9. Chapter Nine
Ididn’t know what had called me into the hallway. It was a sense of dread, I suppose. A sudden tug on my skin that pulled me from my sanctuary into the large hall. Rose was coming out of the kitchen, a glass of water in her hand. Then she paled, the glass slipping from her hand, and smashed on the marble ground.
I called to her, “Rose? Rose!”
My feet bare on the floor, I ran to her, my feet cut on the glass as she collapsed, her knees buckling beneath her. I caught her from behind, under the arms, as her weight fell on me. Her head fell safely to my breast, as I screamed and screamed.
Her husband came leaping down the stairs, hearing my cry for help. He looked at the blood, then his wife, then paled himself. He leapt over the banister, running to us.
“It’s not her blood,” I had the forethought to say, before he nodded, and picked her up in his arms, marching her to the sofa in my arboretum as he brought the phone to his ear.
I knelt before her, holding her hand the entire while, whispering her name. I placed my palm over her growing belly until she fluttered her eyes open.
Her husband had called the doctor and was now trying to reach Jericho.
“Hey kids,” Rose had smiled and whispered in her delirious state. “It’s your Lola Evie.”
My heart fluttered in my chest. A grandmother. I was going to be a grandmother. How strange that feeling was, when I had done everything I could not to have children. In many ways, I felt like I was skipping that painful step of childbirth and reaping the benefits of grandbabies.
I rubbed Rose’s belly and her forehead, as her husband paced like a lion in a cage, wanting to fight something, but having no one to break.
“I just felt lightheaded,” Rose said, after a moment, as she tried to sit up.
“Hush, now,” I whispered, pushing her gently down to stay reclined. I didn’t want her to stand up too fast. That seemed like something she might do, after all, stubborn girl that she was.
It was only maybe thirty minutes before the doctor came in his tailored suit, but it had felt like a lifetime. Alastair hovered over his shoulder like a madman, looking at numbers he couldn’t possibly know how to read.
“Alastair, calm down,” Rose said with agitation as the color returned to her cheeks. “You’re making me tense. Leave the man alone!”
“You collapsed, Rose!” Alastair was on an adoringly tight leash. “Don’t tell me to calm down. You collapsed!”
The doctor lifted Rose’s shirt, and I was gratified to see that her tight belly had rounded, the six-pack faded and she was gaining weight, just as she should be. The babes were growing.
“Well, I ”m not collapsed now, am I?” Rose rolled her eyes, waving away the seriousness of her own health.
“Everything looks perfect,” the doctor declared, taking his hands off of Rose’s belly.
I sat beside the sofa in the arboretum, holding her hand, as a pale Rose pursed her lips.
“I’ll just want to examine and monitor you for an hour or so,” the Doctor said, pulling the stethoscope around his neck. “Please stay where you are, until I get a bit more information.”
“Ugh!” Rose wailed, falling back with her head on the armrest.
Alastair didn’t stop pacing.
He was a good husband, even if he was a Green.
When Jericho and Yuliya arrived, Alastair barely mumbled, “She’s under observation,” before he continued to wear a hole in the carpet.
“What happened?” Jericho gritted out.
“Never you mind,” I said, still kneeling in front of Rose, trying to soothe the tension in the air. The anger was not good for the little ones. “Everything will be fine.”
“See?” Rose said. “Everything will be fine.”
She tried to smile, but it was weak, and forced. I didn’t think that it was because she felt ill. It was because she was afraid of her father’s disapproval.
“While I respect your instincts, witch,” Jericho said trying to soften his voice, even as the anger flared in it. “I want the doctor to tell me she’s fine.”
“Pain in the ass,” Rose said under her breath, smiling at me. I laughed, despite myself.
“That’s enough from you, young lady,” Jericho stood, arm’s crossed, staring down at us from behind his prominent nose.
Alastair stood beside him, striking a similar pose. The two men, in so many ways, were exactly the same.
The doctor returned, and touched her belly again, checking her blood pressure, and running a wand over her stomach, identifying three separate heartbeats - Rose, the boy, and the girl. All were normal.
“Seems like they’re all doing well,” the doctor said, taking Rose’s wrist in his hand to check her pulse. Then her temperature.
“See?” Rose grunted. She gripped the back of the couch and sat up. “I’m fine. Stop worrying.”
“You fainted,” Alastair growled, his teeth grinding.
“Passing out isn’t fine, Rose,” Jericho countered at the same time.
“I merely got dizzy. It was probably dehydration.” Rose shot both men cruel looks. Daggers that should be taken as a threat and not a warning. If they didn’t stop overprotecting her, she was going to murder them both. The air was tight with tension, and I knew I needed to break it.
“Are we getting pictures of the babes?” I asked the doctor.
I had seen those images before, even though I had no little ones of my own. They always fascinated me! How lovely to see the face of your child before they enter into the world. It was true beauty.
Four heads swiveled toward me, all of them wearing some state of mixed emotions.
“For a 4D ultrasound, I’ll need to get her into my clinic. I think you have a 20-week appointment, yes?” The doctor said, flipping out his phone and looking at his calendar app.
Alastair didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes, we were going to find out the sex of the baby, and…”
The doctor waved off the concerned Dad and nodded. “We’ll get the ultrasound pictures then. You’ll see your kids face’s soon enough. The pregnancy will just fly by!”
The doctor stood tall and looked at Rose. I wasn’t a fan of his bedside manner. He was too clinical for me.
“I’ll need to do some more tests, but from what I can see, you have preeclampsia.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Alastair said.
“The fuck is that?” Jericho bellowed. “How is that anywhere in the realm of doing well?”
The doctor raised his hands, palm out, trying to calm everyone down. “Preeclampsia is serious, but not that unusual. We will need to monitor her blood pressure, check the protein in her urine to ensure that her liver is working as it should. Call me immediately if there are any issues with elevated blood pressure, vision changes, or dizziness…”
“That’s a lot of fucking symptoms,” Alastair’s despair was a little premature, in my opinion. But it was quite loving. “How do we cure it?”
“Bed rest,” the doctor finally said when the grumbling subsided. “The only cure for preeclampsia is… giving birth. In the meantime, those kids need to cook, therefore, we’re looking at bed rest from now until the finish line.”
Alastair looked at Rose, and she stared back, shaking her head. “Fuck no!”
“You heard the man,” Alastair admonished.
“I should be able to do the same things while pregnant that I was doing before!” She protested, her hands lifting in exasperation, slamming down at her sides.
“That was before you fainted,” Jericho sided with Alastair.
I tilted my head, glancing at Rose, who was still seated on the couch. “Is it true they can take a picture of your belly?”
Jericho tensed beside me, and I knew the guilt of my past caused him to stiffen. I had no idea how a normal appointment would go for a pregnant woman. I knew of the sonograms because of Kira and Haley. But aside from that, I didn’t know what else happened. Right now, I was playing into the naive side everyone saw me for. And it was working like a charm.
I turned, giving my best puppy dog eyes to the doctor. “Oh, please? Can’t you do a new one now?”
“He doesn’t have the ultrasound machine, Aoibheann,” Alastair said.
“Maybe next time you should come to the appointment,” Rose nodded. “It would be cool to see how much they’ve grown already. And you can help me keep this one from freaking out.” She flicked a thumb at her husband.
I clapped my hands in genuine excitement. “Oh, please? I would love to be there!”
“We need to get some blood drawn,” the doctor interjected.
I sat beside Rose on the couch and rested a hand on her growing belly. She was showing finally, and my heart skipped a beat when I felt a flutter against her stomach.
“Jericho,” I gasped. “They’re moving.”
He didn’t waste a moment. Both he and Alastair rushed toward us, practically elbowing each other to make it to Rose first. I let out a giggle as Jericho pushed him aside with his hip and dropped in front of us.
Rose grumbled, but she didn’t stop me when I replaced my hand with Jericho’s. “They’re strong and healthy,” I said, tears brimming at the surface while I watched my husband’s face light up. Coffee-colored eyes twinkled with pride.
Pressure built in my chest when the emotions became too much. The same vision of babes playing in the garden on that very first night danced in my mind. Except three pairs of tiny baby feet trailed around me in the greenery. Three unique sets of laughter. Two babies from Rose. Another was… ours.
I wanted it so badly that it almost felt like it was true. Babies made everything better. They made me filled to the brim with joy.
“That’s the first time they”ve kicked hard enough to be felt from the outside,” Rose said.
Alastair let out a curse beside us. “I want to feel, damn it.”
He tried to shove his way between us, but Rose held out a hand to stop him.
She knew how important this moment was, knew how badly her father needed a moment of light in the endless dark, and she was willing to give it to him.
I placed a hand over Jericho’s on top of Rose’s belly, and he tore his attention so he could look at me. There was a glint in his eye, and for a moment, I could imagine his hand on my scarred belly, as it rounded with child as well. Did he feel that premonition with me? It felt so strong, it was hot on my hand.
“So, will they call you Pawpaw?” I asked. “Is that what Americans call grandparents?”
Rose let out a shriek of laughter, then swatted our hands from her stomach so she could sit up.
“Aoibheann has jokes,” Alastair said, his voice filled with a hint of humor, despite the clear frustration written in the crease along his brows. “I never knew you had a sense of humor.”
Jericho chuckled and stood and grabbed my hands to pull me with him. I grinned, satisfied that I’d made him forget, even just for a few moments, that he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. I’d also take the victory that I’d distracted him enough from his hatred of Alastair that he’d refrained from fighting him long enough to enjoy the sweet kicks of his grandbabes.
“I can feel them,” Alastair gasped, bringing his lips down on Rose’s stomach. “Hey kids. It’s Daddy.”
Rose ran her fingers through her husband’s golden hair, as he whispered sweet things to her stomach, hoping that the little ones inside could hear him.
Rose smiled, as a little thump of a kick pushed at her belly, right on Alastair’s lips.
“I think your daughter just kicked you in the mouth!” I laughed, smiling at the beautiful scene before me. Who knew that a Green could ever be so gentle with his wife?
“As long as she’s healthy, she can kick me wherever she wants,” Alastair said, bringing his lips back down on the stretched skin of his wife’s stomach. “Just like her mother.”
I stepped back, pulling Jericho away from Rose so that Alastair could be with his wife, and his little ones.
The doctor cleared his throat, drawing our attention back to him like he was the ignored elephant in the room. “Mrs. Vasilieva-Green, I know this isn’t what you want to hear but I think it’s time to take it easy.”
I hesitated, the last thing she needed–or wanted—were the men in her life treating her as if she were made of glass. She needed rest, but if they were telling her that, she’d defy them.
“Rose, come with me,” I said, releasing my hold on Jericho.
“Aoibheann,” Alastair said hesitantly when I approached. “The doctor…”
“I want to show you the flowers I grew.” I interrupted him and grabbed each of her hands in mine. Then I pulled her up and off the couch. I didn’t make it seem like I was helping her up. It was more enthusiastic. Like I just had to show her something and she was taking too long.
“What flowers?” she asked.
I wrapped an arm around her, tugging her into my side. She was stronger than me, everyone knew that. Still, as if she were one of my delicate flowers, I treated her as if touching her could harm her petals. I stroked her arm, and she melted into my hold.
“Remember the roses your father gave me? The first night I was here?”
“Yes.”
The men followed behind us as I walked to a new raised garden bed in the corner of my sunroom. Jericho’s growl could be heard, and I flashed a glance behind me to look at them. Jericho elbowed his son-in-law, and Alastair was shoving him to get through the door frame.
I took her straight to my potted roses. The stems had buds on them, and I reached out to touch one. “I took the petals off to make your tea,” I told her.
Her brows furrowed as she tilted her head and took in the state of the once dead stems now regrowing life.
“Wouldn’t that kill them?” she asked, running her finger along one of the potted flowers.
“I clipped them and helped their roots re-grow. So they’ll be able to be placed outside and grow into bushes,” I said. “They need a lot of tender care though. Could you grab that light?” I pointed to a green lamp that was only about the size of my palm. It held a clip so I could place it on the pots and aim it how I needed.
Rose listened, and I took it from her. I set it up and turned it on so that it was pointed to the plant. “When the babes are here, and you and Alastair leave, you’ll take these two,” I said. “They’ll grow in your new home. A reminder of the love they had here.”
Rose glanced back at the men, who seemed to have settled. At least there was less bickering from them.
“New home?” Jericho grumbled, staring at his son-in-law with malice. “Why the hell would you take her out of here?”
Alastair smirked, shrugged, and rolled his eyes. “She’s a married, soon-to-be mother of two. You don’t think that she might want a home of her own?”
“I can fix the married part…” Jericho’s threats faded into the background, as I turned my face back to Rose.
I touched her tanned face, my pale hand looked as delicate as paper beside her strength.
“Thank you, Aoibheann,” Rose said.
“Don’t thank me yet,” I started. “They’re yours. Which means, they are your responsibility now. You’ll make sure they don’t die.”
“What?” she choked on a laugh, her head shaking. “I don’t know anything about gardening. I’ll kill them.”
I shrugged. “I’ll teach you.”
Having the plants to keep her mind busy would help her feel more at ease, would make her feel less like a prisoner in the house. It was my gesture, my promise to make sure she wasn’t alone. Rose wrapped me in a hug and squeezed me so hard I thought my ribs might crack.