* * *
“Baby wake up. Please wake up. I love you, I need you, the twins need you. Come on baby, come back to us.” He begged, holding her cold hand in his as she lay in the hospital bed, so still and pale looking.
“Come on baby. Natasha please my baby, wake up.” He dropped kisses over her hand as he watched her face for signs of her coming around.
He heard her groan and his eyes shot to her face. She was blinking, trying to open her eyes but the overhead lights in the hospital room appeared to be bothering her. “Eric.” She croaked at him and he smiled down at her, relief evident on his face at seeing her awake, finally.
“Baby, how do you feel? God I feel so bad for what you’ve been through. I can’t believe Vivian would do this to you and poor Alice.”
“How is she Eric? Please tell me she’s going to be ok.” Her eyes searched his, her gaze pleading.
He smiled reassuringly at her. “Fortunately she’s going to be ok. She does have a fractured skull, but there’s no swelling to her brain and the doctor said she’ll make a full recovery, but she’s going to need a long time to rest and heal baby. I’ve told her she’ll stay with us so we can keep an eye on her and I’ve arranged for a temporary house keeper to look after things until Alice is well again.”
Once Natasha had been brought to hospital with the twins and had been taken in to theatre to have surgery on her broken leg and her shoulder put back in place, Eric had gone to see Alice while his wife was being seen to.
Alice had looked so small and frail in her hospital bed with her head bandaged, but she’d woken while he was there and she had been able to tell him what had happened at the house, how she’d walked in to find Natasha lying down the stairs. She hadn’t heard Vivian come up behind her though and she’d felt the pain explode in her head but after that she had no memory of anything else.
He told her she was to stay in the house with them until she recovered from her injuries and apart from a small argument Alice had given in and agreed.
Once he had Alice’s care sorted he got on the phone to the agency that he’d used in the past to arrange for another housekeeper.
In the middle of everything Kathryn called in a state of panic over what had happened and Eric had been forced to give her every sordid detail or what he could anyway.
Kathryn was distraught when she heard how much Natasha had suffered but proud of her daughter’s strength to have given birth under such horrendous circumstances. She wanted to see her and the twins but Eric told her she was in surgery and the twins were being taken care of in the nursery until they could be reunited with their mother.
She told him she was about to leave for the hospital and she’d see them all soon and hung up.
“Where are Erica and Nathaniel?” Natasha’s voice brought Eric back to the present. “Eric please, where are they ? Are they ok?” Her eyes moved around the room searching for them.
He raised her hand to his lips. “Calm down baby, they’re fine. The midwives are taking care of them until you woke up. They need to feed from you to get their first milk, whatever the doctor said that’s called but you were in bad shape sweetheart so while you were receiving medical treatment, our son and daughter got checked over and I’m sure they will be able to be brought to your room to be with you now.”
“So they’re ok?” Her eyes searched his. “I was so scared Eric, that something would happen to them. That was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced, being in labour and alone and god, the pain. I never got to have any drugs for it.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Oh my god, Mum! Does she know what’s happened? She’s going to be so disappointed that she missed the birth.”
“Stop worrying baby. Erica and Nathaniel are fine, trust me and your Mother knows, she knows everything, well as much as I could tell her. Only you can tell the whole story and you’re going to have to tell the police what happened. They haven’t got Vivian yet. She really did fly out of the country but authorities are waiting to arrest her as soon as her plane lands. She’s going to do time for this baby, I promise you she will pay for what she did to you and Alice and what she tried to do to our babies.”
“That’s such a relief Eric. I had no idea Vivian was so unstable. I hated that she kind of sucked me in. She told me she was sorry for what she’d said and done. She wanted to see the nursery and god, I took her up there. What was I thinking? I can’t believe she changed so much. If you could have seen her Eric. The anger and hatred on her face was horrible. How could she do that? I’m not sure if she was trying to kill me or kill our babies and then she hit Alice and left her to die and she laughed, she actually laughed. What sort of person does something like that? How the hell did you end up going out with someone like her for fuck sakes Eric?”
Eric felt another wave of guilt at her words. This was all his fault. If he’d had nothing to do with Vivian in the first place then none of this would ever have happened.
“I don’t know baby. I’m so sorry that I put you at risk. I never should have called off Roman. I let myself get sucked in too thinking she really was sorry but I think it was a case of me wanting to believe it was over with her. My judgement was bad and I’m sorry sweetheart. Can you forgive me?” His eyes were tortured with the pain he was feeling as he stared down at his wife.
She reached up with her good arm to cup his cheek. “It’s not your fault Eric. It’s no one’s fault. How does anyone know what a person is capable of until something pushes them over the edge? She said she loved you and that you’re a hard act to follow. She didn’t want to give you up.”
He gave a hollow sounding laugh. “She didn’t love me baby. Vivian only loves one person and that’s herself. She just doesn’t like to lose and because I told her it was over, she couldn’t handle losing. Plain and simple. What I never expected was the lengths she was prepared to go to. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you or the twins.” His voice broke and tears filled his eyes as the horror of what had happened to her started playing over in his mind.
He felt her touch again as the tears that threatened began to roll down his cheeks and she wiped at them gently with her thumb. “We’re all fine though Eric, so don’t think like that. You know Vivian said that. She wanted you to find out how it felt to lose someone important to you. That’s why she did what she did. She said you wouldn’t want me anymore after she’d hurt me.”
“I’d always want you baby. I love you.” He stood and leaned down to gently touch his lips to hers. She winced and he pulled back angry with himself that he’d hurt her. “God I’m sorry sweetheart. You’re lips. I don’t know why but you’ve chewed up your lips pretty bad.”
“It was during the labour. It hurt so much, everything hurt so badly. It was so bad Eric.”
A shaft of pain speared its way through him at her words. He hated knowing she had suffered so much and he’d been unable to do anything to help her. “How do you feel now baby? Is the pain bad? The doctor fixed your dislocated arm and your leg has been set and plastered. You’re going to have a scar from where the bone came through but the doctor thinks you might be lucky and not have to worry about infection. Still, you’re on antibiotics just in case. Is the pain bad, do you need something?”
“The pain isn’t too bad if I don’t move too much. My shoulder hurts but nothing like it did when I dislocated it. That was my own fault. I was trying to stop myself falling all the way down the stairs and I grabbed the banister but it yanked my arm really hard stopping my fall and that’s when it happened. I got reefed around so hard I smashed my leg and that’s when I broke it. I can still hear the sound of the bone breaking Eric, it was awful.”
Eric tightened his grip on her hand, bringing it to his cheek and pressing her palm against his skin as if in some way he could absorb some of the pain she’d suffered. “My baby, I feel so terrible for what you’ve been through and with all that, you had to give birth
. You almost had them all alone. You must have been so scared.”
“I’m just glad it’s over Eric and that our babies are healthy. I was more scared about what my fall could have done to them, not so much what had happened to me. I was terrified about giving birth alone and what if I couldn’t push them out by myself and no one came to help me?”
Her words made him shudder because he’d worried about the same thing. What if she hadn’t been able to deliver the twins? If something had gone wrong he could have lost them all. It scared the hell out of him just thinking about it.
“I’m just glad I got there in time although when the doctor said you couldn’t go to the hospital I nearly strangled the man.”
She laughed at his words and Eric’s heart swelled at the sweet sound. “So I noticed. You just couldn’t seem to grasp what he was trying to tell you. Trust me if anyone had tried to move me when I could feel our baby’s head almost ready to come out of me, I would have strangled them. All I wanted to do was push. I didn’t feel the pain in my leg or shoulder, just those fucking contractions. You were too funny Eric. My big confident CEO and you completely fell apart. Mum said you would and she was right.”
Eric gave an indignant snort. Fell apart? He didn’t fall apart at all. What the hell was she going on about? “I didn’t fall apart at all. I helped.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “You fell apart Eric. Do you remember how many times I had to ask you to have a look and see if you could see if the head was showing?” She poked him in the arm with a finger. “Face it Mr CEO, you… fell… apart!”
The more she spoke the more indignant he was feeling. She accused him of falling apart but at least he hadn’t abused or insulted her. “Well Mrs Rothman, you were rude to me. I swear the language coming out of your mouth would have made a truckie blush.” He gave her a smug grin.
“Well let me tell you this Mr CEO, you’d be swearing too if you were trying to push a watermelon out of your ass. Would you like to bend over and I’ll see if someone can bring me one and we’ll stick it on up there and I’ll sit back and watch you push it back out without swearing. What do you think about that idea Mr Rothman?” She smirked at him.
Eric couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing at her words and the expression on her face. His wife was coming back to him. “You must be feeling better baby, you’re back to your usual sassy self I see.”
“I’d feel better if I had my babies Eric. Where are they? I haven’t had a chance to see them properly yet. I want to hold my babies.” Sudden tears filled her eyes.
Eric felt tears prick his eyes again at the sight of his beautiful, battered but incredibly strong wife weeping for her babies. “Hey baby, don’t cry. Let me go and see what the hold up is.” He stood up, reluctantly releasing her hand so he could step out of the room and find someone who could tell them where Erica and Nathaniel were, but before he could get out the door it opened up and two midwives walked in each carrying a baby.
He wasn’t too happy when he was told to get out of the way so the midwives Brenda and Lisa could reunite Natasha with the twins and also help to get her positioned so she could feed them. They uncovered her breasts so Erica and Nathaniel could feed and Eric was surprised at how engorged looking they had become.
When Natasha tried to pull herself up into a more upright position he rushed forward to help her with an arm around her waist. Once Erica and Nathaniel were attached and feeding he came forward again to sit by the bed staring in wonder and awe at his son and daughter.
Nathaniel had blondish hair and Erica’s was auburn like her Mother’s. She was slightly smaller than her brother weighing in at 5 pounds to Nathaniel’s 5.5 pounds but that didn’t stop her getting in and feeding just as strongly off her mother as her brother was.
As he looked down on the vision of his beautiful wife feeding their babies he felt tears well in his eyes. His heart swelled with the overwhelming depth of his love for Natasha and now their children. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone so he could take a couple of photos of them suckling from their mother.
“You look beautiful baby. Watching you feeding our children is the most beautiful and amazing thing to see. They’re just perfect aren’t they?” He gazed at them still in awe that he and Natasha had made them. They were theirs.
“Isn’t it amazing Eric? As soon as they’re born the love for them is overwhelming. I’m just so relieved that they’re healthy, that Vivian didn’t hurt them when she pushed me down the stairs. I’d happily break both arms and legs if that meant it kept them safe.”
Eric shuddered at the thought of her in pain. “I know baby. I never want to feel the way I did when I walked through our door and saw you lying there so broken and trying to give birth alone. You are so strong my sweetheart, stronger than me. You must have been in so much pain and so frightened but look what you did. You brought our son and daughter into the world, largely by yourself. No bed, no hospital, no pain killers and all that with a broken leg and dislocated arm. You are amazing.” His voice broke as tears threatened to fall again when he thought about all she’d endured and survived and now she lay there with their children nursing from her, smiling as if she hadn’t just recently suffered horribly. She really did amaze him.
“You are such a sap Eric.” She smiled at him and he smiled back although the tears were still rolling down his face.
“Yeah baby? Well don’t you go telling anyone that now will you?” He said huskily.
“As if I would Eric. You might be a sap but you’re my sap and I’m not sharing that part of you with anyone.” She smiled at him again with her love for him shining in her eyes and he could do nothing more than grin back at her like the big emotional sap she said he was.
CHAPTER 28
Eric couldn’t stop grinning at Natasha. He was just so relieved that everyone was ok. His wife had suffered terribly but she was so incredibly strong and to see her now, lying there, smiling and feeding their babies left him in awe of her.
A knock at the door interrupted them and he got up to go and see who it was. Kathryn stood there armed with flowers in one hand and in the other, balloons that floated above her head, one announcing ‘It’s a boy’ and the other ‘It’s a girl.’
He stepped back to let Kathryn enter the room and she breezed in, balloons tangling around her head. When she saw her daughter she rushed over. “Baby girl, just look at you. How could you do this to me darling? You went and had my Grand babies without me being there.”
Natasha groaned. “Well I didn’t exactly have a choice Mum.” Her tone was dry and Eric tried to hide his smile at the look she was giving her mother.
He wanted to give them time to catch up, so he leaned against the wall of the room watching and half listening to the conversation but his mind was on Vivian and whether the police would get her when her plane landed in New York. He’d love to get his hands on her first and squeeze the life right out of her. He was so angry with her and angry with himself for bringing someone like her into his life who in turn had caused so many problems for Natasha and himself and had put her life and the lives of the twins at risk.
For about an hour he listened as the two women talked and Kathryn got to know her grandchildren. Eric listened to his wife describe in detail what Vivian had done to her, the fall, breaking her leg and dislocating her arm, Alice being attacked and his brave girl’s crawl down the stairs, in labour, dragging her broken leg to get to her mobile and put it back together so she could call him. As he listened to her he felt his anger rising until it was like an all consuming rage that clouded his vision.
“That bitch will pay for what she did to you baby. I can’t use my phone in here. If you’re ok for now, I’ll go outside. I need to give Roman and the police a call. Will you be alright?”
“She’s fine Eric, she has me with her. You go do what you have to do to get that evil woman. I’ll look after Natash
a while you’re gone.” Kathryn told him.
With one final glance between the pair of them, he left the room. Once he got outside the hospital he pulled out his phone and called Roman to get him back on the job of investigating Vivian’s activities just prior to her showing up at the house and anything else he could find of interest. After him he called the police and found out there were officers in place in New York ready to arrest her once her plane landed.
They still wanted to talk to Natasha but Eric had to explain she wasn’t quite up to speaking to anyone yet after what she’d been through.
After he’d finished with his calls he decided to go for a walk to clear his head. He was still filled with a rage that made him want to hit something. He wasn’t just angry with what had happened to his wife though or what Vivian had done, coming into their home and attempting to either kill her or seriously harm her. He knew a lot of his rage was directed at himself because it was his poor choice of a girlfriend and then ignoring the warning signs as to what she was really like that had caused the suffering his wife had endured.
He felt so guilty, so completely responsible for what had happened. He’d told Natasha he’d keep her safe and he’d failed her and he’d failed the twins. It could have ended so tragically. He could have lost them all and all because he called off Roman too early. He made the mistake of thinking Vivian wasn’t as bad as his gut instinct had earlier told him and for what reason? He knew, he just had wanted it over, for their lives to return to normal so he had chosen to believe that Vivian had changed and was ashamed of her behaviour but he should have known better.
He couldn’t believe he’d done something so stupid. He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself for what he’d done and he wouldn’t be surprised if Natasha couldn’t forgive him either once she had time to think about what she’d been through. As the whole afternoon played out in his mind again, his fear when she’d called him at work, the blood around Alice, that first vision of his wife lying on the stairs, the bone sticking out of her leg, the fear and pain in her eyes all became too much as the images filled his head like a horror movie. The tears that he’d fought so hard to restrain all afternoon started to fall. They came so fast that he was blinded in seconds and had to stop walking. He stumbled his way to a bench under a tree which was relatively private and he sat, head in his hands and sobbed for what had happened, for what could have happened, for the anger and frustration he felt towards himself but most of all for feeling like he’d failed the people who meant the most to him and who relied on him. He hadn’t had a real family in years. What he’d had with his biological parents wasn’t a family and the various men his mother had been with didn’t count as family either. Maggie, Tom and Alice had been the closest to family he had and when he finally had a family of his own, a wife he adored and who adored him and now their babies, he’d failed them. He hadn’t been able to protect them and his wife had proven she was a much stronger person than he ever would be, with what she’d done after Vivian’s attack. He just couldn’t stop thinking about what might have been, how badly it could have gone and what had he done to avoid it all? Nothing and for that he wasn’t sure if he could forgive himself.
Taming Eric Page 60