“I’m fine. Just give me a moment.”
But each of them laid their hands on me in worry, trying to sense any problem that the babies or myself might have been having.
I took a moment to scan the condition of the babies. They seemed fine, but I could hear them bickering with one another over telling me something.
What is it guys? I asked them softly.
Mommy, what is my name? The girl asked.
I hadn’t even thought about that. Eric and I had been too busy with everything else to realize that our children were nameless.
What would you like your name to be, sweetheart? I asked thinking that she might have something in mind. I know it sounds strange, but I have had several conversations with my unborn children. They were very intelligent and more capable of having sensible conversations than most adults.
I’m not sure Mommy. She replied.
What about you, my son?
I was thinking that I want my name to be Luke. Is that okay Mommy? He asked.
I looked to Eric to see if he agreed with the wonderful boy I was carrying inside me. Absolutely. Luke is a fine name.
Eric’s response excited Luke so much that he began twisting and turning inside my stomach. I heard our daughter scream at him to stop before he caused it to be time for them to be born. Her saying that caused me to panic.
What do you mean, time to be born? I asked her.
She was hesitant to answer me, but she began telling me that they would be born in a few more days.
Great. All my past fears about giving birth flooded my mind and, I was not ready for this. I wanted them to be born, to finally see my beautiful children, but I was not, in any way, prepared for the pain that it was going to cause me.
It won’t hurt much, Mommy. We promise, Luke said sweetly to me.
But I still don’t have a name yet! Our girl exclaimed.
What would be a good name for her? I was drawing a total blank. I asked Eric, but he couldn’t think of one either.
“Silas? Maggie? Do you have any ideas?” I asked.
They became silent and it was a few moments before either of them gave me an answer.
“What about Jade?” Silas asked.
“Mommy, please?” I like that name.
“Alright darling. Jade it is. We‘ll figure out the rest later.”
I knew that the sharp pain that I had felt was a warning that it was almost time now. My gut feeling had alerted me before the babies told me. Now I wasn’t as apprehensive about it as I had been. Something about them telling me that it was not going to hurt much pacified my fear of childbirth.
Soon the worry of the Dark Union coming for my children trumped everything else. I was sent spiraling out of control with panic. My heart pounded deep in my chest and I could feel droplets of sweat forming in my hairline. I was overreacting, but I was unable to stop my body from responding the way it had. I had lost any and all control over it.
Maggie seemed a little green in the face as I looked at her through my clouded vision. The room was spinning and I was beginning to feel sick. Right before I thought I was going to vomit, everything went black.
“Bailey!” Eric yelled as he shook me gently trying to wake me from my fainting episode. I could hear him, but it was like I wasn’t completely awake. My mouth would not open to let me speak to them. I wanted to tell him that I was fine, but I stayed in silence.
“She’s alright guys! Just give her a minute!” Maggie told them.
Her words of reassurance forced them to calm down a bit. At least they had stopped shaking me. That was getting on my nerves.
The peace I was feeling was extraordinary. It was too bad that I had to go postal and pass out in order to feel this way. I savored the moment basking in the stillness and the quiet.
This was exactly what I needed at the time. Thank goodness, I was already sitting down when I happened. If I had hit the floor while I was standing, it could have caused harm to the babies and I couldn’t bear the thought of that.
Mommy, the bad people know we are going to be born, Jade said to me.
I know that sweetheart, I said back to her softly.
No Mommy, they know when we are coming! They think we will be here in two days!
How was that possible? They surely couldn’t know when I was going to give birth, could they? I knew that not a single member of the Circle would have told them. They weren’t like that. All our members were pure of heart and passionately loyal to the Circle.
Yes, they do know, Luke said.
I think we need to come now. Will that be okay Mommy? Jade asked.
I thought about her request for a second. If the Dark Union was expecting them to be born in two days, they wouldn’t be paying too much attention if I gave birth to them a couple days early, I wouldn’t think. They would be too busy planning their attack. Planning to take my children s lives.
I realized that if we had any chance of keeping them safe it would be now. I had to give birth to them today. When they are finally born into the world, their powers would take the ultimate rankings. They will become the Ultimate Powers.
I’m ready if you two are, I told Jade and Luke.
Thank you Mommy, they said in unison.
We have to be fast, I heard Jade say to Luke.
I felt a dull cramp in the lower part of my stomach. It was soon replaced by a much harder one as they twisted and turned in my stomach, trying to start the labor process.
I opened my eyes and told Eric that our children had decided to come and that they knew the Dark Union was expecting them two days from now instead of today. His facial expressions were mixed between joy and fear all wrapped up into one. How are we going to do this without alerting the ones that are outside watching? Eric asked.
That was easy. We would have to leave now before the pain could get any worse.
Everyone was going to have to act as if nothing was out of the ordinary when we went outside.
“Maybe we should talk about going shopping. There's no way that we are going to be able to get your bag out of the house, so we are going to have to go buy all the stuff that you need?” Maggie always has been great at preparing under pressure.
“Good thinking.” Silas said as he gave her a quick kiss.
I just hope the children heard what we were going to have to do and would adjust their timing to the plan. Giving birth to them in the car wasn’t my idea of a safe way to do this.
We all made our way down the walkway, talking about going to several of the shops in town to buy Maggie a new pair of jeans. I had to grit my teeth the whole way to the car. The cramps had turned into light stabbing pain and when they came, they took my breath for a short moment.
“Eric, if my water breaks in the car, I’m truly sorry.” I said to him as he got in the car.
He laughed and backed out onto the road. Maggie handed me a pad of paper and a pen from the backseat. “Write down what you need us to get.”
I took the paper and pen from her and started writing down the list all over again. I tried to remember everything I could. It was a shame that they were going to have to buy some of the things for me. Things like bras, panties, and pads would probably be somewhat embarrassing for Eric and Silas. Maggie would more than likely take care of those parts of the list.
“Don t worry about putting the sizes down. I already know them.” Maggie announced and I couldn’t hide my love for her. I turned in my seat, reached out to her, and gave her a hug. She patted me on the head when I let her go. She was a little motherly at times.
I handed her the list as Eric pulled into the parking lot at our local Wal-Mart.
This was not the place I liked to purchase my clothes, but in this case, it was unavoidable. Not that there was anything wrong with the store, I just liked to have a bit more choices than they offered.
I stayed in the car while they went in to get the items on the list. Hopefully, with the three of them taking separate parts of it, it wouldn’t take lo
ng.
My pain was getting worse and I had the feeling that I was going to have to start timing my contractions. I watched my clock on my cell phone as soon as I felt one start. After it was over, I wrote down the time on the notepad Maggie had given me. I knew that when I called my doctor, she would ask how far apart they were coming.
The next contraction came and I timed it as well. Eight minutes had passed since the last one. I noticed that they felt like they had started coming sooner since we left home. They grew more intense as time passed.
I was starting to wonder if Eric and the others had managed to get lost in the store. They had been in there for almost an hour now. A restless feeling came over me and I stepped out of the car to stretch my legs. As soon as I did, I felt a gush of water come out. My water had broken when I stood up. Thank goodness, it didn’t happen in the car. That would have ruined the upholstery and I would’ve never been able to get over it.
Looking down at the huge puddle under my feet, I took out my phone and dialed Eric s number. I heard his phone ringing inside the car. Great. This was a perfect time for him to leave his phone somewhere. I dialed Maggie s number next.
“Hello?” She said answering the call.
“Maggie, are you guys almost finished?”
“Yeah. We are in the checkout lane now. Is everything alright?”
“Well…No. Not really. My water just broke. Can one of you run and pick up a couple towels for me to put in the seat?” I asked as I laughed nervously and listened as she asked Silas to go grab a few towels.
“Towels? Why does she need towels?” He asked her.
“Her water just broke! Now hurry and go get them!” She demanded.
Eric asked Maggie to stay and pay for the stuff. She agreed and he told her to tell me that he was coming out to me. I heard Eric telling Maggie the pin number to his debit card.
“No hurry guys. It’s just a little water I said into the phone.” The bad thing about it was that I felt that I needed to reassure them instead of the other way around.
“Bailey, sweetheart, those babies could come at any moment now. We have to get you to the hospital. Have you called your doctor yet?” She asked.
The idea had crossed my mind earlier, but I didn’t follow up on it. I should have. “No, not yet I told her.”
“Okay, we‘ll be right out. Call her.” Now she said with a motherly tone.
As soon as I ended the phone conversation with Maggie, I dialed the number that my doctor had given me during my last visit. It was the number to a personal cell phone that she used with her high-risk pregnancy patients. She told me that she would always answer this line directly. I didn’t realize how comforting that thought was at the time.
I spoke with the doctor and answered every question that she asked to the best of my ability. She instructed me to go to the hospital and check in as soon as I could get there.
“We are on our way now.” I told her.
“Good. I am going to let my staff know that I am leaving the office to handle your delivery. I‘ll meet you there.” She said and told me goodbye.
Now that I knew she was preparing to go to the hospital, I felt a slight ease in my edginess. Outside of the crippling pain that my contractions had become, I was mostly calm. I knew that it was partly because of Jade and Luke s magical help. They wanted me to stay calm. They wanted for me to have a peaceful, easy delivery. Free of any unnecessary feelings of anxiety.
Eric had come out of the store and I watched him as he ran to the car. “Are you okay?” He asked me.
“Yeah. Actually, I feel pretty good.” That was the truth. Strangely enough, I did feel good.
He held me against him, hugging me as if every touch was a description of his love for me. It is a deep and endless kind of love.
Silas and Maggie pushed an overloaded shopping cart down the aisle to the car. “Gosh you guys! Did you buy the entire store?” I asked smiling at them.
Silas and Eric thought so Maggie replied, as they all began to toss the bags into the backseat of the car. Looking at it, I wasn’t sure how those two were going to get in the car. “We’ll pack your bag on the way to the hospital, Silas announced with a smile. Although, I’m not sure if I‘ll do it right.”
“You‘ll do fine. Thanks guys. Really.”
The drive to the hospital was amusing to say the least. Silas blurted out a few obscene words along the way. He was having trouble getting some of the tags off the clothes. “You wouldn’t happen to have a pocket knife, would ya?” He asked Eric.
“Nope, I sure don’t.” Eric said smiling at him through the rearview mirror.
I held out my hand in front of me and calmly said the word knife. A small knife appeared in my hand instantly. I handed it to Silas with a grin.
“Thank you,” He said as he went back to work cutting the plastic pieces that connected the price tags to the clothing.
Eric was constantly on alert for any signs of the Dark Union, but we had obviously evaded their surveillance today. Our plan had worked and I was pretty sure they were all still watching our house. We didn’t even tell the other members of our Circle where we were going. The less that we said, the safer we were going to be for the time being.
The hospital waiting room was empty as we walked past it. I found that hard to believe. With the Gin gone, I suppose that the accident rate had fallen substantially.
The nurse escorted us to my hospital room. It was a small room, but it had a homelike feel to it. I could tell that they tried their best to keep the patients as comfortable as possible.
“This doesn’t even look like a hospital room.” Eric said as he looked around at everything.
He was right. This room looked like any other ordinary bedroom. The bed was the only thing that even resembled what the room should have looked like. Even it was slightly different from normal. There were no side rails and the bedding looked like it had been custom ordered, blue and silver striped.
The nurse asked if I had brought my own gown and I nodded yes to her. You should go ahead and change into it if you can, she said. Will you need me to help you with that?
I looked across the room at Eric and he told the nurse that he was going to help me, but thanked her for the offer. Before leaving the room, she informed us that the doctor was going to come in and speak with us before examining me. I took that as a reason to hurry.
Eric helped me change into the thigh length nightgown and then helped me into bed. It took a little longer than I thought it would because my contractions were about two minutes apart now and extremely painful. Each time I felt one it made me bend double.
I had expected the delivery process to be slow since this was my first time delivering, but it was moving fast. All I wanted to do was get in the bed and try to stay as comfortable as I could between contractions.
The bed was comfortable, not hard like a regular hospital bed. I was thankful for that. My entire body hurt. A few minutes after I had gotten in bed, the doctor came in. “Hi, Bailey. How are you feeling?” She asked as she sat on the edge of the bed beside me.
“I’m in a lot of pain, but I think I can manage.”
She had the nurse to hook me up to all the necessary medical equipment and take my vital signs.
Everything looks good, she said after looking at the paper that was coming out of the machine beside the bed. Your contractions are as they should be and I need to check you to make sure you are dilating appropriately.
She looked at Maggie and Silas in a questioning manner. I knew that she was trying to get them to leave the room so she could examine me, but I didn’t want them to leave. They couldn’t. That would not be the safe thing to do.
“It’s okay. I want them to stay.” I said to her.
She looked at me and said, “Of course.”
The examination was a little embarrassing since Silas was in the room, but I knew that he was not going to pay too much attention to it. He was, however, overly interested in seeing me give birth. He
had talked about it constantly since the early months of my pregnancy. He saw it as one of the highest honors known possible to him. To actually see the Ultimate Powers being born.
“You have already reached ten centimeters. It’s time to push. Are you ready?” She smiled. It was not as if I really had a choice in the matter. They were coming whether I was ready or not. At least it looked like I was going to evade having to have a C-section. I was sure thankful for that.
She told me to resist the urge to push for right now and left the room. It was no time at all until she came back in followed by an entire team of nurses. They brought two of everything they would possibly need.
The room was crowded. All the nurses except one lined the walls around the room. Eric was standing at the side of the bed next to me. Maggie and Silas took their place on the other side. Their presence was soothing to me and at that point, I realized that I truly loved them all. Even Silas.
I didn’t have to push long until Luke was born. He was small, but had the look of strength about him. He didn’t t cry. Only a slight whimper escaped his tiny lips.
A short moment later, Jade made her debut in the world. She cried for a mere second then hushed when the nurse took her.
I did my best to listen to the instructions from the doctor, but my mind was clouded with my children’s thoughts. I couldn’t help it. It was like they were screaming at me with their minds.
I heard everything they thought and felt everything they felt. Luke s biggest argument was about the nurse’s hands being so cold and Jade really wasn’t complaining at all. She was content with everything that was happening. I was getting a clear idea that she was going to like attention.
After everything was said and done, the nurse’s took my precious babies to the nursery so that I could rest. I had to admit I was exhausted. Labor was more tiresome than I had expected it to be and I feel asleep almost immediately.
I could still hear the conversations going on around me. Eric had called our parents to let them know that the babies had been born. They had been genuinely surprised.
The War (Ultimate Power Book 2) Page 13
