“I . . . I . . .” Mary was taken aback by the question and unsure of the answer. “He saved my life, and dulled a pain deep inside me. For that I will forever love him, but you are my husband, and my love for him pales in comparison to my love for you. I will never give you up.”
Thomas looked away. She could see how hard her statement struck him; he had obviously been worried about her the entire time he was away. She took his hands into hers and kissed him softly on the lips. “I love you now and will love you forever, don’t ever doubt that.”
Mary looked to see that Brennan stood at the door, watching their embrace. His expression was hard, and she was sure he had heard every word they’d said. Her insides tightened and a tear ran down her cheek. Thomas ran a thumb over it, wiping it away.
Brennan watched for several seconds, then his shoulders slumped slightly. He smiled at Mary, then walked away.
That was the last time she ever saw him. She was told he joined the Italian forces and assisted in the development of new technologies for England and Italy. He held a strong place in her heart that never faded.
Thomas was given a position in the Italian government, and helped with the reconstruction of England and all its territories. Italy had never planned to take over England, but England refused to stop the attacks. Even when it was a lost cause, they refused to surrender until the military was completely decimated. Those responsible were executed for war crimes, and the Queen was exiled. England was reborn, and Italy helped shape a more positive future for Western Europe.
Thomas and Mary lived out their remaining days in Rome, where he could be close to work. Several months after moving there, she gave birth to a baby boy. Thomas could not have been happier. The burly red-haired boy was every bit the man his father was, and he loved to tinker and learn about new technology. He filled the void in Mary’s heart she’d thought would never go away.
About the Author
Dominic K. Alexander is just a regular guy who found a box of crayons and a pack of paper and decided to put them to good use.
Dominic may be found on social media at:
Facebook: Dominic K. Alexander
Twitter: @DKABooks
Books by Dominic K. Alexander include:
The Mac Blackburn Series
City of Steam (coming soon)
Baby Special
An Alex and Cassie Short Story
by C.C. Brown
A gung-ho Marine learns to adapt to a situation beyond his control as his wife gives birth to their first child.
“Come on, Cassie. Keep walking. The doctor says you need to walk.”
We were probably on our fourth lap around the course I’d mapped out for us. Cassie was in her last week of pregnancy, uncomfortable, and overly fucking cranky. She wanted the baby out, and was making my life fucking miserable until it happened.
Cassie and I met under what the Marine Corps would consider unbecoming circumstances. She was fresh in the Corps, a lowly private first class, and I was her communications instructor, a sergeant at the time, and outside of teaching and learning, our interaction was to be nonexistent.
Unfortunately, the rules on paper didn’t exactly mesh with what I felt for her. She had an insanely beautiful smile that hit me like a strike of lightning, a pair of long, sun-kissed legs, and a body that damn near knocked me off my feet. All of it was my undoing. I couldn’t help but break the damn rules, and even with the looming threat of punishment and everything that I knew could and would happen to us, I just couldn’t give any fucks to care. There was just something about her that ferociously held me until I had her, and even then, our connection only grew stronger. Even with every bit of love and devotion I had for the Corps, it was no match for Cassie.
“Alex! We’ve walked long enough. I’m sweating, I’m cramping, and I just want to go home.”
“One more time around, babe. Then I promise I’ll take you home.”
She stopped, placing her hands on her swollen, protruding belly, then grimaced, causing panic to race through me.
“Are you okay, babe? Are you okay?”
Cassie blew out a few breaths, effectively taking my breath away with each one. I hated seeing her in pain, and I had no idea what to look for. If she was in real labor or having those . . . whatever the hell the doctor called them—Braxton something. It looked real to me, and had been looking this way for a few weeks now.
I was on pins and needles. Every moan, groan, or frown was met with what Cassie called unnecessary overreaction. I didn’t see it that way. I wasn’t a doctor, nor had I ever been around for this, so I felt justified in my frequent freak-outs. My wife, the woman I loved more than anyone else on Earth, would be bringing a piece of me into the world. I wasn’t taking any chances.
“I’m fine, Alex. I need to go home, though. I’m not doing any more laps.”
A crease in her forehead, furrowed brows, and a pout of her normally perfect lips told me she wasn’t fucking around, and I’d be regretting it later if I pushed her any further.
“All right. Let’s head back home.”
Before I could reach out for her, she had turned and slowly started the long, torturous walk back to our home. I felt bad, looking back on it, that I had brought her out this far in the heat, when she was feeling like shit run over twice. She looked every bit as miserable as she appeared, and knowing I was partly to blame only made me feel like more of an asshole.
When we finally made it home, Cassie immediately made her way to the bathroom and ran a warm bath. I walked after her, feeling like a lost puppy, afraid of what to say or do. She was in a mood, one that would leave me with blue balls for months and a sore back from sleeping on the couch.
I just followed her lead, trying to anticipate what she might need before she needed it. It did me no good since she was about as irritable as a fucking bull. I had to remember she was pregnant, uncomfortable, and was lashing out because of that.
After having the shower curtain closed in my face, I walked out to the kitchen and grabbed a beer, chugging that before plopping down on the couch and flipping mindlessly through the TV channels.
My boy, Christopher Riley, and his loud-as-hell, crazy-as-hell girlfriend, Natasha, or as we liked to call her, Nat, came charging through the front door, making me wish I was back in the bathroom with Cassie.
They were angry as fuck at each other, looking like alcohol was fueling their shit. Nat, as small as she was, was like a caged animal when she got mad, and I wondered how the hell their relationship worked. When they loved, they loved hard. But when they were mad, the world was two seconds away from being split in half and spontaneously combusting. Right now, it looked like I needed to prepare for the worst.
“What the hell is wrong with you two?”
Two sets of angry eyes fixed on me, both their chests heaving, breaths coming out in loud, long pants, before Nat finally spoke. “None of your business, Alex.”
“What the fuck, Nat? You stormed into my fucking house.”
Riley walked around the both of us into the kitchen and pulled out a beer, chugging it in about two seconds flat.
“My girlfriend here seems to think it’s fucking cute when some shithead hits on her. She thinks flirting back is somehow sexy for me.”
Nat was a strange bird. She was small, pretty hot, but completely fucking warped. The way that she and Riley functioned as a couple had my head spinning most of the time. Riley was a pretty boy. When I first met him, I was shocked that he chose to be a Marine, and didn’t think he’d hack it. That was, until we fought one night in boot camp, and while I ended up kicking his ass, he held his own. He earned my respect that night, even with his goofy-ass personality.
I always thought Nat took advantage of Riley’s generosity, his goofiness, and his big-ass heart. He was one to wear his heart on his sleeve, and when she smelled blood, she fucking attacked. She was a great person to have on your side, but when the roles were reversed, she could turn into your biggest nightmare.
>
“I don’t have time for your shit,” I said as I glared at them both. “Cassie is back there taking a bath and she’s mean as fuck. The last think I need is you two.”
Riley’s beer looked like heaven at the moment. I hurried over to the fridge and grabbed another, desperately trying to block out their shit. I had enough to worry about, and dealing with the two of them wasn’t making it any better.
“What do you think, Alex? Isn’t it flattering when another guy thinks Cassie is hot?”
Nat’s words stopped my chugging. There was something about hearing my wife’s name linked with another guy thinking she was hot that made me see fucking red. Not that I could control their thoughts, and I certainly didn’t disagree with them because in my eyes, Cassie was the hottest fucking thing walking. But that didn’t mean I wanted to think about it.
“Not a good comparison, Nat.”
“Yeah, Nat! We’re talking about crazy-ass Alex here,” Riley chimed in, swigging a new beer and rolling his eyes at his fiercely passionate girlfriend.
All heads turned to the hallway where Cassie came slowly making her way down the hall. She was freshly bathed, but the pained look on her face seemed much worse than what I had seen earlier that day.
Hard, thunderous beats of my heart pounded in my chest, making me instantly move to her, forgoing my earlier promise to stay away from her with her pendulum-swinging mood.
“What’s the matter, babe?”
Two irritation-filled eyes swung my way, causing me to momentarily freeze. I hated what this pregnancy was doing to me. I was constantly second-guessing myself most of the time, often wondering what I could and should do instead of just doing it.
“I’m having contractions, Alex.”
That was it.
I almost stopped breathing. This was it. All the fucking classes we’d taken, every piece of advice I’d been given, every anecdote I’d been told was coming back with blaring lights and sirens. Rather than spring into action the way I had always imagined I would do, I froze. I fucking froze.
“Come on, dude. Get moving, Alex. She’s about to have your fucking baby.” Riley’s big hand came down along the back of my head, breaking me from my moment of shock.
“Nat, get Cassie,” I said tersely. “I’m grabbing my keys. We’re off to the hospital.”
“Alex—”
“Let’s go, Cassie. Now’s not the time to argue.”
She shook her head. “Alex—”
“What?”
“I’m fine. They aren’t even that close together. I just didn’t want to be alone.”
My breathing was frantic as my eyes bulged. I gave Cassie a once-over and she looked uncomfortable as fuck, grimacing every now and then as she grabbed her stomach. I wasn’t taking her word for it. If she had her way, she’d lie down and have my daughter on the couch, and there was no way I was allowing that shit to happen.
“Nat, here are my keys. You’re driving. Let’s go.”
“Alex! I know I’m not ready. Will you please calm the hell down?”
“No, Cassie! I won’t. You’re ready to pop, strolling in here looking like life is ending any moment now, and I have no idea what the fuck any of that feels like. But from what I can see, it’s pretty fucking awful, and I’m not taking any chances. Now, I’m going to take you to the hospital to have our daughter, and we’re not fucking leaving until we have our beautiful little baby in our arms. You understand that?”
She blew out an exasperated breath and shook her head, standing firmly in her spot and refusing to move toward the door. I wasn’t going to argue with her any further, and I certainly wasn’t going to stand here and allow the unthinkable to happen, so I gently took her in my arms, cradling her the way I would a baby, walked her out to the truck, and placed her into the backseat.
Nat jumped into the driver’s seat and started up the truck, the roar of the engine vibrating underneath us, then took off for the base. Riley rode shotgun while I sat in the back, holding Cassie’s hand as she groaned her way through yet another contraction.
I didn’t give a shit what she said, she was ready and I knew it. Sadly, I wasn’t. I couldn’t rein myself in, couldn’t get a hold of my fraying nerves. Fainting was next and I damn sure didn’t need that to happen, so I sat back, never once letting go of her hand, internally cursing Nat to drive faster so that the right people could get to Cassie and I could hopefully calm down.
Little did I know, that wasn’t going to happen.
• • •
“Hi! How may I help you?” The skinny-ass dude manning the desk looked bored, almost as if we were just another part of his otherwise routine day.
“My wife is in labor.”
“What is your name? And I’ll need your ID cards.”
“Just get a fucking doctor down here to take her. She’s in pain and needs to have a doctor look at her and get her comfortable.” My eyes flared with anger at the nonchalant response that this little shit was giving me.
“Alex, calm down,” Nat pleaded. “Hand over your ID cards so he can get Cassie in the system, and then she can get where she needs to go.”
I looked down at Nat, who stared back, never flinching. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out our ID cards and pushed them across the desk at the receptionist. He was irking my nerves, which were already fried. I hated the fact that I was so powerless in that moment, and seeing Cassie grab her stomach and lean against the desk was only making me feel even more so.
“Can you please hurry up? She’s in a lot of fucking pain.”
“I have you in the system, Staff Sergeant. You are to take her up to the third floor. The nurse will get you all situated.”
I didn’t say another word, instead running off to the corner to grab a wheelchair that would allow Cassie a mild amount of comfort. She awkwardly lowered herself into the chair and we whisked her off to the elevators, feverishly pushing the buttons to get us to our destination as quickly as possible.
At the third floor, the chime sounded and the doors opened. I pushed Cassie up to the desk, then tossed our IDs on the counter where a Navy corpsman stood, awaiting us.
“Staff Sergeant Cruz,” he said with a nod to me, then he turned his attention to Cassie. “Lance Corporal Cruz, room two is waiting for you. Please get undressed and put on the gown on the bed. I’ll be in in a few minutes to place the monitors on you.”
Riley looked absolutely shell-shocked, his normal tan overshadowed by the pallor taking over his face. He looked more afraid than I felt, and for the life of me I just couldn’t figure out why.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
He rubbed the back of his head, taking deep breaths and pacing the hallway. “I’m just going to stay out here. Bodily fluids and shit just aren’t my thing.”
“She’s not dropping the baby this second, Chris,” Nat chastised.
Riley shot her a bleak look. “We don’t know that.”
“Yeah! We don’t know that,” I added. The truth was Cassie was in pain. The videos we’d watched had said labor caused pain, and here we were at the hospital. Any minute now, she could be pushing my firstborn out and into the world. It was as real as it would get.
“You’re not going in there anyway,” I barked at Riley. This fucker was definitely losing it.
Nat tugged at my arm. “Alex! Get Cassie in the room. I’ll take care of Chris out here.”
Cassie and I went into the room, leaving a determined Nat and a sick-looking Riley outside in the waiting room. My heart was beating a mile a minute, and sweat dripped from my brow. I couldn’t believe we were here, that this moment was finally upon us. I’d been thinking about what this would be like from the second that we came to grips with the fact that our actions had created a new life.
I wanted this moment to be perfect. I wanted Cassie to be comfortable, beautiful, and ready to bring our baby girl into the world. Unfortunately she was pissed off, in pain, and I thought at any moment I would stop breathing. This shit was sc
arier than charging into the streets of Iraq. This was the most frightening thing I had ever encountered.
A petite nurse wearing salmon-colored scrubs strode into the sterile white room, her manner exuding efficiency and competence. The beeping of the machines, little arm cuffs dangling everywhere, and other instruments that looked like they belonged in a torture chamber momentarily stole my attention away.
“Lance Corporal Cruz, I’m Petty Officer Benson. I’m just going to hook these monitors up to you and watch your contractions on the screen. How are you feeling?”
I wanted to scream out that she was fucking peachy. That she was flying in the clouds and singing with fucking unicorns. What kind of a dumb-ass question was that? Cassie was lying there looking like she was slowly dying, and this chick was asking her how she was feeling.
“I’ve certainly been better,” Cassie answered calmly, no venom in her voice. I guess that was especially reserved for me. “My contractions have been coming about every ten to fifteen minutes.”
“We’ll check all of that and try and get you as comfortable as possible, okay?”
Cassie nodded her head, then turned and stared at me, piercing me with those sparkling green eyes. She was a sight for sore eyes, and for my queasy stomach. I was afraid of what was to come, but staring into her eyes made me realize that she would be okay. And ultimately, with her being okay, I’d be okay.
The petty officer went through a checklist of questions, further pissing me off. She was asking so many questions, and it seemed Cassie’s discomfort grew with every single one of them. I wanted her to finally tell us that she was getting the doctor and that we’d have a baby soon, but that didn’t happen.
“I’m just going to check your cervix, because you’re definitely having regular contractions.”
“Then why aren’t we getting her ready to push my baby out?” I finally asked, unable to bite my tongue any longer.
Benson smiled, then sat down at the edge of the bed. “Staff Sergeant, I have to check her first to see just how much she’s dilated.” She moved her hand under the blanket, then I watched Cassie bite down on her lip, shutting her eyes as the nurse did whatever the hell she was doing down there. “You’re only at a two, Lance Corporal Cruz. I am going to let the doctor know, so hang tight.”
Moments In Time: A Collection of Short Fiction Page 5