by BWWM Club
She dressed carefully; she was going to show his mother that even though they had withheld the bulk of their money from them; they were not worse off. As a matter of fact the restaurant was doing so well that they had to hire two more wait staff to help out with the crowd they were getting each day. John had transformed their little simple restaurant into one that was turning around money. They were thinking of opening another one in the very near future.
Her husband was a business genius.
She put on a blue wool dress he had bought for her much to her protestations after she had seen the price but he had promptly ignored it and had picked up two more, one in red and shell pink. She pulled on her leggings to ward off the cold and zipped her knee length boots with the flat heels. She stared at herself in the full length mirror and noticed that she had that pregnancy glow about her. She had pulled her hair up in an elegant chignon with the use of hair gel.
She had the car with her and even though John was worrying that she was driving in an advance state of pregnancy she had told him briskly to stop treating her like a baby.
It was almost spring but the winter was still holding on for dear life, the snow still on the ground and the road icy. Rosa made her way cautiously towards the part of town her husband’s parents lived but it was a little past two and the traffic was already piling up on the freeway. She had told John she would be sleeping for most of the day so if he called and did not reach her, he must not leave the restaurant and race over to the house.
She was halfway there and humming to the tune on the radio when it happened. She had just taken her foot off the brake to drive through the green light when the car coming from the side road raced out in front of her. With a startled gasp she swung the wheel and the car skidded on the icy road. With a sinking heart she realized she could not control it and jamming on the brake, she felt it sliding off the road. The last thought she remembered was thinking she was going to die and leave John without a family. The car came to a halt in a ditch and she struck her head on the wheel and lost consciousness.
*****
“Mother good to hear from you,” John exclaimed as he picked up his cell phone and realized it was her. He had tried calling Rosa but her phone had gone to voice mail. It was almost three o’clock and he promised himself he would call her again in half an hour and no matter what she said if she did not answer he was going to go to the apartment to see if she was okay.
“I was expecting your wife an hour ago but she has not turned up so I was wondering if she had changed her mind.” Lucy Yang said in her soft cultured voice.
John felt the panic starting inside his stomach. She had not told him about a meeting with his mother and she was not answering her phone. “Mom I will call you back,” he forced himself to remain calm. It could be any number of reasons why she had not kept the date with his mother, maybe she had fallen asleep and lost track of time but something kept telling him that was not what happened.
He told the chef and the rest of the staff that he was going out for a while and on his way out he called Hayley, forcing his tone to be casual. “Hi Hayley, have you heard from my wife by any chance?” he pulled open the door of the truck and climbed in. “She is not picking up.”
“She is probably taking a nap,” Hayley suggested. So she had not told Hayley about the planned meeting with his mother. His blood iced inside his veins and his foot trembled so much that he had a hard time pressing the gas.
Next, he called her mother, who told him that she had not heard from her daughter since yesterday. He was racing towards the apartment uncaring of the icy road when his phone rang. His heart raced as he thought it was Rosa calling him but it was a number he did not recognized.
“Hello?” he answered trying not to sound impatient.
It was the hospital calling to tell him that his wife had been in an accident and was in the labor room. They were going to have to do an emergency C section because the baby was in distress.
“How is my wife?” he almost shouted, spinning the vehicle around in the middle of the road, his entire body trembling. Please, please let her live, please I will do anything, just let her live.
“She has suffered a concussion and bumped her belly real hard but the baby is in acute distress so we need to operate as soon as possible.” The doctor told him in a calm detached voice.
“I am almost there,” he said, flinging down the phone.
He got there in the next ten minutes and it was the longest ten minutes of his life. He raced inside the hospital and asked where his wife was. He was directed to where the doctor stood just outside the room. He was an elderly man with a kind face and John felt a little bit calmer just looking at him. ”My wife?” he bit out shortly. The doctor handed him a robe and they went into the room where he saw her lying propped up on the bed, her feet in stirrups. His heart contracted as he saw her pale face and noticed there was a bandage on her forehead and her eyes were closed.
“She is unconscious?” he asked the doctor fighting for control. He wanted to rail at everyone around him but he forced himself to remain calm. He had to be strong for his family.
“She is a very lucky young woman, if she was going any faster she would have died,” the doctor told him briskly and John felt his heart hammered inside his chest. “We had to examine her to see how the baby was doing. We need to do the surgery right away Mr. Yang.”
“Do it,” he told the doctor tersely.
The doctor nodded. “We are going to ask you to step out for awhile,” the doctor told him. He stood there for a minute staring at her and willed her to open her eyes and look at him and then he turned and left the room.
It was an hour later and they were still in surgery and he realized that he had not called her mother or Hayley or even his mother. He had called and told Alfonso to see to things for him as he had an emergency. He made the calls and both Hayley and Joan came almost immediately, to discover that he was pacing the floor, his hair looked disheveled as if he had ran his fingers through it a dozen times.
“John, any news?” Joan asked hurrying towards him anxiously.
He shook his head, his expression grim. “She is still in surgery.” He acknowledged the reassuring squeeze Hayley gave his arm with a barely perceptible nod.
“They are going to make it,” her mother told him soberly. “Do you want some coffee?” she asked him.
He shook his head impatiently, shoving his hands inside his pockets. He wanted to go inside the room and pound on the doctor to get some answers. It was almost two hours later when they heard the cry of an infant and shortly after the doctor came out with a weary expression on his face. “My wife?” he asked not waiting for the man to say anything.
“They are both doing fine,” the doctor assured him. “Your wife woke up briefly but she has gone back to sleep but your son is wide awake.”
“You're sure she is okay?” he asked the doctor urgently.
“Yes Mr. Yang, she just needs to sleep a little, you can stay with her if you wish.” he said gently. “I am afraid it has to be you alone.” he added, looking at the two anxious women.
“Go ahead John.” Joan suggested with a small smile. “We are just glad they are okay, we will be waiting right out here when she wakes up.”
“Yes go ahead,” Hayley added, sensing his impatience to be with his wife.
He went inside immediately and he saw her lying there, looking so still and helpless that he wanted to ask the doctor if he was sure she was okay, but he saw her chest moving up and down as she breathed steadily and he knew she was still alive. His knees buckled with a great sense of relief and he had to lean against the wall. His wife and son were okay and he wanted to cry with the relief of it.
The nurse bustled in holding his son scrubbed and wrapped in the hospital blankets. “Your son wants to say hi Mr. Yang,” she told him cheerfully handing the wriggling bundle to him.
John stared down at the screwed up red face of his son and his heart soared. He looked so m
uch like him with straight black hair and chocolate brown eyes which would probably change. He had his mother’s cute little nose, he thought tenderly. “Hey there little man,” he whispered softly, reaching a finger for him to clutch inside his little fist. “Couldn’t wait to see the world huh?” The baby stared up at him as if fascinated at what he had to say. “Your mom is going to be so happy to see you; we just want her to wake up now.” His gaze drifted over to his sleeping wife, wishing she would wake up and smile at them.
He sat on a chair beside the bed and held his son until a nurse came for him to put him back in his cot. It was almost seven o clock and he found himself drifting off to sleep when he heard her whispered his name. “John,” his eyes snapped open and he jumped out of the chair to stand over her.
“Baby,” he whispered, reaching for her hand and holding on. He knew he had to call the nurse or the doctor but he just wanted to see for himself that she was okay.
“I feel sore,” she whispered.
He told her about the accident and about them having to do an emergency C section and their son was quite fine.
“I am sorry,” she whispered, clutching his hand. “I wanted to talk to your mother to try and make things right.”
“I am just glad you are still here with me,” he told her tenderly, his eyes moist. “I have to call the doctor and your mother and Hayley are outside impatient to hear some news.” He kissed her cheek softly and pushed the button to summon the doctor and when he came in he hurried out to tell them that she was a wake and the doctor was checking her out.
Her mother burst into tears and John held her in his arms while Hayley sank down on the seat with great relief.
*****
“He looks just like you,” Rosa said softly, looking from her son to her husband. The doctor had examined her and said she was on the way to recovery. Both Hayley and Joan were told they could be in the room and they were crowded around staring at the baby in fascination.
“He has your eyes,” John told her indulgently. He wanted to be alone with her and their son so badly that it was on the tip of his tongue to ask both Hayley and her mother to leave but he knew he could not do that. He just had to wait. His eyes caught and held hers and the look they shared was so potent that it was as if they were the only two people in the room. Joan and Hayley saw it and decided that it was time they left.
“Okay baby girl, we are going to leave you and your husband and son to spend some time together but we will be back in the morning.” Joan Hurley leaned over to kiss her daughter and then her grandson tenderly. Hayley gave her friend a tight hug and kissed the baby’s soft forehead before heading out leaving John alone with his family. He climbed on the bed beside her and pulled them into his arms, resting his head on hers.
“You gave me quite a scare,” he said lightly, his hand shaking slightly as he pushed away a few tendrils of hair from the bandage on her forehead. “I thought I had lost you.”
She lifted her head to look up at him and the look on his face almost stopped her heart. It was naked and unadulterated love. “I called out your name as I went in the ditch and I felt you there with me,” she told him softly.
“I cannot imagine life without you,” he told her hoarsely, kissing her gently, his expression one of unbelievable tenderness.
They stayed huddled together until the nurse came in and saw them fast asleep, the husband with his arms around his wife and the baby in her arms asleep, a family united. With an envious smile she slowly took the baby from the mother and left them sleeping in each other’s arms.
*****
She was able to go home three days later. The doctor reassured them she was not the worse for wear and the baby was healthy. John did not leave her side, even when she protested that Hayley and her mother were taking turns coming to see her; that still did not matter to him so Rosa had given up. Alfonso was doing a passably good job and John said he'd drop in every now and then to make sure they were not robbing the place blind but she and their son came first.
He took over the pushing of the wheel chair from the orderly and wheeled her out himself. Their son was safely tucked in his grandmother’s arms with Hayley trailing behind with the flowers and balloons that has been in her room.
Rosa stepped gingerly from the chair and winced as she felt the pain from the cut she had gotten on her lower belly. She let out a startled gasp as her husband swung her up in his arms and put her in the back seat making sure she was buckled up.
“Thanks honey,” she whispered.
“You are absolutely welcome,” he whispered, kissing her lightly on the lips.
There was a welcome home banner for her and Michael Phillip. The smell of baking and a vast array of food on the marble top counter in the kitchen.
“Are we planning on feeding an army?” Rosa asked her eyes wide. Her husband had carried her in and placed her on the sofa and spread a blanket over her. He would not allow anyone else to tend to her.
“Ask your husband and your mother,” Hayley said dryly, taking the baby from Joan, a big smile creasing her face as she looked down at his adorable features. “You are going to be a heart breaker someday aren’t you sweetie?”
They had dinner in the living room with little Michael Phillip in the middle in a cot his father had brought out of his room and John made sure Rosa ate her fill. Her mother and Hayley did not leave there until after seven. It was a Thursday night and Hayley had taken the day off from work to be with her. Rosa expressed her gratitude to them for interrupting their lives to be with her.
“You owe us,” Hayley told her with a grin, giving her friend a big hug. “Don’t ever scare us like that again.”
“I won’t,” she promised, returning the hug.
“I will see you tomorrow baby girl, you won’t be able to tear me away from my handsome grandson.” She gave her daughter an affectionate squeeze.
“I love you mama,” Rosa told her, her eyes moist.
“I love you too honey,” she kissed her cheek tenderly before taking the baby from the cot and giving him a cuddle.
They left shortly after and Rosa breast fed her son and put him to bed with the help of her husband. They stood by the cot and watched him sleeping, his lashes fanning his soft baby cheek and his hand curled into little fists as he slept.
“He’s so beautiful,” Rosa murmured, resting her head on her husband’s shoulder as he held her close to him. “I am humbled by my family.”
“I keep pinching myself to find out if this is real,” John murmured, staring at the tiny replica of himself. “I am a husband and a father and I wonder if I will ever really live up to my responsibilities the way I should.”
“You are the best man I have ever known and by far the best husband a girl could ever hope for.” Rosa whispered. He guided her to the rocker and sat pulling her onto his lap.
“I almost lost you and my son Rosa and I still have nightmares about that,” he told her grimly. “Please forgive me if I am going be around you too much for a while, I have to get used to the fact that you are still here with me.”
“I shouldn’t have tried to take things into my own hands,” she clasped his face in her hands and looked at him, this man who was her husband and who had gone all out for her, putting himself last. “I am sorry for scaring you like that.”
“Don’t do it again,” he rebuked her gently, reaching up to hold her hands to his face. “I don’t ever want to feel that way again and it has shown me how much my family means to me. There is nothing that will ever replace that.”
“I feel the same way,” Rosa murmured. She brought her lips down to his and he opened his mouth under hers. Even though she had just been through an ordeal and had given birth and there was a surgical cut the size of the room on her body, she felt the desire racing through her for him. She would not be able to be with him that way for a little while but there was something they could do in the meantime and kissing her husband was very potent. His tongue battled with hers and with a sigh she
snuggled closer into his arms as he deepened the kiss, one hand feathering lightly over her milk laden breast causing Rosa to gasp as the feeling went through her body like an electric shock.
He swung her up into his arms and carried her to bed and tenderly undressed her and put on her nightgown, having to be satisfied with just snuggling beside her but even that was enough for him.
Chapter 11
They settled into some sort of routine. Michael Phillip was an early riser and a screamer when he was not fed as soon as his eyes opened and he realized he was alone. John would jump up as soon as he heard his son’s scream on the monitor to go and fetch him. Rosa enjoyed breastfeeding her son and would croon him to sleep when she had finished feeding him, urging her husband to get some sleep. She had also persuaded him to go back to work as soon as she was able to walk around without the wincing pain from the surgical cut, which had healed nicely within two weeks. He had reluctantly agreed but had told her if he called and she did not answer he was coming straight over.
Rosa could not believe that such a small creature could tug at her heartstrings so tightly and she could not get enough of him.
It was a little past ten and her husband had just left, saying that he had to tear himself away from them. She had kissed him and sent him on his way.
She had just given him his bath and put him in his cot when she heard the doorbell ring. “We are not expecting anyone are we honey?” she bent and kissed his cheek softly as he gazed up at her with his beautiful eyes that looked so much like his dad. “Mommy will be right back.”
To her extreme surprise it was Lucy Yang. Rosa opened the door slowly, unconsciously putting her hand to her hair to make sure that it was still secured in the bun she had made. She had told her husband that very soon she was going to have to cut some of it because it had grown beyond her effort to manage it.