tiredly smiled down at Charlotte.
"You've checked up on her several times already. Don't you think you need some sleep?" I suggested gently.
"I'm alright." Her smile faded slightly.
"Then why are you so worried about her?"
"I don't know..." Her lip quivered as her eyes filled with tears. I walked over, kneeled down and wrapped my arms around her. "After my mom went back to New Jersey it felt like I had no help and I couldn't relax anymore."
"But Grace, I'm here. I'm always here to help you." I kissed her temple in attempt to calm her.
"I know..." Grace's face dropped slightly.
"What is it?" I stroked her shoulder.
"It's nothing." She bit her lip and diverted her attention to Charlotte.
"It's not nothing. Just tell me, Gracie." I assured her.
"It doesn't seem like you care. Since this happened, you haven't really shown much interest in Charlotte." She paused. "Or me."
I felt disappointed and angry at the same time. I tried to calm myself, but I could feel my blood boiling as I looked at Grace, who eyed me guiltily.
"I'm not showing any interest? Is that a joke? I'm trying so hard to help you get over this and treat Charlotte like a normal baby, but you're too caught up in obsessing over a healthy baby, because of some small scare, which has been treated." As I halted in the middle of my rant, I caught my breath and continued to speak in the calm but firm voice I had used.
"Have you even taken the time to listen to the things Sophie tells you after preschool since Charlotte was born? We have two daughters, Grace. If you could take your eyes off our healthy, beautiful baby, you might notice that your little girl misses you and she needs you."
I looked at Grace, who had tears welling up in her eyes. I felt guilty, but it needed to be said.
"I-I'm sorry, Grace." I instantly felt terrible as I approached her to embrace her in my arms.
"No, don't." She extended one arm to keep me away from her and shielded the look of hurt on her face by turning to face the wall.
What had I done?
