“Don’t you want to go on the carousel, too?” Tanya nodded excitedly, waving around a stick of cotton candy like a baton.
“First the monkeys, then the carousel,” she informed me, and I agreed full-heartedly with her priorities. We’d been gone for about an hour, and I hoped that Sienna had managed to fall asleep already; she’d “suggested” that I take Tanya to the zoo, or somewhere she could expend as much energy as possible.
“I love my daughter but my entire body feels like I’ve been hit by a truck and now like I am trying to carry the truck that hit me,” Sienna had said. As Tanya and I stepped into the monkey habitat area, I smiled to myself, thinking of how careful my wife had been to make sure Tanya didn’t know she was inadvertently jumping on Sienna’s last nerve. Tanya was as always a good kid--she just had a ton of energy, like any healthy six-year-old, and two weeks out from her due date, Sienna needed as much rest as she could get.
She’d taken maternity leave from work, but not without grumbling about it a bit; her temper had flared when I pointed out that it wasn’t as though she had to worry about running out of paid time off. Sienna had accused me of wanting to prevent her from working again, and I’d said that if she wanted to breastfeed our child on the clock I would buy the hospital and forbid them from firing her, if it would make her happy. I was paying dividends for not having been there her first pregnancy, and I was actually pleased to; it was a solid exchange for being able to see my child’s first ultrasound, and feel my child moving around in Sienna’s body, and watch her taking on maternal curves.
Tanya bounced around like a rubber ball, “communicating” with the monkeys in hoots and shrieks right alongside the other kids, and I caught a few approving smiles directed my way from the mothers supervising. “You have a beautiful daughter,” one of them remarked, after Tanya had called my attention to the fact that two of the monkeys were sharing fruit, just like her mother and I sometimes did.
“Beautiful and too smart for her own good,” I said. I waited for Tanya to get tired of chattering back and forth with the monkeys and led her out of the habitat, towards the carousel she’d wanted to get on before she’d gotten distracted. I helped her onto a green unicorn and stood back as she gripped the bar tightly, eyes as wide as saucers with excitement. I stepped off of the ride and watched her go around, getting my phone out to snap a few pictures to send to Sienna, to show her I was being the best father I could and tiring her daughter out more than enough to sleep through the night.
I was just about to put my phone away when it buzzed in my hand, the screen lighting up with the notification that Kara was calling. “Hey, what’s up?” I figured that Kara had news about a particular business project, or that she had paperwork for me to sign.
“Sienna is being taken to the hospital,” Kara said without any preamble. “She has been in labor for about an hour or so, and she asked me to call you and let you know it’s time.”
“She’s in labor? Why didn’t she call me?” I looked around to try and discover if the carousel was going to stop anytime soon.
“She was a little bit distracted, from what I could tell,” Kara said blandly. “The contractions were about six minutes apart when she left.”
“Shit! Okay, clearly we need to get to the hospital,” I said. “Shit, shit, shit. Let me get Tanya off of the carousel, I’ll be on my way.” I hung up on Kara and hurried to grab my daughter off of the unicorn as soon as the ride began to slow, trying to think of the quickest way I could get across town to the hospital. Traffic has got to be horrific right now, I thought. There was something else I could do, but I needed to make it happen quickly.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?”
“Your Mama is about to have the baby,” I told the little girl, carrying her away from the ride and towards a quieter area. How could I get to the hospital? I took a deep breath and thought about it. “We need to get to the hospital as quickly as possible, so we can be there for her.”
“Are we gonna take the big car?” I shook my head.
“No, that won’t be fast enough,” I said. I thought again. “Tanya-baby, do you know what a helicopter is?” She nodded excitedly.
“It has a fan on top so it can fly!” It was not the time to correct her understanding on that, and what she’d described was close enough anyway.
“Yes, it flies,” I agreed. “Would you be scared if we took a helicopter to the hospital?” Tanya shook her head eagerly.
“No! Not scared at all!” I took my phone out again. I’d never really thought I’d have much need for a helicopter guy, but I’d kept one around as a sort of “just in case” for emergencies. I called the man and told him I needed to be picked up from the zoo, and taken to the hospital to meet my wife, and he told me he’d be there in fifteen minutes. That gave me enough time to grab a bottle of water and a stuffed giraffe for Tanya to keep her occupied, and to get us both to the entrance where we could meet the chopper.
Tanya was not at all scared to climb into the chopper with me, and get strapped in for the trip to the hospital. It took another twenty minutes, flying over the city, to get there, and by the time the pilot landed on the pad on the roof, I was already fidgeting to leave. I wasn’t sure what I could do with Tanya, but hopefully Kara had followed my wife to the hospital and I could leave the little girl with her while I checked in on Sienna.
I’d booked a private birthing suite and backed it up with a donation to the hospital for their new radiology ward, so Sienna was in a very nice room, all by herself, when I rushed in; she looked as calm as she possibly could have been, sitting up in the bed, breathing a little heavy but not too much. “How...did you get here...so quickly?”
“Quickly? That took almost an hour,” I countered, moving to stand next to the bed.
“They say probably three more hours until I can start pushing,” Sienna said between heavy breaths. I held out my hand for her and she took it, gripping it hard and then harder as a contraction worked through her. “I think it’s going to be sooner.”
“How long have you been in labor? You can’t have a baby in four hours,” I protested. Sienna laughed breathlessly and groaned as the contraction finally stopped.
“I think I can,” she said. “Also...I think those Braxton-Hicks contractions earlier today--Oh!--weren’t.” I had to chuckle at that even though her grip on my hand was at the point of hurting.
The doctor came to check on her and said that Sienna was already six centimeters dilated, which apparently was a good sign. “Can I please have some water?”
“You’re low risk for surgery, so I think we can let you have some water,” the doctor said. “I’ll send a nurse in with it.” Anton came in a few minutes later, with a hospital pitcher and a sleeve of cups.
“I had them call me in as soon as you arrived,” Anton said, smiling at my wife. “Because I’ll be damned if I’m not among the first people to see the gorgeous thing the two of you made this time.” I chuckled.
“Well, Tanya’s a fair sample, but we’ll see what we get this time,” I said. “Tanya mostly takes after Sienna anyway.” Anton poured a cup of water for my wife and put the ice chips in reach.
“You aren’t bad looking yourself, Bobby, don’t sell yourself short,” Anton said, eyeing me up and down. He’d been fully exonerated when Paul had admitted to me that he’d sold my story to the press, and ever since then, he’d been in Sienna’s life just as much as before.
Kara poked her head in to say that Jenny had arrived and was watching over Tanya, and Sienna and I settled in for the rest of her labor, talking about whatever we felt like until the contractions became too intense.
“I probably look hideous right now,” Sienna mused in between contractions, slumped back against the bed. I shook my head.
“You still look beautiful,” I told her, and it was true. Even with the sweat and the way the pain of each contraction made her face contort, Sienna was as beautiful as ever--maybe even more so, in a way.
After two hours
she was fully dilated, and entered what the doctors called the “transition” phase, and I lost all sense of time as the woman I loved became fully consumed with the process of bringing our second child into the world. I stood at her side, holding her hand, mopping her face when she wanted it, as she labored over the baby, pushing when she was supposed to push. All at once it was over, our new baby sliding out of her, caught by the doctor, and the umbilical cord there as well. “Let’s just get the placenta out, and then we’re all done,” I heard someone say.
They kept our brand-new son attached to the umbilical cord for fifteen minutes, per Sienna’s request, and then it was just me and Sienna and our new baby boy, all together. Even covered with blood and other gunk from delivery, my son looked absolutely beautiful to me--every bit as beautiful as my daughter.
They cleaned our boy up and asked us for a name; we had deliberately not found out the sex of the new baby before delivery, but had discussed what we wanted. “We’re naming him Nicholas Everett Clawson,” I told the doctor with a nod from Sienna to confirm it. That had been my uncle’s name, and we’d agreed it was a fitting tribute to the man who had, ultimately, gotten us together. They recorded all of the details and then it was once more just Sienna, me, and our new baby, Nick, in the room together, with Nick nursing away happily.
“Can we bring Tanya in now?” I nodded in response to Kara’s question and my assistant came in, along with Jenny and my daughter.
“Did you make the call?” I asked Kara, and she smiled slightly, nodding and rolling her eyes. As if on cue, there was another knock on the door and I called out a ‘come in’. As the two women from Jenny’s florist shop started into the room, arms full of flowers, Sienna shot me a look.
“Seriously?” I beamed at her.
“I told you I was going to spoil you,” I said. The florists brought in one load after another of flowers in white and blue and green and yellow and pink, putting them anywhere there was a space for them in the room and getting more and more amused at Sienna’s amazement.
“This is too much, you’re going to give our child allergies before he’s even a day old!” Jenny chuckled.
“If you think this is too much, you should see what else your husband has up his sleeve,” she said. I’d told Jenny about the present I’d bought for Sienna when she’d been about six months along, that I hadn’t intended her to know anything about until the day our second child was born. Kara slipped out of the room to meet with the delivery agent, and came back with the box in her hands, handing it off to me. Nick had finished nursing and lay in his hospital crib, blissfully asleep and unaware of anything going on around him. I gave Sienna the box and she shot me a doubtful glance before beginning to open it; it was a painting, a reproduction of a famous work featuring a breastfeeding mother that Sienna had admired.
“I am not even going to ask what this cost you,” Sienna said, admiring it for a few moments.
“I thought it would look good in the bedroom,” I said. “And I knew you loved it.”
“It’s certainly a hell of a lot better as a push present than some bracelet,” Sienna said. She looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “I love you.”
“I love you, too,” I told her. “Now more than ever.” The nurse came in then and pointed out that Mom and baby both needed to rest, so Jenny and Kara took Tanya to get some lunch in the cafeteria, and I carefully climbed into the bed with Sienna to hold her.
“Do you love me enough to help me go to the bathroom?” I chuckled.
“Sienna, I love you enough that if I had to help you go to the bathroom every day for the rest of my life, I would,” I replied, and got out of the bed to do just that. Nick was asleep still, and for the moment I had my wife all to myself. I kissed her as I helped her get out of bed and gave her a hug. It suddenly stuck me that, having fulfilled my uncle’s requirements, the true wealth in my life was actually being reunited with Sienna and having a family with her. The irony of it was that I would gladly have traded all of my uncle’s fortune for them, in a heartbeat.
About the Author
Marcella Swann is an Amazon #1 bestselling author of heart-thumping and heart-melting contemporary romance. She's plied her trade in the newspaper business, written and produced a way off Broadway play, and is the proud mama of a singer-songwriter. When she's not trying to save newspapers from imminent doom (by subscribing to them all), she loves to take her readers on dreamy journeys to that place where all the men are hotties and the women are beautiful and strong. She also swings a mean kettle bell at the gym and likes people watching at Grand Central Station on a busy day. For more information visit www.marcellaswann.com. Marcella loves to hear from her readers! You can follow her @MarcellaSwannRomance on Facebook and @Marcella_Swann on Twitter or contact her at [email protected].
Read an excerpt of Rekindled, the next book in the Lost Love series.
Rekindled
A Billionaire Second Chance Romance
Chapter 1
“I understand your concerns, Mr. Eastman. You’ve voiced them to me ever since we started doing business with you. But, you’re not going to lose customers at all. In fact, you’ll gain millions of new ones.”
Tristan snapped his fingers to get Ricky’s attention, gesturing for the thick folder on Ricky’s lap. As Ricky handed it to him, Tristan pointed to the phone and then rubbed his fingers together in a money-making gesture. Ricky silently laughed and gave him a thumbs-up. This was just all too easy. And fun! All Tristan had to do was get through this one final phone call, and he’d have this in the bag. He always did.
“It’s still just a shame,” Mr. Eastman said on the other end of the line. He was an older man with a heart as big as his family business had once been. “My loyal customer base was there for us through thick and thin. We even survived the Great Depression.”
Yeah, whatever. It all just sounded like the usual heartstring-tugging drivel Tristan had heard so many times before from business owners. They got so attached to their shitty little businesses, regardless of whether they made a dime or not. Tristan had no emotional investment in them whatsoever. He had the insight to push past the surface profits and clearly see they just weren’t sustainable. To him, clinging to a sinking ship was stupid and foolhardy. The best solution he gave them—and the most bankable one for him—was to take the Booker Firm offer and get out before they sank completely.
Mr. Eastman’s tone made him sound like he was having second thoughts about selling his grocery store chain to Booker Capital. Tristan honed in on that. He knew exactly what to say and the way to say it.
“Don’t think of it as a loss, Mr. Eastman. That’s a defeatist mindset. Think of it as an incredible gain, for you and your family. You’ll have millions of dollars to pass on. Your legacy will live on for your children, your grandchildren, and your great grandchildren. The Eastman Foods grocery business cannot ever be replaced in the hearts of those who shopped there.”
Nailed it! Pile on the nauseating sticky sweetness to this old timer. Mr. Eastman was a nice enough guy, but nice didn’t produce numbers. That was one of Tristan’s favorite sayings.
“Well, my daughter Becky wants to go into business for herself,” Mr. Eastman finally admitted. “Now I can give her the capital to do so.”
“You see, Mr. Eastman?” Tristan asked in a fake comforting voice. “Becky’s life was made better today. Meanwhile, you enjoy your sweet retirement in the Caribbean. Think of me while you’re enjoying Mai Tais on the beach.”
“I’m not sure, Mr. Booker—"
“Send me pics of those white sands and beautiful girls,” Tristan said abruptly.
With one click, he ended the call and immediately high-fived Ricky.
“He bought it! That just gets more and more fun.” Tristan shut the phone off and tossed it in his briefcase. He relaxed in the plane seat, lazily swirling his specialty bourbon on the rocks before tossing it back. “Almost makes this stupid little trip away from New York City worth it.”
“Agreed. We fought for that one,” Ricky said. “It’s the tough victories that give up the sweetest rewards.”
“Damn right.” Tristan smoothed his hands on his extremely expensive trousers. “Eastman Foods was a dinosaur business. After Jeff Bezos bought Whole Foods and brought it into Amazon, I knew I just had to do the same to a grocery business. So, which retail giant will take it? You keep saying Amazon, but my money’s on Walmart.”
“Walmart’s got to compete with Amazon. They’ll take it for sure. Ask for $300 million,” Ricky suggested.
“Naw. $500 million or I won’t do it.”
“Eastman Foods won’t be worth that much to them. It was a dinky little grocery chain of fifty stores.”
Tristan wagged his finger. “Ah, but fifty stores serving the most loyal God damn customers ever. Their baked goods won prizes for forty years in a row. I say $500 million is chump change to Walmart. Grab those new customers who’ll buy anything with an Eastman Foods name on it.”
“They’ll have to make them cheaper now. Walmart prices for the common man.”
“You mean cheap man. If Walmart doesn’t go for it, we’ll get them into a bidding war with Amazon. That’ll make them think twice about providing a lowball offer.” Tristan tapped the folder in his lap. “Speaking of cheap, Van Doren will be even easier to buy than Eastman Foods.”
Ricky lifted the shade on the plane window next to his seat. “Better be quick, too. I don’t want to stay that long in Chelsea, Michigan.”
“And you think I do?” Tristan shook his head. “This is nothing to new to us, Ricky. We’ll be in and out in no time. Trust me.”
Reunited: A Billionaire Secret Baby Romance (Lost Love Book 2) Page 16