Secrets & Lies

by Iannarelli, Michelle

“Ryan, why don’t you just tell Faith how you feel?”

  “Because I don’t know how I really feel and if I did I’d probably hurt her.”

  “Or because you’re afraid?”

  “I don’t know anymore.”

  “You need to soul search here. I’m worried about you and now you have this awful drinking habit.”

  “I’m ok. Don’t worry about me, really.”

  “I will always worry about you because you are my favorite brother and I love you.”

  “I am your only brother.” Ryan grinned.

  “Yup, that too!” Alex smiled.

  Dane saw Miguel get onto the elevator and he ran to catch up.

  “Migs, hold the elevator.”

  Miguel put his foot in the door and it bounced back open and Dane stepped inside.

  “Is everything alright?”

  “We need to talk.”

  “Ok, talk.”

  “The Agency asked me to takeover for Simmons.”

  “And?”

  “I said yes.”

  Miguel smiled. He had recommended Dane for the job after he turned it down but Dane didn’t need to know that.

  “Congratulations, they couldn’t have picked a better man.”

  “You’re not upset with me?”

  “Upset?”

  “Yeah, I mean we all decided to retire together and not only that but now I have to leave Cruz Contracting too.”

  “Look, Miles and I decided to retire but that didn’t mean that you had to retire. Cruz Contracting will still be here when you get back. I’ll always have a job for you.”

  “Thanks, Migs, that means a lot.”

  Dane hugged Miguel.

  “When do you leave?”

  The elevator door had opened and Lacey was standing there.

  “You’re leaving?”

  “Yes, tonight.”

  Lacey was sad to hear that Dane was leaving. She really liked him. In fact, she liked him more than she was willing to admit to herself.

  “Oh, I’m sorry to see you go.”

  Dane smiled at Lacey and then he leaned over and kissed her cheek.

  “I’ll miss you. Take care of this big lug for me, ok.”

  Lacey nodded and then sat down at her desk.

  Dane shook Miguel’s hand. “Thank you for everything, Migs.”

  “Keep in touch when you can and watch your back.”

  “Will do.”

  Dane got back onto the elevator as Lacey watched over her computer monitor until the doors closed.

  Ryan was chugging down his sixth cup of coffee in hopes of chasing away his hangover when Zac came in and poured himself a cup.

  “Good morning, Ryan.”

  “Good morning. Zac, look about last night…”

  Zac raised his hands up. “It’s not my business unless it affects the firm.”

  “I had too much to drink and used poor judgement. Alex read me the riot act this morning and I’m sorry, I’m going to get my shit together. I’ve had a few rough weeks.”

  “Like I said, it’s not my business but Ryan, if you need a friend, someone to talk to…you know where to find me.”

  “Thanks, Zac, I appreciate it.”

  “No problem.”

  Zac walked out and Ryan poured himself another cup of coffee.

  Eden and Miles were waiting inside Miguel’s office to surprise him with their news about the baby’s name.

  “He better get back soon or I’m going to miss my meeting.”

  “If he isn’t back in fifteen minutes I will bring you to your meeting and we can tell him later.”

  “Tell me what?”

  Eden spun around and Miguel was standing there.

  “About Cruz.”

  “Cruz?”

  Eden reached for Miles’ hand. “Miles and I have decided to name our son Cruz in honor of his uncle.”

  Miguel just stood there for a minute and didn’t say anything.

  “Migs, if you’re not cool with that we can go with another name.”

  Miguel ran his hand across his face. “Not cool, hell I’m honored.”

  Eden grabbed Miguel and hugged him. When Miguel pulled away Miles reached out to shake his hand but Miguel gave him a hug.

  “I hate to hug and run but I have a meeting.”

  “I’ll walk you to the car.”

  Miguel, Miles and Eden weren’t on the elevator for more than five seconds before it came to an abrupt halt causing Eden to slam into the wall and get knocked down. Miles banged his elbow and Miguel hit the back of his head. Once they realized Eden was on the floor they both quickly dropped to their knees to help her up.

  “Eden, Baby, are you alright?”

  “Sis, let us help you up.”

  “I can’t, I think it’s the baby. I feel pain.”

  Miguel pushed every button on the elevator panel as well as trying the emergency phone but nothing seemed to be working. He reached for his cell phone and dialed 911.

  “911 what is your emergency?”

  “This is Miguel Cruz, I am trapped in an elevator in my building with my sister, who is pregnant and was knocked to the floor when the elevator halted. I need an ambulance and an emergency service crew here now.”

  “Are you at One Cruz Plaza?”

  “Yes and we are in the Executive Elevator.”

  “Is anyone else injured?”

  “No. How long before helps arrives?”

  “I’ve already dispatched police, fire and ambulance, so it shouldn’t be long now.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Mr. Cruz, can you tell me…”

  Miguel looked down and saw blood on the elevator floor. His heart broke. He knew he had to do something. Eden couldn’t lose this baby. He ended the call and placed the phone back in his pocket.

  Miles sat down and pulled her between his legs and cradled her in his arms. Eden started to cry as she held her belly.

  “You’re going to be ok. I promise.”

  “I think I’m bleeding…oh God this can’t be happening.”

  “Close your eyes and relax. You and little Cruz are going to be just fine.”

  “Ouch, oh God the pains are getting worse.”

  Miles looked up at Miguel who was pulling apart the control panel trying to get the elevator to move.

  “Calm down and breathe. Exhale. You can do this. Help is on the way.”

  “I can’t, I can’t do this again.”

  “Baby, you are the strongest woman I know. You can do this. I know you can.”

  There was a banging noise and the elevator lights flickered.

  “If you can hear me down there, I’m Ace Dean, with the fire department and I’m working to get you out of there.”

  “Eden, help is here. You’re doing great.”

  Eden grimaced in pain. She hadn’t felt the baby move in the last few minutes and panic was setting in.

  “The baby, he isn’t moving.”

  “Maybe he’s just taking a rest.”

  “What if he’s hurt or dead? Oh my God, oh my God, I can’t lose your baby, I can’t, not again.”

  Miguel looked down at Eden.

  “Again?” Miles looked up at Miguel almost as if he was asking him the question.

  Miguel shook his head.

  Miles didn’t want to upset Eden by asking her what she meant by again.

  Suddenly the lights flickered and the elevator began to move. When the doors opened two paramedics rushed in and immediately started tending to Eden.

  “Are you the baby’s father?”

  “Yes.”

  “How far along is she?”

  “Six months.”

  “Has she had any complications with the pregnancy?”

  “No.”

  “So tell me what happened. Did she fall and get hurt or did she get hurt and then fall?”

  “I think she got slammed against the wall and that caused her to fall.”

  “Alright, we’re going to ask that you gen
tly slide out from under her so that we can get her onto the stretcher.”

  “Ok.”

  Miles started to slide out from under her and Eden started screaming.

  “Miles’ baby…you have to save his baby.”

  “I promise that we will do the best we can.”

  Eden was on the stretcher and they rolled her out of the elevator. Miguel grabbed Miles by the shoulder.

  “You go in the ambulance. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Yeah.”

  Miles followed the paramedics to the ambulance and climbed in with Eden.

  Alex came running into the Emergency Room looking for Miguel. She went over to the desk to ask about Eden and Miguel walked up behind her.

  “Alex.”

  Alex turned around and hugged Miguel.

  “Oh Baby, how is she?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  Miguel took Alex by the hand and walked over to the row of chairs and sat down.

  “Is Miles with her?”

  “This is all my fault.”

  “What?”

  “It was my elevator and if she hadn’t come to see me she wouldn’t have been there and…”

  “Shhh…she’s going to be ok.”

  “Alex, Eden kept saying that she couldn’t lose Miles’ baby again.”

  “Again?”

  “Yeah, again.”

  “Did Miles say anything?”

  “No, he looked as confused as me.”

  “Maybe she was just upset and not making any sense.”

  “I hope so or she will have a lot of explaining to do.”

  Miles stood in the corner of the room watching the doctors as they examined Eden. He prayed the whole way in the ambulance while Eden begged for them to save their baby.

  “Mr. Dawson, it seems that the fall has caused what we call placental abruption. The placenta has pulled away from the uterine wall…”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It means that we are going to need to keep Eden here in the hospital so that we can monitor her and the baby. Although the bleeding seems to have stopped for now we need to make sure it doesn’t start up again. If she remains stable, then maybe in a few days we can think about sending her home and keeping her on bedrest.”

  “Is the baby going to make it?”

  “We are doing everything we can to make sure he does.”

  “Why did this happen? I mean I know she was knocked into the wall but it just didn’t seem like it was hard enough to do this kind of damage.”

  “This may have happened even without an injury. Age, prior pregnancies and uterine injury can increase the risk of this happening.”

  “But Eden’s young and healthy and this is our first baby.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry I thought this was her second pregnancy, I must have misunderstood the nurse.”

  Miles swallowed hard and looked over at Eden who was asleep.

  “How long before she’s awake?”

  “She won’t be asleep very long we only gave her something to relax her but she was so stressed that she fell asleep. You can go sit with her.”

  “Thank you, Doctor.”

  Miles walked over and sat down beside Eden. Although he hoped the doctor was wrong he was beginning to think that maybe Eden was pregnant before and that was not sitting right with him.

  THREE DAYS HAD GONE by and the doctors decided that it was safe for Eden to go home as long as she promised to stay in bed. Eden was sitting waiting for Miles to come and pick her up. She was worried about him because he hadn’t been himself the last few days and she hoped that it was just all of the stress with her being in the hospital.

  “Ready to go home?”

  Eden looked up and Miles was standing there looking at her.

  “Miles, are you alright?”

  “Yeah.” Miles really wanted to tell her that he couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that she may have been pregnant before and that it was eating away at him. Instead he would wait to ask until after the baby arrived.

  Eden patted the spot on the bed next to her. “Come sit down.”

  Miles walked over and sat down. Eden looked at him and placed her hand on his cheek.

  “I know something is wrong, at first I thought it was stress because Cruz was in danger but Miles, I know you better than that. Please tell me what’s wrong.”

  “You’re right it’s stress. I was so afraid of losing you or the baby.”

  “But you’re not going to tell me why you are still upset?”

  “Eden, the most important thing right now is taking care of you and our baby. Nothing else matters right now.”

  “So there is something else?”

  “It’s no big deal.”

  “It is to me because I can see how upset you are and it is only making me more stressed out.”

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to have this conversation now.”

  Eden pulled her hand away from Miles’ face.

  “Do you regret marrying me or having this baby?”

  “Eden, no! I love you both.”

  “Then what? Tell me?”

  Miles thought about it for a minute and he decided not telling her would cause just as much stress as asking her so he took a deep breath and looked Eden in the eyes.

  “The doctor told me that this was your second pregnancy.”

  Eden stared at Miles like a deer in headlights. She wanted to lie but she knew the right thing to do was to finally tell the truth and hope that Miles would forgive her. She nodded her head.

  “Yes.” Tears began to roll down her cheeks.

  “Yes. Ok, so…was it my baby?”

  Eden couldn’t speak she just nodded her head.

  Miles couldn’t believe that Eden would keep something like this a secret from him. As much as he promised himself that he wouldn’t upset her he needed answers.

  “When? What happened to the baby?”

  Eden took a deep breath and reached for Miles’ hand.

  “I got pregnant the summer before I left for college.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “I was so afraid; I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want you to be angry with me and I knew that if Miguel found out that…”

  “Why is it always about Miguel? Why couldn’t you ever trust in my love for you?”

  “I was young and scared.”

  Miles pulled his hand away and leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees while holding his head in his hands.

  “What happened to the baby?”

  “I…I…lost him.” Eden burst into tears.

  Miles couldn’t breathe. His heart broke, he was sad, angry and confused. He too had tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “Him?”

  Eden nodded.

  “When?”

  “I was almost seven months.”

  “You carried my baby for seven months and you never even once thought about telling me?”

  Eden wiped her eyes. “I tried to tell you once but…”

  “You tried? Clearly you didn’t try very hard.”

  “It was during Christmas break. I came over to your house and I tried to tell you but you were with someone else.”

  Miles thought about it and then suddenly he remembered that night…

  “MILES, YOU’RE SO BAD. I said I felt like a sundae, not that I wanted to be a sundae!”

  Miles reached for the whipped cream. “Well, I felt like eating the sundae.” Miles wiggled his eyebrows.

  “My God, oh myyyy God. Miles, that tongue is going to be the death of me.”

  Miles didn’t reply, he just kept doing what he did best.

  “Miles, are you home? I need to talk to you.”

  Miles jumped up like a rocket taking off.

  “Who is that?”

  Miles didn’t think it was the appropriate time to explain that the woman who was yelling to him was also the one who had his heart.

  “Someone who will be leaving in a minu
te. Stay here, I will be right back.” Miles ran down the stairs.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “We need to talk, you’re right, I was afraid but I’m not…” Miles had gotten close enough that the chocolate syrup, whipped cream and lipstick were visible on his neck and chest. “Oh my God, you’re with someone else?”

  “Did you expect me to become a priest? You told me it was over, you’re the one who walked away, YOU!”

  “Miles, are you coming back?” Miles looked towards the stairs.

  “If you walk away from me now, it’s over for good.”

  Miles hesitated long enough that Eden turned and walked out.

  “But Eden, you had every day since that night to tell me and if the doctor didn’t say anything would you have ever told me?”

  “No.”

  “No. That’s all you can say?”

  “After it was all over there wasn’t any reason to tell you. I suffered enough for both of us for a lifetime.”

  “But I deserved to know, it was my baby too.”

  “You chose that woman when I came to tell you. I was the one who had to suffer through morning sickness, the dirty looks from my classmates and finally the pain and suffering of giving birth to a dead baby…your baby. I sat at his grave from sunrise til sunset until they forced me to leave for months. Drake was all I had left of you.”

  “Drake…you gave him my middle name.” Miles had never felt more broken then he did right now.

  Eden looked up and nodded. “Your last name too.”

  “So I have a son with my name who you buried and you never thought that you should tell me…the baby’s father!!”

  “Why should we both have to grieve? Telling you would only cause you pain.”

  “Is that the truth Eden, or did you keep it a secret so that Miguel would never find out?”

  “Both.” Eden looked down at the floor.

  “So I heard you’re going…” Miguel took one look at Eden and his heart sunk. He rushed to her side. “What happened?”

  Eden grabbed Miguel and wept in his arms.

  Miguel looked at Miles. “Is someone going to tell me what the hell is going on?”

  “You’ll have to ask your sister. I need some air.”

  Miles walked out.

  Alex was on her way down the hall to Eden’s room when Miles walked right by her not saying a word. Alex turned and called out to him. “Miles, wait up.”