Chapter 10 #2
I give her one last look and I see I’ve made my point.
“Move!” If she knows what’s good for her, she’ll move the fuck out of my way, I don’t care whose mother she is.
With pure disdain for me dripping from every pore in her body, she spins around, leaving the room.
I walk over to the wall, dropping down into a chair.
Taking out my phone with shaky hands, I call Gage and give him the short version of what happened, leaving out the part with her mother and sister.
“Go to my house and look in the top drawer in my office for a file with Cat’s name on it.
I need you to fax everything in that file. I’ll text you the fax number for the hospital.”
“Man, is she going to be okay?”
“I hope so.” I hope they both are. It’s out of my control. “Call Ava for me, tell her what happened.”
Kate’s standing against the wall facing the room. Her eyes meet mine. She almost looks frightened, and she should be, for what I have in store for her. Her eyes are wide open, tears coming down her face, nose running, a disgusting mess. To my eyes she’s the lowest form of life on this earth.
“You should have listened to your mother. Get out of my sight,” I tell her with deadly calm. “Before I do something I have no control of.”
She brushes the tears away from under her eyes with her entire body pressed against the wall. She shakes her head frantically, like she’s gone mad, the tears coming on full force now.
“I didn’t mean it. I didn’t mean it, you have to believe me, it was a terrible accident. I let go then I tried to catch her. You have to understand, it was a horrible accident. If I could take it back, I would!”
All I feel is sheer and utter contempt mixed with overwhelming rage for what she did to Cat and our baby. I put my hand in my pocket in an effort to control myself. Not blinking once, I look her directly in her eyes, raising my voice over her low sobs.
“There will be a restraining order issued against you and the rest of your sorry excuse for a family from putting one foot on this floor near Cat. If you do, you will be escorted out into the back of a police car. I’m waiting for you.
If she doesn’t wake up, if my child is harmed in any way because of you, I’m going to spend the rest of my life, down to the last penny in my pocket, making sure you don’t see a single ray of light from the 6x9 caged reinforced cell I’m going to put you in like the rotting animal you are.
“Forget laws and rules, I’m my own law, and if I don’t handle it, someone else will.
You’re a miserable excuse of a life I have ever had come across my path.
What kind of low-life gutter filth are you to do that to her?
You’re not worth the air you breathe, you selfish, hateful, conniving bitch.
Get the hell out of my sight with your worthless words, they mean nothing to me. Like you, absolutely worthless.”
I watch her drop to the floor in uncontrollable sobs, her body spasming from the force of her crying. She’s lucky, compared to Cat. She doesn’t have the luxury of tears; she’s fighting for her life and our child’s.
I leave her where she belongs, in a heap on the floor.
I manage to find a nurse that can tell me what’s going on and tell them the forms are on their way.
A nurse tells me someone will be out to speak with me soon.
On my way back to a private waiting area, I see Ava, my mother, and Gage.
Ava runs to me and wraps her arms around me, sniffling. I wrap an arm around her.
“How is she?”
“I don’t know. It’s been a while since they rushed her in. They said someone will be out soon.”
My mother hugs me next, worry written on her face, lines etched across her smooth forehead. “Honey, what happened?”
I take them to the room and tell them what I know. Gage is more upset than I’ve seen him in a long time, walking around the room quietly. Ava and my mother sit next to each other, my mother holding Ava’s hand while she tries not to cry.
I sit back staring blankly at the floor for hours on hours, anxious, nervous, scared beyond any other feeling I’ve experienced in my life. I’m about to snap and go looking for answers when Chris walks through the door with his family.
I open my mouth and run my hand over my jaw. “If you want to stay you can, the rest of them are not welcomed here.”
“Nick, be reasonable, we’re her family,” Chris says to me, sitting in the chair.
“Family did this to her. Her family put her in the hospital. Don’t tell me about family, as far as I’m concerned you’re the only real family she has.”
“Nick, I don’t know what happened but we’re all worried about her.”
“You can stay. If the rest of them don’t want to be thrown out of this hospital completely, banned from having contact with Cat and my child, they will leave and stay out of my sight. Don’t push me on this, Chris, or you’re going to be on the other side with them, against me.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Jay says.
“More to her than you’ll ever be.” Last time he walked out of here, this time he won’t.
I stand up, ready to show him who I am. Gage comes and stands behind me, ready to follow my lead.
“That’s enough,” his father says. “We’re not going to do this again. Chris, you stay. This is going to get us nowhere, let us know what’s going on with your sister and the baby. We’ll be with your mother and sister. Let’s go, Jay!” He pulls on Jay, forcing him to leave with him.
I run my hands through my hair, tugging on it hard not feeling it with the adrenaline and all the other things I have coursing through my body. I don’t know how long I’ve been here, it’s as if time is standing still.
“Mr. Alexander?”
“Yes!” The doctor comes over to me. I swallow the lump in my throat and get my courage together. “How is she, is she okay?”
He gives me a level look, his hands in his pockets. “She’s out of surgery, but there were a few complications.”
“What kinds of complications?”
“She lost a lot of blood, and we had to give her a blood transfusion. The baby’s heart rate dropped dangerously low during the delivery. We were able to get it back up after delivery.”
“All I need to know is are they alive and are they fine?”
“Yes. They’re both in stable condition.”
“Can I see them?”
“Yes, but she hasn’t woken up yet. She might not wake up for some time.”
“What do you mean?” Fear is clawing at my insides, fearing what his next words will be. The air is sucked out of the room, stifling me.
“She had some swelling on the brain from the fall. We had to put her in a medically induced coma.”
“When will she wake up?”
“When the swelling and her pain subsides, hopefully within a few days. I can’t say exactly.”
My mother says for me, “Thank you.”
I walk out of the room leaving them behind. I hear Ava call my name and Chris tell her to let me go. I can’t see her yet. She’s going to be fine, she has to be. I need to go see someone else first—our creation. I promised her.
The nurse takes me in after I put on scrubs.
I look at the little body in the incubator. So small, I see a few wires sticking out connected to machines. I ask the nurse without taking my eyes off the incubator,
“Are you sure he’s okay—or she. I don’t know, boy or girl?”
“Go ahead, take a look for yourself.”
I move over the incubator and look at the tiny little baby sleeping soundly.
A broad smile crosses my lips. I wipe a tear away from the corner of my eye.
It’s a boy. “Hey, son.” I put my hand through the side of the incubator and touch his little fingers, watching his chest rapidly rise and fall.
I have to ask again because he looks so fragile.
“Are you sure he’s okay?” She smiles when I look at her.
“He’s fine. Premature, but healthy. He’s a fighter like his mother. They handled themselves well.”
“Yeah.”
“Would you like to hold him?”
I look at her skeptically. “Is that safe?”
“Yes. It’s good for him. Sit.”
I sit in a chair that looks like a rocker and she places my son in my hands.
I have a son, we have a son. “Hey, little man, I’m your daddy.
The guy who was always talking to you in Mommy’s stomach.
I know you know my voice, you had front row seats to some loud discussions.
” He does the cutest thing I’ve ever seen in my life.
He smacks his lips together in a little sucking motion, squirming in my arms, pushing out his little chin.
I smile down at him with pride. This is my son. Wow.
“Do you know what you’re going to name him?”
I turn around and see Gage looking over my shoulder. The nurse is gone. I look back down at my son and smile wider. “What else? Jace H. Alexander.”
“I like it. What’s the H for?”
“Harrison. It was my first choice in boys’ names I wasn’t supposed to pick. Somehow I knew we were going to have a boy. I wasn’t crazy about Jace, but she was right—he’s a Jace.”
“Welcome to the world, Jace, I’m your Uncle Gage. I’m going to teach you to cop a feel in the sand box and juggle two sweethearts at once without getting slapped.”
“You better not let Cat catch you saying that, you’re going to be banned.”
“I’m kidding. Anyway, she won’t ban me, she thinks I’m adorable.”
“Not when you’re turning her son into an infant gigolo.”
“She’s going to love him.”
“She already does.”
She looks like she’s sleeping when I go into her room.
I brush the hair away from the bandage on her forehead.
She doesn’t look like herself. More than anything in this world I wish she would open her eyes.
I kiss her lips and hold her hand and talk to her, hoping she can hear me.
“He’s beautiful like you. I held him, Cat.
He’s healthy; small, but healthy.” I kiss the back of her hand, holding it to my lips.
“I love you. I need you to wake up. Jace needs you to wake up. He needs his mother to take care of him and love him—this shouldn’t have happened to you. You didn’t deserve this.”
Two hours later, when the nurse comes back again to check on her and replace her IV, I go to the waiting room.
I immediately see Chris with his arms around Ava’s shoulder, her head on his chest. Gage and my mother are talking, and the biggest shocker, my father is sitting next to them.
My mother sees me first, and puts her hands on my chest when they stand.
“Nick, I saw him. My grandson, he’s beautiful. He looks just like you when you were a baby.”
I smile at her half-heartedly, my mind still on Cat. Ava moves away from Chris, wiping her eyes, and putting a smile on her face.
“He really is a gorgeous baby. He’s so tiny and cute. There was no doubt he was going to be a good-looking baby, with our genes.”
“Hey, he’s half Reed, half of those good-looking genes are from our side,” Chris says jokingly at Ava.
“You did real good, son,” my dad says, clapping me on the back.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“My first grandchild is going to be the third Alexander in Alexander Alexander and Alexander. I’ve given up hope on your brother here.”
Gage stands up next to me, ignoring my father’s remark. “Isn’t it a little soon to be planning his legal career, Dad?”
“Never too soon. I can tell that boy is going to be a lawyer, he’s a fighter.”
“I’m not going to argue with that, he is strong like his mother,” I agree.
“She’s going to wake up,” my father says.
I nod my head. “Thanks for being here. It’s late, you guys should go home and get some rest. It’s been a long day full of unexpected events. Thank you for being here for Cat, Jace, and me.”
“That’s what family is for. We come together in times like these.
” Ava hugs me, and I hug her back. “I’ll be back bright and early tomorrow—it’s already tomorrow, I mean in a few hours, to see my godson and Cat.
” She sniffs and steps back. “Who’s going to drive me home? I’m too much of a mess to drive.”
“I’ll give you a ride,” Chris offers.
“Thanks, but I don’t want to take you out of your way.”
“You’re not taking me out of my way, come on. I need a distraction, I’ll be up for the rest of the night.”
Chris and I say our goodbyes and he walks out with Ava and the rest of my family.