by Shelby Clark
“Go direct them to where we are!”
Ayana’s father and mother showed up in a golf cart. He had his medical bag and his gun. Atticus got Ayana to wake up. “Ayana come on, babe, hold on! You can’t leave me now. I love you, Ayana! Do you hear me? I love you! I’ll do whatever you want! I want to marry you!”
Please God, don’t take my family from me. I just got her back. I didn’t know before how important she is too me. Let her live, let my baby live!
Ayana’s eyes were slanted. Her mother started screaming and was trying to get to Ayana.
“My baby—Ayana!”
“Althea, get out of the way! Atticus, keep talking to her to keep her awake so she doesn’t slip into a comma. I don’t know for sure if there’s any brain damage or how severe her injury is until she gets an X-ray. Keep her still too!”
Ayana’s eyes kept opening and shutting. Her voice was faint. “Mother! Why did you do this to me? If I lose my baby…I’ll blame you…”
“Shh, babe, we’re not going to lose our baby! I promise you!” Atticus growled through gritted teeth.
The paramedics came in and lifted Ayana to the stretcher. The Air Ambulance Service was called to get her to the hospital faster. Time was slipping away and so was her blood. Atticus was beside himself. But he and Antonio had to give a statement against Josh. The last thing he wanted to do was give a statement. He wanted to finish Josh off. That would have made him feel even better. When Josh came to, the paramedics cleaned him up and placed him under arrest in the back of the cruiser.
“Dr. Simmons, we’ll meet you at the hospital.”
“Okay, Atticus. And thank you for being here with her. I know you love her and that you’re a good man. My wife sees that now, but let her pay for her actions. I believe my daughter will be alright. She has a strong will like her mother. She’s a fighter too.”
“Thanks, sir. I’m praying hard…”
Atticus drove to the hospital in less time than was the norm.
****
Ayana was finally back from a four hour surgery and still asleep. Her room was already filled with balloons, cards, and flowers, mostly from club members of her mother’s. Antonio brought Atticus some coffee back from the cafeteria. On the other side of the room were her parents, sleeping in chairs. Atticus hovered over her. Occasionally he rubbed her stomach. He could tell that he was being watched by her mother.
“I was wrong, totally wrong about you. I know you may never forgive me, but I’m truly sorry. If you two never want me in your lives or around your baby, I understand and deserve it.” Ayana’s mother whispered. “I hope one day you can find it in your hearts to forgive me.”
Tears fell from her eyes. Atticus knew for once she was real and sincere. Ayana opened her eyes partway, and then dozed off to sleep again. She was still groggy and weak. Atticus held her hand. The doctor walked in not soon after.
“Okay, let me give you all the run down. This is all family, right?”
“Yes,” they all answered.
“Well, she’s one lucky gal, I tell you. The man upstairs was really looking out for her, but she’s not quite out of the woods. We have to make it through till the morning,” the doctor informed them.
“Doctor, what type of injury did she suffer?” Atticus inquired.
“The vessel near her temple was seriously damaged. We had to repair it. If she had hit it a little harder, she would have died instantly. She has ten stitches in the side of her face.”
“Well I myself am grateful to you and the man upstairs. I definitely was praying!”
Thank you, Lord!
“Also, because she’s pregnant, that little baby girl took some trauma when mom fell. This is a fragile trimester. The good thing is that it looks like she’s at the end of it, which helps in the fight.”
“Why do you say that?” Atticus inquired.
“The baby becomes stronger. So when Ayana awakes, give positive feedback to help her be strong for the baby’s sake,” the doctor instructed before he walked out.
Ayana opened her eyes once more.
She saw everyone there and all the flowers, balloons, and cards. “Aw! This is so nice,” she commented in a soft tone, until she saw her mother. “Why is she here? I want her out!”
Her mother’s head fell and her eyes visibly swelled with tears once more. Ayana’s father just held her mother, but kept very quiet. Atticus knew the man wanted to make sure his wife learned her lesson for judging and meddling in other people’s affairs, especially their daughter’s.
Atticus hugged Ayana and calmed her down.
“Shh…listen to me, babe, listen. We have to be positive for the sake of our baby’s life. I forgive your mother, especially if it will help save our little girl’s life.”
Her eyes widened. “A girl?! Oh my god, do you know what this means, Atticus?”
He smiled. “Yes, our baby will be another billionaire baby in the family. I can’t believe August and I had the first born girls.”
Antonio laughed as he mocked Atticus. “You all can go ahead and have all these babies. I’m not having any.”
“Yeah, we’ll see!” Ayana chuckled softly.
“Babe? You have to forgive her. Let’s not introduce our child to division within our own families, but teach her to love and forgive, like we have.”
“Hold it, at the restaurant, who was that woman at the table and what did she give you? “You were there?!”
“Yes. I saw you. I got angry and l left.”
“She was no one to me. I was waiting for you and she came over and slipped me her number. I didn’t want to embarrass her so I put it in my pocket. I told her I was about to ask you to marry me.”
“Really, Atticus, you were?”
“Yes, but you never came, at least I thought you didn’t and I took that number back out of my pocket and shoved it inside a napkin. But I brought this with me.”
Atticus pulled a gold box from his pocket. He opened it and placed a large diamond ring halfway on Ayana’s finger.
“Before I give you this ring I need to know something. I want to know if we all can start over fresh with a clean slate, including your mother?”
Ayana looked at the ring and then at her mother and father.
“Are you ready to start over, Mother?”
“Yes, I promise, Ayana. I will change, just be a little patient with me. I don’t want to be excluded from your lives,” Mrs. Simmons responded.
“OK, you can put it on me now!”
As Atticus placed the ring all the way on her finger, Ayana twitched with a whine.
Everyone became startled and frantic.
“What’s wrong? Should we get the doctor? Are you in pain?” Atticus questioned as he stood up.
Ayana couldn’t stop laughing. “No, I feel fine. It’s this little girl. She won’t stop moving around. I think she’s hungry because I’m starving. Come on, Atticus, I need food, make it happen!”
Within minutes Atticus had a catered entrée being delivered to her room for everyone.
****
“Tess, I’m so glad that you and your family are here to be a part of my wedding, even though I feel like a blimp. Come here, let me see her. Hello, Trinity, I’m your cousin. You’re going to have someone to play with very soon.”
“You look hot in that dress.”
“Girl, I am, and uncomfortable too. I have another month before I deliver. A May baby, can you believe it, just like her daddy. I want to get this over with, come on! What are we waiting for?”
“Your mother, she’s putting everyone in their proper places. She’s really trying hard to redeem herself.”
“Yes, she is, especially with Atticus. I can’t believe how close they are now. But, Tess, I waited for you to have Trinity so that you could be here. Thank you for coming.”
“You look beautiful though!”
“Thank you. But look, real quick, can you see the scar on the side of my face?”
“Cousin, no! You can�
��t, it healed nicely, stop worrying. Anyway, I wouldn’t miss your day for nothing in the world.”
Ayana started feeling bad and sick, so she asked her cousin for a moment to herself. Tess gave her some time as she stood outside the room in the hall. It was a perfect time to check on the progress of the ceremony. She had on a maternity wedding dress, but still felt uncomfortable. Her parent’s house was nicely decorated just for the wedding.
A small semi-formal wedding is all she wanted. During this time of her pregnancy, it was very hard to tolerate almost anything for a long period of time. Ayana lay back on her bed and closed her eyes for a moment without saying a word.
With her eyes still closed, she began to meditate with a low humming tone, and in a calm voice she called for her cousin from the hall.
“Tess!”
“Yes, Cousin,” Tess responded entering Ayana’s room.
“Can you get the reverend, my mother, father, and of course Atticus. And tell them to hurry because the ceremony has just been moved to this room.”
“Why, Ayana? Is it because you’re hot and tired?”
Ayana started crying and holding her stomach. “No! It’s because I’m having the baby now! My water has broken. So please, go!”
She could hear Tess yelling down the hall and over the balcony and everyone running up the stairs. Atticus was the first one to her side. He tried to get her up, but the dress, fluff and wetness was everywhere.
“Come on, babe, let’s get you to the hospital!”
“No, there isn’t any time. Start the ceremony…mmmm…please—, ouch! Reverend…Papi, I’m not having this baby until we’re married,” she snarled through gritted teeth.
Atticus signaled the reverend to start.
“Dearly Beloved, we’re gathered here in the sight of God…”
“Oooh—! Skip all that! Go to the I do’s!”
“Hm mm, Atticus Escobar, do you take Ayana Simmons to be your lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?”
Atticus responded quickly. “I do!”
“Oh god, I don’t know, please go faster, I feel so sick!”
“Babe, we can wait for this. We can get married after you have the baby. It can be a bigger ceremony.”
“No, I don’t want that, please, Papi, please! I can do this, come on, last part.”
The Reverend continued. “Ayana Simmons, do you take Atticus Escobar to be your lawfully wedded husband to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, from this day forward until death do you part?”
Ayana responded in a yell. “Yes! Yes! Yes, I do, Papi! I love you!”
“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may salute your bride.”
Atticus kissed his wife, and then turned asking everyone to leave quickly. Tess gave her baby to August. Tess and Mrs. Simmons helped Ayana out of her dress as her father prepared to deliver Ayana’s baby. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion in spite of the hard contractions she was feeling. Atticus called nine-one-one so the paramedics would be in route.
After two hours and forty-five minutes, Ayana gave birth to her baby at the house with the guidance of her father and aide of the paramedics. Her body felt like it had been through the mill. She woke up in the hospital with her husband by her side and her baby in the bassinet.
“Hello, Señora Escobar, here’s your little princess. We need a name for her,” Atticus said smiling.
Ayana responded with a smile of her own. “American or Latino?”
“I’ll leave it up to you. I trust your decision.”
“Well, I’ll say since she was born in the U.S., I want her name to be Latino, so you name her. Oh, and make sure you add your grandmother’s name,” Ayana requested in a low tone.
Atticus paused for a minute to think.
“What about, Sofia Alectra Maria Escobar?”
“I love it! It’s perfect and it fits her.”
He leaned over the side of her bed and kissed Ayana’s forehead. They lay in each other’s arms gazing at their baby and reflected on all they’d been through.
“Babe, I guess we were meant to be together after all, huh?”
“After all we’ve been through, nothing could keep us apart. So I would say so!”
“I love you!”
“I love you, too! Señora Atticus Escobar.”
The End
Table of Contents
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
