“Oh God!” Aulora said, stunned. “What does that mean, Dad?”
He shook his head. “Just that she’ll have to be specially monitored. One of her heart valves doesn’t seem to be closing tight enough. The pediatrician said it can get stronger with time. If she’s not better by the time she’s a year old, they’ll do surgery to fix the problem.”
“Oh, so it’s not like some terminal thing then?” Aulora asked, feeling more than a bit relieved.
“Not terminal, no,” he said. “If she has to have surgery a lot can happen. I hope she doesn’t have to undergo that.”
Weston clasped Charles’ shoulder. “I’m sure it’ll get stronger on its own. We’ll research the shit out of what to do to make sure it happens for her. Don’t worry. How’s Clara taking it?”
“Typical of any new mother. She’s devastated,” Charles let them know.
Weston shook his head as he thought, at least he got two months of pure joy before it was all taken away from him. This poor couple got a few minutes before doubt was put into their heads about their child’s future. “Let’s go see her, Aulora.”
Going inside, they found Clara, holding the baby. Tears were in her eyes and it gave them both pain in their hearts. “Hey, there,” Aulora said as they came in. “Do you feel up to company?”
“Did your father tell you?” she asked Aulora.
She nodded and came to her side. “He did. Can I hold her?” Clara nodded and Aulora took the tiny baby in her arms. “Hey, you. You know you have to get that little valve problem under control, right? You’re scaring Mom and Dad. As your big sister, it’s my job to make sure you’re always okay. So, you have to get okay, New Aulora.”
“Oh, we didn’t name her that,” Clara said. “Her name’s Hope. Because we want to remember to have hope for her every time we talk about her.”
“Hope, huh?” Aulora asked. “I like it. So, Hope, you have to get better. I have big plans for you and I.”
Weston took a seat as he listened to Aulora talking to her sister, much the same way he’d talked to his son. He’d had hopes, dreams, plans. But he shook his head to rid himself of the thoughts that would only send him into a funk.
Clara looked worried and defeated. Weston made an attempt to ease her mind, “You know most babies get through this early on.” He held up his cell to show her what he’d looked up. “It says here that most of the babies with this condition when born are better before they reach six months old. That’s great news. Don’t you think, Clara?”
“I guess,” she mumbled. “I just wish I knew what I had done wrong. I don’t want to do it again with our next child.”
He looked at the article and shook his head. “It says there’s no one who’s at fault with this kind of thing. It can happen to anyone. And the mortality rate for this type of thing is extremely low, even if they have to do surgery to correct it. I think you should focus on the baby and not worry about that too much.”
“Can you move in with us for a while, Aulora?” Clara asked her. “I think I could use your help.”
Weston looked at Aulora who’d gone pale. “Me? Move in? Um,”
Weston got up and came to her side, wrapping his arm around her waist, he said, “Of course, you can.”
She looked up at him with wide eyes. “Only if you come too.” Aulora looked at Clara. “He and I are a package deal.”
“I know that. Of course, he can come too. I can use all the help I can get. I will not have nannies looking after my children. Only family members. I consider Weston part of the family. So, it’s settled. You two can move into the room right across from ours, so you can help us out. Can you be in there before we get released from the hospital?”
Weston took charge. “We can. Not to worry. I think it’s fantastic that you don’t want to use a nanny. I had one and I hated her. She was so stoic and strict. I could feel the fact I was nothing to her. My younger brother could too. I hated it when I had to go to school and leave him alone with her. We’d be glad to help with little Hope. And one day, I hope you and Charles can help us with our own brood.”
Aulora blushed as she looked at the baby in her arms. “Would you listen to him, Hope. He’s counting his chickens, isn’t he? Calling what we’ll have, a brood!”
The baby wiggled in her arms and she saw Weston looking at the bundle she held with great interest.
“Might I hold her, peach?”
He took a seat beside her as she handed the baby over to him. “Hi there, you precious little girl. I’m not sure what you’d call me. Not uncle.”
“She’ll probably come up with something on her own when she’s old enough,” Aulora said as she ran her hand over the cute tiny head of her sister. “Probably something like, Bubba.”
“Bubba?” he asked with a frown. “That sounds hillbilly, don’t you think?”
“It does,” Clara said with a nod.
“Well, I like it,” Aulora said. “It’s so not him, you know?”
Clara smiled and so did Aulora. Then Clara pushed it a bit as she said, “So, when will you two start trying?”
“To do what?” Aulora asked without a clue as to what her stepmother was talking about.
“To do what,” Clara said as she laughed. “Trying to have yourselves a baby, Aulora. What else?”
“I think we should be married before we even begin to discuss such a thing,” Aulora said.
Weston got up and took the baby to Clara. “Hold her for a sec, will you Mum?” She took the baby then they watched him as he opened the door and left the room, leaving them wondering what the hell he was doing.
“Did I offend him?” Clara asked.
“I don’t think so,” Aulora said as she got up to go after him. “I have no idea why he’d react like that. It’s not as if he’s never thought about us getting married and having kids.”
Before she could get to the door, her father came inside. “What did you do to the boy, Aulora?” he asked her as he gently pushed her to go back and sit down. “He walked right past me and got into the elevator.”
“I… I didn’t do anything. Clara asked us when we planned on trying to have a baby and I said something about being married first and he left,” Aulora stammered.
“Well, you shouldn’t have put him on the spot like that. Take it from a man who took a long time to believe in the sanctity of marriage, it’s a real game-changer when a woman starts thinking in those terms,” her father told her.
“But I wasn’t. I really wasn’t. I’ve never tried to force the marriage issue. If he wants kids, though. Well, I’m not doing it unless we’re married. I saw all too well what can happen when there’s no real commitment.”
Her father cast his eyes to the floor, guilt written all over his face. “You should follow him. I’m sure he went to the lobby. Maybe he’s planning on calling a cab or something.”
“Maybe I should follow him. I never saw this coming. What the hell should I say to him, Dad?” Aulora asked as she got up.
“Whatever you feel in your heart, honey.” He pulled her into his arms and rocked her back and forth, leaving a kiss on top of her head. “Whatever you feel in your heart is what you should always say.”
He let her go and she left the room, feeling more than a bit confused.
Chapter 7
When the elevator doors opened, Aulora stopped walking just as she stepped out of it. The lobby was dim. Only candles lit it up. Tons of them.
She saw no one as she stood perfectly still. Then the sound of men humming filled her ears. One by one, men dressed in tuxedos stepped out of the shadows, still humming a soft and tranquil tune.
An acoustical version of John Berry’s ‘Will You Marry me’ was what the men started signing and out of the darkness, emerged Weston, also clad in a tuxedo. Holding out a black box and making his way to her.
Aulora stood, trembling, her hands covering her mouth and her heart pounding so hard, she was sure everyone could hear it even over the singing.
&nb
sp; When the song was over, Weston was in front of her on bended knee. He opened the black box, exposing a diamond the likes of which she’d never seen. “So, will you, Aulora?” he asked her with a smile on his lips and a gleam in his golden eyes. “Will you make me the happiest man alive and become Mrs. Weston Calloway?”
Would she?
Sky Rocketing Investments Part Eight
Chapter 1
Weston couldn’t believe how long Aulora was taking to answer his very simple question.
Would she marry him?
What he didn’t know was a lump the size of Texas had lodged in her throat, preventing her from saying even one word. Her hands covered her mouth, her blue eyes were wide and shining with tears which were streaming in small trails over her pink cheeks.
Weston wanted to remember how she looked exactly. Her dark hair had freshly cut bangs that hung to the tops of her dark brows that were expertly shaped. Her blue eyes were shiny with more than mere tears, there was happiness in their depths. Her creamy skin was blemish free, a rare thing for her. Not a hint of makeup and still gorgeous, he thought. She was his choice, a perfect choice for him. Now she needed to give him the answer he wanted.
“Aulora?” he asked as he repositioned himself, his knee was beginning to grow numb with his wait. His heart was beginning to beat faster as nerves settled in.
Was she going to tell him, no?
Just as he’d nearly given up, she finally bobbed her head a bit, letting him know she was accepting his proposal. He let out a huge sigh and pulled her left hand away from her face so he could slip the three-carat diamond engagement ring onto her slender ring finger. She held her hand out and gazed at it, even though it was shaking like a leaf on an autumn tree in a stiff breeze.
When Weston rose, she wrapped her arms around his neck, hanging on for dear life as she began to sob. “Yes! Yes, Weston! I’ll be your wife!”
“Good to hear the actual words, peach,” he said with a chuckle. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
The young men he’d hired to sing his proposal started singing another song of congratulations in an acoustic harmony. Neither paid attention to the words as their hearts pounded and their minds went in the direction most newly engaged couples go in.
This is where it all begins, the rest of our lives together.
Weston danced with his new fiancé to the song the men sang, sweetly. Aulora lay her head on his shoulder and followed along as he led her around the candlelit hospital lobby, making circles as they went.
It wasn’t his ideal place to make such a grand gesture, but he’d found himself thinking more and more about how to ask her to marry him and this place seemed like a very good idea. With the birth of her baby sister and the start of her family again, Weston found he wanted to be a real part of it all. Not just the guy who was with Aulora went it all went down. He wanted to be more than that.
When the song ended, Aulora raised her head and looked at Weston. “Thank you, West.” Her thick, dark lashes still held a couple of tears, looking like rain drops on branches. When she blinked, they fell down her cheeks that were pink with what he thought might be excitement.
She looked into the golden eyes of the man she’d one day marry. His handsome face would forever be etched in her mind. The way the candle light made shadows in the hollows of his cheeks and made a flicker in his eyes, bringing out the green in them. He was fantastic to look at, and she’d get to gaze at him forever.
“Thank you,” he said and kissed her with a sweet kiss that had everyone clapping and cheering for them, somewhat quietly, due to it being a hospital.
When their kiss ended, Aulora saw her father coming out of the shadows, holding up his cell. He’d been taking a video of the whole thing. “Congratulations, you two!” The smile he wore went all over his face. There was no doubt about his happiness with their union.
Aulora was confused to find her father had made it down. She’d left him in the hospital room with Clara. The elevator hadn’t opened up again. “Daddy? How did you…”
“Weston asked me for my approval first, Aulora. Of course, I gave it to him. Once I knew what he was about to do, I told Clara. You can imagine her reaction. I had to sprint down the stairs to video the whole thing. Clara insisted I get it captured for eternity. She’s so sentimental you know.”
Aulora laughed and wiped her eyes. She held out her hand with the new ring on it, wiggling her fingers, making the dim light catch on the diamonds cuts. “Did he show you this, Daddy?”
“No, he did not. Let me see it,” her father said as he put the cell down and took his oldest daughter’s hand to look at her new engagement ring. “Gorgeous! I’d say this is absolutely flawless. Much like my beautiful daughter.”
“Oh, Daddy, I’m far from flawless, but I have to agree about the diamond, it is absolutely gorgeous,” she agreed then looked over her shoulder at Weston who was holding her from behind. “And very extravagant. I’m sure you spent a fortune on it, and I would’ve accepted your proposal if it had been out of a gum machine. But I love it!”
His lips pressed against her cheek. “Yeah, I knew you would. I wanted to get you something that let you know that you mean the world to me. Knowing that you’d accept me with or without money is a thing I truly appreciate, Aulora. I mean that.”
The long day had ended perfectly. Aulora was an engaged young woman, a new sister, and things were looking pretty great for the future. Her cell rang, and she took it out of the pocket of her skirt. It was Clara from her hospital room upstairs. “Get up here, girl. I have to see it!”
“Coming, Mom,” Aulora told her stepmother as she giggled.
Up they went to show Clara the video and the ring and hold the baby some more before they had to leave for the night. Aulora and Weston sat and held the baby as Clara watched the video and cried as she did. “This is just so beautiful!”
“It was,” Aulora agreed then handed the baby over to Weston and went to Clara’s side. She kissed her stepmother on the forehead. “And thank you for giving me, my first sibling. It’s taken a while, but I’m finally not an only child anymore.”
“You’re welcome,” Clara said then hugged her. “I’m looking forward to being a part of making this family grow. I’d like to thank you for being here. Being a real part of bringing your little sister into the world and into our family. You’re a part of her, Aulora. Never forget that.”
“I can see why Dad loves you so much. You’re a blessing in both our lives. I’ll never forget that Hope, and any more kids that come along, are a part of me too. And thank you for being so great. Accepting me and helping Dad see that he needed to make amends with me and my mother was big of you. It takes a special person to do something like that. I hope you know I respect the hell out of you.” Aulora told her then hugged her again. “We need to get out of here, so you guys can get some sleep. We’ll get things ready at your house. And get ourselves settled in the room across the hallway from you. I can’t wait for you guys to get home.”
“Me neither!” Clara agreed then sniffled as what Aulora said had triggered the waterworks yet again. “See you guys soon.” Charles handed her a tissue, and she wiped her eyes. The day had been one, long, hard one but everything seemed like it was supposed to be that way. A good day, all in all.
Aulora found Weston handing the baby to her father and found an ache in her heart when she saw her new fiancé with that baby in his arms. She was sure he’d make a wonderful father someday. But she was still unsure when that day would come.
So much still struggled in her mind. So many things could go wrong. Weston was very much a part of her, and it was settling into her head that if something ever happened to him then she’d hurt like hell. Adding kids into that scary mix was a thing she still was unsure she could handle. And the fact she knew nothing about babies was an issue too. She may be terrible with them.
At least she had her new baby sister to see how she was with them. She’d gain a little knowledge about babie
s. But would she ever find the courage to have one of her very own?
It wasn’t the pregnancy or even the birthing process she was afraid of. It was the chance of losing something so precious that kept her mind occupied with doubts.
Chapter 2
Week one, helping with Hope, went by quickly. Between all four of them, taking care of the baby was a virtual breeze. Week two, when Hope’s stomach decided it didn’t like the formula she was being served, became the thing new parents have nightmares about. Crying that doesn’t stop for extended periods of time. And nothing seems to make the baby happy.
Aulora walked the hallway with Hope in her arms as Weston made a trip to the local pharmacy where some kind of a gas reliever had been called in by the pediatrician to aid in helping the poor baby get some much-needed relief. She tried to quiet the baby so her father and stepmother could get some sleep after being up most of the night with the fussy little girl.
Hope made an odd wheezing sound that startled Aulora, making her stop the constant pacing she was doing with the infant and look at her. She noticed her face was a bluish color and that had her worrying something might be wrong.
Quick steps took her to the bedroom where little Hope’s parents were resting but about to be woken up with what Aulora hoped wasn’t bad news. A quick knock at the door had her father saying, “Come in.”
“Dad, the baby’s color isn’t right,” Aulora said as she came into the large bedroom.
Clara sat up in the bed with wide eyes, “Bring her here!”
Hope had stopped crying. The only sound she made was the wheezing sound that had her father calling the paramedics. “She didn’t have anything in her mouth, did she?”
“No, she was crying with her tummy again. Weston should be back soon with the gas drops. Then she stopped crying all of a sudden and started making this sound.” Aulora watched as Clara placed her fingers over the baby’s heart.
“It’s beating oddly,” Clara said, and tears began running down her cheeks. “Tell them to hurry, Charles.”
The Naughty One: A Doctor’s Christmas Romance (Season of Desire Book 2) Page 85