Authors: EMME CROSS
Linus didn’t disagree.
There was a knock on the door. Barry saw Sunny with her curls in disarray, a tear-streaked face, shoes off, two buttons on her blouse undone, curled in his father’s arms, Linus’s hands in her hair.
“Stellan’s waiting in the lobby to take Sunny home.”
She struggled to her feet. “I’d better wipe my face.” Linus pointed to the bathroom. She could hear raised voices through the door.
“Dad, I don’t mean to interfere in your personal business. I know you have a history with this woman. Surviving a tsunami obviously created a bond. But don’t you think she’s a little too . . .”
“What? Too young for me?”
“I was going to say don’t you think she’s a little too pregnant.”
Sunny finished wiping the mascara from under her eyes and emptied her bladder. Great, she thought. I’ve made another enemy. Peeing hadn’t helped. There was still that strange, persistent pain.
Father and son were glaring at each other when she entered the room. She squared her shoulders, taking a deep calming breath.
“Barry, I’m sorry you walked in on us like that. I can only imagine how it must have looked. Believe me, Linus was just being a good friend. There’s nothing else between us.”
“Not for my lack of trying.” Linus attempted to lighten the mood. “Deal with the mess at home and I will deal with things at this end. I have to talk to Barry. This concerns him too.”
“I understand.” She reached up and gave him a hug. “However this turns out, I still love you, Linus.”
* * *
Stellan helped Sunny into the house. Her feet had swollen so much she couldn’t get her high heels back on and already had a blister.
Sven was waiting, anxious to talk about his conversation with Astrid. Neither she nor Liam were anywhere in sight. But then Stellan started to babble about the seminar and the great Linus Craig. He hadn’t any idea, he said, that the billionaire was such a close friend of Sunny’s. With each word, Sven’s face hardened and his eyes darkened. No sooner had Stellan left, than Sven exploded.
“You went to him? To Linus? You went to him for comfort? How could you? Why didn’t you come to me?” Betrayal and fury distorted his expression.
“It wasn’t like that. I didn’t go to Linus for comfort, but you know he’s my friend. He’s always been there for me.”
“Hell, yes. He’s always there, waiting for me to screw up so he can make his move. I bet he was thrilled with news of my latest fuck up. Did he convince you to leave me? Has he hired you a good lawyer?”
“Stop it!” she shouted. Bliss, who had been napping in her playpen started to cry.
“I went to him because he’s involved in this. Nils is threatening Astrid and you because he stole money from Linus — or from the company his son runs. I offered to make good the debt.”
“How? What did you offer to do to pay off this debt?” asked Sven, deadly calm.
“What’s the matter with you? I offered to deed him the St. Barts rental villas. They should be enough to cover what Nils stole and maybe that will keep him quiet and protect Liam.”
“Your villas? But you worked so hard and so long. You said they were a legacy for our children.”
“A happy, secure family is the only legacy that really matters. I’d give up everything,” she said, unfurling his clenched fingers and kissing his palm, “to keep our children safe and happy.”
“Liam’s not your child.”
“Yes, he is,” she said firmly. “He’s your child and you’re a part of me, so he’s my child too. He’s the brother of Bliss and the baby I’m carrying. That makes him part of our family. I will do whatever it takes to protect him, just as I would the children we have together.”
She had already accepted Liam, he saw. She already thought of him as family. She was so far ahead of him emotionally. He was still reeling from his talk with Astrid.
Sunny picked up Bliss to calm her, trying not to wince at the stitch in her side. “Where’s Fatima?”
“She drove home with Liam and Astrid. We talked and they needed time together. We need some time alone too.”
“I can’t imagine what she’s going through. Or Liam. Or you.” Sunny searched her husband’s face.
“I can’t believe it. Astrid kept this a secret all those years. She must have known or at least suspected, yet she said nothing. And then when she found out for sure two years ago she still said nothing. How could she do that?” He put his face in his hands and slumped onto the counter stool.
Sunny handed him Bliss who grabbed her beloved father’s hair and peppered his face with noisy kisses. She lunged for the half-empty beer bottle but Sunny slid it out of harm’s way.
“She didn’t think you were ready to be a father.” Sunny chose her words carefully. “You can’t really blame her.”
“No,” he said, rubbing his daughter’s belly. “I wasn’t ready then. Even so, once she heard about the baby and our marriage, she should have realized I’d grown up. She could have come to me then.”
“I think she was scared,” Sunny said, ignoring the mounting pain. “She doesn’t know you now. You’ve changed a lot, more than you imagine. She had no way of guessing how you’d take the news. You might have been furious. Or I would.”
“Are you?” he asked, suddenly scared. What would he do if Sunny decided this was the sin that finally broke the camel’s back?
“I always said I wanted lots of children. I just thought they’d be born of my body. Bliss is going to have two brothers to deal with.”
“You mean it? You can handle this? Another misdeed you have to forgive?”
“Don’t talk nonsense. It’s not a sin. Liam is a happy accident, like Bliss.” She squinted. “Can you turn out the lights? It’s so bright in here.”
“Sunny?” He took a good look at his wife. “Your face is all puffy.”
“I was crying on Linus’s shoulder. It’s been a difficult twenty-four hours. I’ll be fine. I think I just need to sit down for a bit. I feel a little light headed.”
“Did you eat any of the breakfast you made for us?”
“I wasn’t hungry. I tried but it made me queasy. It’s just the stress.”
He reached over and stroked her cheek. “You always seem to handle things so well and then it turns out later you didn’t really. Remember Clyde? You still skype your therapist every other week. And now all this. No wonder you’re tired.”
He got up and helped her to a stool. “You sit and I’ll make you some camomile tea. If that doesn’t help, I’ll call the doctor.” He got up to fill the kettle, Bliss snuggled against a hip. “The last thing I want is you making yourself sick over this mess with Astrid and Liam. We had a good talk. Well,” he said, putting the kettle on the stove, “we had the beginnings of a good talk. I think with time,” he got a mug and a tea bag out of the cupboard, “things will be okay. We’ll find a way to work it out. I know you’ll help me and Liam. I can always count on you.”
He turned. She wasn’t sitting at the counter. “Sunny? Did you go to the bathroom?”
Bliss pointed at the floor.
“Maman est tombée
.”
It took him a minute to translate from the French. When he saw his wife sprawled on the floor, his heart stopped. He took her pulse and it was too fast. He thought it felt too fast. Sven picked up the phone and dialled 9-9-9.
* * *
“Sven? What is the ambulance doing outside your house? I came home early. I wanted to check on the storm damage and then your neighbour called.”
“Mother! I’ve never been so glad to see anyone.” He was holding onto a scared Bliss for dear life, as two attendants wheeled Sunny on a stretcher towards the waiting ambulance. “We were talking and she just collapsed. She said she felt queasy and hadn’t eaten any breakfast and then something about the lights being too bright. Oh yeah, her face was puffy but I thought that was from crying. Mother where’s her doctor’s information? I can’t seem to find it on her cell.”
Judith took the phone out of his shaking hands and asked the attendants, “Which hospital?” She nodded at the answer and dialled.
Sven barely heard the one-sided conversation, walking beside the gurney and talking to his wife. “You’re going to be fine, both of you. It’ll be nothing, you’ll see. Bliss and I will be right behind you. And Mother too. You know my mother would never let anything happen to her grandchild or to you. She loves you. We all do.”
The attendants moved him back away from the vehicle. The neighbours were out in the street, watching. One offered father and daughter a ride to the hospital and Judith answered for them. “Thanks, Jim but I’ll take them. There’s a baby seat in my car. Could your son come over a bit later and let the dog out into the back yard?” Sponge had followed the fray out onto the sidewalk and was pacing nervously, upset at the commotion and her mistress’s disappearance.
“Of course. Don’t worry about a thing. We’ll look after the dog. We’ll close up the house as well.”
He leant over to Judith as she got out her car keys. “Let us know if there’s anything else. Everyone,” he gestured at the crowd on the sidewalk, “we all want to help.”
Judith calmly strapped the baby into her car seat and refused to hand over the keys to Sven. “You’re in no condition. Your hands are shaking. How would it help Sunny or the baby if you got in an accident?”
Once they were on their way, Judith hit the Bluetooth connection. “Charlotte, it’s me. I just got back. Sunny’s been rushed to the hospital. I’m taking Sven and Bliss there now. It’s Memorial. The emergency room admitting staff will know. I’ve called Dr. Meckins and she is on her way. We may need you to come and pick up Bliss after work. We don’t know. This could just be a fainting spell. Sunny didn’t eat today.”
She gave a sour smile at her daughter’s response. “Yes, it is unusual. I’ll call as soon as we get any word.”
Sven leaned forward, as if to make the car go faster. They couldn’t be far behind the ambulance. They were using sirens. That couldn’t be good. His mother’s voice cut through his frantic thoughts.
“Bliss is crying. She’s upset, talk to her. Think of your daughter. That’s all you can do for now.”
He turned half around in his seat, reaching over and stroking the reddish yellow curls that were just like her mother’s. Choking back tears and panic he said, “Let’s sing that song for grandma, the one you learnt the other day.”
“One hundred bottles of beer?” asked the toddler.
“No,” his laugh was a strange half sob. “That’s the one Sunny taught her as a joke.” It had made Liam laugh. Well, he couldn’t think about Liam now. He couldn’t think about anything but Sunny. “Sing the song mommy taught you about Brother Jack.”
“Okay. I hope you like it, Grandma.” The little girl started to sing in a sweet clear voice that was clearly not inherited from either parent.
“Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques. Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?”
The round went on and on, an endless soundtrack, thought Sven, to this fucking eternal ride. He no longer heard the siren. Had they turned it off? Was that good?
* * *
They had to wait a while for the doctor to appear.
“Her blood pressure’s through the roof,” Dr. Meckins said without preamble. “I’ve given her magnesium sulphate but I need to deliver the baby now by caesarean section. She’s eight months so the baby should be fine but he has to come out. I can’t wait without putting her at risk.
She turned to Sven. “Sunny was fine last week when she came in. A little too much weight gain but the baby’s going to be a big boy, so I wasn’t worried. What happened? I don’t understand why her blood pressure has spiked like this. Has she had some kind of shock?”
Sven glanced at his mother out of the corner of his eye. “Things have been difficult the last day or two, but she seemed okay. She really did. I had no idea. Maybe Linus knows.”
“Linus?” His mother looked perplexed. “What does he have to do with this? Is Linus in town?”
“I’ll explain in a minute.” He turned to the waiting physician. “Do whatever you have to do, doctor. Help her and the baby. Please.”
She gave his arm a comforting squeeze, a veteran of numerous terrified fathers. “We’ll be taking her into the operating room in a minute. She’s already sedated. Don’t worry, I’ll be out as soon as I can.”
Bliss found a toy and Judith found a pop machine. They sat in the waiting room. When the little girl calmed down enough to snuggle next to grandma, Judith asked in a voice filled with suppressed emotion, “What was the shock? What does Linus have to do with this? Did he upset her? He didn’t come on to her again?”
“Mother! No. He was in town for, well I’m not sure why, but Sunny went to see him with Stellan, to ask him for help. I thought maybe she said something to him about not feeling well. She was puffy when she got home but she said that was from crying.”
“Why was she crying?” Judith didn’t understand any of this. She kept her voice pitched low, to avoid upsetting her granddaughter, who was dozing at last.
Sven answered in a near whisper. “She was crying because of Liam.”
It was like pulling teeth. Judith clenched her jaw and gave her son that hard look. As a child it had forced him to admit he’d broken that vase playing soccer in the house and made him confess to drinking beer under age — which had got him grounded for two whole weeks.