I pushed her dress strap away and kissed her shoulder. “I’ve never been known for caring if I was rude or not.”
I heard her heart rate increase while her breath quickened. She leaned into me instinctively and I knew she was close to giving me the green light, but then my go ahead was interrupted when we heard a knock on the door. “I bet that’s Sol. I’ll get rid of him. Don’t move a muscle because I’ll be right back.”
I swung the door open to find Gia, Lairah, Jenn and Avery. “We came to see if Chansey needed help getting ready.”
Gia looked at me with a look of suspicion on her face. “Are we interrupting something?”
Chansey walked out of the bathroom and gracefully glided across the floor in her sparkling gown. “No, you weren’t interrupting anything. I’m ready. We’ll be right out.”
The little vixen was actually cutting me off.
She gave me a wink as she whispered, “You’ll enjoy it even more if you get to fantasize about it for a few hours.”
“Maybe I had already fantasized about it for hours. Did you ever think about that?”
“No, I didn’t,” she said as she kissed my mouth. “My bad.”
“Yes, you are bad...very, very bad,” I groaned.
She gave me her pouty look and it made things worse because I wanted to nibble her pouty bottom lip. “Forgive me?”
“I will if you promise to make that face for me later tonight,” I said.
Even in her heels, she was still several inches shorter than me and she stared up through her impossibly long lashes as she whispered, “I think I can do that for you.”
I offered her my arm and then we strolled to the living room where our family and guests were. Everyone was dressed in formalwear and the ladies all wore shades of white, silver or ice blue to reflect the colors of Winter.
Sol was the first to greet us. “Chansey, you are glowing. Pregnancy is beautiful on you.”
“Watch it, pal. She’s taken,” I faux warned. “There’s plenty of other women for you to flirt with besides my wife.”
His face turned from humorous to something else...something sad and I immediately wanted to take back my words for some reason.
“I’m sorry, Sol,” I apologized. “I was only joking.”
“No, it’s not you, Curry,” Sol explained. “I’m just having some issues I need to work through.”
“Anything I can do to help? You know that you can talk to me about anything,” I offered.
“No, it’s a problem I need to work out on my own and I just need a little time to figure some things out. Don’t spend tonight worrying about me. We’re having this party so we can have fun and relax.”
He smiled and patted my shoulder. “I’ll catch up with you later, man. I’m going to go talk to Mallory Black. I think she’s hotter than she was the last time I saw her.”
Something was off with Sol, but I couldn’t put my finger on it and that bothered me.
“Is he alright?”
“No, something is definitely going on with him, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“Have you asked him what’s wrong?”
I thought about how little Sol and I had spoken recently. I hadn’t asked Sol anything about his life because I was too wrapped up in my own life to have any concerns for anyone else. “I’m ashamed to say that I haven’t asked him anything. There’s been so little on my mind other than you and these babies, but I promise to find the time to talk to him later tonight.”
We mingled through the room and all of our guests wanted to be introduced to the beautiful pregnant human at the party. They found Chansey intriguing and when one guest was sated by her attention, the next would be in line to steal her from me.
This went on for a few hours and I decided to take the opportunity to try to speak with Sol. When I didn’t find him inside, I walked out to the pool and found him sitting on the patio.
“It’s December. What are you doing out here?”
“I thought the cold might help clear my mind.”
“Has it?”
“No.”
“What’s going on with you, Sol?”
“It’s nothing you would understand.”
“Why don’t you try me? I might not have experienced what you’re going through, but that doesn’t mean I can’t help you through whatever is going on with you.”
He stared ahead toward the dark behind the compound. “I feel ridiculous saying this, but it’s about a girl.”
Jenn Ferrand. “A pretty little blonde living at our compound, perhaps?”
“Exactly! She makes me crazy. I can’t stop thinking about her. She smells so good and I want to touch her so badly, but I’m afraid. I can’t sleep anymore because I lay awake thinking about her. I think I’m in love with her, but I know I shouldn’t be.”
“Who says that you shouldn’t be in love with her?”
He turned and looked at me like I had lost my mind. Was he referring to his authority over her as her mentor? “You know why I can’t be in love with her.”
Did I know? There was nothing wrong with a mentor falling in love with someone he helped transition. “I don’t agree. I think it’s...”
I stopped mid sentence because something was wrong with Chansey. I heard her screams in my head and I felt her suddenly engulfed with pain and fear. I streaked into the house and looked around for her.
“She’s in here, Curry,” Sebastian called from the living room. “Dr. Knight had just left, Lairah is on the phone with her and she’s turning around to come back.”
I was immediately by Chansey’s side and I took her hand as she screamed in agony. “Where does it hurt, Love?”
She didn’t answer and I noticed the crowd standing around staring at Chansey. “If you don’t live in this house, I need you to leave now,” I yelled.
I reached for Chansey’s forehead to wipe the sweat from her head. “Love, you have to tell me what’s happening. Are you in pain from contractions?”
“It’s Marsala,” she whimpered. “She’s doing something to me.”
No, it couldn’t be. “What is it? What does it feel like?”
“Like something is shoving on my belly trying to push the babies out.”
I reached for the hem of her evening gown and pulled it up over her belly. She began to scream again and I watched as Chansey’s abdomen became contorted like an invisible fist was pushing down into it. I reached to the spot where the invisible fist would be, but I felt nothing and I realized that I couldn’t do anything to help her.
I whirled around to look at Sebastian and he shook his head. “She’s using Black Magic and I don’t know how to stop it.”
“Think! There has to be something we can do to help her.” When no one offered any kind of solution, I screamed, “Please stop, Marsala.”
“Curry, I can hear Marsala in my head. She says she will stop on one condition and if you don’t agree, she is going to kill me and the baby.”
The baby? “I’ll do anything you want, but please don’t hurt Chansey and the baby.”
“No! I won’t allow it,” Chansey yelled and then the pushing on her belly started again, causing her to scream out in agony again.
“Stop, Marsala. What is your demand?” I yelled.
Chansey stopped screaming and panted to catch her breath before she whispered, “She says that you must come back to her with the baby if you want me to live, but she’s not getting my baby. She’s not getting you.”
The cycle of pushing on her abdomen and her screams began and I couldn’t stand to see Chansey in pain, “Okay. I’ll do it, but please stop hurting Chansey. You could hurt the baby if you keep pushing on her uterus and I know you don’t want to hurt our baby.”
Chansey whirled her head in my direction. “You’re not doing this, Curry.”
“I don’t have a choice, Chansey. She’s going to kill you if I don’t.”
“It doesn’t matter because if you leave me and take the baby, I’ll want t
o die anyway.”
“I have to. She’s not giving me a choice.”
“I’ll hate you forever if you do this.”
“I rather you live and hate me than watch her kill you and our baby.” I leaned forward and stared deeply into her eyes. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
Every word was a lie for Marsala’s benefit and I pushed my emotions into Chansey’s brain as I stared into her eyes so she would know I didn’t mean the words coming from my mouth. I would never let Marsala win and unfortunately for her, I knew how she ticked and it gave me the upper hand.
I felt her understanding in my head and knew she going to play along, but it still hurt like hell when she squeezed her eyes tightly and said, “I hate you forever.”
Dr. Knight rushed through the front door and to Chansey’s side. “What is happening?”
“A vampire used Black Magic to squeeze Chansey’s abdomen. It was very hard and I’m afraid she might have hurt her badly,” I said as I stood and ran my hands through my hair.
“Curry, I need you to listen to the babies and see if they both have heartbeats,” Dr. Knight ordered.
I hadn’t even thought of that. I lowered my head to Chansey’s belly, like I had a million times, and prayed as I listened for the heartbeats of my children. Both of them. I shut my eyes so I could concentrate and differentiate between the two. There was always about a ten beat per minute difference between them, but that’s not what I heard. One sounded like it’s normal rate and the other was faster, a lot faster, and I smelled blood. I lifted my head, expecting to see blood gushing from Chansey, but I saw none.
“One heartbeat is normal. The other is a lot faster than normal and I smelled blood, even though I don’t see it,” I told Dr. Knight.
She began to feel of Chansey’s uterus. “The smell of blood, her uterus being very rigid and the baby having tachycardia lead me to believe the trauma to her abdomen has caused a silent abruption.”
“What does that mean?’
“I believe her placenta is bleeding inside her uterus and that means we’re going to the hospital for a c-section right now. We don’t have time for an ambulance come for her. We’ll transport her by car. Carry her to my car and I’ll call and tell them to have an OR ready and waiting for us.”
“She needs to lie on her left side in the car so she will get better cardiac output to perfuse more oxygen to the babies,” Dr. Knight instructed me as I picked Chansey up and carried her to the car. I laid her across the back seat on her left side with her head in my lap.
I stroked her hair away from her face as Dr. Knight pulled from the drive onto the road. “I’m so sorry this happened, Love.”
This could not be happening. I couldn’t even protect my family from that monster! No more hiding. No more running. Marsala was on her way for me and I would be ready for her when she arrived. She no longer had the power of sire over me. The broken bond between us gave me the release I needed to be able to kill her and that was exactly what I planned on doing.
31 Until Another Day
Dr. Knight screeched to a stop under the awning at the admissions desk and a crowd of nurses were waiting with a stretcher for Chansey. Dr. Knight immediately began shouting orders to them as they rolled Chansey into the hospital.
I ran alongside the stretcher holding her hand until they rolled her into an exam room to prep her for surgery. I stood helplessly against the wall as I watched them do what was necessary and I was reminded of the time I carried Chansey into the emergency room after Julian kidnapped and drugged her.
Someone tossed scrubs, a surgery hat and a mask my way and said, “Here, put these on if you’re going back with us.”
“He’s going,” Dr. Knight announced.
Chansey was prepped for surgery in under four minutes and Dr. Knight said, “Let’s move it to the OR, guys.”
I followed behind them and Dr. Knight walked next to me. “Chansey will have to go to sleep for surgery because we don’t have time to do a spinal and wait for it to work. Things are going to move really fast once we get in there, but no matter what happens with the babies, you remember what you may have to do, right?”
“I do.”
“Okay. Let’s go have some babies.”
Chansey was quickly pulled over onto the surgery table and I moved to stand by her head as she was draped. Her body was uncontrollably shaking and I reached for her hand. She squeezed it tightly and said, “She’s out of my mind now. I didn’t mean it. God, how I didn’t mean it. I love you, Curry. I love you forever times infinity.”
I laid my forehead against hers while the surgery crew finished prepping her. “And I love you forever times infinity.”
“Sir, I need to get to your wife so I can put her to sleep.”
“Of course.” I quickly kissed her head and said, “Sweet dreams, Sleeping Beauty.”
Seconds later, Chansey was asleep and the man by her head said, “Okay, go.”
There was scrambling behind the sterile drape with clanking sounds of metal instruments and I heard Dr. Knight announce, “We’re almost to the uterus, Curry.”
Less than a minute later, Dr. Knight said, “Here comes number one,” and I heard the shrill cry of one of my children. “It’s a girl and she looks good. Chunky little thing. I’m handing her off to the nursery so we can get number two out.”
I gave thanks for my daughter that was alive and prayed for our other child still inside of Chansey. Please, let him or her be alright. Please. I braced myself for the worst, but pleaded for the best as I prayed. I waited for the second squeal, prayed for it, and it felt like an eternity while I waited.
“Okay, here comes number two.”
I heard the second squeal and felt light-headed, like I might pass out, but I held it together because I had to hear it when Dr. Knight announced what the second baby was. “Curry, number two is a boy.”
I wished Chansey could experience this with me. I squeezed my eyes and felt the tears spill over. “Thank you,” I whispered. “Whoever is listening, thank you.”
“Come over and take a look at your babies, Mr. Brennan,” I heard from across the room.
I slowly walked across the room to see my children for the first time and saw two little black haired babies laying side by side in a warmer. The nurse picked up my daughter and held her up for me to get a better view. “She’s a good size. I think she’s a little bigger than her brother.”
“Everything looks normal with both of them?”
“They look perfectly healthy,” the other nurse said as she lifted my son for me to see.
“Can I touch them?”
“You can do more than that,” she said as she put hats on them and then swaddled each of them. “Here, you can hold them.”
I tried to remember the way it felt to hold Lily as I put my arm out to take my daughter. I looked at her face as she squinted at the bright lights and I knew my place would always be wrapped around her little finger.
“Ready for your son?” the nurse asked and I put my other arm out to take him.
She placed him in my arms and he looked just like his sister as he squinted under the lights. I studied their faces and the similarities between them. They were the same, but different, and my heart was flooded with so much love I thought it could literally burst.
They gave me a few minutes to hold my children before one of the nurses said, “Okay, it’s time for them to go to the nursery, but they’ll be in your wife’s room in a couple hours. What are their names?”
I laughed as I leaned down to kiss my daughter’s head. “I have no idea.” I kissed my son and said, “I guess their mother and I have an assignment.
“I believe you do. You can come with us and we’ll take you to the waiting room where your family is while Dr. Knight finishes your wife’s surgery. After that, she’ll go to recovery for an hour. You and your family may come to the window and admire your new babies through the glass.”
“I don’t know if our family is
here.”
“Oh, I bet they’re out there.”
I found everyone in the waiting room as the nurse suspected and I couldn’t contain my huge smile as I walked toward them.
“Well?” Lairah and Gia chimed simultaneously.
“A boy and a girl.”
“And Chansey?’
“Doing fine.”
Lairah reached out to hug me. “I’m so happy for you, Curry.”
She passed me off to Gia. “Me, too. You deserve Chansey and those babies.”
After we all stood at the nursery windows admiring the babies, I went down the line being told, “Congratulations,” by my family members and I noticed Sol hung toward the back of the crowd. When the hugs were over, the others headed for their cars and Sol stood looking at me as he shook his head. “Man, you’re somebody’s daddy-two little somebody’s. How did all of this happen in less than a year? It’s crazy.”
“I don’t know, but I couldn’t be happier.”
“You should be. You have it all-a beautiful wife and now not one, but two beautiful children. Your life is perfect.”
“It’s not perfect yet, but it will be when I kill Marsala.”
“Do you think you can do it?”
“Hell, yes. I know I can do it without blinking an eye. She tried to kill Chansey and she almost killed my children. She would have if I hadn’t agreed to come back to her with a baby.”
“What are you going to do about that?’
“I don’t know, but it’s going to involve a way to kill Marsala.”
≈ ≈ ≈
After the family was gone, I continued to stand at the nursery windows and stare at the babies. I loved to watch the way they squirmed and the faces they made when they squealed, but I was mainly looking for any signs that would alarm the staff of their non-human characteristics.
They appeared completely human by all of my standards, but who knew what would pop up along the way with them. Half of their DNA was contributed by yours truly, but maybe my prayers were answered when I pleaded for them to be nothing like me. Maybe they were all good like their mother.
“Mr. Brennan, your wife is in her room and she is asking for you.”