A Promised Fate
Page 50
Chapter 31
Practice
The cut-rate, generic wall clock in the hospital room ticked so slowly I wanted to rip it from its pathetic nail and smash it to pieces on the floor at my feet.
“Mrs. Alexander?”
“Jesus! It’s about bloody freakin’ time!” I shot up out of the seat at Ava’s bedside and both of the women, Ava and the on-call doctor, shot me nasty looks.
“How are you feeling?” The doctor ignored me and focused on her patient.
“I had a couple of really painful and sharp cramps on one side of my stomach and now they just seemed to have gone away.”
“Okay, that kind of thing is normal, Ava. What you are experiencing is called practice contractions. I don’t think you're in labor, but since you're here, I’m going to do a pelvic exam so we can see if you are dilated and we can double check to make sure your water hasn’t broken.”
“Alright.” She said to the doctor and then looked over to me. “Ari, you’ll need to step out into the hall for a minute or two, the doctor needs to do an exam.”
“Like hell, Ava! I’m not leaving you!”
“Ari.” Her cheeks blushed.
“You can forget about it, I’m not leaving your side.” I softened as much as I could in my panicky state and tucked a stray wave of hair back under her pearly hairpin. “I can’t. You are my wife and this is my child, I need to be in here with you. Please.”
Her head nodded in a small agreeing bob. “He’s fine to stay.” She told the doctor.
“You might feel a pinch.”
Ava’s face screwed tightly in a knot and I kept my eyes focused on hers.
“Your water has not broken and you are only dilated to about one centimeter. You’re not in labor so I am going to send you home tonight. You can take some Tylenol for any discomfort you may feel. If your water does break, come back to the hospital right away or if you start having regular contractions that are about five minutes apart, that’s when the real labor begins. I know you're ready for the baby to be here, but you could still be looking at another few weeks, or heck, it could be tomorrow – it’s up to the baby to decide, so try to get plenty of rest and be sure to pack an overnight bag for the hospital stay. Luck favors the prepared.”
“Okay.” Ava’s voice was small and tired. It was late and we had missed the end of the gala – no dancing, no door prizes and now no baby. She was disappointed.
My stomach, head, heart, limbs, lungs – all of them buzzed out of control with the abundance of gushing adrenaline.
“Let’s go, Baby.”
In the car, Ava curled up in the front seat under my suit jacket, pressed her cheek against the cool window glass and fell asleep, leaving me with nothing to do but think.
Fauna had been my assistant for a year and yet I had had no idea she was anyone other than the girl who answered my phone and ran my errands. Unassuming, sometimes a little dumb but always reliable, she had been granted access to nearly everything in my life – I had trusted her. All she had to do was ask me for something, anything, and I never once questioned her. If she rattled off an excuse for my pin number, I provided it to her without the blink of an eye. She had my schedule and our security codes, and she had used my credit cards on several occasions. I had given her access to our bank accounts and the keys to my house and cars. She had had ample opportunities to makes copies of whatever she wanted. She had made my life so easy, and now the thought of her made me nauseous. I pulled over on the highway twice to puke in the dirty gravel.
“Hey, Baby.” I gave Ava a gentle nudge when we pulled into the garage. “We're home now. Let me take you upstairs, I’ll get you in bed.”
“I put you in a bad mood and ruined your night. It was just a silly cramp, I’m sorry.” She pouted and unbuckled her seatbelt.
“You did no such thing,” I said, smiling. Ava babbles when she’s tired and I have always found it endearing. She looked up at me and smiled back.
Inside, I disabled the alarm and walked slowly behind her through the house. Lauren was asleep on the couch with Luke sleeping on the floor beside her. The end credits from a movie ran up the TV. I shut it off and kissed my sister's forehead.
“Hey, you’re home.” She stretched.
“Yeah, sorry we're later than I said we would be. But we’re home now, you two are welcome to stay or you can head next door if you want to. Just let me know so I can set the alarm.”
“We'll just stay. I’m too tired to walk all the way home.”
“Sure, take the guest room if you’d like. How was Max?”
“He was really good all night. He’s asleep in his bed.”
“Thanks, Lo. Love you.”
“Love you, too.” She rolled her face into a couch pillow and curled back into a ball.
Ava sleepily made her way up the stairs. Her waves were still pinned back perfectly and she still looked amazing in her black dress but she had given up on the heels back at the hospital. They dangled loosely from her fingertips.
“Let me take care of you.” I said and removed Ava’s hair pins, placing each one in a small glass dish on her dressing table. Reaching around her, I unzipped her dress. My fingers traced the line down her spine to the small of her back. She stepped out of the dress and stood before me wearing only a pair of lace panties.
“Do you want me to slip these back on?” She talked softly in my ear and held up her red bottomed Luboutins.
“I would love that, but do you know what fantasy I would like to see even more right now?”
“What?” Her voice was so soft.
“You…”
“Mmm…”
“In my bed.”
“Yeah?”
“Asleep.”
“Oh.” Her shoulders dropped but she was so tired, she was relieved. I tugged one of my undershirts over her head and replaced her lace panties with comfy cotton.
“Let me put you to bed. I just want to hold you, Ava. I don’t ever want to let you go.”
Ava curled in bedside me and I watched her sleep until my tears clouded my eyes and hard, forceful sobs caused my body to shake and tremble. I prayed.