A Humble Heart

by R. L. Mathewson

  “Echo seventeen to dispatch, where’s that second ambulance?” Dave said into his microphone.

  Edward heard the response over the radio. “They just arrived. Police escort is with them.”

  “Our patient just delivered two healthy males. Patient lost consciousness and is losing blood, alert the hospital please.”

  “Received.”

  “Here they are,” James announced from his spot by the window.

  Edward leaned over Dana. “Baby? Please wake up,” he kissed her lips. “Please.”

  “Edward, I need you to rub her stomach to help contract the uterus. Ladies, I need one of those babies to feed so we can try stopping the bleeding,” the medic said.

  Edward rubbed her stomach through the dress. He watched as the medic bared one of her breast and held the baby to it. The other medic pinched her nipple and brought it to the baby’s mouth. He latched on and began suckling. It looked painful.

  “John, what do you want us to do?” the new medic asked.

  “I need you to get the mother the hell out of here,” John said.

  The new medic knelt between her legs. “She’s still bleeding.”

  “Shit,” John said. “I need you to move her carefully so we don’t break the latch.” Edward moved for the men so they could carry her out of the trailer and place her on the stretcher. They had her secured in less than a minute. John pressed his body against the stretcher and held onto the baby firmly as he fed creating a safe cushion for the baby.

  “That’s right, buddy, keep sucking. Good boy, you’re helping your Mommy,” John said in a soothing voice.

  “Alright, let’s move!” He looked at Amy. “I need you to follow me.”

  They loaded up the ambulance. Amy was strapped in the second stretcher so she could hold the baby safely in the ambulance. After both women were loaded into the ambulances an IV was started on Dana. They gave her a face mask as well.

  Edward held her hand while he rubbed her stomach. His son continued to suckle with John holding him firmly in place. They took off with two police escorts.

  “Edward,” Dana said weakly.

  “I’m here, sweetheart,” he said with obvious relief.

  “It hurts.”

  “I know, baby, they’re going to stop the bleeding.”

  She shook her head slowly “Not that. Your son is like a barracuda. He’s worse than you.”

  Edward and John chuckled. Dana raised her hand to wrap around her son’s body. John didn’t go anywhere. She was too weak to hold the baby on her own.

  “Have you thought up any names?” John asked.

  “We each get to name one,” she whispered hoarsely.

  “I was hoping to name one of them, Caleb.”

  “I like it, Caleb Edward Pierce.” Dana said.

  “What did you pick?” John asked, trying to keep Dana focused and awake.

  “Tristan Edward Pierce,” Dana said. She leaned over and kissed the top of the baby’s head.

  “I like it. Let’s name this one Tristan,” Edward said.

  John looked at the baby’s tag. “Okay, baby number two is Tristan.”

  Chapter 18

  “Dana, take it easy,” Edward said as he walked into the nursery to find his wife reorganizing the babies’ diaper changing area, again.

  “I’m just restocking. Your boys go through so many diapers,” she whispered.

  “You’ll wake them up,” he said softly.

  Dana looked over at the two sleeping babies. They were curled up next to each other. “They are so handsome,”

  she said in a mushy tone.

  “Just like their father,” Edward said playfully.

  “I can’t argue with that,” she said as he took her hand and led her out of the room. They walked into the kitchen hand in hand. Cole and Elizabeth sat patiently with Tyler waiting for dinner.

  “Okay, guys, sit down,” Susan said. She was their fulltime nanny they hired when the babies came home.

  Edward was surprised the woman had lasted this long.

  After two weeks of no sleep, Edward found himself falling asleep in the weirdest places, the desk, in front of the television, in the shower, outside in a lounge chair, on a couch at Rascal Productions when he was waiting for his meeting with Eric, in Eric’s office when Eric was talking to him, leaning over a carriage in the grocery store and on the floor with the twins, who thankfully were fraternal otherwise he would have been screwed on trying to figure out who was who.

  Now eight weeks later he was sleeping better mostly because the women decided it made more sense to make him sleep. Dana was a champ. She was still up with the twins every night and took care of all four kids during the day and snuck into her office when she got a chance to write. He watched the kids whenever she needed a break or a nap.

  “Dana, are you still on a diet?” Susan asked.

  “Yes,” she groaned unhappily.

  “Baby, you look perfect. You’ve lost all your pregnancy weight,” Edward pointed out.

  She scowled at him. “No, I have four more pounds to go.”

  Edward bit his lip to stop from laughing. “Uh, sweetie, I think the breast milk counts for that weight.” She stuck her tongue out at him and helped get the food on the table.

  “Mommy, what’s a bastard?” Elizabeth suddenly asked in an innocent tone.

  Tyler choked on his water. Cole looked up from playing with his hands to watch the drama unfold. Dana stood shocked, holding two plates of food. Susan gasped and of course Edward started chuckling at Elizabeth’s innocent expression.

  “Edward!” Dana gasped.

  “Sorry.” He swallowed hard to keep the laughter at bay.

  Dana placed a plate in front of each child. “Sweetie, that’s a naughty word that we don’t use. Who said that word to you?”

  “Mary, she said Tristan and Caleb were bastards. What does that mean? She said it like it was a really bad thing.

  Did they do something wrong?”

  “Is Mary in your class?” Edward asked. All humor was long gone.

  “Yes, Daddy. Her sister loves you. She said some mean things about Mommy though,” she squished her face up, “I don’t like her very much.”

  “What did she say about Mommy?” Cole asked. His eyes were already filling up with tears.

  “Hore?” Elizabeth said as if she was unsure of the word or how to say it.

  Edward’s hands were now clenched tightly into fists.

  They were turning white under the strain. “Elizabeth, isn’t Mary’s sister the adult aide for your class?”

  “Yes, Daddy, she is,” Elizabeth said, nodding.

  “Baby girl, I’m taking you to school tomorrow,” Edward said. He flashed a warning look to Dana not to interfere. No one was going to trash his wife to one of his children. It was a private school and he was paying more than enough to guarantee his children could go to school without having to worry about suffering the results of their fame.

  This school was meant to give the kids a normal childhood. It was aimed at kids of actors and other famous celebrities. Everyone’s parents were either rich or famous.

  It was perfect for his kids so they wouldn’t have to worry about sticking out.

  “Elizabeth, I want you to stay away from Mary and her sister for right now,” Dana said.

  “That’s fine, Mommy. They’re really mean,” Elizabeth said. She began picking at the meatloaf that was on her plate. Cole already had a handful of mashed potatoes shoved in his mouth. There would be no waste when it came to Cole’s food. He would make sure every last scrap of food made its way into his mouth before moving onto whatever his sister left behind on her plate.

  Dana grabbed two more plates of food. She placed one in front of Tyler, one of their live in bodyguards. Bret was their other live in security. He was currently off for the night.

  They were really great guys and got along with the kids.

  They helped out with chores and never complained once about Cole or
Elizabeth’s demands to play with them. They shared the living area on the opposite side of the house with Susan. It was a part of the house Dana never found any use for. Now they had four bedrooms set up and the fifth set up as a living room to entertain their own guests or relax.

  The fourth bedroom was used by Bret’s son when he visited. It was the perfect set up.

  When she placed Edward’s plate in front of him he pulled her down to press his lips to hers. “Thank you, sweetheart.”

  “You’re welcome.” She kissed his forehead before she went to get drinks. Susan sat down with her own plate next to Cole. She already had a box of wipes on hand for the mess that was already making its way towards her.

  “Mommy?” Elizabeth asked.

  “Yes, baby girl?” Dana asked as she doused her meatloaf with ketchup. It was one of her favorite meals. She wished she wasn’t on this damn diet so she could have seconds.

  “Did you remember to pick up the class snack for tomorrow?”

  Dana sighed. “Elizabeth, did you forget to ask Mommy to pick up the snack for tomorrow?”

  “Er

  ..maybe,” Elizabeth said, looking guilty.

  Edward and Dana shared a look. Dana put down her fork and slowly made her way towards the door. Edward began to scarf down his food. Dana moved faster and was almost at the door.

  “I’ll go now, sweetie,” she said, turning to push the door open.

  She heard Edward’s chair slide across the floor. “No, sweetie, don’t worry I’ll go.”

  “No, I got it!” Dana said.

  They stopped and stared at each other. Edward was still in his chair and her hand was on the door that led into the living room. Both of them were more than willing to go get the snacks. It meant a half hour to an hour of break time from the kids and peace and quiet. Errands in the house quickly became a race to the door. If Dana made it out this time she swore she was stopping and buying some cucumber and melon lotion, she was also going to walk around the grocery store and enjoy her momentary freedom. She loved her kids, but every now and then she really needed to get out of the house.

  “Hold up. I have to go with whichever one of you makes it to the car first,” Tyler said, chuckling. This was their form of family entertainment. The kids cheered them on and laughed to see the antics their parents would pull in order to win. Until someone lived with infant twins, a toddler and a six year old they wouldn’t understand why even ten minutes outside of the house felt like pure ecstasy. Dana and Edward could almost savor it.

  “Elizabeth, if you do that thing we talked about we’ll go out this weekend and pick out a puppy,” Dana said.

  Edward had promised the kids it was up her when she felt they were ready for the puppy. There was nothing she wouldn’t do to win right now. She was running low on essentials like shaving gel and desperately needed a new razor among a dozen other things. Getting out and running an errand with the twins was impossible. She always forgot something and never had enough time thanks to gawking fans and the paparazzi that drove her quickly through each aisle before she could grab what she needed.

  Amy and Deana offered to pick things up for her, but they did so much for them already that she hated to bother them. Besides, Deana had her hands full helping with the children and was putting in overtime every other week so Dana could get a few extra hours of sleep. Amy was busy handling whatever she did to make people happy about Dana being on maternity leave from her book tour.

  Edward used to pick up her things when he made his escape. After being hounded by women when he tried to pick out simple things like lotion for her he gave up. Every attempt he made to pick up tampons for her ended badly.

  He would end up grabbing whatever was closest at hand and make a run for the register. For some reason whenever women saw Edward Pierce in the feminine aisle they became giddy and nervous and would blurt out embarrassing menstrual stories in full detail.

  He looked at Elizabeth in time to see his daughter jump onto his lap and wrap her arms around his neck firmly. “Go, Mommy!” Dana blew her daughter a kiss and made a run for it. Edward was laughing hard when she made her way out of the room. These little races were fun for both of them.

  They enjoyed the competition.

  She wasn’t losing tonight. There was something she desperately wanted to buy for the last few days and tonight she was getting it. That’s why she played the puppy card.

  Eight weeks without being intimate with Edward was pure hell. It was standard after every pregnancy and she suffered through it. Tonight she was picking up something new to wear for him. He had no idea tonight was the night otherwise she was pretty sure he would have attacked her as soon as the words slipped from her mouth. It had been a very long eight weeks.

  Dana burst through the garage door and found it empty except for the cars and tools. She was shocked, Edward usually won these races. He was fast and sneaky. It made her smile when he did his little touchdown dance when he beat her.

  She ran to the car and reached into her pockets for the keys only to remember she forgot to grab them.

  “Forget something?” Edward asked casually from behind her.

  Dana turned around slowly to see Edward leaning against the door frame, dangling the keys in the air. She held out her hand for them. He grinned wickedly as he shook his head.

  “I believe the rule we agreed to was that whoever got to the car first won.” Dana placed a hand on the car and smiled. “Game over.”

  “You must want this pretty badly to offer the kids a puppy,” he mused. “I wonder why.”

  She groaned. “Edward, trust me you want me to go. I have a surprise for you.”

  “Hmm, I guess I could give you the keys. What’s in it for me though I wonder.”

  She simply shrugged. “Okay go. But while you’re out I need some more tampons.”

  “You’re bluffing,” he said evenly, but he looked nervous.

  He was gun shy about the feminine care aisle and she knew it.

  “Whatever, just make sure you pick up a multi pack. Oh, and look for smooth plastic applicator,” she said, looking at her nails casually, knowing this round was already won.

  Tyler walked past Edward and grabbed the keys from his hand. “You lost, big guy,” he said, grinning at Dana. She let him drive so he always rooted for her. Tyler hated being driven around. It made him feel useless.

  Edward walked towards her and gave her a proper good bye kiss. She started responding, eagerly when Tyler honked the horn softly. She pulled back before Edward could grab her. He was suffering too.

  “Bye, baby!” she chimed as she got in the car.

  **********

  “I’ll meet you at the food court, Tyler. I just want to hit Victoria Secret’s for a minute,” Dana said.

  Tyler’s face turned a fiery red, but he shook his head stubbornly. “Edward would can my ass the second he found out I left you alone.”

  She sighed inwardly. “Okay.” They walked into the store.

  All eyes turned to her. She began to look through the lingerie. Every time she picked something up she heard the unmistakable sound of a camera phone go off. Just super, she thought. If Edward went online in a minute and went to one of the many sights focused on stalking them he would see what she was doing. It was something they did to amuse themselves when the other went out. There was no surprising Edward if he went online. Of course, she could intervene.

  She picked up her phone and dialed the house. “Hello?”

  Susan answered.

  “Susan, please tell me Edward is not on the computer.”

  “I wish I could. He went on about five minutes ago.”

  There was still a chance. It took at least two minutes for pictures to be added to fan websites. “Can you get him out of there?”