by Laura DeLuca
“I—I don’t know about you,” she stuttered through a strained breath, “but I’ve definitely had better days.”
“What do I do?” Rebecca asked. “Do I pull it out?”
Rebecca felt a little frantic. Who knew what kind of damage the needle had already done. She had no idea if the metal was long enough to pierce a lung or if there were any remnants of the tainted drugs left behind already coursing through Victoria’s bloodstream. Moving the needle might only do more harm than good. Rebecca looked to Nino for guidance, but the rookie cop was just as uncertain as Rebecca. He could only shrug and run his hand over his buzzed hair while he kept one eye on his prisoners.
“Shit. I don’t know. I don’t know what to do,” he babbled. “Where the hell is that backup and the ambulance? They should have been here by now.”
“It … it’s nothing,” Victoria assured Rebecca, but her breath was still labored. “Don’t be worrying ‘bout me.”
“But you … you saved me,” Rebecca whispered.
“Too little, too late, huh?”
“I-I don’t know.”
Rebecca sighed and shifted her eyes. For once she was the one avoiding Victoria’s gaze. The Latina had sacrificed herself for Rebecca, but it was impossible to forget all the terrible things she had done. Rebecca and Justyn had been through hell the last few weeks. Victoria was a pivotal part of that, and she could have ended it at any time had she only spoken up.
“I know it’s no excuse.” Victoria touched Rebecca’s stomach. “But once that baby is here, I think you’ll understand me a little better. You’ll do anything if it means keepin’ him safe. But I swear I never wanted to hurt you, Becca. I wasn’t gonna let them kill you. Robert told me Weston was at my place with Elliot, or I never woulda tricked you into coming down here in the first place. I’ve been trying to find a way out of this mess since it started.”
“I think letting a lunatic plunge a needle into your chest was taking the debt a little too far,” Rebecca teased, wiping a tear from her eye.
“Yeah, well, I’ll be okay. Better me than you, with the baby and all.” Victoria tried to shrug, but it was obviously painful. “Someday, Becca, I’m gonna ask you to forgive me, but not right now. I’m going to prove myself first.” There was a low moan behind the words. “Now you should forget about me and go take care of your man. He needs ya more than I do.”
Rebecca didn’t need to be told twice. She eased Victoria back against the wall to wait for help to arrive and sprinted over to Justyn. She gently lifted her husband’s head into her lap. She wanted to cry all over again when she saw how bruised and beaten he was. He fought to open his eyes, but she could see it was a struggle. She smoothed his blood-caked hair and put a hand against his cheek. His flesh felt hot despite his pale coloring. Rebecca was certain he had a concussion, or worse, and the cut on his head looked deep. She doubted he would be able to avoid stitches.
Rebecca glanced down at the jagged scar on her own arm from Professor Carter. Just one more battle wound to add to their collection, just like the bullet scar hidden beneath Justyn’s velvet vest. But they were alive and they were going to survive. That was all that really mattered.
“Justyn?” she whispered. “Lord Justyn, wake up. It’s our wedding day.”
He moaned, and finally his beautiful eyes fluttered open. “Becca? What…?” Panic spread across his features when he remembered where they were and what had happened. He tried to push himself into a sitting position though it obviously pained him. “Becca, are you all right? Did they hurt you?”
“Shhh. I’m fine. It’s all over.”
Justyn was still a little disoriented. He pressed his hand against his forehead, most likely to try to stop the room from spinning. “Weston and Robert?”
“Taken care of. Nino took them down, with a little help from Mrs. Hamilton.”
“And our … our baby?” The love and concern in his voice was enough to bring fresh tears to her eyes. “Please tell me the baby is okay.”
“We’re all fine,” Rebecca assured him. “Our whole family is going to be fine.”
Rebecca was going to lean over and kiss his cheek when the sound of thundering footsteps caused them all to look one final time toward the busy stairwell. At first, Rebecca expected to find the police backup Nino was waiting for. Instead, it was Tom and Carmen who clamored down the steps, looking frantic and disheveled. Carmen’s hair was a mess, and there was a streak of what Rebecca guessed was car oil on her cheek. Tom had long since lost his jacket and tie, and his white shirt was only half tucked.
Fernando was a step behind them, holding an ice pack against his head, and Rebecca was relieved that her boss was all right, though undoubtedly shocked when he saw his ruined wine cellar. All three sets of eyes widened when they took in the carnage that surrounded them. Victoria was still propped up in the corner with the needle protruding from her chest. Nino had his two captives at gunpoint, though Weston was in little need of a babysitter since he was trapped under the wine rack. Rebecca realized even she must have looked a fright with her hair in disarray and her lace wedding gown splattered with a grotesque combination of wine and blood.
“Dude,” Tom’s mouth fell open, “what’d we miss?”
“Quite a bit,” Rebecca told him. “You missed quite a bit.”
Carmen snorted. “I said it before and I’ll say it again. You two always attract the nut jobs. Please tell me there won’t be any encores ‘cause I, for one, am glad I missed this show.”
Rebecca had to laugh. No one could diffuse a stressful situation better than Carmen. “Yes, the curtain has closed on this act for the last time.”
“Is this really the end of it, Becca.” Justyn leaned his bloody head against her chest. “Can we put all of this behind us?”
“Yes, love,” Rebecca promised. “It’s all over. All of it.”
“And the charges will be dropped?” Justyn glanced over at Nino, and Rebecca wanted to sob all over again at the desperation she heard in his voice. “This proves I was innocent all along, right? Those drugs were never mine.”
“Don’t worry, Justyn,” Nino called from his post. “The real good guys have your back this time. You’re off the hook. I guarantee it.”
Justyn pulled Rebecca into his arms, and the relief poured from him, outweighing even the pain of his wounds. As Rebecca cradled her husband on their wedding day, she couldn’t help but realize how similar their situation was to Jekyll and Emma’s, how close they had come to the same terrible fate. Thank goodness, their story had a much happier ending. Yet Rebecca couldn’t help but whisper the final lines Emma sings to Jekyll before the curtain closes on Hyde, words that confirmed Nino’s promise.
“My tortured love, you are finally free.
You will always remain here beside me.”
Justyn’s kiss brought the last note to an abrupt end. Rebecca forgot their small audience and stayed wrapped in his embrace until the police and ambulance arrived. It might not have been the wedding day she’d planned, but Rebecca’s heart was filled with only gratitude as she rode away from the theater and into a happily-ever-after she knew was well earned.
Epilogue
“Aghhhhh!”
Rebecca screamed as another pain racked her body. Tears streamed down her cheeks and mingled with the sweat saturating her clothing. She had been through a lot in the last few years, but she had never experienced such horrific pain. She felt like she was being ripped apart from the inside out.
“Oh gods!” Beside her, Justyn’s face turned ash-gray when he leaned over for a closer look. “I can … I can see the head!”
Rebecca forced herself to huff through the contraction and squeezed his hand. They were coming less than a minute apart so before the next one began and rendered speech impossible, she turned to glare her husband. “Justyn, if you pass out on me before this baby is born, I swear, I will never talk to you a—aghhhhh!”
The shriek silenced any further protests, and Justyn did his
best to console her. He stroked her damp hair and rubbed the small of her back, but it did little to soothe her. The labor was coming harder and faster. There were barely seconds between each contraction. Rebecca prayed that meant it was almost over, because after twelve hours of grueling pain, she was at the breaking point and was seriously considering celibacy so she would never have to go through this again.
“No one is going to pass out,” Sherry assured them calmly. Dressed in an exotic maroon Boho gown with her matching babushka hair scarf, she hardly fit in the sterile clinical setting. “Women have been doing this for thousands of years. It really isn’t a big deal at all.”
Rebecca wanted to give Justyn’s grandmother a dirty look, something she would never have considered under normal circumstances, but another contraction wracked her body. Her back arched almost against her will, and she bore down with all her strength. She tried to remember Darlene’s birthing lessons. She attempted to listen to her body and breath through the pain instead of fighting it. She found the exercises helped a little, but she still squeezed Justyn’s hand so hard it was quite possible he would emerge from this with broken fingers. She considered grabbing him a little lower on the anatomy to pay him back for getting her into this condition in the first place, but…
“Agghhhhh! I can’t … I can’t do it. I just can’t,” she wept.
“You’re doing great, Becca, sweetie,” Darlene encouraged. Despite her new-age practices, her mother-in-law was very official with her blue scrubs and her black hair pulled back in a tight bun. “Just one more big push and this baby will be in your arms.”
Rebecca wasn’t sure she believed Darlene’s reassurances. Her mother-in-law had also promised drugs weren’t necessary, but an epidural was starting to sound pretty darn good. Having a pair of trained midwives in the family who were able to walk her through natural childbirth but still provide the security of a hospital setting had seemed like a great advantage a few months earlier. At the moment though, Rebecca was seriously contemplating pressing the call button and asking for some more traditional backup. The nature sounds CD and scented oils in the background were not nearly as effective as a good hit of Demerol. Rebecca sobbed from exhaustion and pain until Justyn reached up and brushed the tears from her cheeks.
“Look at me, Becca,” he instructed as he squeezed her hand. “You can do this. I know it’s easy for me to say that, and I swear I would take the pain away from you if I could. But I know you’re a fighter. You can do this, and when it’s all over, you’ll have given us both the greatest gift we could ever ask for. You’re so close. Don’t give up now.”
Justyn studied her with so much love in his eyes that for the first time in several hours, Rebecca didn’t want to punch him. Instead, she choked back her sobs and nodded her head. “Okay. Okay, I can do this.”
“Just one more big push,” Sherry repeated. She already had a stack of sterile blankets ready.
Rebecca obliged with all the strength she could muster. She pushed so hard she was certain she ruptured every blood vessel in her face and thought her intestines were going to fall onto the floor. Justyn continued to cheer her on, but at the moment the only thing that mattered was getting that baby out of her. Rebecca screamed again and bore down with everything she had.
“Here it comes!” Darlene announced cheerfully.
If Rebecca’s legs hadn’t been confined to the stirrups, she might have kicked her mother-in-law in the face, but instead she grunted and strained one last time. She felt an odd suction and a rush of warmth, and just like that, it was all over. The terrible pressure ended as though it had never been there at all. Panting in exhaustion and covered in sweat, Rebecca fell back against her pillows. For a second she dreamed of sleep, but she pulled herself back into a sitting position as soon as she heard a beautiful little wail.
“It … it’s a boy.” Justyn’s voice trembled with emotion. His eyes widened with wonder. “You did it, Becca. You brought our son into the world.”
“A perfect, healthy baby boy,” Sherry added, and even she had lost a little of her ever-present composure as she dabbed away a few tears.
“He is absolutely beautiful, Becca darling,” Darlene gushed. “Do you feel strong enough to hold him?”
Rebecca was too overwhelmed to speak, but she opened her arms, and Darlene laid her newborn son against her chest. Despite the fact that his face was crinkled with displeasure at being disturbed and he was still covered with the newness of life, he was the most perfect creature Rebecca had ever laid eyes on. Remembering Darlene’s instructions about bonding, she put the baby against her breast and immediately, his disgruntled yelps dissipated. Justyn sat beside her and watched, his face still shining with awe.
Once the baby had his full, Rebecca handed him to Sherry to clean him up. Around her the sheets were being changed by a few nurses, but Rebecca was so drained she scarcely noticed. Knowing the baby was safe, healthy, and had a full belly, Rebecca finally allowed herself to succumb to exhaustion and fell into a well-deserved sleep. She woke what felt like only minutes later to the sound of Justyn’s ravishing tenor.
“Let the music touch your soul.
Let the darkness make you whole.
Do not fear what is unknown.
Your true path has now been shown.
Listen to the words I sing.
Embrace the peace that night will bring.”
Rebecca forced her sleep-encrusted eyes to open and ignored how sore her body felt. Already her vow of chastity was forgotten. Simply listening to Justyn sing her favorite ballad from Phantom set a fire within her that longed to be quenched. Like always, the sound of his voice called to her even in her sleep, mesmerizing her with its languid tones. It was a sound she couldn’t ignore. Only for once, the opera ghost wasn’t serenading Rebecca.
Justyn rocked gently back and forth in the glider, cradling a little bundle swaddled in blue blankets. He had long since cut the longer locks he had kept during the production of Hyde, but his raven black bangs still hung dramatically over his forehead as he stared down at his son. From her vantage point, Rebecca could even see a tiny little hand clutching his daddy’s finger as he cooed. The baby watched with wide eyes while Justyn sang the untraditional lullaby.
“It is you alone who inspires me to sing.
Take my hand and watch the symphony take wing.”
Rebecca couldn’t bring herself to speak until the verse had ended, and even then, she had to clear her throat. “So how long before you trade in the blue pastels for black jumpers with crossbones?”
Justyn glanced up at the sound of her voice, and despite the fact that it was a little hoarse from screaming and not nearly as harmonious as he was used too, he still graced her with a ravenous smile. The light in the room glittered off his eyebrow ring, only adding to the glowing happiness radiating from his handsome face.
“I already have a black romper with a zombie on it,” he admitted. “It would have worked for either a boy or a girl.”
Rebecca laughed, even though it hurt her achy body to do it. “That figures.”
“I’m glad you’re awake. Your parents left a few minutes ago, but they didn’t want to wake you. They said they’d be back after lunch,” Justyn informed her. “And speaking of lunch, I think someone is getting hungry again.”
Justyn stood from the rocker and relinquished the squirming bundle to Rebecca. The baby didn’t fuss at all, but sucked on his fingers and looked up at his mother. His eyes were a very deep blue, and Rebecca had no doubt they would eventually deepen to a dark brown to go along with the thick locks he’d inherited from his father. That abundance of hair was the undeniable cause of six months’ worth of heartburn, but Rebecca didn’t mind. This perfect little man was worth every antacid she’d had to chew, every bout of morning sickness, all the funny looks she’d received while she waddled to her classes on campus the last semester, and even the excruciating pain of labor. She would go through it all again a thousand times over if she had to, just
to hold this perfect child in her arms.
“He’s beautiful, isn’t he?” Rebecca whispered as she watched the baby suckle against her breast. “He looks just like you.”
“I see some of his mother in there too,” Justyn told her. “Like that little button nose and his sweet smile.”
Rebecca rolled her eyes. “He’s too little to smile.”
Justyn shrugged. “Tell him that. He really is perfect though, Becca. I didn’t think we could create anything more beautiful than the harmony of our voices.” He sat on the edge of the bed and stroked the baby’s soft, fuzzy hair. “I was wrong.”
Rebecca felt her eyes grow moist. “You’re going to be one amazing daddy.”
For a while, they fell into a grateful silence, simply watching the baby nuzzle against her skin. Rebecca had just finished his feeding and covered herself with the blue-and-white hospital gown when there was a tap on the door. Darlene poked her head into the room. She was still in her scrubs, but in one hand she was holding a coffee cup which explained where Rebecca’s doula had disappeared to. Rebecca couldn’t blame her for taking a break. Darlene had been up straight for at least twenty hours and had to be almost as fatigued as Rebecca felt, even though her smile never wavered.
“Do you feel up to having company?” Darlene asked.
Rebecca shrugged. “Sure, why not.”
Rebecca expected to see her parents come running in. However, a minute later, Darlene ushered Tom and Carmen into the room, still bundled in their winter coats. The temperature in the hospital was almost tropical, so Rebecca had forgotten about the harsh weather outside the window. The dusting of snow on her friends’ jackets reminded her it was the tail-end of December. Rebecca had lucked out with her delivery falling during her winter break from college. Not only did it mean she wasn’t missing any classes, it also meant her friends and family were able to gush over the new arrival, especially Auntie Carmen. As soon as the Latina saw the little bundle in Rebecca’s arms, her hands flew to her mouth, making it hard to miss the big diamond ring Tom had given her for Christmas.