“Say cheese!”
We had both turned to find Layla standing over us with a camera. Our first picture as father and daughter…
The thought that I was going to lose my little girl made my chest ache and I put the picture back where it had been before standing. No matter what, I wasn’t going to lose Lucy. It would destroy me. If anyone tried to take her away I would kill them with my bare hands.
A glance at the clock on Lucy’s desk told me I had been in her room for nearly an hour. Turning the lights off, I walked down the hall to the master bedroom and cracked open the door. I was expecting Layla to still be in bed, but it was empty. “Baby?” I called out, moving toward the bathroom on the other side of the room.
“J-J-Jesse?”
Her trembling voice kick started something inside of me and I moved faster. She was crying, I could hear her sobs through the closed door. As I opened the door she moaned and my heart actually stopped at the sight before me.
Layla was standing at the sink with the water on. She was bent in half, holding onto the edge of the counter as her body shook. The baby blue leggings she had on were damp, a red spot soaking through. “What..?”
“My water broke!” she sobbed. “I’m in labor.”
“No.” I shook my head stupidly. “No, you are only seven months pregnant! They aren’t supposed to come for another nine weeks.”
“I… I know that!” she shouted at me. “But these babies haven’t got the memo… Call Emmie. Call the hospital.” She gripped her stomach and moaned. “Call a fucking ambulance!”
With shaking fingers I pulled my phone from my pocket and called 911. She was in too much pain, the contraction coming too close. Every time she moved more fluid flooded her pants, pooling at her feet. As soon as I told the operator what was going on and our address, I tossed the phone aside and lifted Layla into my arms. I didn’t want her to slip in the mess.
“Emmie,” Layla panted as I carried her downstairs. “Call…Emmie.”
“Emmie will see the ambulance and know something is going on,” I assured her. My heart was beating so fast I was sure it was going to explode, but I couldn’t worry about that right now. I could hear an ambulance in the distance and thanked gods that there had been one so close. “Take deep breaths, baby,” I urged, knowing that I didn’t know what I was talking about. Our Lamaze classes didn’t start for another week, and I knew nothing about what was going to happen.
All the nightmares of Emmie’s delivery flashed before my eyes and I was sure I was going to vomit. I had been terrified when Emmie went into labor with Mia, but this? This fear that I was experiencing, witnessing the woman who owned me heart and soul in so much pain. The fear of something being wrong with our babies because it was way too soon for them to come into this world…
There wasn’t even a word for this kind of gut wrenching fear!
The ambulance was pulling to a stop as soon as I opened the front door. An EMT jumped out of the passenger side and ran toward us. “How far apart are the contractions?” the dark skinned man demanded.
“Minute… Maybe,” Layla told him because I sure as hell couldn’t. I couldn’t even talk. What was wrong with me? Why couldn’t I talk? I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Not a single sound. “Twins… I’m only thirty-one weeks.”
“Sir, can you put your wife in the back for me?” the EMT instructed. “Place her on the gurney and we can go.”
I moved automatically. He opened the back door and I climbed in before placing Layla on the narrow bed. As soon as she was out of my arms the dark skinned man was pushing me out of the way. I dropped down on the small bench behind them and just watched in horror.
“Jess! Layla!”
Emmie’s frantic voice called out before the back door opened again and Emmie climbed in. “What..?”
“Ma’am, Mrs. Thornton is in labor… Her water has broken and she appears to be at four centimeters… Mr. Thorton seems to be in shock… We have to go now, ma’am.” I only caught parts of their conversation and then Emmie was sitting beside me as the ambulance started moving, racing toward the closest hospital that had a maternity ward while the EMT kept working on Layla.
Emmie held her phone to her ear with one hand and gripped one of my hands with her free hand. “Nik… Pick Lucy up from school. Call Lana… Yes. I’m with him… Not good. Love you, too.” Then the phone was gone and Emmie was in my face. “Jesse! Look at me.”
I lifted my eyes to meet her green gaze. Her brow was furrowed and she looked stressed. I felt numb, like I had turned something off inside of myself so I didn’t have to feel. There was no panic, no fear now. Just nothing. Layla was moaning and crying and I was doing nothing!
“I’ll help you through this, Jesse,” Emmie told me calmly. “I’ll help you. But you have to help Layla, okay? She’s not calm. Her heart rate is off the charts and the contractions are coming quick and hard. She needs you. Hold her hand. Kiss her. Tell her everything is going to be okay.”
“Is it?” I whispered.
Before she could say anything I saw the answer in her eyes. Emmie didn’t know. She couldn’t promise me anything because she didn’t know if Layla or the twins were going to be okay. Blinking back the sudden tears burning my eyes, I moved to take Layla’s hand.
Immediately her heart rate slowed marginally. I bent my head and brushed my lips over her brow, unable to kiss her lips because there was an oxygen mask over her face. She was shaking in both fear and pain and I buried my face in her hair. “It’s okay, baby. Everything is going to be okay,” I lied.
From there everything moved as if on fast forward. The ambulance came to a screeching halt and the back doors were thrown open. A team of people in scrubs stood there and quickly grabbed the gurney Layla was on, pulling it out. I chased after them as they raced into the hospital and toward the elevator.
But when I started to get on the elevator with them a stern-looking woman pushed me back. “Sir, I’m sorry but your wife needs an emergency C-section. Your wife’s heart rate is too fast while the babies’ are dropping. There’s no time to spare. Someone will show you to the waiting room.” The doors started closing before she finished speaking and I just stood there, watching the doors shut, taking my life with it.
--
A nurse showed me and Emmie to the OR waiting room. We didn’t speak once we were left alone. Em pushed me down into the closest seat and left for a moment, returning with the foulest smelling coffee known to man. It was sickly sweet and bitter. She forced me to drink two cups of it before sitting down and holding my hand.
I put my head in my free hand, silently praying. Tears were rolling down my cheeks and I didn’t bother to brush them away. A week ago my life had been pretty damn close to perfect. Now it was falling apart and I was helpless to stop it. If I lost Layla that was it. Game over. I wouldn’t be able to go on.
Lana and Drake arrived with Harper and Shane right behind them. Lana threw her arms around my neck, hugging me tight. I couldn’t move to hug her back. Was unable to offer her any comfort. How could I when I was slowly dying inside?
Time seemed to slow down until even the tick tocks of the clock on the wall were delayed.
The doors opened again and Nik walked in with Mia in one arm and Lucy holding his hand. Seeing my daughter broke something open inside of me and I stood without thinking. She seemed to see the truth in my eyes and then she was in my arms, sobbing just as brokenly as I suddenly was. “Is Mom going to be okay?” she whispered, the infrequently used ‘Mom’ slipping out without either of us noticing.
“I hope so, Lu. I hope so.”
Chapter 12
Emmie
If you think my life is great and exciting, please think again.
In the moment I heard the ambulance I knew something was wrong. The second I saw Jesse carrying Layla toward the noisy thing, my life felt like it actually stopped for a minute. None of the other shit that was going on in my life mattered except that I could possibly be losi
ng my best friend.
Oh sure, women have babies every day of the week. Every hour. Every minute. I’ve had one and another was growing inside of me. But Layla was in serious trouble. I wasn’t sure how much of the conversation I’d had with the EMT Jesse had comprehended—he was nearly catatonic by that time—but things weren’t good.
During the last few doctor’s visits Layla’s blood pressure had been on the high side. Traces of protein in her urine had also been a slight cause for worry. The doctor had said it was all normal, after all she was seven months pregnant with twins. Twins that were growing at the speed of light and to the point that the doctor had already been talking about setting the date for her C-section. Sure, the chick had the hips to push those little giants out, but the twins hadn’t gotten into the right positions to have a vaginal birth.
As we rode in the ambulance toward the closest hospital with a maternity ward, Layla’s blood pressure was off the charts. Her heart rate heading toward two hundred and the dark skinned EMT kept shooting me glances that told me all I needed to know. After I was able to snap Jesse out of his shocked stupor he was able to calm his wife, but only marginally.
By the time we got to the hospital, Layla’s breathing was becoming more labored. A team of doctors and nurses was waiting on us, ready to take her straight up to deliver the babies. Jesse withdrew into himself again as the waiting room filled with our family and he didn’t even move until Nik walked in with Lucy.
Of course the world didn’t stand still while ours was going to hell. The press had gotten wind of what was going on. The first photographer caught me off guard and was actually in the waiting room with us long enough to snap a few of everyone looking scared and helpless.
Shane was the closest and lunged for the man with a smirk on his face, causing Mia to scream. The photographer was quick and was out the door before Shane could reach him. When Shane started to follow after him, his need to take out his pent up emotions on something and that douchebags face the most likely source, Harper caught him around the waist and pulled him down into a chair as far away from the door as possible. I heard her tell him to calm down and whispered something that had him snapping out of it and looking toward Mia to see just how frightened she was.
My gaze went to Mia who was clinging to Nik’s neck, hiding her face in his chest. We had kept her away from all of this nonsense, had tried to shelter her and Lucy from the picture hungry paparazzi. “Fuck this shit!” I muttered under my breath so as not to scare Mia and Lucy any more than they already were.
I didn’t want to leave Jesse. At the moment he needed me more than anyone else, but there was no way around it. I glanced at Lana, her face drenched in tears. But when she caught my eye she nodded and moved to sit beside her brother-in-law, taking his hand to replace my own.
Before I reached the door, Nik caught my hand and gave it a squeeze. “I love you,” he whispered.
I could see in his eyes that he was reliving the day we had brought Mia into the world. As crazy and scary as that day had been this was on a whole new level. I stroked a finger down Mia’s cheek, making her peek over at me and I forced a smile for her sake. See, I was silently saying with that smile, Momma isn’t scared. We had no idea what the outcome was going to be for Layla and the twins. Twins that were going to be dangerously premature.
“I love you,” I whispered back, holding onto his hand even as I was walking away, until we had no choice but to let go.
I had to talk to security, the administrator, and everyone in between. While they hustled to get the hospital shut down to ensure the safety of not only my family but every other patient in residence, I called the security team that had taken care of Shane’s wedding the day before. Damn, had it really only been the day before? It felt like a lifetime had passed since then.
While I was setting up round the clock security on the hospital, my phone was getting blown-up with incoming calls. Some I recognized, others I didn’t. The ones I didn’t recognize were journalists, or so they claimed, wanting the details on Layla and Jesse. I would have to set up a press conference or something in the next few days to let them know how Layla was doing, but not yet. They could all go fuck themselves for now.
With everything I had to take care of I didn’t even notice when a doctor slipped by and went into the waiting room. It wasn’t until Nik stuck his head out of the door that I had tried to keep an eye on that I knew there was something wrong… Well, more wrong.
My heart was in my throat and I ended the call I was on while the guy on the other end was in midsentence. I walked toward the open door, toward my husband and family knowing that I might never see my best friend again. Might never get to hold her two precious babies in my arms as she had done my own child.
Nik caught me around the waist as soon as I was close enough and pulled me into the room. The doctor was standing in front of Jesse who still had Lucy on his lap and Lana sitting beside him. Drake who had Mia in his arms and Shane were flanking the doctor who was speaking in clear precise tones, but seeming to make no sense to anyone in the room.
I cleared my throat, catching the doctor’s attention. His eyes darkened when he recognized me and he turned my way. “Mrs. Armstrong.”
“Doctor.” I inclined my head, swallowing hard. I noticed that his scrubs were soaked with sweat and his hair was a mess as if he had been raking his fingers through it. “How is she?”
“We had to give her general anesthesia to put her under. There wasn’t time for an epidural as her heart rate and blood pressure were off the charts. On top of which both babies’ heart rates were falling at such an alarming rate…” He broke off when I kept nodding. I already knew all of that. “Once we got the twins out, they were instantly taken to the NICU and placed on ventilators because they were having some difficulty breathing on their own. That isn’t unheard of at thirty-one weeks. However, they are both at an incredible weight considering. Both at four pounds, twelve ounces.”
“Okay,” I nodded again. “That sounds promising. But you haven’t answered my question. How is Layla?”
“She’s in recovery at the moment.” He seemed hesitant and my heart was racing nearly as fast as Layla’s had been on the ambulance ride. “It’s been over an hour since the twins were delivered, and normally we see a response to a patient coming around from general anesthesia by now. However, Layla isn’t showing any signs of waking. We think that she is having an abnormal reaction to it.”
My eyes narrowed. “Explain.”
“We can’t be sure, of course. She might just need some more time. But she could fall into a coma… Or worst case scenario…” I bit my lip and held onto Nik’s waist a little tighter, waiting on the next words to leave the doctor’s mouth, “…never wake at all. But if that happens it’s most likely another problem unrelated to the anesthesia itself. A blood gas has shown that she is getting enough oxygen and there aren’t any signs of stroke.”
“But you aren’t sure? She could wake up in the next five minutes or not at all?” Harper asked, stepping forward.
The doctor shrugged. “The next twenty-four hours will tell their own story.” His eyes were kind as he glanced over at Jesse again. “I’m sorry… And congratulations on your sons.”
The door closed silently behind the man as we all remained where we were. The news that the twins were boys didn’t seem to register or matter for a moment in the mayhem that was washing over us from the news that Layla might be lost to us forever. I closed my eyes, silently praying that my friend came back to us.
“Boys…”
My eyes popped open at Lucy’s voice. “What?” Jesse asked in a voice hoarse with emotion.
“Boys, Dad. I have brothers.” She buried her face in his chest. “That’s what I wanted.”
My phone buzzed and I glanced down to find Brad Horton’s name flash across the screen. I swallowed a curse and put the phone to my ear. “Now isn’t the best time.”
“I just heard about your sister-in-law,” he comme
nted quickly. “Actually the entire world just heard about your sister-in-law. I hope I can take some of the stress off of you. The lab at the hospital you are at can take the DNA sample. I can be there within the hour to witness it. Will that work?”
“Yes. Let’s get this over with,” I assured him. The quicker I had the results back the sooner I could get Vince Grady out of Jesse, Layla, and Lucy’s lives.
Jesse
I was being torn in three different directions.
At the same time the lawyer showed up to do Lucy’s DNA test, two nurses appeared in the doorway. One to take me to see my twin sons for the first time, the other to take me to see Layla in ICU. I couldn’t do all three at the same time, yet all three needed me now.
Drake touched my shoulder. “Lana and I can take her for the test,” he offered.
I shook my head. “Layla would want me to be there.” I stood and moved toward the two nurses. “I’ll only be a few minutes.”
“Sure.” The nurse that had come from Layla’s room nodded. “She’s still sleeping.”
That didn’t bring me any comfort. Layla was still sleeping. She could possibly never wake up. That was terrifying. There was no way I could go on without that woman. I had three kids that depended on me, so I had to focus on that for the moment.
The NICU nurse gave me a small smile. “Of course, Mr. Thorton. The boys will be waiting on you. I thought you would like to know that the pediatrician has given them both a full examination and their hearts are in great shape. We would like to keep them on the ventilator until at least tomorrow before trying to see if they can breathe on their own.”
Tears burnt my eyes but I just nodded. My boys would be okay for a little while longer. Swallowing hard I lifted Lucy into my arms. “I need to tell you something, Lu. Okay? But first we have to go downstairs and do something.”
We followed Emmie and Brad Horton downstairs on the elevator and to the back of the hospital to the lab. We didn’t have to wait. I signed my name at the bottom of a form that Emmie handed me and then Lucy was asked to have a seat.