by Jillian Neal
“Dan?” Garrett sounded panicked.
“Yeah, it’s me. What’s going on?” He reached for Fionna. “It’s Garrett,” he mouthed as she moved into his embrace. She looked terrified.
“I’m sorry, man. I need you here. Mom’s gone into labor. Her blood pressure bottomed out, and they lost the baby’s heartbeat. Dad called an ambulance, and the ambulance driver called the press. Georgetown is swimming with reporters. The Medios can’t get through. I can’t get through. And Dan, Adrian Malacai is here in this disaster. That’s why he flew in with Nic, Wednesday.”
“Wretchkinsides has obviously had him here waiting. He knows the baby will be here tonight if they can save her. I can’t do this by myself. Malacai brought friends. Logan’s here, and Rainer’s on his way. I tried everybody’s cell. Dad didn’t want it going out over the Gifted alert because that would mean more press, so I just had them use it to call you. Please, I need some help.”
Dan had never heart Garrett Haydenshire sound so overwhelmed, defeated, and completely terrified.
“I’m on my way, Garrett. I’ll be there as soon as I can, and I’ll take care of getting you some help now. We’ll be there. Deep breath.”
“Thanks,” Garrett choked, and Dan’s heart ached for Garrett and for the Governor.
“Get dressed for me, baby.” He tried to whisper, but Garrett heard his request.
“Dan, I’m really sorry,” he apologized again.
“It’s fine. We’ll be out of here in ten minutes. Go take care of your mom.”
~Logan Haydenshire~
“Get the hell out of her way,” Logan shouted at the dozens of cameramen blocking Adeline’s access to the maternity ward.
“Get me scrubbed now,” Adeline screeched, shocking Logan, who’d never heard his wife demand anything with such acridity.
Suddenly orderlies appeared, putting a mask over Adeline’s face and pulling her hair up in what looked like a shower cap.
“She only wants Medio Haydenshire,” one of the nurses stated as she ran by. “Adeline,” she halted abruptly.
“Mrs. Haydenshire’s blood pressure just shot to 160/95 then crashed again. Her mucus plug is out. We broke her water. There’s protein in her urine. The baby is in distress. We can’t keep a heartbeat.”
Logan felt his heart seize. He didn’t understand any of that, but clearly something was wrong.
“Prep her for surgery. I’m on my way,” Adeline commanded.
Rainer and Emily made their way through the onslaught. Emily was crying. Rainer was shouting at the press to get the hell away from her.
Suddenly, every Iodex officer available raced off of the elevators.
Garrett spun. His eyes flashed in shock as he and Logan heard Portwood shout, “If you have a camera or a microphone and you’re on this floor, you will be arrested by order of the Chief of Iodex for breach of security and privacy. If any of the Haydenshires should request that you leave and you refuse, you will also be arrested for the same crimes.”
Adeline moved to the sinks and after she was scrubbed and gloved she flew past Logan and into an operating room, followed by Brad, Medio Sawyer, and a team of Medios and nurses that Logan didn’t know.
Rainer and Logan shared a relieved sigh as reporters began fleeing.
“Vindico?” Logan guessed. Portwood nodded.
A half smile finally eased Garrett’s face. “Yeah, he’s a hell of a guy; believe me.”
“Mom,” Emily gasped. Her terrorized plea shattered Logan’s heart as he spun to watch two nurses run with his mother on a gurney.
She wasn’t conscious, but she was clinging to the Governor’s hand. Logan had never seen his father look so terrified, or so weak and helpless.
They all moved towards their parents. Their legs seemed to move of their own accord, but the metal door and the turn of a lock shut them out.
“We need every available neonatal intensive care unit to report to operating room AEGB. We need every available neonatal intensive care unit to report to operating room AEGB.” The harrowing request projected over the speakers in the wall and reverberated through every one of the Haydenshire children.
They watched people dressed in surgical scrubs race into the room Mrs. Haydenshire was occupying.
Vindico and Fionna flew out of the elevator, both pretending that they hadn’t arrived together. They joined the waiting family members.
“Hey,” Fionna soothed, “you okay?” She immediately moved to Garrett who nodded but then fell into her embrace as he blinked back tears.
Barron and McCoy sprinted off of the elevator next. Vindico immediately took over.
“I want a team outside of Mrs. Haydenshire’s room the entire time she is in this hospital. No one, not a Medio, not a nurse, not one of her children, not the Crown Governor himself gets in to see her or the baby without you making certain that they are who they say they are!”
“Yes sir,” Barron and McCoy immediately leapt into action, taking up guard outside of the operating room.
“If the baby has to go somewhere without Mrs. Haydenshire, they will each have a separate team with them at all times.” He continued his orders as Non- Elite chanted out ‘yes sir.’
Tuttle and Ramier made it to the hospital last, but immediately announced that they’d arrested Paul Gensen, a known kidnapper for the Interfeci, trying to sneak up the back stairs.
“Good work.” Vindico was furious. Both of the twins broke down in terrified tears. Rainer took Henry, trying to soothe both him and Emily.
Logan took Keaton, setting his shield around him.
An Endless Moment
~Rainer Lawson~
The waiting was endless. Each minute seemed to last ten. Rainer rubbed Emily’s back, trying to assure her that everything would be fine, but she knew that he had no way of knowing that.
Henry slept periodically, but would awaken and plead for Mrs. Haydenshire.
No one had come in or out of the operating room in over an hour. Rainer couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t fathom what would happen if Mrs. Haydenshire wasn’t all right. How could life go on without her? It was an impossibility. The air hung thick with tension and the unknown.
“What is Adeline doing in there? Can’t they tell us something?” Patrick demanded of Logan.
“Back off, Patrick!” Logan growled.
Will stepped in and pulled Patrick back. “She’s trying to save mom and save Abigail. So let’s let her work, okay?”
Scowling, Patrick continued his relentless pacing beside several of his brothers, all on the same path to nowhere.
Just as the clock moved past one, the lock on the door turned.
Every single person in the waiting area braced with fear clouding their minds, but hope permeating in their hearts.
Rainer felt his body ease as the Governor stepped out pushing an enclosed incubator that contained a tiny, red-headed baby.
“Daddy,” Emily gasped. She raced towards them. “Is Mom…?” she choked. She couldn’t force the words out of her mouth. She broke down, and Rainer handed Henry to Fionna and wrapped her up in his arms.
“She’s all right, baby girl. They’re going to be working on her for a while. The placenta ruptured. We almost lost your mother and your little sister, but Adeline managed to save them both.” The Governor strangled on the words. He’d been sobbing and the tears returned in cascading waves.
All of his sons stepped in to embrace him. “Hey, she’s all right, Dad. Listen. She’s asking for you,” Will soothed. As everyone quieted, they could hear Adeline assuring Mrs. Haydenshire that the Governor was coming right back.
Scrubbing his face with his hands, he returned to the delivery room.
Rainer studied the baby. There was something different about her, though no one wanted to say it out loud.
Two nurses had followed the Governor and Abigail out of the operating room. “We need to take her to the NICU. You can come with her, if you’d like,” they offered Emily.
“
And I was already informed by the Crown Governor that Abigail Hope Haydenshire already has her own security team,” the nurse assured Vindico, who stepped in with a vicious scowl.
“Is she okay?” Emily asked as they all walked behind the nurses, heading towards the neonatal nursery with a broad range security detail surrounding the entire crowd.
“Her Apgar scores were not good. I don’t know how Medio Haydenshire managed to save them both. I really don’t, but she came around. She does appear to have Down syndrome, but her Gifted energies did read in the last scan we took. We’ll have to see how that works, but for now she’s all right. We’re going to keep her in an oxygen tent for the night. As soon as they get your mother healed, which I expect will take several hours, we’ll get her back in the room with her, which always makes them better.”
Emily was escorted into a windowed room full of incubators, and she slipped under a clear, plastic sheeting as the nurse arranged the oxygen tent nearer the windows where everyone was watching them.
Abigail’s tiny hand took tight hold of Emily’s finger. Rainer grinned. The nurse gestured to a rocking chair, and Emily sat down and began to rock her back and forth.
Everyone was enamored watching the two of them.
“Her hair looks exactly like Emily’s when she was born,” Nana Anderson recalled.
Rainer was overwhelmed watching her. She blinked back tears as she stared down into Abigail’s tiny, beautiful face. The baby blinked again, then with another yawn seemed to fall asleep.
Emily had surrounded her with her soothing energies. The entire family could see the faint purple glow.
Vindico turned and barked to Portwood and Ericcson. “I can’t fathom why Emily and Abigail Haydenshire are in a room in this hospital that you aren’t standing in front of.”
“Yes, sir.” They both recalled their orders. After being given clearance, they were masked, and gloved, and took post outside the tiny neonatal room where Abigail had been assigned.
Though Garrett’s arm was still slung over Fionna’s shoulder, she reached nonchalantly and let the back of her hand touch the back of Vindico’s. He turned to her. She gave him a smile, and he seemed to calm.
Everyone watched Emily cradle Abigail tenderly. She eased the blanket back enough to place her hand on the baby’s chest and stomach. Rainer saw the faint heat glow from Emily’s hand.
She closed her eyes in concentration. Fionna gave a hopeful gasp as her hand went to her mouth.
“What’s she doing?” Vindico and Garrett demanded simultaneously.
Tears began leaking down Fionna’s face as she watched. “She’s reading her,” Fionna whispered, and everyone turned to stare in desperate hope.
Emily’s eyes flew open, and she moved to the window. She gestured her finger to Fionna, waving her into the room.
“Is that okay?” she mouthed. Emily nodded and moved to the door. The nurse assigned to Abigail looked uncertain about Emily’s request, but seemed to decide that turning down both of the Crown Governor’s daughters might not be a wise career decision, so she allowed Fionna into the nursery.
Vindico watched intently as Fionna scrubbed her hands vigorously and donned a mask and gown.
Looking overwhelmed, Emily delicately laid Abigail in Fionna’s arms after she’d seated herself in the rocking chair. Fionna rocked her slowly for a few minutes. All eyes were on her.
“Is Fionna gonna read her, too?” Logan asked quietly.
Vindico nodded. He glanced around, pleased that there appeared to be no one in the hallways of the NICU that wasn’t in some way related to the Haydenshires.
“Yeah, she’s relaxing and getting the baby used to her energy,” he explained still watching Fionna. “She’s the strongest Receiver of this generation. If anyone can pick up on the baby’s energy, she can.”
Everyone watched Fionna heat her hand and lay it tenderly on Abigail’s bare chest. Her eyes closed just as Emily’s had. But they flashed back open in a split second. She shared a stunned expression with Emily.
A delighted smile lit Fionna’s face. Her mask fell away slightly as she turned, catching Vindico’s eyes with tears in her own.
Abigail’s little eyes opened and then her entire face contorted in a soundless sob. Fionna looked devastated. Rainer didn’t understand why he hadn’t heard the baby cry. Emily took her back, and the nurse handed Emily a bottle of what Rainer assumed was probably enhanced formula. It was often given to Gifted newborns. Henry had taken it for several months after his birth, because his birth weight was so much lower than Keaton’s.
A Family
A few minutes later, Fionna rejoined everyone in the hallway, still blinking back tears. Vindico walked towards her, but seemed to remember that he shouldn’t embrace her.
“She’s amazing. She’s a Receiver,” she stared into Vindico’s eyes unable to move her gaze.
Everyone nodded. “But that isn’t the amazing part. She’s really powerful, and her internal shield has already developed. Most Receivers kind of develop it over time. I think that must be why they couldn’t get readings from her before she was born. She was afraid and shielding. She picks up on people’s energies really quickly. Mrs. Haydenshire told me that Abigail would kick and move and Mrs. Haydenshire could feel her elated energies when the Governor had his hands on her belly. She kept telling the Medios that Abigail was Gifted, but only Adeline believed her. The baby not only recognized the Governor’s voice and his rhythms, but she understood that she was safe when he was there. That’s how strong she is. She knew to be scared and to block her own energies. She saved herself from that poison.”
“Wow.” Garrett tried to comprehend his newest little sister as he gazed at her in Emily’s arm inhaling a bottle.
Rainer watched Abigail drain the tiny bottle. The nurse smiled, having to offer Emily no instructions as she turned Abigail, laid her tenderly on her shoulder, and patted her back to get her to burp.
Fionna returned to the window, standing between Vindico and Garrett. “I wish you could hold her. She’s amazing,” she stated, though no one knew if it was Garrett or Vindico she was talking to.
“I don’t think any of us would feel her like you and Emily can, baby doll,” Vindico whispered quietly.
~Logan Haydenshire~
Pacing outside of the operating room that his mother and his wife were still locked in, Logan felt his exhaustion wage war with his nerves. They’d called in a Gifted surgical response team an hour before.
No one knew what had happened to Mrs. Haydenshire. They all took turns watching Emily with Abigail and waiting anxiously on word. McCoy and Barron were still stationed outside of his mother’s room. They kept giving Logan sorrowful glances. He wished they’d cut it out. It was unnerving.
Vindico had been on his cell for hours, arranging Elite security teams to be at the hospital in twelve-hour shifts with both Mrs. Haydenshire and Abigail until they were allowed to go back to the farm.
Finally, just before midnight, the door opened, and all eyes turned to see who would appear. Brad issued out, followed by Medio Sawyer and Medio Dawson. They all looked exhausted.
Logan swallowed down emotion and prayed. A moment later, Adeline appeared covered in blood. Her eyes were bloodshot and swollen, but she was smiling at Logan.
“Hey,” he paced to her, not caring what might be on her. She held up her hand halting his progress.
“Hey, uh, wow.” She shook her head in effort to clear it. “Did you see Abigail?”
“Yeah, Em’s in there with her. How’s Mom?” He forced himself to ask the question.
“She’s all right, finally. It was really scary there for a little while.”
“But she’s okay? I mean you… she’s… going to be fine? You…you saved her?” He just needed her to say the words.
“She’ll be fine in a few days. They’re keeping her casted. They’re trying to heal everything. Your dad’s doing it now. She’s terrified for him to leave,” she whispered. This seemed to f
ascinate and concern Adeline.
“Yeah, Mom’s tough, but he’s definitely a big supplier of her strength,” Logan tried to explain.
“I know,” she smiled. “Just let me go get cleaned up, and then we can take Abigail back down to meet her.”
Logan nodded and watched Adeline disappear into another small room.
He hadn’t made two lengths of the corridor when Adeline appeared in clean scrubs, free of blood and bodily fluids that he assumed belonged either to his mother or his little sister. He shut that thought down quickly as it made him queasy.
Adeline looked worried as she moved back to him. She took his hands. “Will you come talk to me for a minute?”
“Of course.” He followed her down a hallway and into a closet. “What’s wrong?”
“Well, your mom is fine, or she will be in a few days. But I was and am her main Medio. I had to call in for help because it got really scary there for a few minutes. But that means that her treatments are up to me.”
“Okay.” Logan was confused by her apprehension. “That’s good, Ad. You’re amazing. You’re gonna run this hospital one day.”
She shook her head in ardent disagreement. “I’m not supposed to tell you this.”
“Ad, come on, what’s wrong?” Logan didn’t give a damn about hospital policy for the moment. “Dad said the placenta ruptured or something.”
Looking relieved, Adeline nodded. “Yes, it was bad. Honestly, it could have killed both of them.”
Logan felt his entire body tremble slightly.
“So I had to act quickly. I had to get Abigail out, and keep your mom’s heart beating. But the bleeding in her uterus was extreme, so I asked your dad in a split second if I could remove it. He screeched, ‘Yes now!’ But I don’t know if he really realizes what that means exactly.”
“In terms of what?”
“Well, in terms that her recovery will be much longer than they’re used to with all of her other pregnancies. And, Logan, she won’t be able to have more children.”