The fear in Emma’s eyes told me I’d made the right decision, despite the argument we’d had when she first found out.
“There’s meconium in her fluids.”
“Her temperature’s still climbing.”
“We need to get these babies out now.”
“Prep an O.R.!”
“Blood pressure’s rising.”
“One of the infants isn’t doing well.”
Emma’s eyes were fluttering closed and I was doing my best to keep her alert.
“Emma. Sweetheart. You have to keep your eyes on me, okay?” I asked.
“You have to move, Mr. Aaron.”
“I’m not leaving her,” I said.
“We have to get her into surgery. If you don’t move, she’s going to die.”
My head whipped up to the doctor as tears filled my eyes. I dropped my gaze back down to Emma and she was officially out. Unconscious on the hospital bed as monitors beeped wildly around us. I released her hand and watched them roll her out, fighting against the nurses as they held me back.
“Come on,” they said. “You can watch from the viewing window.”
I couldn’t even go in there with her. I had to stand behind double-plated glass and watch Emma’s shivering body being ripped open by a surgeon. One by one, our children were plucked from her womb. One by one, they were handed over to a nurse and cleaned down. Tears streamed down my cheeks as their piggish cries echoed through the glass, but my eyes were on Emma.
Emma and her plummeting stats.
My hand pressed against the glass as the surgeon started yelling something. The monitors were beeping and the nurses in the room were rushing around. They barreled out of the O.R. with three rolling bassinets.
All of them holding our screaming children.
All of them covered in blue.
“Congratulations,” the nurse at my side said. “Looks like you have three new boys.”
But my eyes were on Emma. Her helpless form as paddles were seated onto her chest.
“No, Emma. Come on. No! Emma! Wake up!”
“Mr. Aaron, you have to come with me.”
“Emma! Please! I’m begging you! Breathe!”
“Mr. Aaron!”
The nurse’s voice caught my attention and she ripped me away from the window.
“You have three boys that need you right now. Your fiancé’s in the best of care right now. You have to come with me. Come meet your sons.”
My entire world was collapsing around me and there was nothing I could do about it.
I walked into the NICU and reached down into the first bassinet. My baby boy. With large blue eyes like Emma’s and a wild head of blonde hair. They looked so much like her. From the apple-peaked cheeks all the way down to their dainty hands. I reached my other hand into one of the other bassinets and tickled my son’s stomach, then reached my lips into the last one and kissed his forehead.
Three identical boys.
And Emma was nowhere in sight.
I couldn't speak. Couldn’t breathe. I had no idea if Emma was alive or dead. I stared down into the faces of my three new sons, and the only thing I could think about was how they might live without their mother. How they would never grow up to know her laughter or how big her heart really was. How they would never get to feel the warmth of her bosom against their cheek or snuggle into the crook of her arm to fall asleep at night.
“Mr. Aaron?”
“Yes?” I asked breathlessly.
“We’re going to roll your sons into the mother-baby unit,” the nurse said.
I whipped my head over to her as a tear streamed down my cheek.
“Emma’s-?”
“She’s fine. And stable. It took the doctor a while in surgery to get her there, but he did.”
I raced over to the nurse and wrapped her up in my arms, picking her off the floor. We rolled my sons into a massive private room and there she was. Pale. Hooked up to tubes and monitors.
But alive.
“Emma?” I asked as I sat on the edge of her bed. “Emma, can you hear me?”
Her head lobbed over, and her eyes peeled open, and I felt my heart soar with joy.
“Holy shit, you scared me,” I said with a whisper.
I got up and pressed my lips against hers. I felt her hand gripping mine as tightly as she could, but it was still weak. I nuzzled my nose against hers before I took out my phone, shooting a text message off to the nanny.
“My boys,” Emma said weakly. “Where are my boys?”
One by one, I plucked them from their bassinets and put them on Emma’s bare chest. I had to help her hold them. I had to cradle her arms so she could cradle our sons. She doted on them and kissed them. Fed them from her breast as a smile crossed her face. I smoothed her beautiful blonde hair back from her face, keeping it out of her view so she could take everything in.
And when they were all asleep against her, their cheeks pressed into her naked breasts, the doctor came in and sat down.
“You gave us a scare there, Miss Gentry.”
“What happened?” Emma asked.
“A host of things,” the doctor said. “The biggest issue was that you were pre-eclamptic. But because you were carrying triplets, the usual signs weren’t picked up on. Swelling of the joints. Excessive protein in your urine. Things of that sort. The pre-eclampsia was what caused your high blood pressure and the distress on one of your infants.”
“But he’s okay, right?” she asked.
“The nurses have given each child a clean bill of health. One of the other complications that comes with pre-eclampsia is the compromising of other organs. Specifically, the kidneys and the liver. When your body went into distress, two of the boys reacted by releasing their bowels a little too early. It’s called ‘meconium’, and because your liver and kidneys were already compromised, your body reacted poorly. That’s what prompted the emergency c-section and that’s what kept you on the table for so long.”
“So… what-? I’m not sure I-?”
“The only thing you have to do right now, Miss Gentry, is rest. You and the boys will have a longer-than-usual stay. We’re keeping you at least through the week to monitor all of your vital signs. Your kidney and liver functions need to come back up and I want to make sure these boys don’t start showing signs of meconium ingestion.”
“I thought you said they were okay though?” Emma asked.
“All of this is precautionary, Miss Gentry. I’d rather be very safe than anything else right now. Things were touch-and-go for a while in surgery. Your body needs time to rest, and we can better control that rest here.”
“Listen to me,” I said as I looked down at Emma. “I’ve got the nanny and the kids coming by tomorrow. I’ll tell her to bring us some more clothes for the boys. They’ve got plenty of diapers here and you’ll be fed the best food in the city I can get us. I’ll be right here, and the kids will be taken care of. Okay? That’s all that matters right now.”
“Something happened, didn’t it?” she asked.
I looked over at the doctor, wondering if I should tell her.
“What happened, Ryan?”
I turned my eyes back to her and watched my sons sleeping against her chest. A sight I didn’t think I’d see after what I witnessed. Emma’s eyes were growing in their strength. Coming alive every second she gazed at me. I drew her lips in for another kiss before I nuzzled her nose, then I drew back and closed my eyes.
“They had to revive you on the table,” I said.
I opened my eyes and saw fear coursing through her stare. I wrapped my arm around her neck and felt her beginning to sob into my shoulder. This wasn’t the labor either of us had intended to be a part of, but she was alive and that was all I cared about. We could get through anything else. Everything else. So long as she was standing next to me.
She released every emotion she’d been experiencing for the past few months. Every piece of anger, every moment of sorrow, and every event of fear. The
doctor gathered my sons off her bouncing bosom and placed them into their bassinets and I held Emma as closely as I could get her. I felt her breasts leaking onto my shirt. Her heart slamming against my chest. Her tears soaking my shoulder.
“I’ve got you,” I said as I stroked her hair. “I’ve got you, Emma.”
The first night with the boys was rough. All they did was cry and Emma hardly got any sleep. Relief coursed through my veins, however, then I heard the kids running down the hallway. Hearing Zoey yell for her mommy and hearing Benjamin and Hunter rattle off about the infants, it warmed my heart. Them and the nanny came around the corner with bags for our stay, and she immediately dropped them and went to massage Emma’s feet.
“Look who’s here,” I said as Emma opened her eyes.
I warned the kids to be gentle as the slowly climbed up into her lap. Emma sat up in the hospital bed and they all hugged her, kissing her face as she wrapped them up in her arms. There was no need to tell them what had happened. All that mattered was that everyone was alive and well. Zoey’s eyes kept peeking over to the bassinets, her curiosity getting the better of her.
“They look wrinkly,” she said.
“They’ve been floating in water for eight months. I think you’d be wrinkly, too, if you were floating in water that long,” Emma said.
“Can we see them?” Benjamin asked.
“How about I do you one better. Would you like to hold them?”
“Yeah,” Hunter said with a smile. “Can we?”
Emma cradled them in their arms as I placed one of our sons into the arms of my other children. Benjamin was so soft and Hunter was so protective. Zoey was in awe, cooing and gasping every time the infant moved. I sat to the side, cradling Zoey against me so she could better support her baby brother in her arms.
“What’s his name?” Zoey asked.
I looked up at Emma and watched as a smile crossed her face. In all of the worry and the hustling that had happened bringing these little guys into the world, we hadn’t stopped to consider their names.
But Emma looked like she already knew them.
“Zoey, you’re holding ‘Zachariah’,” Emma said.
“Zachariah,” Zoey said with a whisper.
“Benjamin, you’re holding Brent,” Emma said.
“Hey, his name starts like mine!” he said.
“Who am I holding?” Hunter asked.
Emma smiled broadly at the boy in her lap before her eyes fell to our third son. The last one to come out of her body.
“You’re holding ‘Harrison’,” Emma said.
Zachariah, Brent, and Harrison.
Somehow, those names all seemed to fit.
I looked at the scene unfolding in front of me and my heart swelled with joy. Emma, whose skin was already regaining a bit of color, had three children sitting between her legs. They all leaned against her, cradling our newborn triplets in each of their arms.
The love of my life.
The mother of my children.
My soon-to-be bride.
My family.
I leaned over and pressed my forehead to Emma’s watching as her eyes turned up to mine. I smiled down at her, knowing no words in the entirety of any language could communicate the happiness she’d brought into my life. The fullness and purpose I found with her at my side. A flash went off in the corner of my eye and I turned my head, watching as our nanny took pictures of the moment.
Then I reached down and captured Emma’s lips as the flashes continued to roll.
Twenty-Eight
Emma
“Happy birthday, dear Zachy and Brenty and Harry. Happy birthday to you!”
My boys stared at the birthday cake as if it were an alien. We all stood around as Ryan got behind the three boys and quickly puffed out each candle. Valentina was snapping pictures of the big day and Catherine was arranging the presents so we could get pictures of each of them opening one on their big day. Natasha and Carter brought the kids who were already begging for a slice of cake, and everything felt right.
“Do you want to try and get pictures of them pulling the tissue out of the gift bags?” Valentina asked.
“I’d like to try. But it’s not a massive deal if it doesn’t happen,” I said with a smile. “I’m just glad you’re here, Val.”
“I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”
Valentina, after a seven-month struggle to balance her professional life and her addiction, decided of her own accord to get sober. She was three months clean, mentally on the mend, and her pharmaceutical company was finally correcting itself in the marketplace. She reaffirmed her values to helping communities worse off than ours, and slowly but surely she was coming around the kids more often to visit and spend time with them.
And for personal therapy, she had signed up for photography courses to help her with her anxiety issues.
Valentina snapped pictures of the boys pulling out the tissue while Ryan divvied out the cake. Everyone sat down around the beautiful dining room table and I took to serving everyone drinks. The boys had their sippy cups full of milk, the kids had their pick of juice, and the adults had their pick of punches.
“If I could have everyone’s attention please,” Ryan said as he clinked his glass, “I have something I’d like to say.”
“Attention, everyone! The big mouth wants to speak!” Carter exclaimed.
“First of all,” Ryan said as he shot his friend a look, “I want to thank you all for being so flexible. With the boys getting sick a few weeks ago and us having to cancel their birthday party, it means a lot to us that you would all reschedule along with us.”
“We wouldn't miss this for the world,” Natasha said.
“Free booze. What could be better?” Catherine said with a grin.
“However,” Ryan said with a chuckle, “there’s one more surprise in store for the day.”
I furrowed my brow as I sat up in my seat.
“Emma. My love. My beautiful swan. You’ve been so busy with the children and our home and your tutoring services that we haven’t had a chance to talk about our wedding.”
“Yeah. You guys haven’t even set a date,” Valentina said.
“Ryan?” I asked. “What are you doing?”
“Emma, you’ve done so much for me. For us, and our family. You’ve sacrificed the whole of what a woman can-”
I watched tears rise in his eyes before he cleared his throat.
“You’ve sacrificed everything someone can to make this work with us. And I don’t want another second to go by without you as my wife.”
I watched him come over and he held his hand out for me. I stood up, raising my thumb to catch the tear rolling down his cheek. I was worried. I had no idea what was going on and what had Ryan so worked up.
“What is it, sweetheart?” I asked.
“Marry me, Emma,” he said.
“I think you’ve already asked me that question once.”
“Today.”
Everyone at the table gasped before Catherine stood from her chair. I looked over at her and watched as she unfolded a sheet of paper. She slid it towards me on the table and my eyes dropped down to it, taking in the official insignia and the embossed seal at the bottom left-hand corner.
“A minister?” I asked breathlessly.
“You’ve been so busy with our family that we haven’t had time to plan a wedding,” Ryan said. “So, I planned it for us.”
“What?” I asked.
“In your room is a wedding dress. It took me a few tries to get your measurements right, but I think I’ve studied your body enough to know what they are.”
My cheeks flushed as the table beside us giggled.
“Natasha’s your maid of honor, Carter’s my best man. Catherine can now officiate and Valentina will take pictures. What do you say?”
My eyes danced between Ryan’s as a smile crossed his face.
“Will you marry me today?” he asked.
I threw my arms arou
nd him and peppered his face with kisses. Natasha pried me from him and dragged me upstairs, ripping me into the bedroom. The dress left me breathless. A silken fabric that framed my curves perfectly and an intricate lace beading that fell all the way to the floor. Tears rose to my eyes. I couldn't believe it. Natasha sat me down on the edge of the bed and helped me with my makeup and hair, but only one thought kept running through my mind.
I’m getting married today.
Ryan had thought of everything. The marriage license. Small tuxedos for the boys. Beautiful outfits for Zoey and Hunter and Benjamin. And it seemed as if everyone else had outfits to change into. I quickly realized that everyone had been in on this. Everyone had come through to give Ryan and I this incredibly special moment that I couldn’t seem to find time in my schedule to coordinate.
I stood in front of the love of my life and recited my vows, surrounded by those I loved most.
Ryan kissed me so deeply that it swept me off my feet. Everyone erupted into cheers and whistles and the kids were running around screaming and yelling ‘yuck’. I felt into him. Melted into the arms of my husband. He held me closely to him, tightening his grip as if he never wanted to let me go.
“I love you, Ryan.”
His eyes sparkled with decadence as a smile crossed his cheeks.
“I love you too, Emma. But I have one last surprise for us.”
“You have something else?” I asked.
“And before you say anything, know that Carter and I are going to be dropping in on the kids while you guys are gone,” Natasha said.
“Gone?” I asked. “What do you mean ‘gone’?”
Standing in front of everyone with a bouquet of flowers in my hand, I watched Ryan reach into his suit pocket. He pulled out a small envelope and handed it to me, my eyes taking in the glistening paper. I furrowed my brow as I handed him my bouquet, and everyone laughed as he tossed it out into the crowd. Zoey caught the flowers and I laughed at Ryan’s facial expression.
“Not for many, many years princess,” he said to Zoey.
6+ Us Makes Eight_A Teacher and Single Dad Romance Page 18
