Chapter 21
In theatre, Alyssia was lying on the operating table, a cloth draped over her torso.
Antonio was standing beside her, gently stroking her hair, and Damon was stalking between the outer doors and the hallway, making sure that nobody interrupted them.
The soft sounds of classical music floated through the air, bringing an almost luxurious energy to an otherwise clinical room.
All around them, various nurses and doctors moved like a well-oiled machine as they prepared Alyssia for surgery.
“Are you ready, ma’am?” the surgeon asked, gently moving her legs back and forth. “All numb down here?”
Alyssia nodded, her legs feeling incredibly heavy. The surgeon nodded, and his assistant gently squeezed Alyssia’s shoulder.
“OK, Dad, if you want to sit by Mum’s head and keep her calm for me? Then if you want to see baby afterwards, we’ll lower the curtain for you to have a look, all right?”
“You’ll feel some pushing and pulling,” the surgeon told Alyssia, flashing her a smile. “Then when we take baby out, you might feel like your stomach has dropped out, but try not to panic – it’s a normal experience. Dad, did you want to cut the cord or do you want us to?”
“I’ll do it,” Antonio nodded, his voice sounding slightly strangled. “You’ll have to show me how to do it, but I think … I think it’s important.”
“Alright, so Dad will cut the cord, and then we’ll get baby weighed, check that everything’s as it should be, and then your journey with us is complete! While baby’s weighed and so on, we’ll sew you back together again. Don’t worry, you won’t have much of a scar, I promise.”
“OK,” Alyssia sniffed, feeling tears prick the back of her eyes. “Um, how soon will I be able to walk about afterwards?”
“We’ll go over all that in recovery,” The nurse smiled, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. “For now, let’s focus on getting baby out safely, OK?”
“OK,” Alyssia nodded at the surgeon. “OK, I’m ready.”
“Alrighty then!” The surgeon beamed. “Let’s have us a baby!”
The surgery went without a hitch, and before she could gather her thoughts, Alyssia was faced with a red, angry baby, legs kicking and arms waving all over the place. She couldn’t hold back her tears, and she sobbed with relief and joy at the sight of her beautiful child.
“Well done, Mum!” the midwife cooed. “You have a beautiful baby girl! Congratulations!”
Alyssia couldn’t hold back her tears any longer, and she wailed with emotion as her daughter was whisked away to be weighed and checked over. A few moments later, a deafening cry rang through the air, and everyone laughed and applauded.
“She’s got a great pair of lungs, Mum!” the midwife clasped her hand tightly. “And trust me when I say she is absolutely gorgeous. Look, here she comes now! It’s OK, you can hold her! Let me pop her on your chest like so … and, there she is!”
“Hi, baby,” Alyssia whispered, gently stroking the baby’s nose with her fingertip. The baby immediately stopped crying, and opened her eyes, their deep blue almost black. “You’re so beautiful!”
“Isn’t she perfect?” Antonio’s eyes filled with the kind of love she’d only heard about in fairytales. “I snuck a peek when they weighed her, she’s seven pounds exactly.”
“A whole seven pounds?” Alyssia whispered, hardly daring to believe it. “That’s … that’s amazing!”
“I know.”
“Sorry to interrupt, but we need Dad to hold baby while we finish putting you back together,” the nurse said apologetically, gently taking the baby from Alyssia and placing her in a bassinet.
“She’ll be right here while we finish, and then you can both head to recovery and meet each other properly. ”
“Thank you.” Antonio followed her to the bassinet and gently holding his daughter’s hand with a finger. “She’s got an amazing grip!”
“Babies are incredibly strong,” the nurse agreed.
“Now, you won’t be able to move your legs for about an hour, and don’t try to walk until you have full sensation back in your legs, OK?
You’ve got a catheter in, so don’t worry about going to the toilet.
If you do want the catheter out once you’ve got sensation back, that’s fine, but you’ll need to do three wees before we consider you fully de-catheterised.
If you can’t manage it, that’s OK, we’ll just put the catheter back in and try again later.
Keep your fluids up and you should be OK.
Don’t worry if you forget everything I’ve just told you, there’ll be lots of midwives and nurses on the ward to help you out. ”
“OK,” Alyssia nodded. “And what do I do for pain management?”
“We’ll give you pain relief as standard, don’t worry. Let us know if you need it, and we’ll keep on top of it. You should expect to stay in the hospital at least overnight, just so we can keep an eye on you and baby, but you should be good to go home tomorrow morning.”
Alyssia nodded and tried to relax as the surgeons finished their work, before wheeling her through to the recovery ward, where her daughter was placed back in her arms. Now that the surgery was over, she was able to take a proper look at her baby, who was fast asleep.
She had a full head of dark brown, almost black hair, a delicate little nose, and the most adorable rosebud lips that she’d ever seen.
Even her fingers were perfectly formed, with minuscule fingernails and a grip like a vice.
A huge wave of emotion flooded every part of Alyssia’s being, and she felt tears streaming down her face as she looked at her daughter.
In that moment, she knew without a shadow of a doubt that she would walk through anything to protect her child, no matter what enemy faced her or what problem presented itself.
Nothing, and nobody, would ever be more important to her than her daughter.
“She’s beautiful.” She smiled, reaching up to stroke Antonio’s face. “She’s definitely got your nose. And your chin!”
“Poor child!” Antonio chuckled, huffing a deep breath and gently peering at his tiny daughter.
“And your eyes, I saw them just now. She looks like the best of both of us. I didn’t think she’d be so little, though!
She’s like a china doll – I’m terrified I’ll drop her or break her somehow.
The midwife laughed at me when I said that, but apparently it’s normal. ”
“Let’s just hope she doesn’t have my temper, or we’ll be in for one heck of a roller-coaster ride,” Alyssia laughed.
Antonio tried to return her smile, but couldn’t quite manage it, the mix of emotions in his heart swinging between overwhelming love and paralysing fear.
“Listen, Lissia ...” he began, taking her hand in both of his.
“Not today,” she hushed him, squeezing his hand as best she could. “Let’s just enjoy our daughter. Everything else can wait until we’re home.”
“OK,” Antonio agreed, kissing his daughter’s head softly. The baby stirred a little, her eyelids fluttering like butterflies, and then fell back to sleep, a gentle coo escaping her lips.
“There’s something I wanted to ask you –” Alyssia started, only to stop as the curtain was torn aside to reveal Maria, her hair everywhere and a diabolical glint in her eye.
Her clothes were in disarray, her shoes had disappeared somewhere, and she was holding a gun in her trembling hands.
Behind her, nurses and midwives scrambled to evacuate patients as best they could, the cries of upset babies echoing through the ward.
“Found you, puttana,” she hissed, her voice little more than a quiet scream. “Now, hand over the baby before I shoot you all right here and now.”