Pearl's Awakening (Devil's Iron MC #3)

by G. M. Scherbert

  Looking at Markus who is handing me back the phone I see the same fear and panic that I know is written all over my face. We have got to get our shit together and get to Pearl.

  “Let’s fucking go Markus, we gotta take the truck because he will be calling with details and I am not sure if we gotta bring the girls home with us.” Running my hand over my hair I pause a second before yelling at him, “Let’s fucking go Prez, get a fucking move on, we need to get to Pearl and Rebel.”

  Shaking his head, he seems to snap himself out of his disbelief. Striding to his desk he grabs his phone, gun, and cut before catching up with me by the door.

  We rush to the truck and I am on the phone with some of the other brothers as we get on the road. Receiving a message from Doc with the name of the hospital and address, I plug it in to GPS and get back to my calls. I have made it through half of the brothers as we hit the state line, and the GPS tells us we are twenty minutes away.

  As I get back to the calls, Markus’s phone is blaring as he answers with the Bluetooth, “Doc, what’s going on? Have they given you any details on Pearl or the baby? What the fuck happen?”

  I listen as not Doc, but Ember, starts to speak. “We were forced off the road and the SUV rolled as we hit the ditch then hit a tree. The kids and I were all fine and released by the paramedics on scene. Pearl, however, needed to be flown to the hospital because of her injuries. We are just walking into the hospital now and they won’t let anyone but family get updates. We told them that her fiancé and brother were on their way and would be here shortly.”

  I respond to her rapidly, “She had to be flightfor life to get to the hospital?”

  “Yes, she was bleeding and lost consciousness as soon as the accident happened. Are you guys close?”

  Looking over at the odometer, seeing that Markus is ripping down the highway going well over ninety MPH, so I answer, “we will be there within fifteen minutes Ember. Please try to find out something, anything on Pearl’s condition for us. “

  “I will do my best to see what I can find outabout how they are doing.” Pausing shortly for a breath,“Abraham, Markus, it was the Knights.”

  “What?” was screamed out from next to me as Ember’s words register. “What did you just fucking say Ember?”

  “The Knights, they are the ones that ran us off the road.”

  Markus lets out a howl as he momentarily loses control of the truck. “Ember this was not a car accident? Are you fucking telling us that the Knights caused this accident? That the Knights are the reason that our woman and child are in the fucking hospital right now?”

  “Yes, The Knights, maybe four or five of the brothers on their bikes, ran us off the road. Country, Trip, and Doc were following us, but the bikes were just upon us in the blink of an eye, causing me to lose control. I am so sorry Abraham and Markus, I didn’t mean for anything to happen to Pearl and the baby.”

  “Ember, it is not your fault no matter what happened. This is to be put at the feet of that stupid fuck Clutch. He will get what is coming to him. We are five minutes out Ember, have Doc meet us by the entrance.”

  “Doc is gone, Markus. He left as soon as Country and Trip got here after trying with no success to check on Pearl and Rebel. The kids are really freaking out; I will get them out of here as soon as you guys get here. There are some hotels right near here that we can stay at if need be.”

  “No, you, Country, and the kids will head for home as soon as Bull gets here with a few more of the brothers. It should only be like twenty more fucking minutes; Abraham was on the horn with them as soon as we hit the road. Send Country to the front, we are just pulling up now.”

  Hanging up the phone, we get out of the truck and head for the front entrance. Country is coming down the hall as we walk in and we head towards him. “She is back here in surgery. The doctors were waiting for you guys; they wouldn’t tell us anything that has been going on other than she was in surgery.”

  Markus continues to walk with Country to the waiting area a few feet away, as I look towards the nurse’s station. Walking over to it, I question the two women who are sitting there, “My fiancé is in surgery and I need to find out what is going on with her and the baby that she is carrying.”

  “Oh, the car accident, Yes? She is in surgery right now, and they just took the baby up to the neo-natal room. He is doing okay, but needs to be on a ventilator and monitored due to him being so premature.”

  Markus is suddenly next to me and as the other nurse sees the worry on our faces she chimes in, “Thankfully he is a pretty big guy for his age, so he should have no long term issues. Pearl is still in surgery, and the doctors will be out as soon as it is over to talk with her immediate family.”

  Markus looks towards these women asking, “Where is Rebel? Can we see him?”

  “Rebel? Who is Rebel, was there another person admitted from this accident?” She starts looking through the computer and at the charts in front of her, and he quickly corrects her.

  “No, Rebel is the baby’s name. Where is he? Can you take us to see him?” Taking a deep breath, he adds, “please.”

  “Oh, yes of course, I will take you right up to him. They are still doing some tests on him, so you might not be able to hold him, but you can see him.” Getting up from her chair and walking around the desk she motions for us to follow her.

  Taking the elevator up a few floors, we exit the elevator and the first thing I notice is the security setup. I see cameras and sensors all around the exit. Looking towards the nurse she answers my unasked question. “All the babies have GPS’s on them while they are in the hospital, these are just our security measures to insure safety. Come on, he is over here.”

  Following close behind her I look at Markus and see the fear still taking hold of him. Knowing that there would be nothing worse than losing Pearl and our child, I know exactly what he is feeling. Reaching out I grab his shoulder stiffly and reassure him without words.

  Stopping at a huge glass window, the nurse heads into the room putting some sanitizer on her hands as she starts talking to another nurse, and we look longingly into the nursery. The nurse returns to the window pushing a big plastic cart with tubes coming out from every which way.

  As I glance down into the basket I see our baby for the first time. Dark brown hair is the first thing I notice, followed quickly by dark brown eyes looking up at me. Looking from Rebel to Markus I see joy replaced by fear after only brief seconds. Before he turns and heads for the stairs, slamming the door open as he makes his exit.

  “Markus,” falls on deaf ears as I try to rip myself away from Rebel, wondering if the health of both our child and our woman has alarmed him this much. As the nurse comes back out of the nursery, I let her know that I will stay near to Rebel and ask her to let me know when the doctors are done with Pearl and ready to talk. Nodding her head, she takes off down the hall.

  Returning to the viewing window, I watch as the little man starts to cry and take note that he has a good set of lungs on him. The nurse who is still in the room looks over at him and notices me; going over to Rebel she takes him out of the basket and brings him over to the window. Asking if I would like to hold him, my eyes get big and my head bobs up and down. I walk over to the door and she jerks her head to the side and I step into the nursery.

  “Wash your hands at the sink, Daddy, and then you can hold your little man, he has quite the set of lungs on him for being so little. I just got word that they are finishing up the operation on his momma, so you probably have fifteen or twenty minutes before you will want to head down to talk with the Doctors. Of course that is after a little snuggle with him” she says smiling from ear to ear.

  Handing him to me as I walk back from the sink she asks, “Does he have a name?”

  “Yes, his name is Rebel.”

  “Good name for this little fighter. There is a rocking chair over there in the corner, just make sure to support his head, Daddy.”

  Staring down at Rebel, I am
in fucking awe of this whole situation. Rebel looks up at me and I have no doubt what love is. It is the same thing that I feel for his mother. As he starts to fuss the nurse comes over with a bottle and lets me feed him. As he finishes a small amount of milk, he instantly falls asleep.

  Taking him from me, the nurse lets me know I should head downstairs and that she will be bringing him down to his momma as soon as she is given the all clear.

  Chapter 44 – Blaze

  Taking the stairs two at a time, I find myself out of the hospital moments after leaving the nursery. Seeing Rebel with all those tubes attached to him has me on the fucking ledge. He is just so fucking small; and there were so many tubes sticking outta him. I don’t know how to be a father especially to that little guy who has had such a rough start to his life.How will he ever be able to survive being born almost two months early?

  I will fucking kill that son of a bitch as soon as word on Pearl comes. Pulling my phone out, I dial Doc and his voice mail picks up on the first ring. The message I leave lets him know that he is on thin fucking ice and he better return the call soon. Hearing the bikes coming down the road I look up to see twenty or so brothers rolling up to the hospital. Walking over to them, I shake the fear from my thoughts and catch them up on what is going on.

  Shadow is the first who steps up to me. “Doc let us know what was going on Prez. He’s meeting a few of the brothers and is going to take care of the issue. There was no talking him out of it, so we decided to try and send some brothers with him to help make sure he kept everything on the up and up. Sorry we didn’t wait for your word, Prez, but we were sure that you would be wrapped up with Pearl. How are she and the baby doing?”

  “She is still in surgery and Rebel is upstairs. He is so fucking small, I don’t know what the fuck happened or what the fuck is going on, no one will fucking say anything until she is out of surgery.”

  “Alright, come on let’s head back and we will put a plan together. You want some of us to take Ember and the kids back to Chicago?”

  “Yes, they need to be somewhere familiar and safe. They can go to my house and have a couple guys sit on them until we have more details.”

  Walking back through the doors of the hospital, I notice the stares from not only the people in the waiting room, but the hospital staff in general as twenty bikers come stomping through the doors. Won’t be able to keep this shit on the hush because these people are looking at us like we are fucking aliens, it will be all over the media soon. I need to get these guys situated and on shifts as soon as possible to lessen the attention given to us.

  Reaching Ember, I scoop up the girls and hold them close for long moments trying to calm their flowing tears. “Hush now, girls. Your brother, Rebel, is doing good upstairs and you will be able to see him the next time you come to the hospital. Momma is in surgery and will be fine as soon as the doctors are done fixing her up. Don’t worry girls, Poppa Markus and Daddy Abraham won’t let anything happen. Hush now, Bull and Country are going to take you to the house, we will be there as soon as we can.”

  Stroking their backs, I look up at Country and Bull. Nodding my head at them, they each take one of the girls from me. “Take them to my house with Ember and Vincent, grab a couple other brothers on your way out,” taking the keys to the truck out of my pocket, “take the truck, it has some car seats in it.” Looking to Ember I go on, “take care of our girls. We will be home as soon as we can, I will get word to you as soon as the doctors tell us what the fuck is happening.”

  “Ok, Markus.” She whispers taking Vincent by the hand and striding out behind Country, Bull, and four of the other brothers.

  Turning back around I see two tall men with white coats striding towards us. “Are you the immediate family?” I go to answer but all the brothers behind me answer in unison, “Yes,” turning to look at them, they all reassure me with nods and I step closer to the doctors, “Yes, and Abraham is up by the…”

  “I’m here Markus, the nurse let me know that Pearl was out of surgery.” Looking toward the doctors he goes on, “Doctor what is going on with her? How is she doing?”

  “Come with us guys,let’s go talk in the room around the corner.”

  The walk down the hall is the longest of my life. As the door closes behind the last doctor and I look up into his eyes, my breath stops as he begins to tell us about Pearl.

  Introducing themselves as Dr. Fox and Dr. Ragowski,they begin by telling us how Pearl is doing. How the accident caused labor to start, but her previous C-sections were too much on her body and they needed to go in and get the baby. While they were in there, Pearl had bleeding due to the placenta failing to separate from the tissues which were caused in part due to her previous C-sections. They had to perform an emergency full hysterectomy to stop the bleeding and save her life.

  Dr. Fox goes on to let us know that Pearl will be in the hospital for about a week, as long as her healing goes well and everything looks good. Glancing towards Abraham, I only nod my head, taking a deep breath before returning my focus to the Doctors.

  Dr. Ragowski starts to talk about Rebel, starting with his troubled beginning. When Pearl came into the hospital she had already started labor and there was nothing the Doctors could do to stop it. They were unsure how far along Pearl was and hoped that she was further along than she ended up being. When the Doctors noticed the C-section scars and saw a lot of blood coming from Pearl, they decided to go in and get the baby out, especially considering Pearl was unconscious.

  When they opened Pearl up they noticed that the baby was not as big as they would have liked, but at least he weighed over four pounds. He will have to stay in the hospital a little longer than Pearl, if all goes well. Seeing that they now contacted Pearl’s Doctor and been able to look over her medical records, they think that Rebel was far enough along to be considered less of a risk in the long run.

  “She was about thirty-two weeks, correct?” I ask. Nodding their heads, I go on, “Were Rebel’s lungs developed enough?”

  “Yes, we were actually surprised at how well his lungs looked and sounded when we took a listen. We really took him to neo-natal to be observed and also because there was no one to take him while we were working on his momma. He should be coming down soon. Do you know if mom planned on breast feeding? We will need to rouse her and have the baby start feeding soon if that is the case.”

  “Yes, she had done it with both of the girls, so she was planning on breast feeding Rebel as well.”

  “Well, if you guys would like to go in and see her, we can take you back there, she has been in and out of consciousness since surgery. I will allow other visitors but only one or two at a time. Also, Rebel can stay in the room with momma, but I would prefer if one of you or someone else was in there with her too, helping out when the need arises.”

  Chapter 45 –Pearl

  Waking up in a hospital room is something that has only happened to me a few times in life and each time, I have a new child. Looking around the room I notice a nurse over by the board and don’t see a baby.

  “Excuse me,” gets out quietly.

  The nurse turns towards me with a smile on her face. “You’re awake, welcome to the land of the living. I bet you would like some water and maybe some pain meds? Let me get you a water and then we will work on the rest.”

  Leaving the room, she returns quickly with a white cup with a bendy straw in it. Trying to scoot up on the bed I feel a sharp pain and wince.

  “Be careful Pearl, you just had major surgery. Here, push this little green button and you will get some relief. Have a drink of water and we will try to adjust your bed more to your liking.”

  After taking a sip of water I thank the nurse and she comes around to help adjust the pillows and bed. “They will be bringing the baby down in a little bit and there are two very attractive men here, who have been impatiently waiting to see you. Whichever one is your brother please let me know.”

  “My brother?”

  “Yes, your fia
ncé and your brother are here. Two big bikers with lots of tattoos and who look menacing as all get up.”

  “Markus and Abraham are here?”

  Just then the door swings open and they step into my room with fear and concern in their eyes.

  “Hello guys.”

  “Pearl,” escapes both of their mouths as they stride across the room one ending up on each side of my bed,taking one of my hands in theirs.

  I notice the Doctors checking the charts and then walking from the room with the nurse. Abraham is the first to lean into me and take my mouth with his. This kiss is not as all-consuming as our usual kisses. He is gentle and easy with me. Leaning into him, I try to deepen the kiss a little but he pulls back from me shaking his head.

  “Little One, now is not the time or the place. You have just had major surgery and will need to heal. Not to mention our son is on his way down to meet his momma and eat. Something that we are really looking forward to watching.”

  A smile spreads across my lips before I look to Markus and see the fear again. “Markus, what is it? Is there something wrong with Rebel?” Looking back to me, “Abraham, is Rebel okay?”

  “He was fine when I was holding him up in the nursery a little while ago. He is a little small because he was so early, but the Doctors both said his lungs sounded good and that he could come stay with us in here when you woke up. The staff up in the nursery were very nice and told me that she would bring the baby down as soon as you were awake, so she should be here soon.”

  Turning my head back to Markus, “Markus, what is it? Why do you look so scared?”

  “Not scared Pearl, just concerned. Rebel is just so small, and we are the reason that this happened. It is our fucking fault that this shit happened to you. How can you be so open and caring with us still? Our fucking lives have brought nothing but pain and trouble to you.”