by Brittle, D M
Blake had turned a corner the past few days, my Blake was back and even though he still worried over me, he was back to just being a caring, worried husband without the fear that something was going to happen to me or the babies.
The truth was, I was a little sore today, but it was a pleasant reminder of the night that Blake and I had shared last night and each time I remembered his lips on my skin or his cock inside of me, I smiled at just how erotically wonderful it had been.
I had experienced my first Braxton hicks today too, since getting out of bed this morning my stomach had been cramping up on and off. It wasn’t painful just uncomfortable, but the babies were still as active as ever, so without wanting to worry anyone unnecessarily I carried on as normal and tried to forget about it. If the cramps did worsen, however I would have to tell Blake.
Everyone began to arrive and the party was soon in full swing, Julia was looking well considering what she had been through over the past few weeks; the radiotherapy was making her tired but she put on a brave face as she always did and began to enjoy herself. Seeing everyone together and happy was bittersweet, in only a few weeks’ time Blake and I would be leaving for our new life and as Blake had said at the hospital, we didn’t know when we would all be together like this again, so we needed to make tonight a night to remember.
Once the baby shower was over everyone moved into the living area, at some point someone had set up the karaoke system and everyone had begun taking turns singing a song. The cramps had become more frequent over the course of the evening but still weren’t painful, I had read a lot about Braxton hicks which were described to be exactly how I was feeling now, so I slipped away from the party un-noticed and headed back out onto the balcony where I stood and took in the sites that surrounded me.
I felt the warmth of Blake’s arms surround me shortly after; I leaned my head back and rested on his shoulder as I sighed with contentment.
“Good job it wasn’t my father who came out here.” I could feel Blake’s smile against my hair.
“I don’t think your dad would wrap his arms around me like you just did and poke me in the back with an erection,” I laughed.
“I can’t stop thinking about last night,” Blake whispered. “Do you think anyone would notice if we slipped away from the party for a while?”
“Erm, yes, I think everyone would notice if we weren’t at the party that we threw for all of them,” I smiled as Blake’s arms tightened around me.
“What are you thinking about?”
I took in a deep breath. “How much I am going to miss this place,” I replied honestly. “Your family, Casey and Alex, the three ovens.” I felt Blake chuckle. “I’m going to miss this view and all of the memories that we made here together.” I felt my eyes fill with tears as the happy memories began to come flooding back.
“We are going to have so many more happy memories Jo, even better ones because those memories will include our children.” I turned in Blake’s arms and smiled up at him. “Hey, are you crying?” Blake asked as he reached up and wiped a lone tear from my face.
“Only a little,” I admitted. “But they’re not tears because I am sad, well maybe a little part of them is because I am sad but mostly they are tears because I never imagined I would ever feel this happy, and that is all because of you Blake, thank you.” Blake’s lips pressed against mine firmly.
“I love you so much Jo; and I know that I fell apart a little while ago but it was because I too never imagined being this happy and now I am; I won’t let anything take it away from us.”
“Er, I’m sorry to interrupt you guys but the speeches have begun; your mother wants to thank you both for a lovely evening.”
“We will be right in Dad, thanks.” Blake answered without taking his eyes from me, he leaned in and kissed me again; as he pulled away he held his face close to mine and smiled lovingly at me. “I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you Jo, we are going to have the most amazing life together, I just know it.”
My stomach tightened once more but this time the pain felt a little more intense, I couldn’t mask it the same way that I had been since they began earlier on today.
“Are you okay? Is it the babies?” Blake asked as his hands instinctively wrapped around my bump.
“I’m fine,” I smiled as the pain eased. “I’m fine; I have been having practice contractions since this morning.” I smiled.
“Are you sure that is what they are? Shall we ask Sam to take a look at you?”
“Blake, I promise you, I am fine. I have read up on them, they are common in the later stages of pregnancy. We have an apartment full of people in there, let’s go and enjoy the rest of the party and if I still have them tomorrow then I will get checked over okay?”
“I would be happier if you would just get checked out,” he said firmly.
“And I will, just not right now okay?”
Blake sighed before he reached down and took my hand, “always so stubborn Mrs. Mackenzie.”
“That’s why you love me.” I reached up and placed my lips to Blake’s before turning and leading us both back into the apartment where Julia was ready and waiting to begin her speech.
“Ah,” she smiled. “Here they are.” The room fell silent as Julia began to speak. “I really just wanted to thank you all for coming here tonight and making it a truly lovely evening, I have enjoyed it immensely. It isn’t often that we are all together like this and we don’t know when it will happen again but I have had the most wonderful evening, thank you. Thank you also for the love and support that you have shown me during my illness, I am happy to say that my treatment is nearing the end and it looks like I have beaten this horrible disease, so thank you all, each and every one of you, and that’s all I wanted to say really.” Julia laughed shyly as she picked up her drink and took a long sip. “Blake,” she said suddenly. “It’s your turn now, you have to say something.” She beckoned to him and he happily walked over and turned to face everyone.
“Well, I didn’t realize I would need a speech prepared for this evening so I’ll just have to make it up as I go along,” Blake smiled.
“Come on son, it’s a party not the Oscars,” Marti replied which caused everyone to laugh.
“Well okay then,” Blake said clasping his hands together. “Thank you all for coming, thank you for the baby gifts which were all beautiful and thank you for a great evening; now, there is plenty of food and drinks and no one leaves her until it’s all gone, have a good one.” Blake took Julia’s glass from her hand and held it up in the air.
“Is that it son?” Marti asked in disappointment.
“It’s not the Oscars Dad,” he winked before taking a sip of Julia’s drink.
“Okay okay okay!” Casey announced excitedly. “As we are all doing speeches and that, I have one! First off Jo and Blake, wonderful party, I am gonna really miss you guys, as soon as possible Alex and I will be on that plane and straight over to see you; but the main reason I am going to miss you is this; who am I going to cry to when my hormones are at their worst? Who else do I know who is pregnant and can advise me on the dos and don’ts and the cans and cants?” Casey was grinning widely as her eyes sparkled towards me, I gasped as I realized what she was telling us all.
“Oh my God Casey are you….?”
Casey nodded as Alex stepped over and took her hand in his; he too had a grin so big that it rivalled the Cheshire cat.
“Alex and I are pregnant!” she said happily before hopping from foot to foot with excitement.
“Oh my God!” I paced towards them quickly and pulled Casey to me hugging her so hard; Blake was already hugging Alex as everyone else gathered around to congratulate them both.
“You knew the other day didn’t you, when we were out shopping?” I said as I pulled away and looked up at her, she nodded as her smile widened.
“Alex wanted to do the whole wait three months thing but I am so happy Jo, I needed to tell you, finally, I am going to be a mo
mmy!”
I hugged Casey again, “I am so happy for you Casey, so so happy!”
“I wish you could be here to share the next however many months with me,” She said sadly.
“We will skype,” I said firmly. “And I promise you we will be back, of course we will be back, this is our home too.” We continued to hold each other as everyone else continued to congratulate them, finally Alex and Casey’s dream of becoming parents was about to happen, everything was so beautiful and so perfect and nothing was ever going to spoil it.
Blake
The party had been perfect. I couldn’t have imagined spending the evening any other way than with those who we loved and who loved us back.
Casey announcing her pregnancy had been the icing on the cake, if she and Alex were ever going to be even a fraction as happy as Jo and I were then they would be the luckiest people alive, Jo’s pregnancy had been the making of us, it had brought us even closer together if that was even possible.
I had helped Diana and Jasmine clear away from the party after sending Jo to bed, she had been quiet for most of the evening and even though I knew that she was sad to be leaving, I think the day had been too much for her, the babies’ due date was imminent and she had done a lot over the past few days to prepare for this evening, she was worn out and needed as much rest now as possible before we had two babies here with us.
The party continued downstairs at Alex and Casey’s apartment to celebrate their news but instead of joining everyone else, I climbed into bed quietly so as not to disturb Jo and kissed her forehead.
I noticed that she was frowning which made me unhappy; since I had opened up to Jo she had gone back to always smiling, even in her sleep unless something was bothering her but I had no idea what it was.
I thought back to the past few weeks and how I had crumbled in front of her, she had taken me in her arms and cared for me as much as I had cared for her at the beginning of our relationship when she was afraid and vulnerable, since then she had become the most amazing and strongest person that I had even met.
My nightmares had slowed down since that night, I still had them on occasion, they usually happened when I had found time to sit and think things through too much, but they never woke me anymore, I had somehow learned through sleep how to take control of them and realize that they were nothing more than a harmless bad dream.
I gently stroked the frown lines on Jo’s forehead in a desperate attempt to make them disappear when her eyes opened suddenly and focused directly at me. She let out a deep groan as she brought her knees up towards her chest and screamed out in pain.
“Jo, what is it? Jo talk to me, tell me what’s wrong.”
“The pain,” she gasped as if breathing was becoming difficult. “So much pain, help me Blake please help me.” She continued to cry out as I rushed from the bed and grabbed the phone calling 911 immediately.
“I need an ambulance and I need it right now, I think my wife is in labor, she is in a lot of pain, I think the babies are coming, we are having twins, and she is screaming out over and over, there’s no space in between her cries.” Jo continued to scream out as I gave the emergency services our address and demanded that they get here as soon as possible.
“Okay Jo, listen to me, we need to get you out of the bed okay? The ambulance is on its way, everything is going to be fine, I promise you, remember? Everything is going to be just fine. I am just going to get dressed and then I am going to help you get out of bed.”
“Blake, something is wrong,” Jo cried. “Something feels so wrong Blake, please, don’t let me lose our babies, not now, not after all this time please.”
“I won’t let anything happen to you or the babies, I swear.” The desperation in her voice as she begged me to save our babies was torturous, but I had to remain strong; for Jo’s sake, I needed to be strong.
“The bed, the bed feels so wet,” She cried.
“That will just be your waters breaking, don’t panic,” I said trying not to panic myself. “I need you to stay calm okay?” I shrugged into a t-shirt and sweatpants as quickly as possible and rushed to Jo’s side quickly tearing the blankets from the bed.
“Shit, no!” I said in shock.
“Blake, what is it?” Jo panted.
“It’s nothing beautiful,” I forced a smile as I leaned forward and stroked Jo’s face in an attempt to keep her calm, the wetness that Jo had felt in the bed wasn’t from her waters breaking, she was bleeding, she was bleeding so heavily that the entire bed was covered in thick dark blood. As Jo lifted herself from the bed her eyes rolled back and she fell straight back landing onto the pillow. Panic took over immediately as the fear of losing her quickly returned, my entire body shook as I watched Jo lie in a pool of her own blood, lifeless in front of me, I needed to help her, I needed to get her out of the apartment and to the hospital as quickly as possible, I had promised her that she was going to be okay and I needed to stick to that promise. I took her in my arms and ran as fast as I could through the apartment and into the elevator; my bloody fingers pressed shakily on the buttons leaving behind a trail of Jo’s suffering. “Jo,” I called to her desperately. “Jo, open your eyes beautiful, I need you to open your eyes, don’t you dare leave me Jo don’t you dare die on me, we have forever together remember? You promised me forever, you promised me and I won’t allow you to break that promise, don’t you dare go back on that promise do you hear me!” Tears began to fall thick and fast from my eyes at the thought of losing Jo and being left alone; as the elevator reached the ground floor the doors opened and I stepped out into the foyer quickly, “I need help, someone please help my wife, can anyone please help her!” I yelled.
As I made my way quickly towards the entrance, the paramedics came rushing into the building, everyone around me began to shout and scream as I lay Jo down gently onto the floor where the paramedics proceeded in their attempt to save her, they asked me questions; a lot of questions and after answering as best as I could I continued to beg them over and over to help her, to keep her alive, to please save my wife and children. They got Jo onto a stretcher quickly and rushed her out of the building and into the ambulance within minutes. She was critical, they told me that she was critical but I couldn’t process how that could even be possible when only hours ago she was perfectly fine. She had told me about some sort of practice contractions but she had assured me that they were normal, that they were nothing. I should have taken her to be checked out straight away but I didn’t. I did nothing. Somehow, something had gone horribly wrong so suddenly and now my wife was holding on to her life by a thread.
“Please don’t die, please Jo don’t leave me please I am begging you, do not die.” I repeated this sentence all the way to the hospital as the paramedic wired Jo up to various machines.
As soon as we arrived at the hospital there was no time wasted as Jo was rushed off the ambulance immediately and inside promptly. As I rushed in with them my hand clung to Jo with desperation, a doctor stood at the doorway preventing me from going any further as they rushed her into theatre.
“We need Dr Greene, Dr Samantha Greene,” I said firmly. “She will know what to do, she will know how to save my wife, she promised me that she will make sure that Jo and the babies get through this okay.”
“Mr. Mackenzie there is no time for that, your wife is in a critical condition, she is losing too much blood and we need to stop the bleeding and get the babies out immediately, we know what we are doing, we have the best team in there who are going to do everything they can to ensure that both your wife and your babies are okay but there is no time to lose here, we need to do this right now.”
“This can’t be happening,” I shook my head refusing to believe that this was true. “This has to be a nightmare, please tell me that I am just having another stupid fucking nightmare! She was fine!” I yelled. “She was absolutely fine!”
“Mr. Mackenzie, we will do everything that we can, I promise you; now please if you could follow me,
there is a room for you to wait in until we have any news and I promise you that the minute we have any news I will be straight back to you.” The doctor began to walk in the direction that they had taken Jo, I followed the doctor who led me to a room where he left me immediately and headed down the corridor towards the theatre. I lifted my hands in front of me and took in the sight of what I had got left of Jo. Her blood covered me; my hands my chest, my sweatpants; everything was covered in Jo’s blood.
Before I had time to register how much blood Jo had lost, the door opened suddenly before my parents and Diana came rushing in.
“We just heard son,” dad was crying as he took me in his arms and held me like he use to when I was a child. “She is going to be okay;” he sniffed “She will be okay.”
“Blake,” Diana cried as she too placed her arms around me and began to cry.
“Have the doctors said anything?” Mom asked as she wiped her eyes but still the tears kept on coming.
“I don’t know what happened,” I cried. “She was fine, I mean you all saw her, she has been fine! I can’t lose her, I can’t lose my wife, please God; don’t take my wife away from me!”
We held each other as we all cried and prayed that Jo survived this, I wasn’t sure how long we had been waiting when the door opened and the doctor came walking in. We all stood in anticipation as he removed his gloves and looked directly at me.
“Your wife lost a lot of blood Mr. Mackenzie. While trying to stem the bleeding, the babies also began to suffer, their heart rates both dropped dramatically and it was important to get them both out. We delivered a healthy boy and a healthy girl Mr. Mackenzie, you are now a father.” He smiled but the smile didn’t reach his eyes.
“Jo,” I said simply. “I need to know about Jo.”