Kitchen Promises (Riverside Trilogy, #3) (The Riverside Trilogy)

by Brooke Cumberland

“What the hell are we going to do?” I almost screamed. I wasn’t due for five weeks yet.

  Drake paced the floor, thinking of a solution. We left Chicago in such a rush, we didn’t pack any necessities, or anything remotely baby related.

  “Drake, please! Answer me!” I begged, screaming. “I can hardly breathe. The pain is so bad!”

  “Okay…in and out. Just breath slowly. Don’t panic.” I could tell he was trying to soothe me, but it wasn’t working.

  “Get Michael! Please, I need his help.”

  Before Drake could open the door, Michael whipped it open. “What’s wrong? I heard screaming.”

  “Molly’s in labor,” Drake answered.

  “What? Isn’t it…”

  “Too soon? Yes! Now help me, please!” I cried. I hadn’t been in any kind of pain or distress since the last false alarm, but this was no false alarm. This was the real thing. I was in labor.

  “Stack pillows behind her, get her body in position,” I heard Drake say. Michael was out and back shortly with three pillows. He stuffed them behind me. Everything felt in slow motion. It was as if the pain was numbing me, making me unconscious.

  “We have to call someone,” Michael announced. “Isn’t there a hospital we can take her to?”

  “We’re in the middle of nowhere. The nearest hospital is at least two hours away.”

  “Shit,” I heard Michael mumble. He brushed his hand through his hair over and over. I could tell he was just as scared as I was.

  “How far apart are the contractions?” Michael kneeled down next to me.

  “I don’t know. Like four minutes, I think.”

  “You’re probably dilated already. Did you call your doctor? Can you get her choppered in?”

  I looked at Drake for answers. “I can try. But I don’t think we’ll have time.” He immediately got on his phone.

  “Michael, please, don’t leave me.”

  “Of course not.” He held my hand and kissed my forehead.

  “Oh fuck!” I screamed as I clenched my eyes shut and breathed through another contraction. “I’m so scared, Michael. It’s too early. We don’t have anything for them here. What if…what if something happens to them?”

  “Nothing is going to happen to them, okay? We’re both here for you. We’ll help you through this,” he promised.

  I screamed through the next few contractions until I was out of energy to scream anymore. They came on so quickly, I hadn’t even noticed the small ones I must’ve had sooner. It was as if a pitchfork was going through my back and stabbing into my uterus. Times two.

  “Oh god, I want drugs! Please someone give me drugs!”

  “Sweetheart, I’m so sorry. But you have to do this natural. I can’t get the doctor here for three hours.”

  “Three hours!”

  “Molly, look at me,” Drake demanded. I opened my eyes and turned, facing him. “You can do this. You will do this. We’re right here. Understand?” His eyes were intense and dark. I nodded. I had to do this.

  -----<>-----

  16

  Drake

  I feel like such an ass. Molly wasn’t due for weeks, but taking her up here was a horrible idea. There was no medicine, no baby stuff, and no doctors. And now I risked everything. Molly. The twins. They were all at risk.

  “Sweetheart, breathe. You can’t forget to breathe,” I warned. She was sweating and screaming out in pain. I tried to put a pillow behind her back to ease the back pain, but no matter what I did, it didn’t seem to work.

  “What if we tried a different position?” Michael suggested. “Don’t some women go on all fours or walk around when they’re in labor? Help gravity do its thing?”

  “You want gravity to pull these babies out?” Molly snapped. “How about you push these two tiny humans out your vagina!”

  “Totally would if I could. Anything to avoid you screaming,” Michael answered in fear.

  Molly finally agreed to stand up and see if that helped with the pain. She continued breathing during her contractions, as they got closer and closer together.

  “Shit, they’re less than a minute apart,” Michael announced. He’d been timing them with his watch over the past couple hours. “When’s the doctor coming?”

  “Should only be an hour now,” I responded. “Think she’ll make it?”

  “Oh fuck, fuck fuck,” Molly yelled out. She was leaning against me. I held her as she slouched down, bearing down on the pain.

  “Sweetheart, you’re doing great.”

  “Shut up. Both of you shut up and get these babies out of me!”

  “You’re almost there,” Michael said. “When you’re twenty to thirty seconds apart, you can start pushing.

  “How do you know that?” I asked, sincerely curious.

  “Well, it’s an approximation. I took some online classes.”

  “About birthing?” I mused.

  “No, asshat. About human development and all that.”

  “You two can flirt later, but right now, I’m trying to push two people out of me!” Molly screamed, interrupting us.

  She breathed thru the pain for another half hour. She was able to stand and lean over the bed, as the contractions got closer together.

  “Oh my god. My water broke.”

  “I thought it did before?” I asked, confused.

  “Well, I thought it did too, but now I know for sure it did. Or at least, it’s all coming out now, I don’t know! But oh my god, the pain just got ten times more intense!”

  “Do you wanna lie down?” Michael asked, guiding her to the bed.

  She took a few more deep breaths and adjusted herself on the bed. “Okay…it’s time. Michael, get hot towels and blankets. Drake, stand on the end of bed and get ready.”

  “Get ready for what?” I squealed.

  “The babies! I have to push. I feel it.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes!”

  Michael placed a towel under her, stretching out toward the end of the bed where I was kneeling. He placed a handful of hot towels on the dresser, waiting.

  “Michael, I need you to help me pull my legs up.” I watched his face as his eyebrows rose. “Please, I need help keeping them up. I feel too weak.”

  “Michael, get up there!” I snapped.

  “Okay, fine.”

  I slid her bottoms off. “I can feel the pressure now. It’s time,” she announced. She was oddly calm all of a sudden, like her body was just taking over now.

  I waited as Michael held her legs up and Molly pushed. I wasn’t sure what to do besides sit there and wait. I cringed every time she pushed during a contraction. She would yell and scream out, telling me how she felt pressure.

  “You gotta check me, babe. Do you feel anything down there?” She peeked her head up at me. I did as she said and in the strangest way possible, felt like I knew what I was doing.

  “You’re crowning,” I announced proudly. “You’re close!”

  “Oh thank god!” she cried out. A few seconds later as another contraction came her way, she pushed. She pushed and pushed until finally, a head.

  “Oh my god!” I cried out. “Keep going.” Michael handed me one of the warm towels. I washed the head off as I waited for her to push through another contraction. “Baby, you’re doing it. Great job, sweetheart. One more push!”

  And then he was here.

  The most beautiful loud, piercing scream entered the world. I wrapped him in the towel, washing him off.

  “It’s a boy, sweetheart! We have a boy!” I cried.

  “Is he okay?” she asked in tears.

  “I think so. He’s perfect.” I smiled. Michael handed me another towel to wrap him up in. I threw down the dirty one and rose to standing. “Here.” I placed him in her arms, crying and smiling with her. “Isn’t he beautiful?”

  “Oh my god…we did it.” She was no longer screaming, but crying, tears of happiness. Michael handed me a scissors and nodded at me. I took the opportunity to cut
his umbilical cord before she had to start pushing again.

  She kissed his forehead and then his little lips. For being early, he was a good size.

  “You need to let me hold him, Molly. You gotta push Baby B out yet.”

  “Okay,” she cried, reluctantly handing him over.

  “Baby B is right there, sweetheart. One good push. C’mon, you can do this,” I coached.

  As she screamed and pushed one more time, she came into the world. She was finally here.

  “It’s a girl! She’s a girl!” I announced. I can’t believe I just delivered my own babies. I have two babies!

  “She’s not crying,” Molly stated.

  I cleaned her up with the towel and held her upright as I patted her back. Her eyes blinked opened as a screeching cry belted from her lungs.

  “There we go!” I cut her umbilical cord and wrapped her up and handed her to Molly. “She’s perfect.”

  Although she was noticeably smaller in size to her brother, she still looked healthy.

  “Oh my god! They’re here!” she cried out, holding her tightly. Michael put the baby boy in her other arm. “They’re perfect.”

  I stood next to her, admiring and soaking in the moment. They’re here. They’re really here.

  The doorbell rang and I quickly left to answer the door. The doctors finally arrived, relief flooding over me. I was a basket of emotions, and I just wanted my babies to be healthy.

  “Hi, come in. They’re upstairs!” I ran back upstairs taking two steps at a time. There wasn’t much time for introductions. These were the doctors from the nearest hospital, and I was eager to get up to Molly and the babies.

  “Molly, the doctors are here,” I announced, opening the bedroom door back up.

  “Hurry!” she panicked.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, rushing to her side.

  “She’s purple.” Molly’s eyes looked down where I could see her.

  Molly was right. Baby girl was purple. She wasn’t breathing or crying like her brother.

  “Ma’am, I’ll be taking the babies back with me to the hospital. The ambulance was right behind us. Okay?”

  “Is she going to be okay?” Molly cried. “She’s not breathing.”

  “Let us work on her, okay?” The doctor grabbed the baby and carried her out. I heard the ambulance’s sirens soon after, relieved that they made it just in time.

  “Is she going to be okay?” Molly’s eyes watered, looking up at me.

  “Sweetheart, they’ll take care of them, okay?”

  She nodded and I carefully grabbed baby boy from her. A few paramedics stomped up the stairs and took him from me. They said they needed to take them to the NICU at the Children’s Hospital, give them a full examination, and put both babies on oxygen.

  “I need to stitch Molly up and make sure she’s okay before she can leave,” the other doctor interrupted.

  “Is she okay?”

  “She lost a lot of blood,” he stated. “But I think that once we get her to the hospital, we can give her a blood transfusion and she’ll be okay.”

  Molly’s eyes were fighting to stay open. I could tell she was exhausted, as she had every right to be. I was trying to make arrangements with the paramedics and doctor so I could ride with them. Michael was already taking care of Stella, getting her ready so they could go in one of the ambulances too.

  “Molly, can you hear me?” Her eyes blinked open, but closed immediately after. “Sweetheart, you and the babies have to be transferred to the hospital, okay? They’re going to get you ready to go on the gurney and take you. Do you understand?” I rubbed a hand over her head, trailing kisses on her moist skin.

  Before I knew it, the paramedics were back up with a gurney and collecting Molly. They informed me that the babies were placed in incubators in one of the ambulances and that it was crucial for them to be leaving soon.

  Panic rose over me as I thought of baby girl. Would they get her there in time? Would she be alright? And then Molly. She was losing blood and needed a transfusion. My body began to shake, worry and fear overwhelming me.

  “Sir, we’re ready,” a paramedic interrupted my mental freak out.

  “Great, I just need to grab Michael and my daughter.”

  I rushed into Stella’s room, informing Michael it was time to go.

  “Is mommy okay?” Stella’s tiny voice asked.

  “Of course, sweetie.” I knelt down in front of her. “We just have to take her and the babies to the hospital and get them checked out, alright?”

  “Okay.”

  I kissed her cheek and rose back to my feet.

  I escorted Michael and Stella down to the ambulances. Stella wanted to be with Molly, so I went in with the twins. Molly begged me to stay by their sides and that she would be fine, even though I wanted to be there with her as well.

  The sirens blared, signaling our departure. My eyes glued to the tiny babies inside the incubator. They hooked them up to oxygen and placed leads on their chests. They looked so small and helpless.

  “How long until we arrive?” I asked, eager to get there as fast as possible.

  “Sir, we can make it in about two hours with the sirens on.”

  Great. Longest two hours of my life.

  * * *

  My mind flashed back to all the amazing moments in my life so far, and they all included Molly.

  Watching her for the first time at internship orientation.

  Hearing her say ‘no’ when I asked if she were married.

  Feeling her lips on mine for the first time.

  Seeing how nervous and turned on she was the first time I showed up at her apartment.

  Having her underneath me for the first time, realizing that I loved her.

  Everything in those first few months that brought us to where we are today…

  I tried to keep it in. I didn’t normally let my guard down, but the tears just came. It was all too much. Not knowing how Molly and the twins would turn out, had me a wreck.

  After arriving to the hospital finally, everything was so rushed that I barely had time to digest it all. Molly begged me to stay with the twins, so I had Michael keep an eye on Molly. Stella wanted to see her anyway, so as much as it hurt to not be with her right now, I stayed with the twins. I watched nurses work on them and put them in their individual incubators.

  “Sir, we need you to fill out some forms when possible, please.” A nurse handed me a clipboard. She smiled sweetly at me, obviously sensing my emotional breakdown.

  “Thank you. I will.”

  “Also, do they have names? I can put them in the computer and on the outside of their incubators, if you want.”

  I swallowed hard. So much happened since they were born, we hadn’t gotten the chance to name them yet.

  “River Michael Stagliano,” I blurted out. Molly and I hadn’t agreed on names yet, but I knew she would love it.

  “Oh, love it!” she gushed. “He’s very strong, by the way. He’s almost breathing on his own. The machine is just assisting him.

  “And the girl? How’s she doing? She’s been underweight throughout the pregnancy.”

  “Yes, she’s on the small size, but she’s also doing well. She needs a little more help with breathing, but her oxygen levels went back up since having the oxygen line. They should both be fine.”

  I exhaled a sigh of relief. “Thank you. I’ve thought every worse scenario on the ride here.”

  “I understand. It’s easy to think the worst when you have no control over the situation.” I nodded at her. “I’m Dahlia by the way. Just call me if you need anything, okay?”

  “I will. Thank you.”

  I sat with the twins as I watched their machines beep and monitor them. River was steady, his heartbeat strong. I couldn’t wait until we could bring them home, and I had all my children under the same roof at the same time.

  “Michael? How’s Molly doing?” I called Michael, needing to find answers.

  “She’
s great. They’re giving her the transfusion now and her levels are going back up. Stella’s giving her an earful, keeping her wide awake and eager to see you.”

  “Oh, thank god. I’ve been a nervous wreck. Can you hand her the phone, please? I just need to hear her voice.”

  “Sure, one second.”

  “Baby?” Her voice was music to my ears.

  “Yes, sweetheart,” I cried out, unable to control my emotions anymore, especially after hearing how well she was now doing. “They’re doing great.” I answered her silent question. “They’re really doing great.”

  “Oh god! I wanna see them so bad,” she cried. “This wasn’t how it was supposed to be.”

  “I know, baby. We’ll figure this out, okay? River is strong. He’s almost breathing by himself.”

  “River?”

  “River Michael,” I clarified. “Do you like it?”

  I heard her sniff before answering, “I love it! It’s perfect.”

  We exchanged I love you’s before hanging up. She sounded much better, but I could tell being apart from the twins was killing her. Hell, it was killing me and they were right in front of me, but I wanted to hold them. I wanted to kiss and protect them.

  As I sat and stared at the tiny humans in front of me, it hit me. I needed to marry Molly. Now. I didn’t want to wait. It didn’t matter to me how or where, I would not risk losing her and knowing I lost the chance of marrying her.

  “Dahlia? I’m going to go see my fiancé. Will you page me if something changes?”

  “Absolutely. Let me get you a beeper.” She smiled and gracefully handed me a pager.

  I grabbed for it and while shoving it into my pocket, ran down the hall toward the elevators. I was so anxious that I could hardly keep my hands steady to press the call button.

  Once I made it to her floor, I bolted to her room. Almost missing it, I swung in from the doorframe.

  “Drake!” she exclaimed. She was still hooked up to monitors and the blood machine. “What are you doing here?” I could see fear in her eyes, thinking that something was wrong. Michael and Stella were passed out on the sofa as Molly watched TV.

  “I needed to see you,” I said breathlessly. “I need to marry you.”

  “W-what?” she breathed out almost in a laugh.