Denouement (15 page)

“Mom!” he called out to his mother.

“What is it honey?” Elizabeth walked into the room and
was startled when Tobias’ name ripped through the air one more time.

“Call Chris and ask him to tell you where the hospital
is.” Tobias decided to take a
breath
,there
was no use in panicking. He needed to be calm for all of them.

He ran up the stairs taking them two at a time. When
he walked into the room he froze. Marietta was staring down at her legs and so
was he. A pool of blood had managed to form at her feet. He looked at her legs
and could see that there was still blood running down them. Breaking his panic
induced trance he ran to her and picked her up in his arms. He wasn’t sure how she
was
feeling,
her face was blank and emotionless. He
felt her shiver in his arms and he knew that she had started going into shock.

“Mrs. Bennett, I need a blanket,” he called out when
they reached the living room.

Everyone stood watching them, frozen into place. No
one was
moving
,they
all
seemed to be rooted to the ground.

“Hey, you need to snap out of it.” Tobias yelled and
he felt Marietta jerk in his arms. At last a sign of life. “Dad, you are
driving, Mrs. Bennett, you are going to help with directions. Mom, you are with
me in the back seat.” Tobias rushed her to the waiting vehicle. He sat in the
back seat with her, cradling her head as Elizabeth covered her with the
blanket.

Tobias hadn’t heard the phone ring but everything else
was at bay.

“It’s Chris. He said to take a short cut through the
fields,
then
take the tarmac into town. Once you are
there take the road towards the highway and then take the next exit.” Mrs.
Bennett rumbled on, “He said it should take you roughly twenty minutes. But if
you drive faster we’ll be there in ten.”

“Then we’ll be there in ten.” Edwards said as he tore
through the field.

Tobias knew they didn’t have ten minutes. Marietta was
struggling to keep her eyes open, and one of the blankets his mother covered
her with was already soaked in blood. He put his forehead against hers and just
closed his eyes.

“Stay with me.” She nodded and he tried to smile, “You
are going to be fine.”

Tobias heard his father curse as he drove. His mother
was quietly crying at his side while Mrs. Bennett murmured a prayer. They were
finally at the hospital after what seemed like an eternity. Marietta had lost
consciousness two minutes back. Tobias gathered her in his arms and ran into
the emergency room with her.

“I need help!” he shouted as a team of nurses and
doctors gathered around her. They took her from his arms and laid her down on a
gurney, “She’s eight months pregnant. Her doctor is Dr.
Caplain
.
She had a miscarriage three years ago but the baby had to be delivered through
a C-section. She didn’t complain of any pain. She was
fine
,she
was perfectly fine this morning.”

He watched as they rolled her through the operating
room doors. He stood helpless as he mumbled on, “She was perfectly fine. We
just celebrated her brother’s birthday this morning. We also talked about our
son. She was perfect, I swear she was perfect.”

“What happened?” Chris and Jessie ran toward them,
terror scribbled on each of their faces.

Tobias turned to them and said the same thing he had
been mumbling the past few seconds, “She was perfectly fine this morning. Then
all of a sudden…there was so much blood.” He looked at Jessie when he heard her
gasp.

Only she had been there with him the first time as
they waited in the waiting room as the doctors fought to save Marietta’s life
while knowing there was no salvation for their son. “I can’t go through this
twice in one life time. I won’t survive it, she won’t survive it. I can’t live
without her, I can’t bare it.”

Tobias stared into his mother’s eyes as she put each
of her hands on his cheeks, “She’s going to be fine. God wouldn’t allow you to
go through this again.”

“Where was
he
the
first time? Or all those years when Marietta was going
through hell?” he gasped.

“He’s going to be here.” Mrs.
Bennet
patted his back.

“She always says everything happens for a reason.”
Jessie said wild eyed, “She says that God doesn’t let things happen without
their being a greater plan.”

“What’s the plan?” Tobias’ tongue was filled with
steel.

“She’s strong. You have to trust in Marietta if in no
one else. She’s strong.” Chris nodded as if he was trying to convince himself
and Tobias.

“Husband?”
A lethargic large
nurse appeared in the waiting room. She had a scowl on her face as she
approached the small crowd, “Mr. Harden, you need to sign this.”

“How is she?” Tobias asked as he scribbled on the
forms.

“They are prepping her for surgery,” she replied.

“Do you know what caused it?” Elizabeth asked.

“I don’t know what kind of ammunition this guy is
packing in their but he managed to rip into her cervix.” She glowered. “Next
time keep the sex to the simple things.”

“But is she going to be fine?” Tobias asked feeling
guilty.

“Oh yeah, she’s going to be fine. They are just going
to deliver the baby and get the bleeding under control.”

“Why is she still bleeding?” He wasn’t so convinced.

“It’s normal to bleed when you are giving birth. You
said she had a C-section right? The scar might have been ripped open during a
contraction. Don’t worry about it, Doctor
Caplainis
on
top of it.”

“She’s not telling me everything.” Tobias mumbled once
the nurse had disappeared into the operating room. “Why wouldn’t she let me go
in with her?”

“It might be because you are covered in blood. They
need to keep the place sterile.” Chris pointed out.

Tobias looked at himself for the first time. He hadn’t
noticed all the blood on his clothes. That still had him panicking. She had
lost so much blood.

A few minutes later the nurse came back with her
clipboard. “We need some blood.”

“Why?” Elizabeth asked.

“She’s lost a lot of blood but we are giving her some.
But we need a supplement for the blood bank here in the hospital. It’s going to
replace the one she been plugged into.” The nurse went on, not once looking up
at them.

Tobias felt like grabbing the clip board and smashing
it on her head. She was infuriating. “How much blood did she get?”

“Two pints,” she pointed out.

“I’ll do it.” Chris volunteered and Jessie went along
with him, “You should get a change of clothes. Marietta is going to go nuts
when she sees you covered in blood.”

“Alright then.
By the way I
love your movies.” The nurse added as she walked away.

“I’m going to strangle her. I swear it.” Tobias said
through clenched teeth.

“I think we should go get you a change of clothes.” Edward
held him by the shoulders and led him out of the hospital.

As they walked they noticed all the stares they were
getting. At first he thought it was because of all the blood, but when he heard
someone yell his name then his father’s name he groaned in frustration. “Dad, I
think you better get some security here. I’m going to call McKay before he
hears about this on the news.”

An hour later, Tobias was seated in the waiting room,
his fingers drumming on his knee. His pacing seemed to be driving everyone
nuts, so they all encouraged him to take a seat. He was beginning to panic, no
one had been back to apprise them of the situation. In the last hour Tobias had
gotten calls from McKay who was on his way, and so was Peter. He had also been
informed by
both his
and Marietta’s publicists,
managers and agents of the media circus going on back in Los Angeles. He was
glad he wasn’t
back
home. He knew he would be going
crazy if he had to dodge the paparazzi too. His body guards had managed to
create a wide perimeter around them.

Edward and Elizabeth had managed to secure a private
room in a less populated area of the hospital. A hefty contribution to the
hospital had ensured them some privacy with a couple of private nurses.

Tobias jumped to his feet when Doctor
Caplain
appeared. He looked distressed and Tobias felt his
heart sink.

“What is it? What went wrong?”

“Nothing.”
“Then why do you
look like that?” Tobias asked.

“The hospital and my office in particular have been
bombarded with calls from the press. It’s stressful. I don’t know how you do
it.”

“How are my wife and baby?” Tobias registered the
puzzled look on the doctor’s face but tried not to assume the worse.

“Apparently we missed something during our earlier
appointment. She was so huge I should have figured it out. But your wife never
came as frequently as she should have. This is a small facility, so we don’t
have as much technology as some places do.” The doctor fell silent and decided
to get to the point after being urged by Tobias’ scowl, “Marietta lost a lot of
blood, but we were able to get it under control. She got a blood transfusion
too. Her C-section scar tore because of them trying to push each other out.”

“Them?” Tobias coughed out, “What do you mean by
them?”

“You have twins Mr. Harden.
A little
boy and a little girl.”
He beamed. “They are getting checked out right
now but you can see them soon. Marietta is in recovery but she’ll be in her
room in the next hour.”

Tobias fell back into his chair wide eyed and dazed.
He ran his fingers through his hair as everyone around him congratulated him.
From a far he could hear some of the nurses and patients scream over the
salutations. He was yet to believe it. They had planned for the little girl,
waited for her.
But the boy?

His mind went into overdrive. “I need to call Peter.
He needs to get the nursery reconstructed. We need to widen the space and cut
into the other room next to it. We need to paint and get some boys stuff in
there. Oh! We need a new crib and a bassinet, a blue basinet and clothes, plus
another changing table. We need to get a pair of everything.” He paused for a
beat, “I have twins, little boy and a little girl.”

“I’ll leave for Los Angeles in the morning and get
everything ready. My baby had babies.” His mother kissed his cheeks.

“I have a family.”

Chapter
Eleven

Tobias sat in a chair next to Marietta, both his hands
supported by pillows as he carried a child in each arm. He could only imagine
Marietta’s surprise. He couldn’t wait for her to wake up. The doctor had been
there a few times reassuring him that everything was fine, and that Marietta’s
body was just trying to recover from the trauma. He sat in the quiet room with
his babies as the others tried to get the cabin ready and buy clothes for the
early arrivals.

“Your mom and I have been waiting for the both of you.
We’ve been waiting for three and a half years for you.” He stared at the little
boy’s face, and he was just as perfect as Marietta had described him. He was in
awe at how precise her imagination had been. Although she was obviously
describing the son they lost, but in his arms was a replacement. They were both
so much alike and if it wasn’t for the pink and blue blankets he wouldn’t know
which one was which.

Tobias lifted his head when he heard a knock on the
door. He smiled when he watched the late comers shuffle into the room.

“You need to be quiet. They just fell asleep.” He
beamed.

“I thought you said it was just one baby?” McKay
exclaimed.

“I hope you got enough sleep.” Peter teased.

“You want to hold them?” Tobias asked, “Here Peter,
you take the girl.”

“It’s not like I could ask her to be wife number eight
now.” McKay teased, “I was going to wait until she was in her twenties.”

Tobias moved to Marietta’s side and watched the two
men carry his children. They were part of their ever growing family. He wished
Marietta could just wake up and see all the joy filling the room. A few seconds
later, his family was back with baskets of fruits, diaper bags, clothes and
bottles.

“How come she’s not up yet?” McKay asked after handing
the baby to Elizabeth. He leaned close into Marietta’s face as if waiting for
some sort of reaction.

****

Marietta could hear all the voices around her. She
could place each one of them, but what were they doing in her bedroom. She
froze when she felt the dull ache in her belly. Memories of the past few hours
flooded in her mind, she could almost smell the blood, feel the pain and the
fear of losing her daughter. She didn’t want to wake up. The last time she had
been rushed into the hospital like this she had left without her baby.

Her heart ached as she felt a tear roll down her
temple.

She heard McKay
speak
.“
She’s
awake.”

“Open your eyes, sweetheart.” Toby’s voice called to
her. There was no sadness lined in his tone, but he could be putting on a brave
front for her.

Then she heard a tiny cry and her eyes flew
open.The
first person she saw was Tobias, but the baby
seemed to be hidden behind the small crowd gathered around her bed, “She’s
alive.”

“Yes she is.” Toby smiled a tear rolling down his
cheek, “And she’s beautiful. I have a surprise for you though.”

“I just want to see my baby.” Marietta gasped as
Jessie stepped forward with the little bundle wrapped in pink. But before she
could take the baby in her arms she saw Elizabeth with another baby in blue,
“Whose baby is that?”

“Ours,” Tobias struggled for breath. “They are both
ours.”

Marietta pushed herself
upinto
a sitting position, ignoring all the pain that seemed to stab at her from all
directions, “They are both ours? Are you sure?”

“That’s what they told us,” Edward teased.

“No wonder you looked like a whale,” Jessie piped in.

Marietta patted on the bed in the space just between
her legs, gesturing to them to place the babies there. She looked at them side
by side and couldn’t believe they were both hers. She
unwrapped
them and they cried from the cold, but that didn’t discourage her from her
mission. She counted their toes and their fingers. She did a complete
inspection on the two and then stared at them in a dilemma.

“What is it sweetheart?” Tobias asked, noticing her
hesitation.

“I don’t know whom to hold first?”

“How about the first born?”
Tobias picked up his son and placed him in his mother’s arms.

Marietta looked down at him and choked back a cry,
“You look exactly how I imagined you.” He had the full lips and when his eyes
opened she gasped. He looked right into her soul and immediately she felt at
peace and comforted. His deep brown eyes pulled at her. She pushed back his
baby cap and ran her fingers through his curly hair, “Just like I had
imagined.”

“There is always a greater plan.” Jessie quoted.

“Help me with her?” Marietta asked Tobias as she moved
her son to settle on one arm.
“Hi, little princess.
Which one of you was the one kicking mommy?”

The room erupted in laughter when McKay finally asked,
“Do you know why they came early?”

Marietta noticed Tobias blushing as he silenced the
rest of the room with just a stare. “He’s not as scary as he looks. I want to
know what happened.”

“It’s umm…it’s…” Tobias stammered.

“Let’s just say your husband in packing a big gun in
his pants.” Jessie called out.

Marietta stared wide eyed at her husband. “If it
wasn’t so scary I would thank you. It was getting so hard to move around.”

“But I should thank you.” Tobias had begun the
embarrassment gone from his face and a deep concern replacing it. His voice was
gentle and caring.

“For what?
You had a fifty
percent involvement in this too.”

“But you carried them and you are the one who fought
for them in that operating room. You are the reason they are here, the reason
we are all here.”

“You are welcome. I would say I would be glad to do it
again but it’s a bit too soon.” She laughed.

“What are you going to name them?” Chris asked, “I
think
Christoffer
is a good name for the boy.
“Marietta rolled her eyes at him, “I was thinking that I could name this little
fellow, Tobias Edward David and we would call him Ted for short. And this
little princess we could name her
Tobbie
-Anne
Elizabeth after both her grandmother’s, and call her Tae for short.”

“You want to name both of them after me?” Tobias asked
surprised.

“After you, their grandparents and
uncle.”
She beamed, “They need strong names if they are going to survive
in this harsh world. It’s a good thing their namesakes are a good example.”

“I think we should add one name to our little girl,
Tobbie
-Anne Marietta Elizabeth, and we can call her
Tamey
for short.” Tobias suggested. “She’s going to be
named after the strongest one of all of us.”

“I like that.”

****

Marietta and the babies went home five days later.
There was an increased security presence at the cabin from the media frenzy.
Tobias however never let the babies out of his sight, afraid that someone would
climb into the window and steal them. A few days later Chris, Jessie, Peter,
McKay and the Spencer’s went back to Los Angeles to get things ready for the
baby. Mrs. Bennett stayed behind to make sure they wouldn’t starve.

They had been at the cabin for a week. Work seemed to
be pouring in for both of them and although they weren’t grabbing at the
opportunities they accepted all the well wishes accorded to them. In those days
they had managed to formulate a system and a strong sleeping pattern. They
would sleep and return phone calls when the babies slept, but when they were
awake they would focus all their attention on them.

Tobias and Marietta sat in front of the warm fire,
finally getting a second to themselves.

“I never thought babies could be so much work.” Tobias
sighed.

“You are the one who refused to get a nurse.”

“I want to take of them myself.”

“What happens when we get back to work?”

Tobias mused over a thought, “Chris is moving to Los
Angeles to be with Jessie, maybe his mother would like to be closer to her
son.”

“Are you suggesting we ask Mrs. Bennett to come with
us?” Marietta liked the idea but she would have to run it past both mother and
son.

“I accept,” Mrs.
Bennet
called out from the stairs. “Let’s give it a trial run. I’ll watch out for the
kids while you two get reacquainted.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.” They both called out.

“She wants us to get reacquainted,” Marietta said with
a smile on her face as she straddled Tobias.

“I don’t know if it slipped your mind but our lack of
sleep was brought on by having sex,” he moaned as he planted kisses along her
cleavage. He rose to his knees with her and placed her on the floor while he
hovered over her, “The doctor said no sex for six weeks.”

“Five more to go, but he didn’t say we couldn’t do
other stuff.” Marietta teased as she pulled at his jeans buttons.

Tobias growled at her as he pushed her t-shirt under
her arms, exposing her belly and her breasts. He leaned towards her then pulled
back, “You are leaking.”

“I forgot to pump,” Marietta swore under her breath.

“I’ll go get the babies,” Tobias volunteered.

Marietta cleaned her nipples with a warm wet towel and
got comfortable on the sofa. At the rate at which she was leaking she would
have to feed both of them at the same time. She stood up with a start when she
heard a loud thud coming from the babies’ room.

“Toby?” there was no
response
.“Babe
!”
Something was wrong
and she knew it. She went straight for the window seat. She dumped the cushions
aside, as she clawed her way to the ply wood that separated her from her
defense.

Her head snapped back when she heard Ted let out a
scream. She couldn’t hear
Tamey
and it terrified her.
Marietta fisted her fingers around the hilt of the revolver. It felt heavy so
she assumed that there were bullets in it. But soon there wouldn’t be. There
was a knowing ache in her gut that made her shiver. Marietta ran up the stairs
determined to find her family’s attacker. She saw Tobias’ feet half way out of
the door as she climbed the last few steps. She wondered where Mrs.
Bennet
was.

Marietta wanted to reach out for Tobias once she was
standing over him but her attention was focused on the six foot man with the
long trench coat and the baseball cap. She could see Mrs. Bennett across the
room
,her
body slumped against the
wall. Was she alive?

“What do you want, Robert?” Marietta barked out her
hand trembling.

When he turned around to face her, Marietta felt her
heart stop. His cold eyes stared back at her, mocking her and yet she could see
a hint of lust in them. She took a step forward but didn’t move any closer.
Tamey
was in his arms, she was asleep and unaware. This was
how he liked to attack their prey when they were defenseless, innocent and
oblivious to what was about to happen to them.

Marietta forced herself not to turn around when she
heard Tobias grunt in pain, and when Ted cried out in fear. She wanted to
soothe them, comfort them both but she needed to focus her attention on her
little girl in that monster’s arms.

“Put her down. Take me. You’ve always wanted me,
right?” Marietta made herself sound like a little girl. The flash back of when
she was eight years old came back to her. That was when she was old enough to
know what he was doing was wrong, when she didn’t want to hurt anymore.

He didn’t respond he just watched her. His eyes
shifting from her face to the gun in her hand.

“Put the baby down and I’ll put the gun down. You can
take me.” She smiled wearily.

Marietta tried to hide her surprise when she felt
Tobias squeeze her ankle. She lowered the gun to the ground, close enough so
that Tobias could reach it just in case. “It’s your turn put the baby down.”

“She’s so perfect. Just like you.” His voice filled
her ears and immediately the terror settled within her. He had haunted her in
her dreams and now he was here, trying to destroy what was left of her. “You
were so perfect, so small so beautiful. I knew you were mine when you were born.
I felt proud, lucky even.”

Marietta restrained the cry that was bubbling up
inside her. She blinked her tears away knowing how violent he became when she
cried, when she showed that she didn’t like what he was doing. She felt Tobias
tremble and heard how his breath became labored.

“I’m here—take me,” she pleaded, “Just put her down.”
Marietta looked over into Ted’s crib, he was still whimpering but the screams
had died down.

“You’ll come with me?” She saw the excited look on his
face and her gut wrenched. Marietta nodded forcing a smile on her face, “I have
always loved you. You know that right?” He looked down on the baby and gave her
a kiss that made Marietta gasp out in pain, “Can she come?”

“I thought you wanted me?” She steadied her voice.

“She’s still pretty small, isn’t she? Maybe we’ll come
back for her later. When she’s six years old?” He smiled. “Her lashes are just
as long as yours.
So beautiful.”

Tobias gave her foot another squeeze and she knew that
the second he put the baby down, he would take action. But she wanted the
violence out of the babies’ room. Whatever Tobias had planned would have to
wait.

When he put the baby down in her crib, Marietta sighed
with relief. Now she had to get him out of there. She had one more card she had
to play. “Daddy, let’s go.” She stretched out her hand toward him and smiled.

“Daddy, let’s go,” she said again. She almost pulled
her hand away when his fingers curled around hers.