After María had finished with Chrissie, she helped her out of the pool, wrapped her in a big terry cloth robe, and escorted her to her room. Then she dried her off, put her in dry clothes, and helped her into bed. Brant was never more than five feet away from Chrissie’s side. As soon as Chrissie was settled in bed, Brant brought the baby to her. Chrissie gently unwrapped the bundle to examine her new baby. She expected to see a blue, dying baby under the towel, but she wasn’t blue at all. She was a nice shade of rosy pink as she lay curled in Chrissie’s lap.
“It can’t be. María, can you hand me my stethoscope out of the top drawer, please?” Chrissie began doing the newborn baby check to see how well she was.
María retrieved the stethoscope and handed it to Chrissie.
“There’s air moving through both lungs.” Chrissie’s voice held amazement. She still didn’t want to get her hopes up, or Brant’s. She continued to check the baby over from head to toe. The baby grabbed Chrissie’s finger and squirmed.
“She can’t be more than a couple of pounds. I can fit her in the palm of my hand.” Brant slid in next to Chrissie and admired the baby.
“She’s a fighter, just like her mother.” María left the room and closed the door behind her, leaving Chrissie and Brant alone to love their baby.
“I don’t want her to leave us, ever.” Brant’s voice cracked as new tears slid down his cheek.
“I wouldn’t be able to bear it either. If only we could love her enough to make her live,” Chrissie weakly whispered.
Chrissie and Brant held the tiny baby in their arms and cried.
She stayed pink.
Chrissie hoped.
Brant prayed.
Chapter 24
Every man thinks he should be able to control any situation. Expecting a baby to draw its last breath at any moment and not being able to will it to live was something that Brant never thought he would have to do. Especially his baby girl, whom he loved from the very first moment he felt the unexpected early morning kick. Loving something before he’d even laid eyes on it surprised him.
Brant watched Chrissie as she rested in the crook of his arm. He admired the fact that even though she had been a new mother for only minutes, she was already wonderful at it. The way her finger stroked and caressed the tiny baby’s downy head was like she was giving some of her life force to her baby to live. He knew that if their baby girl died, a piece of both their hearts would die too.
He kissed the top of Chrissie’s head. “I love my two girls. You’re everything to me.”
Dr. Wilson rushed into Chrissie’s room, finding the baby wrapped in Chrissie’s arms and Chrissie in Brant’s arms.
“May I?” Dr. Wilson held out his hands for the baby. He unwrapped the tiny bundle. He gasped.
“What’s wrong?” Brant sat up, rigid, next to Chrissie.
“Nothing’s wrong. I’m just surprised to see this baby doing so well.” Dr. Wilson continued to give the baby a thorough check. “She’s passing all the newborn tests. She’s just like a full-term baby, just a fraction of the size. She doesn’t even have the covering of lanugo hair that preemies have.”
“Is she really okay?” Chrissie asked.
“That’s the way it seems. How can this be?” Dr. Wilson handed the baby back to Chrissie.
“I gave birth to her in fountain water. That’s the only explanation I have.”
“Well, it’s good enough for me.” Dr. Wilson smiled. “I’m impressed with the vitality of the newborn.”
“Does that mean we don’t have to worry about her dying?” Brant’s hopeful tone lit the room like a candle.
“I think she is fine.” Dr. Wilson stood to leave. “I’m going to your room, Brant, to set up the equipment for a preemie. Your overzealous nature is going to come in handy when I wheel the incubator out of your closet.” He chuckled as he left the room. “She won’t need most of it.”
As if Chrissie hadn’t cried enough today, she started on some more tears, but these were tears of joy. “What should we name her?” She looked up at Brant.
“How about Abigail, after my mother?” Brant ventured.
“I thought about María, too. Even Rose.”
“Why don’t we name her all of them?”
“That would be a really long name, but then again I have a really long name.” Chrissie shook her head.
“It’s kind of a Spanish thing to have a long name, but more importantly, it didn’t stop your parents from naming you Chrysanthemum Love Stevens, and then you added Winston to the end of it.”
“True.” Chrissie gazed down at her baby. “Abigail Rose María Winston. We can call her Abby Rose for short.”
“Sounds beautiful to me.” Brant beamed. Truly, he didn’t think there was a more fitting name for this wee one.
The baby began to squirm and stretch. Brant took her from Chrissie and paced with the baby in his arms. Chrissie settled down into her comfy bed. Dark circles hung from her eyes. Today’s events were huge by themselves, but they had been taken on all in one day. The night crickets began singing their songs as the twinkling stars began to appear. Brant watched Chrissie’s eyelids close like heavy stage curtains.
Brant handed the baby over to Dr. Wilson. Brant walked over to Chrissie and began to slide his arms under her. “I hate to wake you, but we’re going to put the baby in the incubator. I thought you might want to stay close to Abby, so I’m moving you to my bed.”
“Our bed,” Chrissie sleepily smiled.
“Yes, our bed.” Brant tenderly lifted her out of the bed and began the journey behind Dr. Wilson to the larger master bedroom.
Arturo and María stood in the hall, holding hands as the procession passed. Arturo’s bright smile beamed as he caught a glimpse of the baby. “She’s beautiful, María. The angel stayed with us.”
“I think we have competition,” Brant whispered into Chrissie’s hair. “We are all going to be fighting over Abby Rose.”
“She’ll be the most loved baby on the planet.” She paused and frowned. “Brant, I feel guilty.”
“Why? Because you shot that thug?” Brant kept walking down the hall with Chrissie in his arms.
“No, I don’t feel bad about that. My parents aren’t here.” Tears started to well up in her eyes.
“We’ll figure out how we are going to tell them later. For now, what is important is that we get you rested and our baby thriving.” Brant reassured. He set her down on the bed and covered her with warm blankets.
Dr. Wilson set the baby in the incubator to be monitored. He turned on the warming light for the baby to bask in. “She’ll need to be fed every one-and-a-half to two hours. We can supplement until Chrissie can pump enough to do a feeding. Then she will be bottle-fed or tube fed until she’s big enough to nurse. María, I’ll put you in charge of making sure Chrissie and the baby have everything they need.”
“It would be my pleasure.” María’s face lit up as she peered into the incubator.
“Arturo, I will need a ride up here many times before I’m done.” Dr. Wilson got the tube ready to be inserted down the baby’s nose to feed her.
“Yes, sir.” Arturo turned to Brant. “Do you think it is better if we bring the helicopter to the mansion so we can get the doctor up here quicker if need be?”
“That’s brilliant, Arturo. I will have it delivered tomorrow morning.”
“Of course you have a helicopter. Why not? You have a private jet.” Chrissie shouldn’t have been surprised—it was the least on the list of weird things that had happened here.
“I’ll be here every morning before the clinic opens to check on her until I feel she is stable.”
* * *
Brant decided to let the phone ring three times before he would give in and hang up the phone. So when Dianne answered it after the first ring, he was briefly left speechless. “I, uh …” He cleared his throat and started again. “This is Brant Winston. Your daughter, Chrissie, is under my care…”
“Oh, d
ear! Is something wrong with Chrissie? I thought she was getting better.”
“I didn’t mean to worry you. She’s fine. But I have something to tell you that I think would be better discussed in person. If you would like to come, I’m inviting you to my home, and you can see for yourself how she’s doing. I’ll send my jet tomorrow morning to pick you up, if you agree.” He hoped Chrissie’s parents would be able to come and stay for a while, and possibly forgive him for the secrecy of his conduct. He knew, now that he had a daughter of his own, that what he did might be hard to forgive.
“How could I say no to that?” Dianne said with a bit of hesitation. “Wayne, dear?” she yelled in the background. “Pack your bags. We’re going to Venezuela.”
* * *
Brant sent a car over to Caracas to pick up Dianne and Wayne. The black sedan pulled up the cobblestone drive. He walked out the large front steps to greet his in-laws. The driver opened the door, and the couple got out of the car, looking in awe at the mansion.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Stevens. Welcome.” Brant tried his best to be bright and happy, even though he knew that in a few moments, Mr. Stevens might want to kill him.
Dianne walked up the steps and gathered Brant into a warm hug. “Thank you for taking care of my Chrissie. You have a beautiful home.”
Mr. Stevens extended his hand. “Brant.” He grunted as he nodded and looked away. Brant could tell he was a man of few words.
Brant nervously cleared his throat. “Will you two come inside, and we’ll talk in the library before we go up and see Chrissie?” He escorted them inside, and Dianne immediately pulled out her camera and began snapping pictures. In the library, she sat down in the oversized chair. Wayne stood at her side.
“I have a few things to tell you that might come as a shock, so I’ll start from the very beginning.” The walls of the large room seemed to close in on him. “Before Chrissie became ill, she and I dated. We fell in love.”
“Oh, that’s so nice.” Diane smoothed her skirt down happily. “You said that over the phone.”
Wayne stood stiff like a statue.
“We got the crazy hair one night and eloped.” Brant held his breath, waiting for Wayne to reach across the desk and strangle him, but he didn’t move. “She fell ill the next morning, and I took her to the hospital. Then as you know, I brought her back after discovering the state of health she was in back in the States. I expected she would’ve been well by then, but she wasn’t. We cared for her here, and she seemed to be getting better, but not fully recovering. Then we found out she was expecting. Of course, it came as a surprise to her because she didn’t remember anything of our courtship.”
Wayne’s face began to turn red with anger. Dianne grabbed Wayne’s hand and gently patted it. “Why didn’t you tell us sooner?” she asked.
“I didn’t know how. There were some other circumstances that made it more difficult to do so. I can explain that all later, but right now, I want to take you up to see Chrissie and the baby.”
Dianne put her hand to her chest in shock. “It hasn’t even been nine months since she came back.”
“The baby was born very early. She’s our little miracle.”
“Pick up your step, Son. I need to see my daughter and grandbaby.” Wayne’s demanding tone put Brant on full alert.
“Don’t think that just because you flew us here in a fancy jet that you won’t have to answer for this later,” Dianne scolded him with her finger in Brant’s face.
“Yes, ma’am. Right this way, Mr. and Mrs. Stevens.” Brant led the way upstairs.
Chapter 25
Chrissie finally convinced Dr. Wilson to disconnect all the monitors and tubes from the baby. She insisted Abby would be fine, and it was time that she got to hold her. Chrissie had slept all night and wanted her baby. Her dad called it “mad mama bear” if someone got in between the bear and her baby.
“I’m going to have a mad mama bear moment if I don’t get to hold her!” Chrissie locked eyes with Dr. Wilson. “She’s not your science experiment. She’s my baby.”
Dr. Wilson looked at her strangely. “I need to see what kind of effect the water has on a baby. Everything about her indicates she’s full term, except her two-pound birth weight.” Abby had even tried sucking on her fingers at one point, which would be rare for a twenty-eight-week baby. “Fine, fine. I concede. I can’t examine her if I get kicked out of the house. I’m sending for Marla to come and be your nurse and give me the minute-by-minute details.”
“Deal,” Chrissie agreed as she took the baby from Dr. Wilson.
“Of course, we’ll have to tell her about the water. How do you think she’ll handle it?”
“If I know Marla like I think I do, she can handle it. The girl’s from Jersey and is tough as nails.” Chrissie smiled down at Abby. “You get to meet Auntie Marla,” she cooed.
Chrissie unwrapped the baby to give her another head-to-toe check like any mother would naturally do. Abby’s preemie diapers covered half her body, and her spindly legs curled underneath her. María had to sew simple soft cotton clothes small enough to fit the tiny body. She fussed over Chrissie and the baby—she was in doting heaven. Chrissie noted that María liked to feel needed, as though no one could get along without her. Really, they all would be lost if they didn’t have María.
Even Arturo seemed to find excuses to linger near the baby, but today he was mysteriously absent. Chrissie had inquired where he had gone, but the only answer she got was that he had to go down the mountain to work early this morning.
Although Brant hadn’t left Chrissie’s side since the baby was born, he finally excused himself for a few hours to catch up on a delivery to Caracas, leaving Chrissie alone with just María and the baby. She could relax from all the busy bodies in the room.
The late-afternoon sun had begun to set on the horizon when she heard the mansion doors close, which perked her interest because the front doors were only used for company. What sounded like a handful of people coming up the stairs paused outside of Brant’s door. Chrissie stopped swaying with Abby next to the window. A soft knock tapped on the door.
“Chrissie?” Brant’s kind voice inquired. “Are you available for visitors?” He peeked his head in the crack. His handsome smile greeted her.
“Visitors? Who would want to visit me?”
“We do!” Chrissie’s mom, Dianne, pushed the door open and came into the room. Chrissie could see her father just outside the door in Bermuda shorts and a Hawaiian print shirt—he was wearing his “vacation clothes.”
“Mom!” Chrissie couldn’t think of anything more wonderful than to see her mother at this very moment. Now she was here in her room with her. What surprised her even more that her father left work to be here.
“Let me see my grandbaby!” She half jogged over to Chrissie and the baby.
Chrissie gladly handed over the very tiny baby. “I guess I have a lot I need to fill you in on,” she said, embarrassed.
Her dad, Wayne, came to stand by his wife. “Brant filled us in on the major parts. We have plenty of time for details later. Right now, we want to love on our little miracle baby.” He beamed. “I will kill him later,” he cooed at the baby.
“Daddy. No, you won’t. If there’s anyone you should be angry at, it’s me. I said yes to the man, and when I knew I was pregnant, I didn’t have the guts to tell you.” Chrissie looked into her father’s eyes. He seemed to ponder it a moment.
“Fine. Maybe I won’t kill him, but I might hold a grudge for a little while.”
“Everything doesn’t seem so bad when a handsome man with a British accent explains it.” Dianne smiled.
Chrissie relaxed. “Mom and Dad, meet your granddaughter, Abby.” Compared to the problems she just went through with the drug cartel, missing large sections of her memory, and a premature baby a little family drama seemed trivial and could be ironed out eventually.
Brant breathed an audible sigh of relief as he stood in the doorway. Tears streamed do
wn Chrissie’s cheeks. “Thank you.” Things were the way they should be—all the people she loved, except for one, in one room, happy and safe.
* * *
The commotion downstairs was undeniable. Marla had arrived. “You’re crazy to think I was gonna let you blind fold me. You’d mess up my new eyelash extensions!”
Chrissie watched from the balcony as Arturo carried two very large suitcases in behind Marla. Arturo kept quiet as he walked past Marla with a grin on his face and carried the suitcases up the stairs to her room.
Marla followed him up, continuing her rant. “First, I’m told Chrissie needs me after I haven’t heard from her in months, I get flown down here on a private jet, and then I’m asked to put on a blindfold to drive up to some remote location. Nothing, I repeat, nothing good comes from being blindfolded and being driven out to some secret locale. Somebody has some explaining to do! Don’t make me take off my hoops. I’ll kick someone’s …”
“Marla,” Chrissie called from the top of the stairs. She held the swaddled baby in her arms.
Marla’s jaw dropped. “…even in heels,” her voice trailed off.
“I’ll explain everything over cocoa. We have a lot of catching up to do.” Chrissie turned and walked into the large master bedroom with Marla close behind.
“Shoot, girlfriend.” Marla plopped down on the bed. “I’m guessing the kid is yours, but I can’t figure out how you had time to squeeze that in.”
“I can’t lie, so you’re going to have to take everything I say just for what it is.”
“Yeah, you’re a horrible liar. Shoot.”
“Well … You haven’t heard from me because I lost six months of my memory due to being poisoned by a tropical flower and was on my deathbed. I was flown back to Venezuela to be healed by the Fountain of Youth only to find out that I was actually pregnant too. Because I lost my memory, I had no recollection of eloping with Brant and that I actually took the poison myself to save him from the largest drug cartel in the area. I got rid of the cartel and went into preterm labor and delivered a healthy twenty-eight-weeker. That’s why you are here. To take care of me and the baby for Dr. Wilson.” Chrissie was slightly out of breath after the rapid synopsis.
Guardian of the Fountain Page 17
