Baby Makes Five (A Multiple Birth Book 1) (15 page)

Ash and Miah looked at each other.

“Dr. Duncan will be here in a few minutes. If you are going to get married you need to do it before he arrives,” Dr. Sand said eyes on the fetal monitor.

James nodded and began the same time another contraction hit.

“Skip the first part and go to the I Dos,” Miah said panting.

He did as she asked and moments later they were married. It was a relief and at the same time bittersweet. This wasn’t exactly how she had pictured her wedding day. She had every detail planned including the gown she would one day wear. But as she looked at her husband and their joined hands, in that moment she wouldn’t change anything if she had a chance for a do over.

Dr. Duncan entered the room and the monitors started going off. Dr. Sand and Dr. Duncan moved to Miah’s side. “If everyone could please leave the room except you Ash,” the OB said.

“What’s going on?” Miah asked in a panic.

“Try and stay calm Miah, baby B is in distress. Her heart rate is too high. We need to Perform an emergency C-section. It’s  late for the epidural. You will be given general anesthesia. This means you will be unconscious during the procedure. When you are out, a tube will be administered to help you breathe.”

“Will she and the babies be okay this won’t bring harm to them will it?” Ash asked.

“As with everything, there are risks. You know I would never suggest something if it wasn’t the safest course of action. Jackie will get you a gown and cap.”

It was a whirlwind of activity after that. The last thing she remembered before slipping into unconsciousness was the worry in her new husband's eyes. When she woke next, her throat was dry and hurt. She groaned and opened her eyes slowly to the startling glare of the above fluorescent lights.

She heard a little shuffle at her left side and looked in that direction. Ash was asleep in the nearby chair. She looked around the room, and her eyes fell on the three cots where her babies were sleeping peacefully. She held back a sob. Her babies were alive and well. She couldn’t wait to hold them and count their tiny fingers and toes or to kiss their soft downy heads and cheeks. She made an attempt to get up, but the staples in her stomach and the catheter in her bladder stopped her.

She didn’t want to wake Ash. He looked exhausted. If he weren't up in fifteen minutes, she would call a nurse to help her. She looked at her sleeping husband and smiled. Watching the scene, she felt as if they had been here before, with the exception of their newborn babies.

“It’s not polite to stare at someone while they are sleeping,” her husband said with a smile as he stood and stretched.

She returned the smile, “I wasn’t—”

“Liar,” he said coming to kiss her. “I am glad you are awake to see our beautiful children.”

They have been here before, the day she was admitted for her cerclage. This time, around it was for a happier occasion. “How are they? Grace—”

“Is perfect like her mama and namesake. She only wanted to make a splash entering the world.” He said in amusement, “she’s a feisty one, just like you.” He pushed the cots closer to her bed and gave her their little trouble maker first before handing her each child in turn.

Miah counted fingers and toes and kissed each child,” crying as she did.  “They are

perfect, thank you.”

              “What for?” he asked wiping away her tears. “You did all the work. I just get to reap the wonderful rewards.”

              “Thank you for joining me that night for dinner and for this beautiful life, we are about to embark. I wouldn’t be here if it weren't for you. I just wish my mum could be here too.”

              “She is sweetheart. She is,” he pulled her to him kissing her, as they sat, watching their three little miracles. After a few minutes, he spoke. “The clinic called. They found my sample. Looks like you are the only woman who’s going to be the mother of my children.”

              She leaned into him and sighed. She’ll call Amanda later and tell her all of the news. For now, she just wanted to cherish this moment. “I like the sound of that very much. I love you, Ash.”

              “I love you too Miah.”

“Hello, are you Miah King?” the teenager said.

“Yes, I am she,” she said curiously to know why he was looking for her.

“I am Kevin…Kevin Clarke. You donated your bone marrow to me eighteen months ago.”

She was taken aback and shocked to see him. This boy was her half-brother, and she wasn’t sure how she felt having him show up at her home. She had moved on and was glad she could help him, but she didn’t want a relationship with him. Having him in her life meant having his father in her life as well. That was one thing she never wanted to happen. “That was supposed to be anonymous. How did you find out?” She asked the teen.

He looked sheepish “I hacked into the hospital computer. I wanted to thank you personally for what you did for me.”

“You are welcome, but there was no need to thank me. That’s the reason it's called anonymous. I wanted to help, and I am glad you are doing well.”

“I know. I just wanted to say thank you, and that I know.”

“Know what?” she asked confused looking around to make sure no one else was lurking nearby.

“That you are my sister,” he said, looking at her with green eyes like her own.

She took a deep breath. She was happy he was okay and that he’ll be able to have a life, but that’s where it would end for her, “how did you find out. I don’t think your father would’ve told you.”

“He didn’t.”

“You really shouldn’t hack into people’s personal life. It's bad manners and illegal. There are reasons why things are private. Do you know you can get into trouble for that?”

“Yes, but it was something I was willing to risk. I would do it all over again if I had the choice. I am sorry if our father has been an ass to you. I just wanted to let you know I appreciate what you did for me, and I am not like him.”

She smiled, “I am happy to hear you are doing well, and you aren’t like him. I wish you luck in the future. I think it may be best if you left, I don’t want you getting in trouble with your parents.”

              “I am sorry for the way he treated you. I wish I had known you before all this. Perhaps when I am an adult, you wouldn’t mind if I contact you again. Maybe we could get to know each other. That's if you would like to of course,” he said looking down at the ground before meeting her gaze.

              She smiled. He looked like a little boy, and she couldn’t be mad at him, even if she wanted to. “I think I would like that very much. Until then, I think we should say goodbye."

              He grinned at her and hugged her. She stiffened then relaxed and hugged him back. “Thanks, Miah, I’ll see you in a year.”

              She laughed, “good-bye Kevin.” She watched as he walked away before closing the door and returning to the kitchen and her family. She had a feeling she would be seeing or hearing from him before the year was up, and she wouldn’t mind that either.

              “Who was at the door?” Ash asked.

“My brother,” she replied and went to feed their son.

Thank you for reading Baby Makes Five and I hope you enjoyed Miah and Ash’s Story. Look for Azolah and Liam’s story in Book 2: 

The Blind man’s Wife
coming in April. Here is a preview of the first three chapters:

Her future depended on the tiny prints of the ad that jumped out at her.

Azolah Kurtis tapped the already non-existent pencil eraser between her full lips as she scanned the Saturday Star. She turned at the sweet laughter of her two-year-old son Wynter, who at the moment was sitting on his grandmothers’ lap blowing soap bubbles. A smile touched Zola’s lips as she stored this moment of joy for days when things get rough.

Sometimes she wished she could forget her troubles altogether and just enjoy her son; his sweet baby laughter, his smiles and his scent of pure innocence. But she knew that she was asking for far too much, she was asking for the impossible. Her son suffers from Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), or as they put it in layman terms, he has a hole in his heart. Something his pediatrician found four months ago when he went for his annual check-up. They were referred to a cardiologist who specialized in this defect.  He had hoped the hole would close on its own without surgery and had been keeping an eye on Wyn for the past few months.

Last week, they found out the hole was getting larger and was in a position that it may damage his heart valves. She had no choice but to book him for surgery.  It was something she dreaded but had to do for her son’s sake. Wynter was her life, and although the doctor assured her that her son would make it out of the OR and would live a normal life because his defect was a minor one, she couldn’t help thinking he might be wrong. She had heard stories where patients went into the operating room and came out dead or more ill than when they first came to the hospital.

It was one of the reasons why she had hoped the hole would close on its own terminating
any idea of surgery.  She also had been worried about her dwindling bank account.  A few days ago, when she checked, there had only been enough money for this month’s rent and food.  There wasn’t enough for her to stay at home with her son until he was fully recuperated. She had a family to take care of but most importantly, she had a child who was depending on her to be there to kiss his boo boos away.

The surgery was scheduled for a week from today. She couldn’t stand to see her son always exhausted.  He should be running around and playing like every other child his age. Most of all she couldn’t stand his laboured breaths and his lack of appetite. He was very small for a child his age. Every time he went to sleep she thought this might be the last time she would ever see her baby alive. She couldn’t live in fear like she was living now. It wasn’t fair to her son and her mother.

Seeing her mother sitting in her wheelchair a left over from being hit by a drunk driver a year ago, wasn’t encouraging either. It amazed Zola the change a second could make to another persons’ life. One minute her mother was crossing the street, the next her life had changed forever because a spoiled teenager went for a joyride with his friends drunk. Her mother had endured and came out with a better perspective than her daughter. Zola had been bitter about the accident, but with help from her mother and her son’s love she was recovering slowly. Life was never fair.

Everything wasn’t as peachy as she would have like it to be. That was why she was looking at the classified ads in the Saturday Star. She had to find a stable well-paid job that has all the benefits she would need to care for two dependents.

Bills were piling up that needed to be paid ASAP. She wasn’t about to take her neighbour Carl's advised about going on welfare that option wasn’t for her no matter what life may throw her way. A caretaker was needed for her mother and soon Wynter, she would find the money somehow that’s why she was so determined to find the perfect job that will lead into a career and not just pays minimum wages. This family needed all the money they could get for the rainy days that lies ahead.

She couldn’t keep her second job as a waitress either; it was hard enough for her Mum to look after Wynter without adding more hours with a sick child on hand. To be honest, Zola was away too much from her son and spent too little time with her family. She needed to change that.  Zora Kurtis have been Zola’s rock, her role model and best friend for the past twenty-three years.  Zola had gotten pregnant her second year of college with Wynter, by Nick Ballou her one and only relationship. He had promised to marry, love and cherish her for the remaining of their lives. That had changed when she got pregnant. When she told him about their impending parenthood, he had broken things off. Her mother had been there to hold her hands after his desertion.

He had gladly signed over all of his parental rights to her when she refused to abort their baby. Nick hadn’t been ready for fatherhood.  He was too young and had places he wanted to go; a baby would only get in the way and complicate things. He wasn’t letting anyone stand in the way of his dreams of becoming a professional travel guide he had told her.  She hadn’t realized what everyone else warned her about until that moment.  He was selfish; she wondered what her life would have been like had she known beforehand, would she had taken a chance with him still? She would like to think yes since her son was the result of their relationship. She couldn’t imagine a life where he wasn’t in it.

She had been afraid to tell her mother about her pregnancy, but Zora had been more understanding than Zola had expected. She had been there waiting to catch her if she ever fell. She never once said I told you so, even though her mother had warned her about Nick. She was there ‘just in case’ something happened.   She had been there for her grandson’s birth and was there when the doctor had broken the news about his heart defect.

Although Zora was in a wheelchair, she was still Zola’s shoulder to cry on never once had she given up on her daughter but continued to cheer her on from the sidelines in whatever Zola did. That was why taking care of her Mother was important to her. She looked back at the paper in front of her on the scarred kitchen table sighing. It was then she saw the ad for an Executive Assistant. She circled the ad and looked at the address; the interviews were held that afternoon. She may not have an appointment, but she was willing to make the trip in the hope that she would get a chance interview. She was desperate and willing to do almost anything at this moment even if it meant selling her soul to the devil. 

She had some experience temping at an office and had gone to school for business administration before dropping out a year shy of her degree. With that title, she was hoping it paid well with medical and dental benefits. God knows she could do with some help in that department. Please let me get this job she silently prayed. Let them, at least, give me a chance to interview for the job.

  She got up and took her empty glass to the sink if she hurried maybe she would make it. She paused for a brief second thinking maybe it would be better to call first, and then thought against the idea. She wasn’t willing to be rejected before she had a chance to prove she was right for the position. If she showed up it's likely, she would get an interview.  She rushed to the room she shared with her son and changed into her one dress black skirt and a clean blouse before grabbing her bag and the keys to the old Honda they had owned since she was ten. 

“I am going out Mum. I won’t be more than an hour or two. Would you be okay?” she asked folding the paper and putting it in her bag before lifting her son into her arms. 

“We’ll be okay, stop worrying you’ll get old before you turn twenty-five.” Her mother teased. “I can see wrinkles already; Botox won’t be able to help if you keep that frown up. Smile for a change sweetheart, you are a beautiful girl and everything will work itself out.”

“Mum, I am serious are you su—“

“Shoo, we’ll be okay won’t we champ?” her mother asked the little boy.

Her son nodded and wiggled to get down from his mother’s arms to sit on his nana’s lap.

“Go on time is wasting,” her mother said looking pointedly at her daughter’s change of clothes.

Zola nodded then looked at her son then at her mother reluctant to leave them.

“Maybe you’ll like to come along for the ride.”

“We’ll be fine. I might be crippled, but I am not useless or helpless.”

“Mum, I never…”

Before she could finish her sentence, her mother was shaking her head.

“I know what you meant just go.”

She nodded and left. She knew her mother was proud and independent the last thing she wanted to do was offend her. Sometimes Zola could be a bit over protective of the people she loves.

***

Zola arrived at the Bradford’s estate to the sound of raised voices. She was lucky to get into the gate. If it weren’t for the car that was leaving she doubted, she would have gotten through. Before she had a chance to knock on the door, it was viciously flung open by a middle-aged man. He moved aside to allow her entry as if he had been expecting her.

              “Good day madam, you must be here for the interview. This way please Mrs. Bradford, will be with you shortly.”

              He showed her to a small office at the front of the house and told her to help herself to the coffee and muffins that were on a small trolley.

Zola looked around the room and saw a framed photo of a very striking white man in his late thirties maybe early forties. Next to him was standing an equally striking, beaming woman who looks to be in her late twenties, his wife perhaps? In another photo was one of the same man, but this time, he was standing with a man who was an older version of himself and a petite elderly woman. His parents’ perhaps she thought.  They were such a nice looking family surely all that ruckus couldn’t be from one of them? Well, as they say, you never know what goes on behind closed doors, and the rich weren’t any different from the poor when it came down to family drama.

She hoped it wasn’t the man with the angry voice looking for an assistant. Maybe his mother was the one who needed an assistant. She had a kind smile, and Zola wouldn’t mind working for her. She wondered if the senior Mrs. Bradford worked at home or had an office in downtown Toronto. Her reverie was interrupted by the same angry masculine voice that greeted her as she had gotten out of her car in the driveway.

              It wasn’t a very happy voice at the moment.  Zola hoped that she would never meet him ever. She shivered at the thought of having to work for him. The cold fingers walking over her spine had her shrinking into the chair. He might not be here in the room, but that voice didn’t make her feel safe or comfortable.

              She might not have a choice if she got the job, but she would make it her priority not to be anywhere in sight when he was around. She couldn’t help but move closer to the door.  The drama down the hallway was like a magnet for her inquisitiveness. She knew it was bad manners to listen in on a conversation when it had nothing to do with her, but her curiosity was piqued.  Ears pressed to the half-closed door; Zola listened as the loud voices became clearer.

***

“I’ve told you a million times Mother, I don’t need a goddamn assistant, and I already have an assistant.”  Liam Bradford gritted his teeth trying not to get too upset with his mother and thinking about his next dental bill. With the rate, he was going his perfect teeth would be grind to dust.

He knew she meant well, and he loved her, but this was his life, and when he said something, he expects it to be carried out. He was the one in command not his mother and he would not stand for being lead around on a leash like a good little puppy. He sat with his back rigidly to the open door and his mother. He was facing the window, and if he could have seen, he would have saw the flowers blooming strongly under the early May sun.

He was blind the result of being in a car accident a couple of months ago. Although he had come out alive with minor cuts and scrapes Madeline the driver of the car and his fiancée was dead. It was all because of him. Had he not argued with her about wanting a lavish wedding, she wouldn’t have gotten behind the wheels angry which lead to her driving too fast.

She didn’t die on the spot, but on her way to the hospital.  Maybe if he hadn’t moved her from the drivers’ seat to the passenger’s side, she would have been alive. He had lied to the police telling them he was the driver, and they were none the wiser. He just couldn’t let her die leaving behind that legacy or have her parents’ memory of her tainted.

He had put her through enough. If ending up blind permanently was the price to pay for his crime, then so it shall be. He didn’t care what the doctors had to say. They had said his blindness was most likely temporary. Conversion
disorder, also known as hysterical blindness was the diagnosis. He wasn’t laughing.   After four months of wishing and hoping, he had given up on ever seeing again. Maybe it was psychological like what the doctors said, but that was bullshit, why would he want to stay blind if he could see again and get everyone off his back? 

He didn’t need a psychotherapist telling him he had a problem; he already knows he does. He wasn’t going to take anxiety medications either; he wasn’t anxious or depressed. What he wanted was to be left alone to move on with his life. Time was too short on this planet. He had seen that for himself with the death of his beautiful Madeline, who never got the chance to see her twenty-eighth birthday. 

Without facing his mother, he repeated his earlier words but calmly this time. “I have no need for an executive assistant of any sort Mother.”

“You’re as stubborn as your father was. You can’t do everything for yourself, Liam; you need help, and I am not going to be here all the time. I am going on that cruise with Florence and the girls for a month, you know that.”