Going Into Early Labor at Sister-in-law's Wedding, Husband Says Hold It In

On my sister-in-law's wedding day, thirty-six weeks pregnant, my mother-in-law stationed me at the door to collect the gift money.

Halfway through, my water broke. There was blood in it.

I told my husband to grab the hospital bag and take me to the hospital, but my mother-in-law clutched the gift-money box and blocked us.

"The books are short by two thousand eight hundred dollars. She's been the one taking money all day, and nobody leaves until it's accounted for."

Susannah James came running over with her wedding gown gathered in her hands and tugged at me, wheedling.

"Come on, it won't take long to reconcile. I'm about to do the tea ceremony. We can't let my in-laws find out the gift money's gone missing."

Then she turned to my husband. "Abe, count the money again. And tell the ambulance not to stop at the front doors. It'd be such bad luck to get it on the wedding video."

Abraham James set the hospital bag down at once and sat back at the table.

I begged him through the contractions. "I'm only thirty-six weeks. If I don't get to a hospital, the baby and I are both in danger."

He didn't even look up. "Nobody has a baby that fast. Stop making a scene."

Suddenly I didn't want to beg anymore. I sent my brother a message straight from my watch.

"My water broke at Susannah's wedding. They say the gift money's short by twenty-eight hundred and won't let me go to the hospital."

"Bring an ambulance and the police."

He answered in a second. "Eight minutes."

"Anyone tries to stop you, I'll have them reconcile the books nice and slow in front of the cops."

...

The message had barely gone out when my mother-in-law called over two of the family aunts.

"We're all women here. A quick search won't hurt anyone."

"I'm not accusing her. I just have to give the relatives an answer."

The two of them boxed me in, one on each side, and reached for my bag.

I clamped down on the strap.

"My water already broke. There's a camera on the gift money. Let me get to the hospital first."

My mother-in-law pried my fingers loose by force.

"If you really didn't take it, what are you afraid of?"

Everything in the bag got dumped out across the table.

Keys, my prenatal checkup slips, and a red envelope with two thousand dollars inside.

Her eyes lit up, and she tore it open right there.

"No wonder the books don't add up. The money's right here!"

I explained through the contractions.

"There's a postpartum care center's name printed on that envelope. That's the deposit for the postpartum nurse."

She wasn't listening at all. She stuffed the money into the gift-money box.

"Who's to say she didn't take the gift money and shove it into some random envelope?"

"We'll hold on to this two thousand. Still eight hundred short."

Whispers started up all around me.

Someone said I'd always seemed so honest; someone else asked if I hadn't planned this out ahead of time, waiting for my water to break so I could walk off with the money.

My belly clenched hard, and I grabbed Abraham's arm.

"Help me sit down."

He'd just reached out a hand when Susannah shrieked.

"My shoes!"

The amniotic fluid was running along the red carpet and had soaked into her wedding shoes.

Abraham shook me off at once and crouched down in front of his sister.

"Don't move. I'll wipe them off for you."

He pulled open the hospital bag, tugged out the gauze cloths meant for the baby, and carefully wiped the tops of her shoes.

Susannah's eyes rimmed red with panic.

"These were custom-made for me. I haven't even finished the photos."

"It's fine. Once it's wiped clean, no one will be able to tell."

Abraham didn't lift his head.

"Move over a little. Don't get anything else on Susannah's gown."

I braced myself on the corner of the table and slowly lowered myself down.

So it wasn't that he didn't know how to take care of someone.

He just didn't want to take care of me.

There was an obstetrician among the guests.

She pushed through the crowd, saw the blood on the hem of my skirt, and her face changed in an instant.

"That's bloody amniotic fluid. It could be a placental abruption. Call an ambulance right now."

The hotel manager had just taken out his phone when my mother-in-law pinned his hand down.

"She's still a month from her due date. How could it be that fast?"

The doctor's voice went urgent.

"Her water broke at thirty-six weeks, and there's bleeding with it. Every minute you stall, the mother and the baby could lose oxygen and lose blood!"

The moment Susannah heard the word ambulance, she had the wedding crew seal off the front doors.

"How unlucky would it be, a stretcher and blood on the video?"

"I'm about to do the tea ceremony. Can't it wait until that part's over?"

My mother-in-law started dabbing at her tears too.

"It's not like we said she can't have the baby."

"We're only short twenty-eight hundred. Are we supposed to let a wedding that cost hundreds of thousands fall apart over one person?"

Abraham pushed the gift-money ledger in front of me.

"Sign it. Admit you counted wrong."

"Square the books, and I'll take you out of here right away."

"I didn't take the money."

His face darkened.

"I'm trying to protect your reputation here. Don't be so ungrateful."

He tucked my ID, delivery card, and prenatal records into a document folder and pinned it under the ledger.

"You leave when you own up to it."

Outside the hotel, the ambulance siren finally sounded.

I'd barely felt the relief when three wedding cars swung sideways across the front doors, and the side door was blocked off with a flower arch.

Through the glass, I watched my brother pounding on the door.

Abraham picked up his call.

"The money's not accounted for. Doesn't matter who shows up, nobody's taking her out of here."

The obstetrician bent down to check on me again.

This time her voice changed completely.

"There's more and more blood."

"And the fetal heartbeat is starting to drop."

Ethan kicked the glass doors open.

My parents and the paramedics rushed in right behind him.

Ethan saw the blood soaking my skirt, and his eyes went red.

"Who's stopping her from leaving?"

He lifted me onto the stretcher, careful with every motion.

But Mrs. Adams threw herself over the cash box and screamed at the top of her lungs:

"She can't leave!"

"She counted the gift money, and now some of it's gone. Her family barges in like this, who knows if they're planning to grab the money while everyone's distracted?"

The veins stood out at Ethan's temple.

"My sister and her baby are dying. Who wants your lousy money?"

Mrs. Adams called the police right there.

When the officers arrived and heard the doctor's explanation, they ordered her released at once.

"If there's a dispute over the money, pull the security footage."

"Right now a life comes first. No one blocks a medical transport."

Mrs. Adams was forced to step aside.

I thought we could finally go.

But the second the stretcher rolled out of the banquet hall, the paramedics stopped.

The main doors were sealed off by the wedding cars.

The side door was piled with floral arches, and the entrance to the underground garage was blocked by the wedding motorcade too.

The ambulance was right outside, and we couldn't find a single path wide enough for the stretcher.

Susannah stood in the center of the red carpet in her wedding dress.

"Wait a little longer."

"I haven't done the family toast yet, and we haven't taken the group photo."

Ethan pointed at her.

"Your sister-in-law and her baby could die any second. Move!"

His shout made her shoulders flinch. She turned and grabbed Abraham's arm.

"Ethan, I only get to get married once in my life."

"Why does she have to cause a scene today of all days?"

"What's the harm in waiting a little longer?"

Abraham immediately pulled her behind him.

"Don't cry. The wedding will go on, I promise."

The contractions came closer and closer together.

One wave of pain hadn't fully passed before the next one bore down.

I curled up on the stretcher, cold sweat sliding down from my temples without stopping.

"Give the folder to my dad."

But Abraham took a step back.

"Settle the accounts first."

The obstetrician cut in sharply:

"She's very likely got a placental abruption, and you're still talking about money?"

Abraham's face twisted with impatience.

"Of course the doctor makes it sound serious. Otherwise, who takes the blame if something happens?"

"She's been like this since she got pregnant. The slightest discomfort and the whole family has to revolve around her."

I stared at the folder in his hand.

"Your sister bought a house, and you took our renovation money."

"Her business failed, and you used the bride price my parents gave to pay off her debt."

"After I got pregnant I wanted a place with an elevator, and you handed the savings over for her engagement party."

"Even today's banquet, a hundred thousand of it came from us."

I dragged in a breath.

"I gave up the house. I gave up the bride price. I gave up my baby's money too."

"And now, do I have to give her my life as well?"

Abraham's face went completely dark.

"You really have to drag up old scores on Susannah's wedding day?"

"It's family money. What's the point of counting it this precisely?"

The paramedics started dismantling the floral arch at the side door.

Susannah shrieked and threw herself at them.

"You can't take it apart!"

"My in-laws had this custom-made for tens of thousands. If you wreck it, how am I supposed to have my wedding?"

Abraham blocked the paramedics at once.

"Once we've taken the photos, it'll get moved."

I looked at his back as he stood guarding the floral arch, and I finally stopped begging him.

I pulled the monitoring lines off the back of my hand and pushed myself up on the stretcher.

"Ethan, don't wait anymore."

"Smash the arch."

"Let them keep their wedding. I'll go have this baby on my own."

Ethan grabbed the fire axe off the wall.

The first swing came down, and the arch split with a crack.

The big screen in the banquet hall went black along with it.

The floral arch crashed down, drowning out the wedding music.

Mrs. Adams came rushing over with a crowd of relatives.

"Stop right there!"

"This is Susannah's wedding. Who gave you the right to smash it apart?"

Ethan stood in front of the stretcher.

"The right my sister and her baby have, since they're about to die."

"I'll pay for whatever's broken."

"Anyone blocks the way again, I'll smash them along with it."

Susannah ran straight to the wedding car and threw both arms around the hood, holding on for dear life.

"Nobody's getting past until you promise to pay for my arch and my car!"

The paramedic checked the fetal heartbeat and pushed everyone to clear the way.

Oswald ignored Susannah and walked straight up to Abraham.

"When I handed my daughter over to you, you said you'd put her and the child first."

"Now the doctor is telling me she could lose both her life and the baby's."

"Are you her husband, or do you just see her as a tool to fund your family and bear its children?"

Abraham glanced at me.

I thought he would at least hand over the folder.

Instead he only lowered his voice and made his excuse:

"Dad, it's not that I don't care about her."

"The accounts aren't settled. If she just walks out like this, what will the relatives think of our family?"

Oswald stared at him.

"Do you honestly not know whether she took that money?"

Abraham's eyes flickered.

Mrs. Adams suddenly clutched her chest and dropped to the ground.

"I can't go on living!"

"I worked my whole life just to see my daughter married off. And she brings her family here to wreck the wedding!"

"I never said she couldn't leave."

"Let her apologize to Susannah and admit she miscounted the twenty-eight hundred, and I'll let her go this instant!"

Susannah ducked behind Abraham, crying until her makeup ran.

"You've already ruined my wedding."

"Are you satisfied now?"

Abraham looked at me.

"Mom's already backing down."

"Just admit you were wrong, and everybody gets a way out of this."

The contraction bore down on me again.

I gripped the edge of the stretcher, the taste of blood filling my mouth where I'd bitten through my lip.

"I didn't take the money."

"And I'm not the one who owes an apology."

The paramedic measured the fetal heartbeat again, her voice noticeably more urgent than before.

"We can't waste any more time. She has to go to the hospital now!"

Abraham suddenly opened the folder.

My ID, delivery card, prenatal reports, hospital admission papers, all of it was inside.

He pinched the mouth of the folder shut and stared me down.

"Sign and admit it, and I'll hand this to your brother right now."

"Don't sign, and your family can go redo all the paperwork themselves."

Mom was shaking with rage.

"You're using these things to threaten a woman in early labor?"

Abraham still didn't let go.

"She's the one who insisted on dragging this into a scene."

"If she dares let the police and her family carry her out the front door today, I won't go to the hospital."

"The surgery, the admission, the birth certificate, you can all handle it yourselves."

"And the child won't carry the James name."

He knew early labor was what I feared most.

He knew we'd once promised each other that no matter what happened, he'd be with me in the delivery room.

And now he was using being my husband, being the father, to force me to confess I'd stolen money.

I looked at him, and suddenly asked:

"Abraham, do you know where that twenty-eight hundred is?"

His fingers tightened all at once.

Then he looked away.

"All I know is that the money came up short in your hands."

I nodded.

"Fine."

"Then don't come."

"And it's none of your business what name the child takes."

The moment I said it, the baby that had been struggling so hard inside me went still.

Too still.

I laid my hand over my belly and waited, and waited.

Nothing.

"Baby?"

"Move for me."

The paramedic immediately pulled out the portable fetal monitor.

A scramble of sounds crackled for a few seconds.

Her face went white.

"The heartbeat's only eighty, and it's still dropping!"

"The baby might not make it to the hospital!"

Abraham finally took one step toward me.

But Susannah grabbed his hand.

Inside the banquet hall, the officiant was calling for the bride and groom to exchange rings.

"Bro, everyone's waiting for me."

Abraham turned back to look at the stage, and his foot stopped.

The side door finally gave way.

My brother and the paramedics rushed me out of the hotel on the gurney, but three wedding cars still sat across the ambulance lane.

The officer ordered the driver to move them at once.

The driver was drenched in sweat.

"The groom has the keys, and he's still up on the stage."

Susannah came running out and threw herself in front of the cars.

"Nobody touches these!"

"They're rentals. If you damage them, that's hundreds of thousands to replace!"

The paramedics kept adjusting the fetal monitor.

The sound coming from it was getting slower.

My brother didn't argue anymore.

He turned, got into his own SUV, and hit the gas.

There was a crash.

The outermost wedding car was shoved bodily aside.

Susannah's scream tore across the hotel entrance.

"My wedding car!"

The ambulance lane was finally clear.

The paramedics loaded me in fast.

Abraham came running out, clutching a folder.

I thought he was finally going to come with me to the hospital.

Instead he stood outside the door, his face cold.

"Have your brother pay for the car first."

"And sign for the two thousand eight hundred, or I'm not handing over your things."

My father yanked out my ID card and shoved him back from the door.

"Get lost."

The ambulance door shut in his face.

Abraham didn't chase the car.

He turned with the rest of the folder and ran back to the wedding.

Once we were moving, the heartbeat dropped to sixty at one point.

I started bleeding heavily, and my vision blurred.

The paramedic doctor got the hospital on the line.

"Suspected placental abruption. Prep the emergency lane, straight to surgery on arrival."

Mom kept calling Abraham.

He didn't pick up once.

But someone posted a video in the family group chat.

In it, he stood on the stage, taking Susannah's hand and placing it in the groom's.

The officiant said, smiling,

"An older brother is like a father."

The room broke into applause.

The ambulance reached the hospital, and I was wheeled straight into the surgical prep area.

The delivery card was still in Abraham's hands, so my father could only call the bank to report it lost.

When the results came back, his face changed.

The delivery account, which should have held thirty thousand, had forty-six dollars left.

The money had been transferred out all at once to Susannah, after Abraham took my phone and claimed he was checking my transfer records for me.

The note was just two words.

Wedding balance.

I'd been treated as a thief and held at the gift table over two thousand eight hundred.

And Abraham, the moment my water broke, had taken the money for my delivery with his own hands.

The doctor came quickly.

"The heartbeat is still dropping. We need an emergency C-section now."

"After the birth the baby will most likely go into the neonatal ICU. The family needs to be prepared."

Mom finally got through to Abraham and put him on speaker.

"Why did you transfer away the delivery money?"

It was loud on the other end.

The officiant was calling for the bride to throw the bouquet.

Abraham didn't deny it.

"The wedding company suddenly wanted the balance paid. I couldn't have Susannah chased for money in her wedding dress."

"The baby has to go into intensive care!"

He only paused for a second.

"The hospital isn't going to just let a baby die."

"What's wrong with the two of you fronting it for now?"

"A sister only gets married once. Do you really have to fight her over today?"

The hallway went silent.

I told Mom to save the recording and to revoke every bit of authority Abraham had over my personal accounts.

The nurse held out the surgical consent form.

"Who do we put as your first contact?"

I crossed out the name in the spouse field.

"My brother."

Just as the doors to the OR were about to close, Abraham finally showed up, holding the gift ledger.

He tried to follow me in, but a nurse stopped him.

"I'm sorry. The patient hasn't authorized you to enter."

Abraham froze.

"I'm her husband!"

The nurse looked down at the list.

"The first contact is the patient's brother."

"And you're not on the visitor list either."

He stared at me, unable to believe it.

"You really have to take it this far?"

I lay on the bed, soaked through with blood.

The gift ledger in his arms was still spotless.

"You choose your sister every single time."

"Now, I choose too."

The doors to the OR closed completely.

Above me, the doctor's voice came fast and urgent.

"Heartbeat's gone!"

"Operate now!"

The anesthesia mask came down.

I don't know how much time passed before I felt my belly suddenly go empty.

All around me were the sounds of instruments clashing and the staff rushing back and forth.

But I waited a long time, and I never heard the baby cry.