by Dahlia Rose
Charlie laughed in amazement. “And your plan is?”
“Probably one, maybe two more.” Angel took the bottle of vitamin water off the floor and took a swig.
“These will be my only two, and I’m happy with that,” Charlie said.
Angel gave her a look. “So, you’re going to have the hysterectomy after the babies are born?”
“I have to discuss it with Barbara, but yes, after the C-section I want to have it done.” Charlie sighed and started flipping through the stencils. “I don’t want to heal and get better then go back and have another surgery to have this taken care of. I made my choice. I want to give myself every chance in the world to live to a ripe old age with John and our kids. I don’t want to have a constant worry that maybe the next exam is where they’ll find cancer cells. I don’t want John to have to suffer through this or my kids to grow up without their mama.”
Angel came over and embraced her. “Or me to lose my best friend. You’re like my sister. If this is what you need to do for your own peace of mind and for your health, then you have our support, always.”
Charlie smiled and nodded. “I’ll have two girls or boys to love and watch grow up. I’ll have John, and as far as I’m concerned that’s more than enough blessings when it comes to having a family.”
Angel took some of the stencils. “So, we’re going with mint green and children’s book theme?”
She nodded. “Yeppers. I’ve got Good Night Moon, The Kissing Hand, Bedtime Who, Pat The Bunny, and A Book of Sleep.”
“I love the concept,” Angel said. “Are we painting then doing the stencils?”
“Give the woman a stuffed animal,” Charlie teased. “There’s also a lacquer for over the stencils so they don’t peel.”
“We’ll have to move Lucas out to the living room, away from the fumes,” Angel said.
“Yeah, this is why I wanted to do it early and leave the top windows open and a few pans of water to get the smell completely out,” Charlie replied. “Won’t he wake up when we move the pack and play?”
Angel snorted. “He’s like Caleb. He sleeps like he’s in a sound proof room.”
They were just about to move the sleeping baby when Angel’s cell phone rang.
“Hmm, it’s Caleb,” she said musingly when she looked at the screen. She pressed the button and answered. “Hey hot stuff, how’s it going?”
Charlie watched her face change and go to alarm before she tried to mask it.
Angel spoke again. “Okay we’re on our way.”
“What’s wrong?” Charlie asked before Angel could press the disconnect button. “Don’t sugar coat it, Angel. What the hell is wrong?”
Angel looked at her. “John has been shot.”
Charlie heard the words, but then her head felt like it was wrapped in cotton. She heard her voice and to her it sounded like she was far away. “Where?”
“Charlie!” Angel gripped her shoulders and sat her down in the lone chair in the room.
“How?” Charlie asked weakly.
‘The club isn’t open yet,” Angel explained. “They were moving drinks inside from out of the back of his SUV. A car drove by and shots were fired out the window. John was hit. Caleb said they were the guys from last week, the one John messed up for throwing money at you.” Angel crouched down in front of her and held her face so Charlie would look at her. “The police are on the scene, and Caleb is with them. John is in an ambulance heading to the hospital. We’re going there now, sweetie. Caleb with meet us there.”
“Okay, Emory Hospital?” Charlie asked.
Angel nodded. “Yes. I’m going to get your shoes, and we’re going to go, okay? I need you to be calm, remember you’re pregnant, please be calm.”
Charlie nodded numbly. “I will.”
She was in shock as Angel got Lucas into his car seat and they went out to the car. At the hospital reality set in when they went through the emergency room doors. A broken sob escaped her, and Angel became her foundation. Charlie expected the worst, expected that once more someone she loved would be taken away from her.
“We’re here for John Greyward. He was brought in with a gunshot wound,” Angel said at the desk. “Before you ask, we’re his family, this is his pregnant fiancée, and we need to know something now.”
“Have a seat, please. We’ll have someone take you up when we can,” the nurse said briskly.
“I can’t sit down,” Charlie said panicked. “If I sit down I won’t be able to get back up again.”
Angel looked at the nurse and implored, “Please, tell us where to go. She’s pregnant with twins, a high-risk pregnancy. Can you just tell us something and where to go?”
The nurse looked at Charlie called someone over. “Take them up to surgery, and I’ll let the doctor on call know they’re in the waiting room.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said gratefully.
They sat in the aptly named waiting room. Charlie felt as if she was going crazy as time ticked by with no answers and no doctors to talk to. Caleb had shown up soon afterwards. The police were looking for the man from the club altercation and whoever was in the car with him. I hope they all die! Charlie thought viciously and covered her mouth with a shaking hand at her angry thoughts. She’d never wished harm on anyone, and it came so easily to want them dead. They hurt her John, and for them she had no pity.
“He’ll be okay.” Angel rubbed her hand up and down Charlie’s shoulders as if trying to warm her. “Don’t you think otherwise. He’s so big those bullets probably bounced off him.”
Lucas had been picked up by the nanny they’d hired and taken the baby home, Caleb called his parents and asked them to drive down and stay for a few days until everything was settled. Charlie felt grateful that he and Angel were with her. She didn’t think she could handle it alone.
“Charlie, do you need me to get you some juice, maybe some fries?” Caleb asked worriedly. “You’re so pale. I think you need something to keep you going.”
She shook her head in refusal. “How long before they tell us something? He has to be really hurt… it’s taking so long. Oh God, what if they can’t save him?” Panic laced her voice.
“Don’t think that,” Caleb said firmly. “He’d walk out of heaven or hell to be with you and those babies.”
Before she could answer, the doors swooshed open and a doctor walked in, taking off a facemask as he did.
“Are you the family for John Greyward?” he asked.
Caleb stood and shook his hand. “Yes, this is his fiancée, and we’re his close friends. There’s no one else but us.”
The doctor nodded. “I’m Doctor Kendall, I worked on John. He was hit twice, one to the shoulder and one to his abdomen. The bullet wound to the shoulder went through, but a bullet lodged in his stomach. We removed it and fixed the nick to his spleen. He lost a fair amount blood, but I’m glad to say he’ll recover nicely.”
Charlie couldn’t help sobbing as relief flooded through her. She had to control her emotions to speak.
“When can we see him?” she asked, wiping away her tears.
“He’s out of surgery and in the ICU waking up. We’re going to monitor him and let you know when you can go back,” Dr. Kendall said and sat down next to her. “The strangest thing happened. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“What?” Angel asked.
“He was coming out of the anesthesia quicker than anyone I’ve ever seen,” the doctor said with a smile. “He asked for Charlie, and the nurse said we’ll find him for you soon. Mr. Greyward said, not a he, my girlfriend. Tell her we’re having girls.”
Charlie laughed between her tears. “He said that?”
Dr. Kendall smiled. “He bet me fifty dollars on it. We’ll get you to come on back to see him when he’s ready for visitors.”
“Thank you,” Charlie said gratefully. “Thank you so much.”
“You’re welcome.” Dr. Kendall patted her hand and got up from the chair.
Angel hug
ged her from one side and Caleb from the other. Cocooned between them she let her tears of relief fall, and Angel did as well. Caleb comforted them both, but Charlie heard the husky emotion in his voice as he cleared his throat more than once. They were all scared shitless to lose one of their family foursome and the relief in the room was palpable.
Much later she sat beside the hospital bed looking at the man lying on it. John filled up every bit of space and with his eyes closed he didn’t look like the big behemoth who could carry a keg of beer on one shoulder. He looked vulnerable, and she was reminded of how fragile they all were. She stroked his knuckles on his big hand and kept thanking God he was alive.
“Hey.”
She was so intent in her thoughts she didn’t notice he woke up. His husky voice was music to her ears.
Charlie smiled, holding back her tears. “How are you feeling?”
“Pleasantly numb,” he answered. “Whatever is in this IV bag is freaking amazing.”
“So you remember everything?” Charlie asked.
He nodded. “Yeah, outside the club and being shot, never want to do that again.”
“We should sell the club,” she said firmly.
John shook his head. “No one is going to chase us away from our dream. We’ll hire more security if it makes you feel better.”
“I was never so scared in my life.” Charlie squeezed his hand. “I couldn’t stand the thought of losing you.”
John winked at her. “Sweetheart, I’m not going anywhere, I’ve got too much to live for.”
“Good. I need you to be here for our girls,” she said with a smile. “The doctor said you made a bet with him that we’re having girls.”
“That’s because we are.” He grinned and tried to move closer and winced. “Well, that was painful.”
“Don’t move,” Charlie cried out and stood. She bent over his body and kissed him. “Don’t ever scare me like that again.”
“I don’t plan on it,” he said in a sleepy drugged voice.
“Girls huh?” she said again with a smile.
“Most definitely. I’ll have a bevy of beautiful ladies to watch over and love,” John said.
“Now I’ve got to take care of you,” she said and brushed his sandy blond hair away from his face. “Homemade potato cheddar soup and warm sourdough bread.”
“Mmmmm, sounds yummy,” he said and closed his eyes sleepily. “All I need is you.”
“You got me, honey, always and forever.” She kissed his forehead. “Sleep. I’ll be here when you wake up.”
There was a long, sofa-like chair in the room. As his breathing evened, telling her he was in deep sleep, Charlie went into the hall to send Angel and Caleb home and ask for a few pillows and some blankets. No matter how much they cajoled her to go home with them Charlie was firm in her decision to stay by his side. She’d promised she’d be there when he woke up, and so she would be. She covered herself with the blanket and lay on her side watching him sleep until tiredness caused her own eyes to close.
* * * *
She’d reached the seventh month of her pregnancy and headed into the doctor’s office for another check-up and ultrasound. She had one at every visit now that the babies were growing and moving around. Hopefully, you’ll show us if you’re boys or girls, she thought rubbing her stomach idly as John drove. He had recovered quickly from his injuries and wanted to go back to work a week after being hospitalized. She adamantly refused and ordered him to stay home for six weeks like the doctor ordered. The man had stitches in his stomach and a shoulder wound and wanted to get up and cook for her. He only relented because she vowed to take duct tape him to the bed when he was asleep.
John finally went back to work two weeks ago, and she was slowly able to push the fear of him being hurt aside. They’d added extra security both inside and outside the club. Plus, the men who shot John had been apprehended. They’d all been charged with attempted murder and would be facing prison time after the trial. John and Caleb would testify against them without a second thought.
Angel and Caleb couldn’t go to this doctor’s appointment. Lucas was getting shots the same day, and Caleb was leaving town to go take care of some business in Jasper that same evening. They’d gone two times before and the twins refused to play show and tell. They signed in and Charlie went through the usual routine of getting weighed, having her stomach measured, and having a gestational diabetes test. After it was all done they waited for Barbara to come into the ultrasound room to see their babies on the monitor.
“We’re at twenty eight weeks,” Barbara said cheerfully as she stepped into the room. “How are you feeling, Charlie?”
“Heavy,” Charlie answered with a laugh. “They’re in there using my liver as a football.”
Barbara laughed. “Active, I like that. Let’s look at what they’re doing in there.”
She squeezed the warm gel on Charlie’s stomach and used the ultrasound wand to find and chart the measurements of each baby. She pointed to each face and tiny hands and legs and when she switched to the four-dimensional sonogram. Everything was as crisp as a picture. Charlie watched as one baby yawned and the other seemed to be sucking a thumb. She heard John’s husky laugh as one baby seemed to swat the other on the shoulder, and then they settled down close to each other for sleep. She could feel this going on inside her stomach and watched it on the screen.
“Let’s move lower and see if we can tell what these two rascals are hiding from us,” Barbara said. “The cords look good and in no way tangled. That’s a good thing, even so I’m going to set a date for C-section at thirty-eight weeks after an amniocentesis to make sure their lungs are fully developed. I really don’t want to go any further than that and risk a placental abruption or prolapse.”
“So, in ten weeks?” John asked.
Barbara nodded. “That is correct, sir. And we can see baby genitals.”
“We can?” Charlie said with excitement. ‘What do you have?”
“Girls.” Barbara laughed. “I should have guessed when I didn’t see even a shadow of a penis.”
“Doctor, please,” John said with a slight wince but he was grinning. “I knew it—girls. Caleb and that Dr. Kendall owe me moolah.”
Charlie was laughing, too, as Barbara printed out the ultrasound pictures for them. They were going to have two identical little girls.
Charlie’s smiled waned a bit when she asked her next question. “Barbara, is it possible to perform the hysterectomy after my C-section?”
Barbara nodded. “Yes, after the babies are safely delivered we can put you under and complete the procedure. But Charlie, is that what you want? You could have more children…”
She and John were holding hands, and Charlie spoke with determination. “We discussed it, and I have his support. This is what I want to do. I want to grow old with my John, I want to see my girls grow up. If this gives me the chance, then I’m completely at peace my choice.”
“I’ll get the paperwork together for you to sign,” Barbara said with a soft smile.
They left after she signed the paperwork for her C-section and hysterectomy. She was sad she had to make the choice but thrilled with the girls nestled in her womb. They were a blessing in itself. Now they had ten weeks to prepare for their arrival. Later, after dinner and a call to Angel, they sat on the couch. Her back was against the arm of the chair and her feet in his lap where he used his big hands to massage them. On the TV she was watching her Firefly DVD, and he was asking her questions about the Captain and his crew.
“What are we naming our girls?” she asked to get him off picking apart one of her favorite shows.
“Good question,” John said in excitement.
“I’d like to use my mother’s name somewhere,” Charlie said. “What about you?”
“I won’t curse one of my daughters with the name of the woman who left me with an abusive bastard so she could go off and have a life without us,” John replied. “I’d like to use Angel somewhere i
n there.”
Charlie smiled at him. “Me too.”
In the end they decided the names and made the plan not to reveal them until the babies were born. John went back to dissecting Firefly, and she continued to eat her ice cream while he did.
“Tell them to stop kicking me,” he mumbled sleeping later on in bed. “Don’t make me come over there, girls.”
She was pressed up against his back while they were falling asleep and like every night it seemed the twins knew their daddy was close. They started moving and kicked strong enough that John could feel it.
She rubbed her belly. “Sssh, daddy is trying to sleep.”
The babies kept moving and John rolled over. “Okay, you made me turn over.”
Charlie laughed. “What are you going to do?”
“You’ll see.” He snuggled her close and began to rub his hand over the mound of her stomach. “Behave girls, let’s get some sleep.”
Charlie was surprised when the babies actually stopped moving, as if their father’s touch soothed them.
“How did you do that?” she asked, amazed.
He chuckled sleepily. “Daddy trick number one hundred and twenty.”
“What are tricks from one to one hundred and nineteen?”
“Ssssh, we’re sleeping,” John answered.
Charlie laughed, and with his hand resting on her stomach, she listened to his breathing as she drifted off to sleep.
Chapter Six
The thirty-eighth week of her pregnancy came, and Charlie lay in the hospital bed waiting to go back for to the operating room for her C-section. Her hair was pulled up in a surgical cap, and a warm blanket was over her legs. John stood next to her, and Caleb and Angel were there as well. Charlie looked around at her friends, her family. She was bringing her girls into their world with such love from all of them.
“I want you to know the babies’ names,” she said suddenly.
John looked at her curiously. “I thought you wanted to wait?”
Charlie took his hand. “Their Aunt Angel and Uncle Caleb should know what to call them when they arrive.”
