by Dahlia Rose
She looked up from her task as Suzie came to the nursery door. “Adira, we’re going to the market for dinner groceries and will stop by our house before coming back here. Do you need anything?”
Adira smiled and shook her head. “I’m great, Suzie. You go on and do what you need to. I’ll find some lunch later. It’s icy out there so be careful.”
Suzie waggled her finger at Adira. “No walks outside in this icy weather. We don’t need you sick or slipping. In fact, I should have Mason—”
“Oh, no, you don’t,” Adira said. “Suzie, go on. Lyn will be here soon and I promise I won’t be going outside. Favian will be home in a few hours.”
Suzie nodded and narrowed her gaze. “Remember, you promised me. I won’t make any homemade ice cream if you lie to me.”
“Yes, Madre,” Adira said as solemnly as she could, trying not to laugh. She loved Suzie to no end and actually loved her mothering nature, even the threats of no dessert. She blew the matronly woman a kiss. “Get going, lovey. I’ll be here when you get back.”
“Adios.” Suzie waved and left.
“Adios,” Adira called back and returned to her task.
After folding a few more baby clothes and going through the cutest baby socks she’d ever seen, she was finally done and took her time getting up off the white recliner that graced the room. She was looking forward to sitting there and nursing the baby while looking out through the big bay window. Just as she got up, the beep-beep-beep of the security system went off. She frowned. Suzie usually turned it on via remote when she left the house for any reason.
Maybe she forgot something, Adira thought and stepped outside the nursery. “Suzie, did you leave your purse in the breakfast nook again? That was where I saw it this morning.”
But it wasn’t Suzie she saw coming up the stairs. It was Hillary. Shock registered and then just a little fear entered Adira’s heart. Hillary looked perfectly put together as usual and her eyes kept moving from Adira’s face to her belly.
“Hillary, how did you get in? The locks have been changed.” Adira took a step back.
Hillary held up her hands as she took the last step onto the second floor landing. “No, don’t run. Don’t call Favian, please. I just want to talk.”
“That doesn’t explain how you got in. What do we have to talk about?” Adira kept her voice low and watched Hillary cautiously. Every step forward the woman took Adira took one in the opposite direction. The little circular dance brought Hillary by the door of the nursery and Adira close to the stairs.
“I got my friend to pay off the locksmith and get me an extra set of keys. I-I didn’t get invited to the wedding and you’re pregnant. Let’s start there,” Hillary said. She looked into the nursery. “It looks nice.”
“Thanks, I guess. But, Hillary, you really haven’t been the nicest person,” Adira pointed out. “I’m sure you’re great, but you’ve went about things the wrong way.”
“Well, you can fix that, can’t you? Talk to Favian for me,” she said. “He loves you. He’ll listen to you.”
“I can try, but Favian makes up his own mind and I won’t use my love for him or what he feels for me to manipulate him,” Adira answered. “He’s been through enough with women doing that to him. In the end, it has to be his choice.”
Hillary’s lips curled up in a sneer. “Listen to you. It’s like you’re this chaste school girl with morals and codes. Honestly, who talks like that? What do you have that pulled him to you and away from me? Does he really believe those lines?”
The conversation had turned as she expected it would and that was enough for Adira. “Okay, it’s time for you to go. You broke in and I don’t have to stand here and listen to you beg me to intercede for you and then insult me in the next breath. Please leave.”
“How are you going to make me?” Hillary sounded so childish that Adira was amazed the words actually came out of her mouth.
“I’ll hit the panic button. It goes directly to Favian’s office and then you can explain this to him,” Adira snapped.
She didn’t want to bait Hillary, but Favian’s step-sister pushed every last nerve that she had. She turned to the panel on the wall next to the stairs to hit the panic button. “No!” Hillary yelled and rushed towards her. From there, everything seemed to happen in slow motion.
Hillary grabbed her hand and Adira pulled away, trying once again to hit the button to alert Favian and his security team. Hillary caught her hand again and in the struggle Adira’s foot slipped off the edge of the top step. Adira could feel herself falling and fear clutched at her chest as she tried to hold on to Hillary, but she stepped back and left Adira to fall. She did the best she could to protect her belly as she tumbled down the stairs. Her body hit the wall at the bottom of the steps and she took a breath and then another hoping and praying that the baby was okay. But then the pain came, searing throughout her stomach and radiating to her back. It took her breath away and her vision blurred as she saw Hillary running down the stairs.
“Help me,” Adira managed to say through the pain.
Hillary shook her head frantically and looked down at her, biting her fist as if to stop a scream.
She took another breath. “Hillary, please press the panic button. Help will come.”
“Favian will come and he’ll be so mad,” Hillary whimpered. “Don’t tell him. Please don’t tell him!” She moved past Adira towards the door.
“Come back, Hillary!” Adira cried out and then another round of pain had her crying out as Hillary rushed out of the house.
The door closed and Adira felt hot tears escape from behind her closed lids. She was in pain, the baby was in trouble and she couldn’t manage to get to the security panel. She lay back, hoping Mason and Suzie would come home soon. Until then, she would lie still, not wanting to cause any more damage. In between her agony she counted the baby’s kicks and the minutes between her contractions like the baby book had said to do in case of emergencies. She felt dampness between her legs and used her hand to check. Her hand came back with a smear of blood and that’s when she started to sob in earnest. Not the baby. Please, God, not the baby!
“Adira, lovey, I’m here. I got an early flight!” Lynette’s voice came as the front door was unlocked and pushed open. “Remy picked me up so I got out of the smelly taxi situation. Oh, my God, Adira! Remy get in here now. Call bloody emergency!”
Adira was so relieved she couldn’t speak through her tears. Lynette was on her knees next to her stroking her face. “Oh, Adira, say something. What happened?”
“Fuck, Adira. Mama, speak to me, honey,” Remy said soothingly. “Tell me where you’re hurting. Lynette, hit the panic button on that panel now!”
“I’m bleeding…in pain…baby is still kicking but the contractions are close together,” Adira gasped out and then moaned. “He’s in trouble. Remy, call Favian. I need him here.”
“Okay, sweetie, I know.” Remy kept his voice controlled but she heard the hint of panic in it. “Tell me, did you slip?”
“Hillary,” Adira said through gritted teeth. “She broke in.”
“I hit the button. Favian is on the phone.” Lynette came back to her side. “Did you just say Hillary was here?”
“Put Adira on the phone!” Adira heard Favian’s voice roar over the phone line and then heard the sound of ambulance sirens.
Remy took the phone. “Favian, she can’t talk. She’s in pretty bad shape. She’s bleeding. The baby is in trouble. Meet us at the hospital, mi hermano, you won’t get here in time. The ambulance just pulled up outside.” He was silent for a moment and Lynette was at the door ushering the medics inside. Remy said gently, “I’ll hold the phone up to her ear and you can talk to her.”
She felt the phone press against her ear and through her tears and pain, she focused on his voice. “Favian, the baby.”
“You need to step back, ma’am, sir. We need to work on her and get her in the ambulance,” a medic said.
“Bloody
hell you’re not taking her without me,” Lynette said.
“Favian, our baby!” Adira felt panic setting in.
“Our baby will be fine, mi amor. I’m in the car and I’ll be at the hospital waiting for you.” Favian’s voice was filled with fear and agony. “I love you. God, I love you so much!”
The phone was moved away and she felt a cuff being put on her arm and the medics began asking her a series of questions. It was a rush of activity as they prepared to take her to the hospital. Suzie and Mason came home amidst the mayhem and she could hear Remy trying to comfort a very upset Suzie.
The medics couldn’t give her anything for the pain, and Lynette rode in the ambulance with her, comforting her the best she could and yelling at the medics to hurry. Lynette was the strongest person Adira knew and she was terrified when her friend broke down into sobs. At the hospital, Dr. Schiller was waiting and assessed her in the ER. Favian rushed in and dragged the curtain back and security was on his heels trying to restrain him.
“You better fucking knock me the fuck out because any man who gets between me and my wife right now is risking their own life.” His voice was a frenzied roar.
Adira began to sob and cried out, “Favian! Please let him through.”
“Let him go right now,” Dr. Schiller commanded the security and then she lowered her voice. “Favian, you need to hold it together. She’s terrified and hurting. We need to keep her as calm as possible while I go through my examination.”
“Just let me be with my wife.” His voice broke on the words.
When he took her hand and kissed it over and over again, Adira turned her face to him and he rested his forehead against hers. “Mi amor, I’m here. I’m not going anywhere. You let Carrie take care of you.”
“That I will do. We’re going to have to take the baby early,” Dr. Schiller said.
“No, no, it’s too early. He has two months left!” Adira said in terror.
Dr. Schiller leaned over and met Adira’s gaze with warm hazel eyes. “Adira, there is something called a placental abruption going on in there from the fall. It means the placenta that is nourishing the baby has torn away partially from the uterus wall and he’s not getting the nutrients and oxygen he needs anymore. If we don’t take him now he won’t make it.”
“What are his chances outside the womb this early?” Favian asked thickly.
“He has an excellent chance. It will be dicey at first because his lungs won’t be as mature as we want them, but he is thirty-two weeks along and I’ve seen babies as small as twenty-five weeks make it,” Dr. Schiller said. “Now you have to go to the waiting room, Favian. I’ll be putting her out completely and you can’t be in here. I’ll come out as soon as we’re done and we have him in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.”
“You said he,” Adira said between her tears. “It’s a boy?”
“You’ve been saying he now for weeks too, Adira.” Dr. Schiller smiled. “Now let’s make sure he gets to meet his mommy and daddy.”
Adira looked at Favian who had tears in his eyes. “We’re having a son—our son.”
He kissed her hand as they began to wheel her away. “You fight hard for both of you, Adira. I love you.”
She held on to his hand as long as she could until the distance tore their fingers apart. She heard him yell again, “Adira, I love you!” She replayed his words over and over in her head as they prepped her for an emergency C-section. She took a deep breath and the medicine to make her sleep sent her gently into unconsciousness.
Two hours later, she was waking up in a maternity suite and the first thing that she noticed was how empty she felt. She ran her hands down her stomach and the familiar bump was now the soft expanse of flesh that was left after a birth. So empty and the feeling of being alone made her cry out, “Where’s my baby, where’s my baby?”
Favian took her hand. Lynette’s eyes were red from crying, Remy’s face was grim and she expected the worst.
“Is he gone? Is he dead?” She could feel herself slipping into the place where grief would take over and she had no idea how she’d find her way out. How do parents survive the loss of a child? she wondered vaguely as a fist of grief froze around her heart and she wanted to close her eyes and never wake up. The world would never be the same.
“Adira, take a breath. Jesus, mi amor, take a breath!” Favian cupped her face. “He’s in the NICU and so far he’s doing good.”
Thank you, thank you, thank you, she sent up in prayer. “Have you seen him?” Adira grasped his hand.
“Not yet, but Dr. Schiller has given us an update. His lungs are weak and they have him in the specialized incubator under the UV lights to keep him warm and to help his liver produce the enzymes he needs so he won’t be jaundiced.” Favian squeezed her hand. “He’s small—two pounds, three ounces—but he’s a fighter like us.”
“I want to see him. I want to see our son,” she whispered.
“Soon, baby, soon,” Favian said. “You just had surgery and right now you need to rest. I also need you to tell me exactly what happened with Hillary.”
Adira took a breath and calmed herself the best she could. “I don’t think she meant for me to fall. She just has this warped sense of thinking. I was going to press the panic button and she didn’t want me to because it would call you. We struggled and I lost my footing on the top step of the second floor landing.”
“Why would the two of you be struggling?” Favian asked harshly. “Why was she in the house?”
“She bribed someone at the locksmith company for a key. She wanted me to talk to you on her behalf and then she got in her usual snit.” Adira took another breath. “It was as if you were a disapproving father and she didn’t want you to know because she’d be in trouble. When I fell I asked her for help, Favian, but it’s like she disconnected. She kept repeating for me not to tell and she ran out of the house. I hope to God she hasn’t hurt herself.”
“If I get my hands on her she’ll have other things to worry about.” Favian practically growled in anger.
“But the fact is that she needs help,” Adira said. “God knows what she’s been put through before her mother met your father. She seems abused and deeply troubled and like help was always denied her. I don’t know and I certainly don’t care right now. Our son is in there fighting for his life and that’s what we should focus on, not vengeance on Hillary.”
“I know, my love, and until he is at home with us, this issue will be set on the back burner.” Favian stroked her fingers. “I’m so relieved you’re okay. I have never been so scared in my life.”
Get strong, Adira. He’ll need you to be strong. She kept repeating the words in her mind over and over. She already ached to hold her son, to kiss him and let him know that he was loved. Even though he came into the world in a rush, he would always be safe and protected in their arms.
Chapter Eight
Forty-eight hours later, Adira was adamant on seeing their son. This wasn’t the way Favian expected him to come into the world. It frayed his nerves each time he thought about the call from Remy and being alerted by his security team that there was trouble at the house. Their son was tiny, but each hour he was getting stronger. Thirty-two weeks and his lungs were already showing signs of improvement. The neo-natal doctor said that he wasn’t showing signs of the problems most premature babies faced. In fact, his cry was strong and demanding and that was a good sign. Still, it broke Favian’s heart to see him with so many tubes and monitors attached to his tiny body.
His fear mixed with anger because there was nothing he could do to change his son’s situation. It made him want to crush everything in his path. As soon as his family heard what had happened, they rushed to New York and were currently camped out in the NICU waiting room and the maternity floor of the hospital. Lynette, Aunt Carmen, and Cousin Santia were always with Adira and each took turns checking on the baby. His Aunt Carmen asked for her rosary to be hung over the incubator so her prayers were with the tiny life.
The baby had so much love on his side that Favian hoped God heard all their pleas and would watch over his son. His family was all very religious and somewhere along the line in his life he forgot that aspect of his family’s culture. But now he prayed, saying words from his childhood that he hadn’t said in years, even as he walked down the hall pushing Adira in a wheel chair.
The doors of the NICU whooshed open and, as procedure dictated, they both put on a sterile gown and washed their hands in the area for parents. The unit was divided up by how premature the child was. The sickest babies had towels covering the incubators and many more monitors. Baby Rivera was in the transition section where the walls were decorated with colorful giraffes, elephants, cheetahs and other animals. The transition section was for the children that were gaining weight and making progress. The babies almost ready to go home were closest to the doors. Their little boy was in one of the incubators closest to the wall.
“How is my little guy doing today?” Favian asked the nurse as he pushed Adira’s wheelchair up to his incubator.
The nurse smiled. “He’s a feisty one. The first thing I heard when I came in this morning was him crying.”
Adira gasped. “Why was he crying? Is he in pain?”
“No, he was hungry and had a wet diaper. He doesn’t have a feeding tube anymore,” the nurse said as she looked into his chart. “They gave him two ounces of your colostrum that you pumped by bottle today. He took to the nipple nicely.”
Adira leaned forward and looked at the tiny baby in the incubator. She reached out to touch him through one of the ports in the side and pulled her hand away.
“It’s okay, you can touch him,” the nurse said gently.