Chapter 11 #5
She delivered both placentas, and gave Daphne a shot of the morphine she was carrying but hadn’t wanted to give her during the birth.
She could take no risks with no hospital nearby.
Daphne was dozing and groggy when Sofia sewed up the episiotomy, which had served Daphne well.
Given the size of the babies, it could have taken many more hours and the babies could have gone into fetal distress.
Brad complimented Sofia on what a good job she’d done, and Daphne and Phillip echoed his words.
“You were amazing!” Daphne said to her, and they held hands for a minute, and then Phillip went to get the rest of the family.
Eugenia kissed Daphne and told her she was the bravest woman she knew, and Eloise looked totally rattled and was crying, and said the babies were beautiful.
Stef watched his sister from the doorway, as she held both her babies and looked like a Madonna.
She looked peaceful and happy, and Liz came closer to take a peek and said they were gorgeous.
Eugenia went to get a scale they’d seen in the kitchen, and brought it up to the bedroom.
Sofia weighed both of them. The baby girl weighed seven pounds, fourteen ounces, and the baby boy nine pounds, two ounces. Her guess had been close.
“You’ve been carrying around seventeen pounds of babies. No wonder you looked like that,” Sofia said, impressed.
“And felt like it.” Daphne smiled.
Eugenia gave up her room to Phillip and Daphne that night, and she slept with Eloise.
Sofia checked Daphne every hour for hemorrhaging and any complications, and gave her enough pain meds to get her through the night after a rough delivery.
The first responders called Brad at seven, and told him they could land on the property then, to take Daphne to the hospital in Southampton.
“Do I have to go?” she asked Brad and Sofia. “I want to stay here.”
“Phillip and the babies will go with you,” Sofia explained.
“They won’t keep you for more than a day or so, to make sure you didn’t pick up an infection from delivering in a non-sterile environment, and then they’ll send you home.
Your babies don’t need to be in an incubator.
They’re fine, and so are you.” Her sister smiled at her, relieved that it had gone well.
“Thanks to you.” Daphne gave Sofia full credit for getting her through it.
Brad gave the helicopter clearance to land and went outside to wave them in.
The hurricane had moved on, the winds had died down, and the rain had stopped.
There were still floods in the area, but the worst was over.
Daphne and the babies had come through it without a hitch.
Tucker stayed with his grandmother and aunts after looking at his new brother and sister.
When the helicopter landed, Gloria came out of her room squinting, awakened by all the noise.
“What happened? Are we being invaded by aliens?” She looked around at everyone.
“No, by paramedics,” Phillip said, smiling. “Your sister had the twins last night. Sofia delivered them.” He was beaming, and Gloria looked shocked.
“Oh God, I took a sleeping pill,” and then she remembered everything that had happened, Geoff and the girl he was going to have sex with and the things he said. She knew nothing would ever erase the words or the memory.
The paramedics took Daphne out on a stretcher, with her babies in her arms. They strapped her securely into the helicopter and Phillip jumped in next to her, and they each held one of the babies.
The doors closed and the helicopter went straight up, circled once, and took off toward the hospital in Southampton.
Geoff called Gloria half a dozen times on her cell that morning, and she didn’t answer, and Prudence Crawford called Eugenia, sounding outraged.
“What happened to the wedding?” she demanded to know.
“My daughter canceled it,” Eugenia said coolly. “Didn’t your son tell you? The club was damaged anyway and they had to cancel. There isn’t going to be a wedding.”
“He said something about a misunderstanding,” Prudence said, confused.
“There was no misunderstanding,” Eugenia said in a hard voice.
“She found him on his way to bed with another woman at the hotel. And I believe that’s not the first time he cheated on her.
It’s over, Prudence. The wedding is canceled.
The club was too damaged by the storm anyway.
It would have been canceled in any case.
Have a safe trip back to England, and give my regards to Henry,” and with that, she hung up, and hoped never to hear from them again, or their son.
Eloise had been listening to her and cheered when she hung up.
Gloria had heard it too, and spoke sadly.
“Thank you,” was all she said, and went upstairs to pack.
She had a lot of thinking to do about how she could have been so wrong about Geoff.
She was sad and angry all at the same time, and in great part at herself, and she apologized to Brad when she saw him on the stairs.
“I’m sorry. I’d like to say I was kidnapped by aliens who ate my brain.
But I wasn’t. I don’t know what happened.
I’m just sorry. I hope I can make up to you for how rude we were. ”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Brad smiled at her. “We have plenty of time to get to know each other and be friends.”
“Thank you,” she said again. She was deeply ashamed of everything Geoff had said and that she had let him say, and the way they had behaved.
She hugged Sofia when she saw her, who understood and had a forgiving nature.
And living in the South, that kind of blind prejudice was not new to her, or to Brad.
Patrick called Eugenia at noon, from his captain’s cell phone. His had fallen overboard while they were tying things down in the storm. “That was amazing last night, wasn’t it?”
“It certainly was,” she said and laughed.
“Gloria canceled the wedding because Geoff was about to cheat on her last night and she caught him. Daphne had the twins and they’re gorgeous.
They just airlifted all of them to the hospital a few minutes ago, and they’re fine.
We’re all packing up and going home. And I have an extra day to work on my show. ”
“Wow, and I thought I was busy last night. Can I drive you home in one of our vans?” he offered. “They just opened the highway. I was going to drive home anyway.”
“I have a mountain of stuff to take back, including the party favors and the wedding dress.”
“I’ve got plenty of room.”
“And a column fell on the catering department at the club last night, so they canceled before we did, and I don’t lose my deposits.”
“Sounds like a win-win all around,” Patrick said, laughing. “You can tell me all about it on the drive back.”
Eugenia’s children all left an hour later.
Gloria and Eloise took Tucker home to the city to stay with them and their mother.
Stef drove Liz back. And Patrick picked Eugenia up as soon as they left and helped her load the van.
The cleaning staff were already at work disposing of the sheets and towels used during the delivery.
“You certainly live an interesting life,” Patrick said to her.
“Is that an insult or a compliment?” she asked him.
“Definitely a compliment. My life seems very dull by comparison, and you take it all in stride.”
“I have more children than you do,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sorry for Gloria, but I’m so relieved she didn’t marry him.”
“Me too. He wasn’t a good guy.”
“I know.”
“I’m happy to see you.” He leaned over to kiss her, and she was happy to see him. “Where shall I take you in the city?”
“To my office. Where else?”
“I could think of some other places, like my house.”
“As soon as I finish the show,” she promised, and he smiled, content with whatever time he could get with her.