I didn’t say too much, but Austin had plenty to say… He talked about some of the scams that Angie used to run, and of course, he talked at length about the stunt she tried to pull over a year ago on his nineteenth birthday. He couldn’t fool me, though. Despite his hatred of the woman, there was a part of the sweet boy that was concerned about his mother’s welfare.

We made it to the hospital, and I approached the nurses’ station. “I’m Hank Ford and this is Austin Ford.” He stood at my side. “We’re here to see about Angie Smith.”

The male nurse’s face sobered. “I’ll buzz Nurse Fogarty for you.”

“Why didn’t he just give us the room number instead of getting the other nurse?” Austin griped.

I shrugged. “Maybe Angie is her patient or something.”

An older nurse with pale skin, sunken-in dark eyes, and gray hair wrapped in a bun came out to greet us within a few moments.

“Austin?” she asked in a voice kinder than it had been on the phone.

“Yes,” he said, fingering his blond hair out of his eyes. “Where’s Angie?”

“Can you come with me?” she asked, looking between the two of us. “I need to have a word with you.”

“Sure,” he responded, taking my hand into his. “My husband is coming with us.”

“No problem,” the nurse said, leading us down the corridor to a room with a desk and some chairs.

An odd feeling crept up my spine.

“Austin,” she began, shutting the door. “I’m afraid your mother died a few minutes ago…”

“Wow,” he muttered, his fingers loosening in my grasp, but I continued to hold his hand.

“I’m sorry,” she offered.

“Are you okay, Austin?” I asked, looking down into his blue eyes.

“Yeah,” he replied blankly. “Just surprised.”

“She went real quickly,” Nurse Fogarty said solemnly. “Quicker than we expected, but with all the complications, her drug and alcohol use, her weight, her hypertension, and her age, there wasn’t anything we could do.”

The nurse had said a mouthful, so Austin seemed to take a few moments to process everything. “What happened exactly?” he finally asked.

“Well, the delivery was hard on her body and all—,”

Austin cut her off. “The delivery?”

“Yes,” the nurse said. “You didn’t know that your mother was expecting?”

“Angie was pregnant?” he gasped, looking up at me to see my mouth slightly ajar.

Austin was in shock, so I asked. “What about the baby?”

“She delivered a little girl, and she’s stable, but your sister was born severely underweight.” The nurse paused. “When your mother was brought in, she had alcohol, amphetamines, marijuana, and cocaine in her system.”

“Jesus!” the boy gasped. “Is the baby going to be okay?”

“Your sister is stable, but she’s in Neo-Natal ICU.” The older woman frowned. “I’m afraid we don’t know anything yet. But the situation isn’t good… She has no visible birth defects, but she’s tiny.”

The nurse continued. “If she does survive, there could be long-term damage, including permanent health conditions such as learning disabilities, internal birth defects, and Down’s syndrome.” She put her hand on Austin’s shoulder. “But we don’t know anything yet and we may not for a while.”