Chapter 14 #2
"She's in labor and her blood pressure is too high. We're going to have to try and stabilize it before going on." Dr. Henderson told the team. Turning to look at Christos as she suited up, she told him bluntly, "You're just going to be in the way. Please allow us to do our jobs."
"Don't leave me." Leanne clung to his hand tightly.
"You have your answer," he told the doctors grimly. "I'm staying."
"All right. Just suit up and stay out of our way." She smiled at Leanne. "These babies are in a hurry to be born, I'm afraid."
"Please save them," she whispered.
"We intend to."
*****
Two hours later he walked into the waiting room, not in the least bit surprised to see his entire family there, including the children.
"What's the news?" his mother demanded.
"She lost a lot of blood." He wasn't sure he would ever recover from what he had witnessed just now. "The babies have been rushed to the NICU and they've put her under." He walked over to the window to stare out bleakly.
He felt numb, as if he was standing aside and staring at himself.
"They're hopeful. She was bleeding pretty badly, but they managed to stop it.
" He shook his head. "I..." He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to get rid of the image of his wife being cut wide open, her flesh sliced and so much damn blood. He was surprised she had any left.
"I did this to her."
"Darling..."
He shook off his mother's arm. "They sent me out..." They all turned when the door opened and the doctors came in.
"Well?" Christos demanded.
"Like I said before..." Dr. Henderson had elected to be the spokesperson. "She's lost a lot of blood, and her blood pressure is still a problem. The babies put a strain on her body and caused a placental abruption, placing the babies in distress."
"Will they live?" Mary-Ann asked tersely.
"The next twenty-four hours will tell."
"And my wife?" Christos asked tightly.
"We're monitoring her closely."
He gave the hapless doctor an icy gaze. "I need to be with her."
"She's unconscious..."
"I need to see her," he stated implacably. "Now."
He turned to his family. "You may as well go home. I'll keep you posted."
"We're staying." His mother spoke for all of them. "You go on ahead. Your father and I will go to the chapel to say prayers for Leanne and those babies."
Turning on his heels, he walked from the room.
They had taken out the long braid, and her hair was loose around her face. They had also changed her dress, and she had on a hospital gown. She looked so still, that for a minute, he thought she was dead.
Rushing to the side of the bed, he took her hand and frantically felt for a pulse. It was faint, but at least it was there.
Pulling up the chair, he sank into it weakly, heart pounding.
Holding her hand between his, he brought it to his lips and closed his eyes when he felt the warmth of her skin.
"I'm sorry," he told her huskily. "I did this.
I put you through all of this. I should have left you alone. No." He shook his head.
"I couldn't. I have no willpower where you're concerned. The moment I laid eyes on you, I knew you were the one. I never meant for any of this to happen." His face was ashen, his lips strained. "You were right, this was too much. Three babies were too many.
"I cannot live without you, Leanne. If you're thinking about giving up, I would advise against it.
If you leave me..." He pressed his lips together, tears burning his eyes.
"I will give our babies away. Please, I cannot do this without you.
Please don't make me have to do this without you. Come back to me, darling."
He was unaware and unconcerned that the tears were streaming down his face. "I love you so damn much, darling. Damn you, Leanne. Please don't leave me." He went from please to threats for an hour that left him so exhausted, he simply leaned back and closed his eyes.
In a few minutes, he shot to his feet as the machines started beeping.
Doctors and nurses started rushing in and asking him to step away.
"What's going on?"
"Her blood pressure is tanking and she's bleeding again," Dr. Henderson told him, nudging him away. "You're going to have to give us room."
*****
"I thought you'd left." He was so weary, he could hardly see straight.
"I sent the others home. Baby, you need something to eat."
"I'm not hungry. Did you contact her mother, like I asked?"
"I did."
"Let me guess, she wanted nothing to do with any of this." The bitterness in his tone was undeniable.
"She's here. She wanted to see you."
"I'm not in the mood to talk to her."
Mary-Ann wrapped her arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder. "They're so beautiful."
"She might have sacrificed her life to bring them here."
"Now darling..."
"I cannot lose her," he continued grimly.
He was standing just outside the NICU but didn't have the heart to go in.
His wife was still not out of the woods yet.
"I cannot live without her. I won't." He turned to look at his mother and her heart ached at the haunting look of defeat on his handsome face.
He looked hopeless. Her Christos, who was always so happy go lucky, had turned into a stranger. She wanted to take him in her arms and take away his hurt and pain. But she couldn't. She could only pray that God delivers his wife from the jaws of death. Or she would lose her son.
The Kostas men loved fiercely and completely. She knew that firsthand.
"She's going to make it." It was time for some positive energy. She was not one to give up.
"Can you guarantee that?" he asked harshly.
"God can. There's nothing he cannot do. Why don't you go back in that room and sit with her? Talk with your wife and tell her in no uncertain terms that you and those beautiful babies need her. Now is not the time to clock out. She has too much to live for."
Hope flared inside his chest, and he felt his spine straightening. Taking one last look at the three babies, he pressed a kiss on top of his mother's head and walked away.
*****
"She was such a beautiful baby."
Christos stiffened at the sound of the woman's voice just inside the doorway.
"She's beautiful still." His voice was stiff and formal. He had come here to be alone with his wife and certainly did not relish the thought of an unwanted presence.
"I do not mean to intrude." Violet came further into the room timidly. "I was at the chapel praying for her and those beautiful babies."
"Thank you," he said stiffly. Inbred courtesy made him rise and turn to her. She looked unlike the haughty woman who had attacked him that time on the cruise ship. In fact, she looked penitent.
"How is she?"
"Holding her own," he murmured briefly. "You may take a seat.
The doctors think that the more I speak to her, the more she will come out of this unconscious state.
It's a way for the body to heal itself, or so they say.
I just want my wife back." He hadn't meant to say so much, especially not in front of this woman.
"You love her." Violet perched on the edge of the chair.
"More than my life," he said simply.
Ignoring her, he sat back down and took his wife's hand, bringing it to his cheek.
"I never had that."
Blinking as if he had forgotten her presence, he turned his head to stare at her.
"Excuse me?"
"What you have with my daughter." Violet's smile was wistful. "I was brought up in the church by very strict parents, and a husband was chosen for me. He never loved me. I know that now. He didn't want children. He stated that from the moment we first started courting."
"He said he wanted to be like Paul in the Bible. A wife was going to help him with his 'mission'. That's what he called it. A mission to win souls for Christ, and a child would interfere with it. He blamed me." Her eyes shimmered with tears.
"And I blamed her." She looked at her daughter lying there so still. "I told myself that if she hadn't been born, he would have loved me. I blamed her entirely."
"And she suffered as a result," Christos interjected grimly.
"Horribly." He looked down at her, expression softening.
"It's a wonder she turned out so damn wonderful.
" His voice had thickened with emotions.
"She's my dream woman. The love of my life, the strongest woman I know aside from my mother. You missed out on someone terrific."
"I know that now." She rose a little unsteadily. "I hope you don't mind my peeping in at the children."
"Not at all."
She stood there for a minute more and watched as he linked his fingers through his wife's. And had a feeling that he had already dismissed her from his presence.
*****
Leanne's eyes flickered open slowly. She felt as if she was coming out from a deep fog and someone was slowly lifting the blinds. A frown touched her forehead as she gazed around the unfamiliar room.
When she tried to move her hand, she realized it was trapped. Turning her head to the left, she saw the figure huddled in the chair.
Christos! It all came flooding back. Her babies. The party, the excruciating pain. The ride to the hospital and then nothing.
A moan escaped her and had him sitting up immediately, instantly awake.
"Leanne? Baby? You're awake." His tone was raw, his eyes bright. "Oh sweetheart. You're awake. How do you feel?"
"Groggy," she whispered. "My babies. Christos, I want to see my babies. Please tell me they're okay. You promised me..."
"Hush darling." Abandoning the chair, he eased onto the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle her. "The babies are in NICU, but they're doing fine. I need to call the doctors..."
"No." She shook her head. "I need to see them. Please."
He looked up as a nurse came into the room. "She wants to see the children."
"Let me check her vitals and get a chair for her."