36. Thirty-Five
Thirty-Five
Erik
“E rik.” I hear my name being called and look up from where I’m bent over in my chair and see the entire O’Sullivan family racing toward me with Peter in the front. I stand up and walk to him.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know yet. Kayleigh had to have an emergency C-section, and afterward, our baby girl was taken to NICU. Then Kayleigh went unresponsive and monitors went crazy and I was forced out of the room. I have been waiting thirty minutes with no answers yet.”
“I’ll go see if I can find something out,” Erin, Oscar’s wife, says. We all sit down and I run my hands over my face.
“Peter,” I start, swallowing my tears.
“Don’t. Don’t say it,” he says, choking back his own.
Time drags on until forty-five minutes later her doctor comes out.
“Kayleigh Duncan’s family?” he asks.
“Duncan?” Peter glares at me quickly but refocuses his attention on the doctor.
The doctor asks me, “Would you like to discuss your wife in private?”
“We can, but can you tell us if she is okay first? They are her family.”
“She started bleeding out after her cesarean. It took a while for us to get the bleeding stopped, but she is now in recovery.”
“Thank fucking god,” I say as a huge breath leaves my lungs. The news almost brings me to my knees.
“And my grandbaby?” Grace asks.
“She is in NICU. Besides her lungs being weak from coming early, she is a healthy little girl. Hopefully she won’t be on oxygen long.”
“Thank you, doctor. Can I go back and see Kayleigh?”
“Of course.”
Before I go with the doctor, I turn back to Peter and Grace asking, “Can you watch over my daughter until Kayleigh is ready to see her?”
“Of course we will keep an eye on our grandbaby,” Peter says.
I follow the doctor to her room. I walk past him and immediately go to her side, grabbing her hand and kissing her knuckles. I am thankful when I can hear the monitors beeping and I see her chest rise with each breath she takes.
“Mr. Duncan.” I look away from her, and by the look on his face, I can tell he has bad news for me.
“What is it?”
He sits down in the seat on the other side of the bed. “When you were escorted from her room, she had very heavy uterine bleeding. We tried multiple different ways to stop the bleeding, but we were racing the clock and had no choice but to give her a hysterectomy.”
“Are you saying she can no longer have kids?”
“No. I’m sorry, but we had no other choice.”
I sit there in shock for a moment before saying, “I understand. I have my daughter and my wife, and that is all that matters to me.”
“Do you need anything?” the doctor asks.
I shake my head. I changed my clothes when Rowan arrived at the hospital with a bag for me and Kayleigh. I don’t need anything else but Kayleigh and our daughter.
“Okay, make sure to hit the nurse button when she wakes up. We are going to keep a close eye on her for at least a few days. Let us know if you need anything.”
“Thanks, doctor.”
After the door closes behind him, I give my seamrag bhea all my attention.
“I’m so glad you fought and stayed. I can’t do this alone, and I have no idea how I would raise our little girl without you.”
A little girl.
A mini-Kayleigh.
FUCK!
If she is half as beautiful as her mother, I’m fucked. I know I have threatened to build a tower and lock Kayleigh up but I’m really tempted to for our daughter. I need more men in my empire just to keep watch over her. I need more guns. No… not guns, I need bombs. I will blow up anyone who starts sniffing around my baby girl.
Peter
“She looks so much like Kayleigh did when she was a baby,” I say looking at my sweet granddaughter who is hooked up to monitors. She looks so fragile, and it takes everything inside me not to rip them all off her and hold her in my arms. But I know she needs them.
My first granddaughter is strong and tough just like her mama.
“She does,” Grace says softly, and I squeeze her hand.
“We have to tell them,” I say as I let go of her hand and wrap my arms around her.
“I know. I just need more time. I’m afraid how this will affect the children and grandchildren.”
“Regardless how long we wait, it’s still going to be hard for them.”
“I know,” she says sadly as we hold onto each other, staring down at our granddaughter.