New Beginnings

by Lori Maguire

  “Mr. Hart, my name is Jeremy. I’d like to take a look real quick at your wounds,” he said politely, setting his bag down on the floor.

  “I’m fine. It’s my wife you need to take a look at. She’s pregnant with twins and we’ve had a horribly stressful day,” he said with a touch of fear in his voice.

  “I’m fine, really,” I said, trying to reassure him. “He’s the one who’s bleeding,” I said, looking at Jeremy.

  “I promise I’ll check your wife as soon as I’m through with you.” Xavier sighed heavily, rolling his eyes at me. I couldn’t help but smirk at him. Yeah, he was fine.

  The EMT thoroughly checked his neck wounds. He cleaned them out, applying a bandage to the one that was deep enough to warrant it. The others were mere scratches. His wrists were fine, just a little red where the wire ties had been. Carline had placed them over his shirtsleeves and not on his bare skin. She had managed to secure them rather tight, though, causing his cuff links to cut into the soft flesh on the inside of his wrists. They were angry-looking indents, but they didn’t break the skin.

  When the EMT turned to me, I realized I was still in nothing but my robe. I tried to bring this to Xavier’s attention, all the while reassuring him I was fine. He insisted on having my blood pressure checked. Thankfully, I only had to roll up a sleeve of my robe for. It was normal.

  I watched as a police officer took Carline out of the house in handcuffs. Stewart had shot her in the arm to get her to drop the knife. Luckily, she didn’t have it at Xavier’s throat at the time or things might not have ended so well for us. The EMT explained it was just a flesh wound, but she was on her way to the hospital.

  Another police officer came over to talk to Xavier concerning what happened. He asked us both several questions while he scribbled notes into a little notebook. Taking down our information, he said he would be in touch. Apparently, Carline was going to be charged with several things, not to mention the fact that she was mentally unstable, so there was no chance she would be granted bail. That was comforting to hear.

  While we were busy talking with the police officer, Marissa was kind enough to clean Xavier’s office. She also went into the kitchen and made us both a grilled cheese, knowing that we hadn’t had any dinner. When we were done eating, she even cleaned up the kitchen.

  Stewart showed the police out and then returned to the living room. I immediately got up off the couch and embraced Stewart and then Marissa. “I prayed you two would make in time. I can’t even think how this would have ended if we hadn’t invited you two for dinner. I don’t know how to thank you. You saved our lives.” Xavier came up behind me putting his hand on the small of my back.

  “We’re just doing our jobs, Ella, but it’s Carline’s father you really need to thank. I’m afraid we wouldn’t have made it in time if he hadn’t called me,” Stewart said, seeming a little embarrassed.

  Both Xavier and I paled at the thought. “What do you mean?” Xavier asked.

  Stewart looked at Xavier. “He called to tell me that Carline went missing immediately following the funeral. After the threats she was throwing around this afternoon, her father was concerned about your safety. When he couldn’t get in touch with you, he contacted me.”

  “Either way, the two of you made it here in time. Whether you were doing your jobs or not, I want you to know that you both are more than employees to me,” I said sincerely.

  “To us,” Xavier corrected.

  “I consider-” I looked at Xavier. “We consider you both part of the family,” I said, my voice breaking with emotion.

  “Thank you,” Stewart said gruffly, clearing his throat. “We’ll let you two get some rest.”

  We walked Stewart and Marissa out. As soon as the elevator doors slid closed, Xavier wrapped his arm around me and led me down the hall. “Come on. I believe I owe you a bath.”

  I sighed heavily as I leaned into him. “I’d like that a lot.”

  Shortly after the ordeal with Carline, I learned that her father had hired the best defense attorneys in Seattle, which didn’t surprise me. Her father managed to keep it out of the news, which also benefited us, and he had the whole thing moved through the courts quickly. Xavier wasn’t very happy with how it had all been handled.

  In the end, the attack was ruled as not being premeditated, but was the result of the overwhelming grief she was experiencing due to her husband’s suicide. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Carline had viewed me as nothing but an obstacle in her way of obtaining Xavier. She had been looking to get me out of the picture for quite some time now. It concerned me with how quickly that fact was swept under the rug. Instead everyone was just glad that Carline was finally getting the help she apparently so desperately needed. So I tried to focus on the fact that she would be off the streets for a very long time and was no longer a threat to Xavier or me.

  A couple of weeks following the incident, Xavier and I met with Carline’s parents. Her father apologized profusely convinced that he was responsible for getting Carline so enamored with him. Since the two of them practically grew up together, it was a union that her father so desperately wanted to happen. The merging of two powerhouse families was how he had looked at it. His vision of a perfect union only blinded him to how Xavier truly felt about Carline. He continued to urge his daughter to pursue him, thinking Xavier was just playing hard to get, which he now admitted was a dangerous thing to do. Xavier was shocked and angry to hear about this, but in the end, as I knew he would, Xavier forgave him.

  Xavier and I moved out of the condo and into our home on Bainbridge Island. It took some getting used to having all that space, but I enjoyed the fact that Xavier was working more from home than he was in the office. You would think we would get sick of being around each other so much, but that just wasn’t the case after having faced the very real possibility that one of us could have lost the other. The bond between us only grew stronger.

  My parents, after having relocated to Washington, also spent a great deal of time at the house. I welcomed the distraction since I was currently on bed rest and only five weeks out from my due date. It also gave Xavier some peace of mind knowing that I wasn’t alone when he did have to make the occasional trip to the office, as was the case today.

  I had an appointment this afternoon with the OB. My mother was driving me into Seattle while Xavier planned on meeting us there.

  We were currently sitting in the waiting room. It was ten minutes past my scheduled appointment time and I was still waiting to be called back. I was also still waiting for Xavier to show. Every time the door opened, my head spun in that direction and each time my anxiety grew because it wasn’t him coming through the door.

  I pulled out my cell phone to check it for tenth time when my mother grabbed it out of my hand. “Will you please calm down? You’re going to get your blood pressure up. He will be here,” my mother stated, rolling her eyes at me.

  When a text came in from him letting me know he was on his way up from the lobby, my eyes were glued to the door until he made an appearance. Butterflies took flight in my stomach as soon as I saw him approach the glass doors. As always, he looked magnificent in his suit. A young woman was exiting the office just as he approached the door. He politely held it for her as his eyes easily found and locked on me. Xavier gave me one of his heart-stopping smiles, which had the woman stopping in her tracks gaping at him. I knew he also had to be attracting the attention of every woman in the waiting room. As I glanced around, my suspicions were confirmed. Regardless of age or marital status, every woman was openly staring at him. Xavier was clueless to the attention, because his eyes never left mine. Yes, my man was some serious eye candy and he only had eyes for me. I could feel my heart swell in my chest close to bursting with the love that I had for him. I stood as he approached.

  “I’m so sorry I’m late, baby. Stewart hit some horrible traffic on the way here.” He gently cupped my face in his big, warm hands and kissed me solidly on the mouth.

>   “You made it. That’s all that matters.” I smiled at him as we sat down.

  “How are my babies?” he asked, rubbing a hand over my stomach.

  I frowned. It wasn’t until this very moment that I realized how still they had been. Thinking hard, I couldn’t remember the last time I had really felt either one of them move. My breathing started to increase as the panic began to set in.

  “Ella? What is it?” Xavier asked, trying to remain calm. His hand stopped and was resting on my belly.

  “I don’t feel them. I can’t remember when I last felt them move.” I whispered, but it was loud enough for both my mother and Xavier to hear.

  Xavier sprung up from his seat and quickly made his way over to the front desk. My mother grabbed my hand and began whispering to me how she was sure everything was okay. Before Xavier could make it back over to me, a nurse had the door leading to the exam area open and was calling my name.

  I got up on shaky legs while still concentrating on trying to feel the slightest bit of movement, but there was nothing. Xavier wrapped his arm around me and led me back into the exam room the nurse indicated.

  She asked me to get up on the table and lay on my left side and was going to have the doctor come in immediately. “Please hurry,” Xavier pleaded.

  I lay down on the exam table. The paper crinkled loudly underneath me. My mother sat in the corner of the room looking anxious while Xavier paced next to me constantly running his hands through his hair.

  Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the babies, but there was still nothing. My heart began to pound in my chest as my breathing sped up. Sweat broke out across my brow. I needed to calm down. Slowly, I began to breathe in through my nose and out through my mouth while concentrating on the instrumental music that was being piped into the room. Just as I was starting to calm down, the doctor came charging into the room.

  “Hello, Ella, Xavier,” she said politely. “What seems to be going on?” she asked me.

  “I can’t feel them move,” I said, trying to remain calm. Xavier stopped pacing and stood next to me taking my hand in his.

  “Can you remember the last time you felt them?” Dr. Ellington asked. I shook my head no in response, because honestly I couldn’t remember.

  “I felt them move late last night,” Xavier said, surprising me. He looked down at me as the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. “You rolled up next to me. Your stomach was against my lower back when I felt them,” he said softly, shrugging his shoulders.

  “Okay, that’s good,” Dr. Ellington said, grabbing her special stethoscope so she could listen to their heartbeats.

  She moved the stethoscope around stopping occasionally and listening. She frowned. My heart sank. Xavier squeezed my hand. I held my breath.

  “Ella, I want you to roll back onto your left side. There’s a slight decrease in heart rate. I’m going to hook you up to a fetal monitor and give you oxygen and fluids through an IV. This will help oxygenate your blood, which, in turn, may bring the babies heart rates back to normal.”

  “And if that doesn’t work?” Xavier asked, sounding anxious.

  “We’ll need to deliver them,” she said somberly before exiting the room.

  Two hours later, I found myself being rushed into the emergency room of the hospital. My mother quickly kissed me on the cheek. “Everything will be fine,” she said comfortingly, squeezing my shoulder before I was ushered away.

  Once I was in a room, preparation for an emergency C-section began. Xavier was a nervous wreck. Stripped down to his dress shirt and trousers, he had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Pacing the room with quick, forceful steps, he kept running his hands through his hair. His face was pale and he looked exhausted.

  Dr. Ellington came into the room right before I was brought to the OR. “Ella, I don’t want you to worry. Everything will be fine,” she said with a small smile. “Mr. Hart, I’m sorry, but we have no time for regional anesthesia. We are going to have to administer general anesthesia for the procedure. A nurse will show you to the waiting room. I’ll come see you as soon as the procedure is done.”

  He rushed to my side, grabbing my hand. “No. You don’t understand. I need to be with my wife. I need to be there,” he said, sounding frantic.

  The doctor looked to a rather large man all dressed in white and subtly nodded to him. They were getting ready to physically restrain Xavier if necessary. I squeezed his hand harder. “Xavier,” I said, my voice calm but strong. He immediately looked down at me. His eyes were wide with fear. “It’s all right. I’ll be fine. Stay with my mom. She’ll be worried.”

  His eyes filled with tears. My own vision blurred and I quickly blinked the tears from my eyes. He shook his head. “No. I can’t leave you.”

  “Mr. Hart, we need to go. Now,” Dr. Ellington said urgently.

  “It’ll be all right,” I said gently, trying to assure him.

  Xavier nodded to the doctor. They started making their way out of the room. He walked along side as they wheeled me toward the OR, holding my hand the entire time.

  We paused just outside the OR. Xavier rested his hand on my belly, bringing his forehead down to mine. “I love you.” He kissed me lightly on the lips. “I’ll see you soon.”

  “I love you, too.” I said softly against his lips. Turning away from the anxious look in his eyes, I watched as the anesthesiologist plunged a needle into my IV. That was the last thing I saw before my world was plunged into darkness.

  A warm hand gripped mine. Strong fingers were methodically rubbing my knuckles. Oxygen was being pumped into my nose leaving the nasal passages dry. My throat was also dry and sore. I listened to the beeping of the heart monitor while a blood pressure cuff started to automatically inflate on my left arm. Struggling to open my eyes, I find Xavier sitting next to my bed. He was pitched forward in the chair with his head angled down. His brow creased with concern. The babies. They were okay, weren’t they?

  “Hey,” I rasped.

  His head snapped up. Tired and weary-looking eyes met mine before they closed as he let out a sigh.

  “The babies. Are they okay?”

  A huge smile broke out on his face. Happiness chased away the tiredness in his eyes. “The babies are perfect, Ella, absolutely perfect. They are fine. Breathing well with no assistance. The doctor was very impressed with them,” he said proudly.

  Now I closed my eyes letting out the breath I had been holding. “Where are they?”

  “They’re down in the nursery. I can’t get your mother to leave,” he said, chuckling.

  “I want to see them.” I still didn’t know if we had boys or girls or one of each.

  Xavier kissed my hand. “Let me get the nurse first and let them know you are awake.” He reached over and hit the call button.

  Minutes later Dr. Ellington came in. “Ella, I’m glad to see you are awake. How are you feeling?”

  “Tired. Thirsty. And I want to see my babies.”

  “We’ll get the oxygen out and I’ll have them bring you some water. Everything went well. You suffered from some postpartum hemorrhaging, but we were able to get it quickly under control. We’ll get you on your feet in the morning. I don’t see any reason why you can’t be discharged in about three days provided you continue to recover well,” she said, smiling. “Any questions?”

  Xavier frowned at the doctor. “Postpartum hemorrhaging? Is she all right? I mean is she still able to have children?”

  “The hemorrhaging isn’t terribly uncommon, but, yes, everything is all right. There’s no reason why she can’t have any children in the future,” Dr. Ellington said, smiling.

  He was worried about having more children? I chuckled. “I think we need to concentrate on the two that we have before we start worrying about future children.”

  Dr. Ellington laughed. “I agree. As soon as they get you moved from recovery and into a room, they’ll be able to bring the babies to you. If you don’t have any other questions, I’ll see you in the mor
ning.”

  Xavier stood. “Thank you,” he said, shaking the doctor’s hand.

  “You’re welcome.” She smiled warmly at him before leaving.

  As soon as I was moved to a private room on the maternity floor, I begged Xavier to bring the babies to me. I didn’t want him to tell me the sex of the babies yet, still wanting it to be a surprise.

  My excitement grew when he wheeled a lone bassinet into the room. Both babies appeared to be snuggled around each other as if they were still in the womb. Xavier smiled and shrugged at me. “The nurses find they sleep better when they are together.”

  I smiled in return and relaxed into the pillows at my back that were helping to prop me up on my raised bed. The blankets the babies were wrapped in were standard hospital issue of white with pink and blue stripes. Both little heads were covered with a pink and blue striped cap. It was impossible to determine their sex based on what they were dressed in. Xavier had the clear bassinet angled away from me so I couldn’t read the card the nurses had placed at the head of it.

  “Do you remember all the names we came up with and what we settled on as our number one for a boy and a girl?” Xavier asked, reaching into the bassinet and extricating one baby from the other. They both stirred and let our little cries of protest before they settled down.

  I nodded my head at him as he made his way over to me. He looked so natural with this tiny baby nestled protectively in his arms. Tears sprung to my eyes.

  “Well then, Mrs. Hart, it’s my honor to present to you your first born, Brant Xavier,” he said, his voice full of emotion.

  He carefully placed the little bundle in my arms and sat on the edge of the bed. I ran a finger along his tiny cheek and hands. His skin was so soft and warm. Bending my head to place a soft kiss on his little forehead, I paused inhaling his incredible baby smell. There was a serene look on his face, but he stirred when I pulled away. I gasped when his eyes opened. A slightly smaller version of Xavier’s incredible blue eyes looked up at me. His little arms and legs started moving with uncontrolled jerky movements. Sliding his little cap off, I found a full head of black hair. He was a miniature version of Xavier.