by Carl Weber
53
“Go get your brother. Bring him back here so I can tell you together. Hurry now. I don’t care what these doctors say. I don’t have much time.”
Miss Margaret was becoming so weak that she could only whisper the words in my ear. I knew time was running out.
Although I hadn’t planned on returning to the hospital anytime soon, the whole scenario kept playing over and over in my mind. It was all I thought about. Could it be that Roman was my twin, and not Paris? That would be entirely devastating for me and her. Paris was more than my sister. She was my best friend, and we shared an unbreakable bond. I couldn’t imagine sharing that kind of relationship with anyone else, not even an identical twin brother.
Paris was a Duncan in every sense. She had equal parts of our parents: my mother’s beauty and strong intuition, and my father’s no-nonsense attitude and low tolerance for bullshit. I couldn’t imagine her not being the child of Chippy and LC Duncan. But if that were the case, then who was I?
I had no choice. I had to go back and talk to Margaret and get to the bottom of all of this before it drove me crazy. When I arrived at her bedside and saw how sick she was, I knew I had to get the story from her before it was too late. She had a different plan, though. She told me she wouldn’t speak on it until Roman was there too. So, I had to go to his house to get him.
I heard a commotion coming from inside the house just as I was about to knock on the door. Standing on my toes, I looked through the small window at the top of the door. Roman was running up the stairs with a white guy right on his heels. What the fuck?
I tried to open the door, but it was locked, so I ran around to the back door and found that it had been kicked in. I took out my .22 automatic and stepped inside. There was a woman’s body bleeding on the floor. One look at her eyes and there was no doubt in my mind she was dead.
I didn’t have much time to think because there was a loud crash above me. I bolted up the stairs two at a time and followed the noise to Roman’s room.
The man was standing over Roman with a gun in one hand and a stun gun in the other, zapping the shit out of him. Roman looked like he was having convulsions as the electricity entered his body. It was like an out-of-body experience watching someone who looked just like me on the floor with an attacker hovering over him. So, it was almost like self-defense when I raised my arm and fired two shots into the white guy’s back. He landed on Roman with a loud thud.
Blood oozed from his body, forming a deep red pool underneath. There was no doubt he was dead. I grinned, thinking Pop would have been proud of my marksmanship.
“You all right, Roman?” I asked when I saw him start moving. He pushed the body off of him.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“I’m Rio. I’m your brother.”
He didn’t say anything, but I could see him studying my face.
“Kind of like looking in a mirror, right?” I said as I helped him to his feet.
“Yo, thanks for that,” he said, looking down at the dead man. “As far as what you just said, I don’t know who the fuck you are, but I know I don’t have no brother.”
“Actually, you have a few,” I said.
He shook his head like he was trying to clear his thoughts, then yelled, “Shit! Aunt Coretta!” He pushed me aside and ran down the stairs.
I followed behind him but stopped in the doorway to the kitchen to give him some space as he knelt down and caressed the dead lady’s head. If she was his aunt, then was she mine also?
“Listen, don’t worry. It’s gonna be okay,” I told him.
“How? How the fuck is this gonna be okay? There’s a motherfucker dead in my bedroom, and he fucking murdered my aunt.”
I took my phone out of my pocket, and he started spazzing out.
“Don’t call the cops! What the fuck is wrong with you?”
I stepped back so he couldn’t snatch the phone away from me. “First of all, chill out. Ain’t nobody calling no damn police.” I put the phone to my ear.
“I need you. It’s an emergency,” I said when Junior picked up the call.
“What is it?”
“I don’t need you to ask a whole bunch of questions, but I need a cleanup crew for two.” I pulled my phone away from ear because I knew he was going to yell.
“Two! Rio, what the hell did you do?”
“I promise you I’ll explain everything when I get home. Just take care of it for me, please.”
“Fine. Text me the address,” he said. “But I’m telling Pop.”
Any other time, I would’ve pleaded for him not to do that, but I figured everything was going to come out soon enough. I was also worried about getting back to Margaret’s room before it was too late. I didn’t want to waste time arguing with Junior.
“Come through the back door. It’s open. And Junior, thanks,” I said and hung up.
I turned to Roman, who was looking at me like I was from another planet.
“What?”
“Cleanup crew?” he said. “Who the fuck are you, James Bond? What the hell is going on?”
“I’m your brother and the man who just saved your fucking life. Now, let’s get to the hospital if you want answers. Your mother’s the only one who’s going to give either of us the answer we want,” I said.
“My mother? She knows about this?”
“Let’s put it this way: she’s the only one willing to talk about it.”
I checked my watch. Junior’s people would be there in another twenty minutes, and I wanted to be gone by then. “Listen, you need to take a shower and change your clothes. We gotta go.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later, we were in my car, headed back to the hospital. He spent the entire car ride in silence, and I wondered if he was in shock—which was understandable considering his aunt was murdered, a big white dude died on top of him, and I’d just told him I was his brother. Not to mention the fact that his mother was dying.
“Mama,” Roman said softly as he walked to her bedside after we arrived. He touched her hand, and she opened her eyes.
She looked from him to me, smiling weakly. “You got him.”
“I did.” I nodded. “We’re both here now.”
“Mama, I have a brother?” Roman asked.
“Yes, that’s him. Your brother Rio,” she said, gasping for breath.
“How?” he whispered.
Margaret
54
26 years earlier
“How much longer do you think it’ll be?” Mr. Duncan, the nervous father-to-be asked. He’d been pacing nervously for hours, from the moment his pregnant wife was admitted.
“LC, please stop asking her that,” his wife groaned. “It’ll happen when it happens. And for God’s sake, can you please stop walking around this room? You’re making me dizzy.”
I smiled and gave him a reassuring look. “Well, the last time we checked, she was almost seven centimeters dilated, so it won’t be much longer.”
“Oh, okay,” he said as he went back to walking back and forth in front of the hospital bed.
“You’re acting kind of nervous. I thought you said this wasn’t your first child,” I teased.
They appeared to be very much in love. His pretty wife, Charlotte, was a little more calm than he was, but it was apparent that she was worn out from her pregnancy. It was also clear that the couple had money, not only because of the large diamond ring she wore on her left hand, but also because they were immediately brought to the larger, nicer birthing room that was normally reserved for “special patients,” which was code for the ones rich enough to afford it.
“This definitely ain’t our first rodeo. As a matter of fact, it’s our fifth time going through this,” Mrs. Duncan told me.
“Fifth? My goodness. You’re a pro at this,” I said.
“He should be, but he’s like this every time.” She shook her head, then grimaced in pain. “But I think you may be right. It’s almost time. Oh my God.”
>
“Chippy, baby, are you okay?” Mr. Duncan rushed to his wife’s side and grabbed her hand.
I looked at the long piece of paper that the monitor near the bed had just put out, then checked Mrs. Duncan’s blood pressure. “Let’s go ahead and call Dr. Preston to come in.”
Mr. Duncan gave me a panicked look. “Is it time? Is she all right?”
“She’s fine, Mr. Duncan. Her blood pressure is a little elevated, and she’s in a lot of pain, but that’s to be expected with twins. He’ll probably give her a little something to make her a little more comfortable,” I explained.
Mrs. Duncan moaned. “He needs to give me a lot of something.”
“Owwww!” Mr. Duncan yelled out in pain from the grip his wife had on his hand.
I paged Dr. Preston, and a few minutes later, there was a knock on the door.
“Hey, Maggie, you paged?” the tall, gray-haired doctor asked, and I tried not to cringe. It didn’t matter how many times I’d told him that my name was Margaret. Most of the doctors and a few of the older nurses still referred to me as Maggie. I hated it.
“Yes, Dr. Preston. Mrs. Duncan is having a lot of pain and discomfort,” I told him. “And her blood pressure has increased a little.”
Dr. Preston walked over to Mrs. Duncan. “Hello there, Charlotte, LC. Great to see you both.”
“Hey, Dr. P. This is the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. I knew it was gonna be harder because this entire pregnancy has been rough, but not like this,” Mrs. Duncan told him.
“I understand. Well, let’s see what we’ve got going on.” Dr. Preston lifted the sheet that covered Mrs. Duncan’s legs. “Oh, my.”
“What’s wrong?” Mr. Duncan frowned.
“Well, it seems that we won’t be able to give her anything for pain,” Dr. Preston told him.
“Why not? She’s hurting, Doc.” The panic in her husband’s voice matched the look on his face.
“Because she’s crowning, and the baby’s head is pretty much out. All right, Charlotte, get ready to push,” Dr. Preston told her; then he said to me, “Maggie, can you—”
“Wait!” Mr. Duncan yelled before Dr. Preston could finish his sentence.
“Yes?” I asked.
“So, she’s having the baby now? At this moment?” His eyes were wide with fear. “I . . . I need to call Nee Nee. She’s supposed to be here.”
“LC, go. Get out. It’s fine,” Mrs. Duncan moaned.
“But . . .” He looked over at her.
“Ahhhhhhhh!” She yelled. “Gooooooo!”
“That’s it, Charlotte. Push,” Dr. Preston encouraged her.
“Don’t you wanna be here for the birth of your baby?” I asked Mr. Duncan.
“He wasn’t there for any of the others,” Mrs. Duncan said when she stopped pushing. “He’s . . . always . . . conveniently outside in the hall.”
“Chippy, now, you know that’s not—”
“Ahhhhhhh!” His wife screamed, and the next sound we heard was that of a crying newborn.
“It’s a girl, and a big one,” Dr. Preston announced and held up the sticky, blood-and-mucus-covered baby.
“She’s gorgeous,” I said as I wrapped a blanket around the baby girl and took her into my arms.
“Well, he wasn’t in the hallway for this one.” Dr. Preston laughed.
“We have a daughter, Chippy.” Mr. Duncan now beamed with pride.
“Yes, LC. Paris has made her arrival.” Mrs. Duncan exhaled.
I took the baby’s vitals and cleaned her up, then wrote the last name Duncan and time of birth on one of the tiny ankle bracelets and slipped it on her. Once I finished, I swaddled her and took her over to her mother, who looked exhausted.
“She’s beautiful,” Mr. Duncan said. “You did good, Chippy.”
“We did good, LC. She looks just like you,” she said, but the smile she wore was brief and replaced with a grimace. “My entire body is hurting.”
“One down, one to go. How much longer until the next one, Doc?” Mr. Duncan asked.
“Could be here in five minutes, or as long as five hours,” Dr. Preston told them. “But I’m gonna go ahead and give you a light sedative, Charlotte. Okay?”
Mrs. Duncan gasped in pain. “I think it’s definitely going to be five minutes.”
I quickly took the baby from her arms and called for one of the pediatric nurses to come assist while we got ready for the next birth. Mrs. Duncan was in the middle of pushing when Naomi, another nurse, came into the room.
“Well, what’s this cutie’s name?” she asked.
“Paris,” Mr. Duncan told her.
“Paris. Pretty name for a pretty girl,” Naomi said. “I’ll go ahead and take her down to the nursery.”
“You may want to wait a few seconds, Naomi, or you’re gonna have to make two trips. Her sibling is just about to arrive,” Dr. Preston said. “Here comes the surprise.”
“Surprise?” I asked.
“We knew one baby was a girl, but she would steal all the attention during the ultrasounds and block the other baby, so we couldn’t tell the sex,” he said. “But we’re about to find out. One more push, Charlotte.”
Mrs. Duncan groaned and leaned forward. Her husband’s eyes grew huge as he stared at the lower part of her body.
“What is it? Is it another girl?” he asked.
“It’s a boy!” Dr. Preston said. The second baby was smaller than his sister, and he was quiet. Dr. Preston quickly passed him over to me, and I took him over to the warming bed, where Naomi was waiting with the other twin.
“He’s not crying,” Mrs. Duncan said. “Is he okay?”
“He’s fine, Charlotte. Maggie and Naomi are going to take good care of him. You just lay back and relax for a second,” Dr. Preston told her.
I rubbed the back of the baby boy and whispered, “Come on, baby. Breathe.”
As if he heard my instruction, he gasped slightly, then finally let out a tiny cry. The tension that had filled the room moments before was now gone. I followed the same process for him as I had earlier for his sister, and then held him up for his parents to see.
“We need to hurry and get him to the nursery because he’s gonna need a little more attention than Miss Paris,” Naomi said. “What’s his name?”
“Rio.” Mrs. Duncan sighed. “LC, go with the babies.”
“Are you sure?” Mr. Duncan asked her.
“Yes, please. You need to make sure they’re okay.”
“You can go ahead, LC. We’re gonna get Charlotte settled and comfortable,” Dr. Preston said.
“I hope that means something for pain, Dr. Preston. My back is still killing me.”
Dr. Preston nodded. “We can definitely give you something.”
Mr. Duncan kissed his wife, then followed Naomi and the babies out of the room. When they were gone, Dr. Preston gave her a sedative.
Just as he was about to help Mrs. Duncan deliver the afterbirth, another nurse popped her head in the room.
“Dr. Preston, we have an emergency down the hall. The baby’s heartbeat is dropping fast,” she said frantically.
Dr. Preston looked at me. “Maggie, can you take it from here?”
“Of course,” I said.
He leaned over to speak to Mrs. Duncan. “Charlotte, you’re in good hands.”
She smiled, looking a little more relaxed as the sedative entered her system. “I know that. Go ahead and take care of your other patient.”
With that, Dr. Preston followed the nurse out of the room. I covered Mrs. Duncan with a warm blanket and went about gathering the items I would need to start cleaning her up. She was in and out of consciousness by this point as the sedative took full effect.
I was doing another vital check on her when her eyes fluttered open.
“Thank you again, Maggie,” she whispered.
“It’s Margaret.” I smiled. “And you’re welcome.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Margaret.”
“It’s fine. C
ongratulations again. Two new bundles of joy.”
“I’m tired already, and I haven’t even started breastfeeding yet. After these two, I definitely don’t think I want anymore.” She gave a half smile. “Do you have any children?”
“No, unfortunately that’s a blessing the good Lord didn’t see fit for me to have,” I told her.
“You’d make a great mom. I can tell. You’re so patient and nurturing. You deserve a baby.” She closed her eyes again.
“Thank you, Mrs. Duncan,” I said. Then I noticed her grimacing again. “Are you still in pain?”
“Yes. My back is still killing me. And my stomach. It hurts so bad.”
“Let me increase your pain meds just a little.” I put a little more of the sedative in her IV and waited a few minutes. “Is that better?”
“No, it still hurts, but I’m so sleepy, Margaret. Oh, God. I feel like I gotta push again.” She winced.
“You’re probably having a bowel movement. It happens sometimes.” I rubbed her arm reassuringly.
“I don’t think I’m gonna make it to the bathroom.” She slurred her words. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. Just go ahead, and I can clean you up. It’s natural.”
She let out another loud groan, and suddenly I understood that whatever was going on couldn’t have been a bowel movement. I lifted the sheet and looked between her legs, and to my surprise, a tiny head was emerging. I looked around the room and grabbed a nearby blanket.
Mrs. Duncan’s eyes were now closed. I gently pulled the baby from her. It was another baby boy, even tinier than his siblings. I held him in my hands. Even though he wasn’t crying, he was breathing.
Mrs. Duncan had been carrying triplets and had no idea. As I cradled him in my arms, I thought that it somehow didn’t seem fair. Here I wanted a baby but couldn’t have one, and this woman had three, one of whom she didn’t even realize she had. Hell, no one knew other than me—not even the doctor.
My eyes went from the baby, then back to the mother, then back to the baby.
No, Margaret, you can’t, I told myself. Why can’t I? She said she didn’t want any more children anyway. Now she doesn’t have to have any. She already has twins, and she won’t miss what she never had. As crazy as it sounded, I knew what I was going to do, and there was going to be no stopping me.
