Epilogue
“No! No, you cannot bring your pony in for show and tell!” Tara exclaimed to her three year old son, waddling over to perch on the dining room chair.
Zayed entered the dining room, heading straight for his wife. “Trouble in paradise?” he asked, bending to kiss her lightly before walking to the other side of the breakfast table.
“Just a minor disagreement, of sorts,” Tara replied, resting her hand over her swollen belly. “Kayan wants to bring his pony in to his classroom today to show his tutor. Apparently, they are studying the animal kingdom this week.”
Zayed bend down to kiss his son’s chubby cheek and ruffle his dark hair. “No ponies inside, son,” he told him and sat down next to Tara. “How do you feel?” he asked.
“Fat,” she grumbled and shifted again, trying to get comfortable. “I’m more than ready for this bundle of joy,” the last word laden with a heavy dose of sarcasm, “to be born.”
Zayed lifted his son onto his lap. “This is one of the benefits of being a man,” he told his son as they both admired Tara’s huge belly. “Being pregnant is a lot of work!”
Kayan nodded, his eyes big and round. “Is there really a baby in her belly?” he asked, leaning against his father’s chest. “It doesn’t look like a baby.”
Zayed chuckled and kissed the top of his head. “There is definitely a baby, hopefully, a baby girl, in her belly. And she is going to be born any day now.”
There was a moan from the other side of the table. “I don’t care if it’s a boy or a girl,” Tara grumbled, lifting her cup of herbal tea. “I just want to not be pregnant any longer.”
Kayan tilted his head. “But, I thought that you liked being a momma,” he asked.
Tara’s cup froze an inch from her mouth. Kayan was thinking about the five or six month point in her pregnancy. That was when she’d still been able to walk easily and she’d had a voracious sexual appetite. She’d seriously worn Zayed out during those heavenly weeks, feeling alive and healthy and sexy!
“She does,” Zayed explained cautiously, winking at Tara. She snorted as she sipped her tea and Zayed continued to explain. “See, the baby grows slowly inside momma’s tummy. Remember how she was really sick all the time?”
Kayan nodded, his little lips forming an O. “Yeah.”
“Well, then the baby grew more, and she didn’t throw up anymore.”
“Yeah?” he said, more hopeful now and he twisted his head to look up at his dad. “And now?”
Zayed gulped down his coffee. “Now, the baby is bigger and it’s more uncomfortable.”
“When is the baby going to come out?” he asked, taking Zayed’s tie and sliding his fingers over it.
“That’s the special part,” Zayed started to say, but the rattle of Tara’s porcelain cup warned him that something was very wrong.
“Umm…!” she gasped, feeling a hard slash of pain across her abdomen. “Wow!”
“Tara?” Zayed called out. Immediately, one of his son’s bodyguards moved forward. His nanny appeared too, taking his hand.
“Daddy?” Kayan called out, a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Zayed took a moment to bend down on one knee, coming to near eye level with his son. “Kayan, I think that your baby sibling is ready to come into the world. But don’t worry. It’s going to be okay. Will you go with your nanny for a bit? I’ll come and get you with news, okay?”
Kayan looked over at his mother, then relaxed when she smiled at him. “You okay, Momma?”
“I’ll be fine,” she said, her voice only slightly tighter as her little boy watched. “Why don’t you build me a huge castle with your toy blocks?”
The idea of building something definitely caught his attention. “Yeah!” he said, taking his nanny’s hand. “I could build a new home for my baby brother!”
The nanny replied, obviously saying something to encourage Kayan to follow her out of the dining room.
Only when the door was closed behind her son, would Tara let loose a groan of pain.
“Zayed! This is bad!” she gasped, huffing air. “Bad and fast!”
“It’s going to be okay!” Zayed assured her, grateful when one of the bodyguards appeared with a wheelchair. “I’m going to take you to the doctor now, okay?”
Her only response was a pained whimper as Zayed picked her up and carefully set her down in the wheelchair. Moments later, they were hurrying down the long hallway towards the delivery room set up in the palace.
Ten hours later, Tara gasped with the last ounce of her energy, screaming as she pushed.
“Almost there!” the doctor called out. “I see the head.”
The nurses were rushing around the room, but Tara was beyond noticing anything other than the pain ripping her apart. She pushed, needing this to end.
“I see the shoulders!” the doctor called out. “One more push and this will all be over!”
Tara wanted to hit the woman! She’d been pushing for hours now. She didn’t want to push any longer. But her little baby was nearly here.
“Just one more push, Your Highness!”
Even after all these years, Tara still wasn’t used to the title. But she ignored it and gathered her last of her strength. Looking to Zayed, he squeezed her hand. “You can do it,” he assured her.
Tara had learned several expletives while living with Zayed. And this moment seemed like the perfect time to use every one of them at him. How dare he tell her that she could “do it” when she’d been trying to “do it” this whole time!
But the urge to push overwhelmed her and she gathered all of her strength for one final push. Squeezing Zayed’s hand with all her might, she pushed and…!
“It’s a girl!” the doctor announced. “A healthy baby girl with ten toes and ten fingers!”
Tara gasped, leaning back against the delivery table, exhausted.
It might have been moments, or an hour, Tara wasn’t sure. But finally, a tiny bundle was placed in her arms. Tara stared down at the squinched, red face of her brand new daughter and, suddenly, all the pain of the past hours faded away.
“She’s perfect!” Tara sighed, still exhausted but also, somehow revived.
“A girl!” Zayed breathed, beaming down at her tiny face.
An unexpected noise alerted both parents that something was happening. Tara, Zayed and the entire medical team turned in unison as the door to the delivery room was pushed open by…!
“Momma! My pony wants to meet my sister!” Kayan announced, leading the animal through the doors.
Immediately, the medical staff, horrified at the possibility of an unsanitary farm animal coming into the room, jumped into action.
Even Zayed raced over, stopping Kayan from bringing the pony into the delivery room.
But Tara just laughed, holding her precious daughter close as she reveled in how wonderful her life had become. Ponies and all.
A note from Elizabeth:
I remember watching a documentary about Warren Jeffs who, when the authorities started to understand the horrors that were happening in his cult, ran off with the community’s money and had a blast in Disney World. Next I watched a documentary on Jim Jones. This story is my version of what happens in a cult and how “religion” is used to control community members.
I sincerely hope that I haven’t offended anyone with this story. I don’t believe that cult leaders follow the teachings of Jesus, who preached about love, kindness, compassion, caring for one’s neighbors, lifting everyone’s hopes and dreams and helping them achieve those dreams. If I’ve offended you with this story, then you’re not going to want to read the next story, because Ethan, the leader of the horrible, brutal cult, will eventually be caught and punished.
So if I haven’t offended you, would you mind leaving review for me?