by Jordan Marie
“I do,” I whisper.
I’m having trouble catching my breath. My heart is beating crazily. I think I’m coming down with the flu, but I wasn’t about to let anything rob me of this day. The wedding, everything Skull has done, is like something I used to dream of as a child. When I hear his deep voice whisper, “I do,” I tighten my hand against his. I’m finally his wife.
The priest motions for us to turn around. As I turn, the world begins to spin. I fall to the side against Skull. He smiles down at me, thinking I just stumbled, but that’s not it.
The world starts spinning and I lurch forward this time.
I hear Skull yelling my name. I feel his arms go around me and then… the world goes black.
“I don’t give a fuck if she’s being examined! That’s my wife and I want in there!” I yell at some wet-behind-the-ears security guard. I’m about ready to rip his goddamn head off his shoulders.
“Sir, if you’ll have a seat, they’ll let you see her in just a minute, otherwise we’ll have to escort you from the hospital.”
“C’mon, man,” growls Dragon, clapping his hand on my shoulder and motioning me toward the seats. “Sit the fuck down. Last thing Beth needs is for you to be going ape shit. It’s probably nothing.”
“I didn’t see you calm when Nicole was in the hospital.”
“Yeah, well, motherfucker, my woman was shot and dying. Yours passed out. She’s probably just knocked up or something. Nicole is always doing that shit when she’s got a bun in the oven.”
His words would comfort me, but it wasn’t just two weeks ago I was complaining I couldn’t have her pussy because she was bleeding. We found other ways to pleasure each other, but not being able to fall asleep while I’m still inside of her fucks with my head. I need that every fucking night with Beth. Shit, I’ll need it when I’m ninety and popping pills just to make it possible.
“That’s not it, man. It’s not possible. Beth hasn’t been feeling good for a while. She’s been sick. She’s been trying to hide it from me, but she’s losing weight.”
“Maybe she just has the flu. It’s been going around,” Nicole whispers, trying to reassure me.
“What if it’s the cancer? Shit, I’ve been so focused on getting rid of all the threats against us… What if…?”
“Don’t borrow fucking trouble,” Katie growls. I look up at her—a face that looks so much like my woman, but so different. “Beth is strong. She will be here to watch her nephew get into this world.”
Torch leans into her. “Katydid, you’re not far enough along to know it’s a boy.”
“Trust me,” she shoots back, “only a boy would already cause me this much trouble, Hunter.”
I do my best to hold onto Katie’s words. They’re all I have and they are true. Beth is strong. She’s so much stronger than I ever gave her credit for. We wait for another fifteen minutes and I’m slowly going insane before I look up after hearing my name called.
“Mr. Cruz?”
“Yeah?”
“You can go in now. You’ll need to…”
I don’t listen to him, and I don’t particularly give a fuck about what he’s saying. I make a beeline for the room that I saw them wheel my woman into. The security guards who stopped me from following her into the room are there. They stand far away from me now—and that’s smart of them. Still, I flip both of the fuckers off, shove open the door, and go to the bedside of my woman.
She looks pale in the hospital bed. Her beautiful dress has been exchanged for a blue and brown standard-issued hospital gown. She’s smiling. Even sick, she’s the most beautiful woman in the world.
“Are you okay, sweetheart?”
“I’m fine, Skull. The doctor just needs to run some additional tests and then I can go home and we can…”
“Beth, don’t worry. Whatever this is, we can face it together. It doesn’t matter. We’ve already beaten so many odds; this is just one more hurdle.”
“Skull, sweetheart…”
“I mean it, Beth. I’m right here with you,” I tell her, holding her hand. “It doesn’t matter, even if it’s your cancer coming back. I’m here with you, and together, we’re strong enough to wipe out anything standing in our way. We’ve already proved that.”
“Skull…”
“We’ll just prove it again.”
“Skull!” she yells.
I go still. “What’s wrong, sweetheart?”
“I’m not sick! It’s not the cancer!”
“It’s okay, honey, we can… Wait, you’re not? It’s not…?”
“No, sweetheart. It’s nothing like that.”
“Well, what in the heck is it, then?”
“I’m pregnant.”
“It doesn’t—” I belatedly hear the words. “Wait. What… What did you say?”
“I said I’m pregnant!”
“How is that possible? You just had your monthly thing, and…”
“The doctor said some women continue to have what appear to be light periods for a few months before the pregnancy makes itself known. There’s even one lady on file who had periods clear up to her seventh month.”
“Christo!” I murmur, my mind whirling. Beth… pregnant.
“Skull, this is a good thing. Gabby needs a brother or sister she can grow up with, and this way, the child will be close to the same age as Katie’s. It’s perfect.”
“Christo…” I murmur, even softer.
“Skull? Aren’t you happy? I thought you said you wanted another child,” Beth asks worriedly.
My hand trembles as I move it slowly to her stomach and hold it where, even now, my child is growing inside.
“I’m happy, mi cielo. I’m ecstatic. We’re going to have a baby.”
She nods her head yes, smiling and crying at the same time.
“We’re going to have a baby,” I whisper again.
“We are,” she confirms.
“I’m going to be a daddy again.”
“You are.”
As everything settles into me, I close my eyes. When I open them back up, I know she can see exactly how I feel because Beth has always been inside of me—a part of me.
“I’ll be there this time, mi cielo. I’ll be with you every step of the way.” I wrap her hand around mine and kiss her fingers. “Te prometo,” I say as I kiss her forehead. I promise you.
“We’ll be there together,” Beth says, bringing her lips to mine. I deepen the kiss, sliding into her mouth with a groan. My hand goes to her neck, fingers rubbing against the pulse.
“Okay, I’ve waited long enough,” Katie exclaims, barging through the door. “What’s going on?”
I pull back just a space from Beth’s lips.
“My sister has very bad timing,” she whispers, her dark gray eyes close to mine.
“Muy mal,” I agree, staring back into her eyes. I remember the vow I made as a child. Everything I ever wanted, here in my arms.
Por siempre…
I’ll bust my ass to keep it forever.
KATIE & TORCH
“Breathe, Katydid. We’re almost home free.”
Breathe, he says, like that’s so easy. Let him try squeezing an eight-pound baby through his pee-hole and then talk to me. I close my eyes tightly. Beth made this shit look so easy with Gabby.
“Bite me,” I growl, wincing as the contraction starts again.
“I will later, sweetness,” Torch promises, and if he didn’t look so adorable with his hair all mussed up and wearing his “Proud Dad” t-shirt, I’d probably punch him in the junk. Instead, I stick my tongue out at him.
“You doing okay, Katie?” Bethie asks.
I look over at the next bed. Beth is there with Skull feeding her ice chips. She’s a month early, and I’m a month late, but these kids are bound and determined to come out together. I don’t know who Skull and Torch paid off or threatened—I’m not even going to ask. But, somehow, they broke every rule and put us together in the same birthing room.
Peanut, which is
what Torch has taken to calling our child, is bound and determined to come out first. I’m in so much pain, but I’m okay with it—totally good, if he would just fucking hurry.
“You didn’t tell me this hurt so fucking bad.”
“Some things you shouldn’t know until you have to.” Then Bethie gasps, and I can tell she’s just started a contraction.
“You remember that time you made me stick a lighter to that turtle’s ass to see if it would make it shoot out of his shell like in the cartoons?”
“Christo!” Skull mutters.
“Made you? That was all on you! I told you, turtles don’t do that in real life,” Bethie huffs.
“What was it you got the big idea for, then?” I ask her, knowing what she’ll answer, but we both need a distraction from the pain.
“I made you snails, remember?”
“Fuck me sideways,” Torch mutters. I attempt to give him a grin, though that takes a little more effort than I have left in me, I’m sure.
“She roasted them with a lighter. Just saying, Hunter, I’m never going to France and ordering snails.”
“I’ll make note.”
“Fuck!” I growl as a contraction hits harder than it ever has.
“You’re crowning, Katie,” the doctor informs me. “I just need you to really push when this next contraction starts, and we’ll have this baby out of here in no time.”
“You loved those snails. You ate every single one of them!” Bethie cries.
“There was only… Ahhhh!” I break off to yell. “Two!” I finish while the doctor and Torch are screaming for me to push. “And I only ate them… Motherfucker!” I scream again. “Because you dared me!”
“I know. I could literally dare you to do anything and you would. That’s how you got your first kiss from Johnny Paul. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Johnny Paul?” Skull asks, and I’m trying to focus, but God, this having-a-baby thing is not the cakewalk I thought it would be.
“Take a breather, Katie. This next push will get him out. I need you to push him out this time. Get ready,” the doctor says.
“You got this, sweetness. I’m so fucking proud of you.”
I look up into Hunter’s eyes and breathe, taking my strength from him and the sound of Bethie’s voice.
“Fish-lips Johnny,” I clarify. “All the girls said his lips felt cold and slimy. Bethie dared me to kiss him to find out.” I huff, feeling the contraction start.
“Were they?” Hunter asks.
I can’t answer because I feel the contraction slide from my back all around my stomach and I know this is the big one. I’m pushing my baby out now. I can do this.
“Turns out, he was more of an octopus tongue. Felt like he had eight of those in your mouth at once,” Bethie cries.
“How the fuck do you know that?”
“Well, after Katie bragged, I had to try it too, Skull.”
His response is lost as I scream until I’m sure I strip a vocal cord. I bear down as hard as I can, then feel the baby leave my body. As the doctors declare my victory, I fall back on the pillow, exhausted. I open my eyes when I hear my baby’s cry.
“Is he okay?” I ask, my voice hoarse and weak.
The nurse comes over holding a naked, squirming baby boy, placing him on my chest.
“He’s beautiful, Katydid. Just like his momma,” Hunter says, his voice hoarse as he comes back to me, brushing his hand across my hair and kissing my forehead. A few minutes later, a nurse comes over and places the baby on my chest.
“Ten fingers and ten toes, I’d say he’s perfect,” she says.
I look down at our beautiful baby boy with a small patch of sandy blonde hair on his head and these perfect little lips and tiny fingers, trying to wrap around one of mine. He’s so quiet, staring up at me and Hunter as if he’s trying to decide if this is a good thing. I see a little smile almost come across his lips. Can newborns smile? My son can. I look up at Hunter, feeling completely at peace for the first time in my life.
“Look what we did,” I gush, my happiness boiling over with tears in my eyes.
“It’s what you did, sweetness. All you. He’s perfect.”
“Hunter Bartholomew Evans,” I whisper.
“Bartholomew? Mierda! Why are you giving him that name? He’ll have to beat up his whole school for picking on him with that name!” Skull says. I grin up at Hunter, my husband, my partner, my rock.
“Katie and I are going to call him Bad Bart,” he says with a wink. Only he and I know that Bartholomew is Hunter’s middle name. A small secret. It’s okay, his secret is safe with me. Just like I know that our child and I will always be safe with this man.
“I love you,” I tell him, and those three words seem like so little when you realize what they encompass. He gives me air to live.
“I love you too, Katydid. I always will.”
With my life, I never thought I could believe in a man, let alone a promise he gives me. I know that no matter what, I can always trust in Hunter’s, though. Peace, just one of the gifts he gives me.
“Bethie you better hurry up over there. Hunter’s getting lonely.”
“Working on it,” she huffs, and I wink up at Hunter, right before the nurse comes over and starts giving breastfeeding instructions. I get ready for even more blessings that having Hunter in my life has given. I do believe my cup runneth over… and if the big sloppy tears of joy falling from my eyes give me away, no one comments. Least of all my husband, who has the same tears in his face as our child suckles from my breast.
BETH & SKULL
“Beth, are you ready, mi cielo? We’re going to be late for Thomas’s birthday party,” I call before walking into the bedroom of our new home.
I had our new home custom-built right by the dock where Beth and I got married. Torch and Katie are right up the road, too. Far enough away so I won’t have to kill Torch, but close enough so our children can be together, because one thing has shown itself in the last two months: these kids are going to bond. They somehow instantly sense when the other is in the room.
Diego Cruz was born exactly fifteen minutes after little Bart made his appearance. He’s got Beth’s blonde hair, my dark eyes, and a mixture of both of us when it comes to his personality. He’s perfect, and Gabby is fascinated by her little brother. She’s walking beside me, her little hand in mine, and it never fails to make me feel like I’m ten feet tall.
“Mommy’s sleeping, Papi,” she whispers. She calls me Papi. There was no coaching, nothing; she just picked it up one day and it clicked, and I’ve been Papi ever since. My daughter is the smartest child on the planet, and I’m definitely the proudest.
“That she is, calabaza.”
“So is Dee-go.”
I smile, picking Gabby up in my arms. Her little hands come around my neck and she kisses the side of my face, giggling. She’s turned into daddy’s little girl, and I couldn’t be happier.
We’re supposed to go to Dragon’s little boy’s birthday party. Nicole had a little boy they named Thomas and he and Dom keep him and Nicole completely on their toes. I hate to miss it, but Diego has had trouble sleeping through the night. Looking down at my beautiful wife and my son, there’s no way I’m going to disturb them. I let Gabby slide to the floor and then I pull the cover up around Beth and a sleeping Diego, who is napping, spooned by Beth. Mi mundo.
“How about we skip the birthday party and go fishing on the dock?” I ask Gabby.
Her face breaks out in a big smile. “Can snuffles go?”
Snuffles is her teddy bear that her grandpa Tucker bought her. Tucker, who bought the property across from me and set up house there just to be close to his family. Tucker is a pain in my ass, but the best grandfather a little girl could ask for, and we won’t even begin to talk about how he’s trying to spoil Diego and BB—which is what we call Torch’s and Katie’s son, but then again, I warned them not to name him Bartholomew.
“Absolutely. We can make him bait t
he hook.”
“Snuffles can’t do that, daddy!” She giggles as I pick her up. When I get back to the door, I look back at Beth and Diego and smile. My heart feels so full it’s about to burst.
Mi familia…
Life couldn’t be more perfect. The pain, the hurt, the ghosts from the past… They have been released, and all that we have around us now is love.
The End.
LEARNING TO BREATHE
Beast’s Story
Fall 2016
I look at the small, rundown shack and disgust curls in my stomach. All the money that Pistol made through the years and this is how his sister lives? When Skull approached me and asked if I wanted to head to North Carolina to check on Pistol’s sister, my instinct was to say no. I was done, really. I didn’t want to have anything more to do with anyone. When he offered me the cabin on Whitler’s mountain in the deal, I finally agreed. A cabin in the mountains away from people seemed like heaven.
I could care less about Pistol or his sister. Pistol is part of the reason my child died. Whatever happens to his sister, I figure she deserves. I don’t give a fuck if she does live in a shack. It’s probably more than she deserves. Especially if she’s anything like her brother.
I’m going to get back on my bike, go to the top of my mountain, and that’s it. I’ll email Skull and tell him the chick is living in a shack… maybe.
I walk back to my bike, veering off at the last minute to take a leak. I’ve got my pants unzipped and my dick out when I feel something jab me in the back. I look over my shoulder to see the long end of a shotgun barrel pointed at me. I follow it until my eyes land on a woman holding the gun.
She’s five foot nine, maybe ten. She’s got fiery bronze hair that falls down in waves almost to her elbows. There’s a beat-up-looking brown hat on her head and the clothes she has on are butt-ugly. She could be decent, but it’d take some damn work. She’s curvy. There’s not a skinny thing about her, least of all that ass. She’s got breasts that are just as large and in your face, but perhaps the biggest thing on her right now is her obviously very pregnant belly.