I felt her understanding in my head and knew she going to play along, but it still hurt like hell when she squeezed her eyes tightly and said, “I hate you forever.”
Dr. Knight rushed through the front door and to Chansey’s side. “What is happening?”
“A vampire used Black Magic to squeeze Chansey’s abdomen. It was very hard and I’m afraid she might have hurt her badly,” I said as I stood and ran my hands through my hair.
“Curry, I need you to listen to the babies and see if they both have heartbeats,” Dr. Knight ordered.
I hadn’t even thought of that. I lowered my head to Chansey’s belly, like I had a million times, and prayed as I listened for the heartbeats of my children. Both of them. I shut my eyes so I could concentrate and differentiate between the two. There was always about a ten beat per minute difference between them, but that’s not what I heard. One sounded like it’s normal rate and the other was faster, a lot faster, and I smelled blood. I lifted my head, expecting to see blood gushing from Chansey, but I saw none.
“One heartbeat is normal. The other is a lot faster than normal and I smelled blood, even though I don’t see it,” I told Dr. Knight.
She began to feel of Chansey’s uterus. “The smell of blood, her uterus being very rigid and the baby having tachycardia lead me to believe the trauma to her abdomen has caused a silent abruption.”
“What does that mean?’
“I believe her placenta is bleeding inside her uterus and that means we’re going to the hospital for a c-section right now. We don’t have time for an ambulance come for her. We’ll transport her by car. Carry her to my car and I’ll call and tell them to have an OR ready and waiting for us.”
“She needs to lie on her left side in the car so she will get better cardiac output to perfuse more oxygen to the babies,” Dr. Knight instructed me as I picked Chansey up and carried her to the car. I laid her across the back seat on her left side with her head in my lap.
I stroked her hair away from her face as Dr. Knight pulled from the drive onto the road. “I’m so sorry this happened, Love.”
This could not be happening. I couldn’t even protect my family from that monster! No more hiding. No more running. Marsala was on her way for me and I would be ready for her when she arrived. She no longer had the power of sire over me. The broken bond between us gave me the release I needed to be able to kill her and that was exactly what I planned on doing.
31 Until Another Day
Dr. Knight screeched to a stop under the awning at the admissions desk and a crowd of nurses were waiting with a stretcher for Chansey. Dr. Knight immediately began shouting orders to them as they rolled Chansey into the hospital.
I ran alongside the stretcher holding her hand until they rolled her into an exam room to prep her for surgery. I stood helplessly against the wall as I watched them do what was necessary and I was reminded of the time I carried Chansey into the emergency room after Julian kidnapped and drugged her.
Someone tossed scrubs, a surgery hat and a mask my way and said, “Here, put these on if you’re going back with us.”
“He’s going,” Dr. Knight announced.
Chansey was prepped for surgery in under four minutes and Dr. Knight said, “Let’s move it to the OR, guys.”
I followed behind them and Dr. Knight walked next to me. “Chansey will have to go to sleep for surgery because we don’t have time to do a spinal and wait for it to work. Things are going to move really fast once we get in there, but no matter what happens with the babies, you remember what you may have to do, right?”
“I do.”
“Okay. Let’s go have some babies.”
Chansey was quickly pulled over onto the surgery table and I moved to stand by her head as she was draped. Her body was uncontrollably shaking and I reached for her hand. She squeezed it tightly and said, “She’s out of my mind now. I didn’t mean it. God, how I didn’t mean it. I love you, Curry. I love you forever times infinity.”
I laid my forehead against hers while the surgery crew finished prepping her. “And I love you forever times infinity.”
“Sir, I need to get to your wife so I can put her to sleep.”
“Of course.” I quickly kissed her head and said, “Sweet dreams, Sleeping Beauty.”
Seconds later, Chansey was asleep and the man by her head said, “Okay, go.”
There was scrambling behind the sterile drape with clanking sounds of metal instruments and I heard Dr. Knight announce, “We’re almost to the uterus, Curry.”
Less than a minute later, Dr. Knight said, “Here comes number one,” and I heard the shrill cry of one of my children. “It’s a girl and she looks good. Chunky little thing. I’m handing her off to the nursery so we can get number two out.”
I gave thanks for my daughter that was alive and prayed for our other child still inside of Chansey. Please, let him or her be alright. Please. I braced myself for the worst, but pleaded for the best as I prayed. I waited for the second squeal, prayed for it, and it felt like an eternity while I waited.
“Okay, here comes number two.”
I heard the second squeal and felt light-headed, like I might pass out, but I held it together because I had to hear it when Dr. Knight announced what the second baby was. “Curry, number two is a boy.”
I wished Chansey could experience this with me. I squeezed my eyes and felt the tears spill over. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Whoever is listening, thank you.”
“Come over and take a look at your babies, Mr. Brennan,” I heard from across the room.
I slowly walked across the room to see my children for the first time and saw two little black haired babies laying side by side in a warmer. The nurse picked up my daughter and held her up for me to get a better view. “She’s a good size. I think she’s a little bigger than her brother.”
“Everything looks normal with both of them?”
“They look perfectly healthy,” the other nurse said as she lifted my son for me to see.
“Can I touch them?”
“You can do more than that,” she said as she put hats on them and then swaddled each of them. “Here, you can hold them.”
I tried to remember the way it felt to hold Lily as I put my arm out to take my daughter. I looked at her face as she squinted at the bright lights and I knew my place would always be wrapped around her little finger.
“Ready for your son?” the nurse asked and I put my other arm out to take him.
She placed him in my arms and he looked just like his sister as he squinted under the lights. I studied their faces and the similarities between them. They were the same, but different, and my heart was flooded with so much love I thought it could literally burst.
They gave me a few minutes to hold my children before one of the nurses said, “Okay, it’s time for them to go to the nursery, but they’ll be in your wife’s room in a couple hours. What are their names?”
I laughed as I leaned down to kiss my daughter’s head. “I have no idea.” I kissed my son and said, “I guess their mother and I have an assignment.
“I believe you do. You can come with us and we’ll take you to the waiting room where your family is while Dr. Knight finishes your wife’s surgery. After that, she’ll go to recovery for an hour. You and your family may come to the window and admire your new babies through the glass.”
“I don’t know if our family is
here.”
“Oh, I bet they’re out there.”
I found everyone in the waiting room as the nurse suspected and I couldn’t contain my huge smile as I walked toward them.
“Well?” Lairah and Gia chimed simultaneously.
“A boy and a girl.”
“And Chansey?’
“Doing fine.”
Lairah reached out to hug me. “I’m so happy for you, Curry.”
She passed me off to Gia. “Me, too. You deserve Chansey and those babies.”
After we all stood at the nursery windows admiring the babies, I went down the line being told, “Congratulations,” by my family members and I noticed Sol hung toward the back of the crowd. When the hugs were over, the others headed for their cars and Sol stood looking at me as he shook his head. “Man, you’re somebody’s daddy-two little somebody’s. How did all of this happen in less than a year? It’s crazy.”
“I don’t know, but I couldn’t be happier.”
“You should be. You have it all-a beautiful wife and now not one, but two beautiful children. Your life is perfect.”
“It’s not perfect yet, but it will be when I kill Marsala.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“Hell, yes. I know I can do it without blinking an eye. She tried to kill Chansey and she almost killed my children. She would have if I hadn’t agreed to come back to her with a baby.”
“What are you going to do about that?’
“I don’t know, but it’s going to involve a way to kill Marsala.”
˜ ˜ ˜
After the family was gone, I continued to stand at the nursery windows and stare at the babies. I loved to watch the way they squirmed and the faces they made when they squealed, but I was mainly looking for any signs that would alarm the staff of their non-human characteristics.
They appeared completely human by all of my standards, but who knew what would pop up along the way with them. Half of their DNA was contributed by yours truly, but maybe my prayers were answered when I pleaded for them to be nothing like me. Maybe they were all good like their mother.
“Mr. Brennan, your wife is in her room and she is asking for you.”