by Jillian Neal
Logan drew a deep breath and then a genuine chuckle escaped him. “Ad, baby, my mom is well over fifty. She’s given birth to eleven children, and helped raise God only knows how many others. And even my dad’s split second decisions are good ones. They’ll be fine. If Mom’s going to be all right and Abigail is healthy, then that’s all they’ll care about.”
“Abigail has Down syndrome,” Adeline teared up as she confirmed what Logan already knew. “But she is Gifted. I don’t know how that’s going to work.”
“Hey,” Logan wrapped his arms tightly around Adeline. “That isn’t your fault, and no one knows what it will mean. But we’ll be right there on the farm to help out with whatever she might need. And she’ll have Keaton and Henry keeping up with her, so trust me, no one will mess with her.”
Adeline smiled as she nodded her begrudged agreement. “I also have to tell your mom and dad some embarrassing stuff.”
“Well, just pretend it’s just a patient you don’t really know.”
She gave him a quizzical glare that said that would be impossible, but she sighed, seeming to come to terms with what had to be done. “Will you come with me? Your parents will understand, and we can take the baby to them.”
“Sure.” He watched as Adeline put on another mask and waved her hospital badge over the door to the NICU. Emily beamed, though she looked exhausted. She nodded and stood, handing Abigail to Adeline.
After hooking up an oxygen tube and stringing it into Abigail’s tiny nostrils, she laid her back in an incubator that was affixed to a rolling cart.
“Baby sister,” Keaton squealed, racing towards Emily and Adeline.
Fionna smiled and lifted Keaton up to see Abigail. “Isn’t she beautiful?”
“No,” Keaton announced making everyone laugh. “She’s red. I touch her?”
After having a momentary unspoken conversation with Adeline, Fionna nodded. “You have to be very, very soft.”
Adeline released the top of the enclosed cradle.
Fionna guided Keaton’s hand to Abigail’s blankets.
“Hi, baby.” Keaton softly patted the blanket. “I’m Kea-ton,” he whispered, leaning down near her ear.
Everyone swooned over his tender care.
“You have to take good care of Abigail, okay, little man?” Logan demanded of Keaton.
Lifting his eyes to meet his big brother’s, Keaton seemed to understand. “I will,” he promised Logan.
Everyone turned their gaze to Adeline as she closed the incubator. They wanted information and instructions. She gave a weary smile. “We’re going to take her to meet your mom and dad, but they aren’t really ready for visitors yet.”
Everyone nodded their understanding. Logan tried to brace himself before he entered the room and took in his mother.
She was pale and weak. Her eyes were almost black in their depths. He understood why she had to be constantly casted. His father kept his cast over her flowing constantly, though he didn’t appear to have any energy to spare.
“Medio Kemper can take over for you whenever you’re ready.” Adeline gestured to one of the waiting Medios in the room.
The Governor gave a defeated nod. He released his cast and moved so the Medio could begin a healing cast over Mrs. Haydenshire.
Mrs. Haydenshire offered Logan and Adeline a weak smile. “Can I finally see her?” Adeline nodded and raised the bed slightly so that Mrs. Haydenshire could hold the baby.
Logan moved back to the door. “Hey, Dad needs food, lots of it,” he called out to his family and friends in the waiting room.
Fifteen minutes later, the Governor was devouring food from the hospital cafeteria and five different nearby fast food joints. His energy immediately soothed, and he looked like a new man.
Logan wasn’t certain if getting to hold Abigail and seeing that she was really all right had his mother looking so much better, or if it was being casted by an actual Medio with Gifted energy to spare.
Adeline drew a deep, breath glancing between the Governor and Mrs. Haydenshire. “Okay so did you tell her anything that happened when we sedated her?” Adeline asked Governor Haydenshire hesitantly.
“Oh, sweetheart, are you the one that has to have this talk with us?” was his sorrowful reply.
Adeline nodded and the Governor chuckled, a sound that Logan found oddly soothing. Mrs. Haydenshire smiled broadly from hearing her husband’s laughter.
“Here,” the Governor stepped back beside Mrs. Haydenshire’s bed. He settled beside her legs. “Honey, I don’t know what the medical part of this talk will be,” he glanced at Adeline sorrowfully before starting again, “but, baby, you went out and I didn’t think you were gonna…” He went pale suddenly, and Adeline stepped in to save the Crown Governor.
“Mrs. Haydenshire, I’m so sorry, but when I delivered Abigail, with everything that happened, we ended up taking your uterus. It was badly damaged when the placenta ruptured. You were bleeding out. I couldn’t keep your heart beating, and save Abigail, and save that. I’m so sorry.” Adeline was on the verge of tears and Logan grasped her hand.
Mrs. Haydenshire took her husband’s hand, trying to soothe him.
“Stephen, honey, I’m okay.”
He managed a nod, but tears flowed down his face once again.
“And, Adeline, sweetheart, I really think that after eleven children my uterus has performed admirably. I was certainly planning on my sweet little Abigail being my last. Please don’t worry about your decision. Thank you for saving my life and hers.” She patted Abigail, who was quite content being held by her mother.
Adeline looked relieved as she forced herself to continue. “Well, you’ll need to stay here for several days, both for you and Abigail. And, uh…” Adeline stammered.
The Governor laughed through his tears. “Now we’re getting to the part that I thought she was going to open with,” he explained.
Drawing another deep breath, Adeline let her eyes close for a moment. “You’ll be casted constantly for the next forty eight hours. By the time you go home, everything should be healed for the most part, but, you know, you’ll probably be…” she blushed violently, “tender.”
Logan grimaced, but remained steadfast by his wife.
“And, you’re going to need to take three to four weeks off before you resume sexual activity, but that’s way less time than Non-Gifted women have to wait.” She spoke the ending quickly, as if offering a consolation prize. “And you’ll need to be cleared by a Medio first.” She stared at the floor, refusing to look at either Logan or his parents. “I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Haydenshire cringed slightly as she laughed.
“I’m also supposed to say that you need to keep all sexual activity relatively mild and low key until everything feels back to normal.”
The Governor guffawed. The laughter dried his tears. “I’m sorry,” he offered Adeline. “I swear, sweetheart, I’m not laughing at you. I’m laughing at the look on Logan’s face.” He pointed to his son, eliciting laughter from everyone in the room.
Mrs. Haydenshire joined in the laughter. “That’s fine Adeline, and you did a remarkable job for having to have said all of that to your husband’s parents.”
Relief broadcast from Adeline’s features. She was clearly overjoyed that the informative lecture part of her job was over.
“The Gifted pediatrician’s from Children’s Hospital will be by at eight so they can tell you more about Abigail.” Adeline smiled tenderly as she moved to the bed, gently caressing Abigail’s head.
The laughter had disturbed her slumber, and she was debating another muted scream.
Governor Haydenshire stepped in. “Come here, baby girl.” He scooped the baby out of Mrs. Haydenshire’s arms.
“Watch the oxygen line,” Adeline warned.
He sat on the edge of the bed cradling the baby in his arms. Logan knew as he watched Abigail soothe instantly that Fionna had been correct. She felt safe when she felt her father’s rhythms.
&n
bsp; “The more you sleep the faster you’ll heal,” Adeline reminded Mrs. Haydenshire.
“I know.” Mrs. Haydenshire gazed at Abigail in her husband’s arms.
A nurse entered the room with another tiny bottle for Abigail. The Governor settled down in the chair to feed her.
Logan and Adeline returned to the waiting room.
“What was so funny?” Rainer quizzed with a wry smile. Everyone edged closer to hear.
“Well,” Logan assumed everyone could use a good laugh, after the night they’d had, even if it was at his expense. “Apparently, when my wife is informing my parents that they have to wait three to four weeks before they resume rough sex, I tend to look horrified, which Dad found hysterical.”
Raucous laughter broke out from all of Logan’s siblings, their spouses, and friends.
“Poor Dad,” Garrett teased, bringing on more laughter.
“Yeah, the Crown Governor’s probably going to be in a bad mood for a few weeks,” Vindico laughed heartily.
Run!
~Rainer Lawson~
The following Saturday, all of Iodex was back at Georgetown to insure that Abigail Hope Haydenshire, whose birth had been heralded in every Gifted paper and magazine across the Realm, got into the Governor’s Suburban and back on the farm without being photographed.
Rainer and Logan were providing Mrs. Haydenshire and the baby security that morning. They’d been there since midnight. Vindico was on hand to oversee everything.
The press was being held at bay by Gifted police forces. All of the Haydenshire men were on hand to help with security as well.
Emily, Brooke, Lucy, and Fionna had stayed at the farmhouse to make sure everything was ready for Abigail’s arrival home.
Mrs. Haydenshire still looked rather worn despite the healing casts she’d undergone throughout the week.
Vindico had offered raises to several members of Non-Elite that wanted to join the Haydenshires’ typical security task force. Pictures of the newest Haydenshire were sure to bring astronomical prices, and the Crown Governor was adamant that Abigail not be photographed for many years.
“Let’s do this,” Vindico commanded, standing at the door to Mrs. Haydenshire’s room. He was carrying Abigail out himself.
Governor Haydenshire looked vicious as he glared out the window of the room and down onto the throngs of press.
Vindico had tried to persuade the Governor to allow an Iodex officer to drive Mrs. Haydenshire and Abigail home, but he had been promptly informed by the Crown Governor that he’d driven his wife and each and every one of their babies home and that Abigail would be no different.
Abigail had gone through batteries of tests and had been seen by most every Gifted pediatrician in the area. They’d explained several things to the Haydenshires, which they’d promised to share once they were back on the farm.
On Wednesday afternoon of their week-long stay, the Governor had halted all testing on his newest baby girl. The tests not only made Abigail fussy and irritable, but they seemed to make Mrs. Haydenshire sob every time another Medio came to take Abigail from the room.
As tears began to well in his wife’s eyes again, the Governor had stood, informed the Medios that his baby girl was not a lab experiment, and he’d promptly removed his daughter from the nurse’s arms. He’d informed them that they had all the information they needed, and that unless Mrs. Haydenshire had something specific she wanted tested that they were to stay the hell away from his wife and his daughter. That had been that.
Since that moment, which Rainer and Logan had witnessed personally, Mrs. Haydenshire had gazed adoringly at her husband, who’d not left her side since Abigail’s birth. They’d cradled Abigail tenderly between them for the rest of their stay.
“Crown Governor, they’ve got the car waiting. You’re first,” Vindico ordered.
“All right.” He leaned down in front of Mrs. Haydenshire who was in a wheelchair to be wheeled out after the Governor made a quick speech to the waiting crowds. “You okay, sweetheart?”
Vindico, Logan, Garrett, and Rainer all turned away, trying not to eavesdrop, but they were unable to move further away. Mrs. Haydenshire gave him the grin that Rainer had watched her give her husband since he was a little boy. As he thought back, he couldn’t recall her ever smiling that way at anyone else, including all of her children.
“I’m fine, Stephen. I just want to get her home. I just want to be with you and only you.”
Rainer felt emotion cinch his throat.
Governor Haydenshire leaned and brushed a tender kiss across her forehead. “Then I will make that happen, baby. I promise.”
She nodded and smiled, but worry and fear plagued her features. Her fear seemed to drive the Governor. His fury gained ferocity.
“Let’s just do this quickly. I want her home,” he ordered Vindico. “This has been ridiculous.”
Rainer knew he was referring to the relentless testing they’d attempted to perform on Abigail, not to mention the fact that a visiting student Medio from Venton had adamantly insisted that Mrs. Haydenshire attend the ‘How to Care for Your Newborn’ class that the hospital offered. He’d cited the fact that, according to him, newborn care had become much more advanced due to the fact that the up-and-coming generation was much more intelligent and had so much knowledge to offer the Realm when it came to caring for a baby. According to him, newborns today were not the same as they’d been when Mrs. Haydenshire had first begun having children.
The Governor had promptly informed the student exactly what he thought of his ideas, where he could go when he left Mrs. Haydenshire’s room, and how quickly he could go there.
“We’re ready, sir” Ramier called. He, Tuttle, McCoy, and Barron were waiting in the corridor, ready to shield the Crown Governor and rush him to the waiting car. No one was taking this particular assignment lightly.
“Go now,” Vindico called. Governor Haydenshire moved to the center of the Elite teams. They casted and walked quickly to the elevators.
Vindico moved to the windows watching closely. Governor Haydenshire offered the crowds half-hearted waves. He halted at the Suburban. “Thank you all for your congratulations and your support,” he called as his photograph was taken dozens of times over. “I’m certain that you understand that my wife and our newest little one need some time to rest and recuperate. I cannot tell you what it would mean to me if you would please give my family a little space and a little time to get settled.”
Rainer could hear the press chanting the Governor’s name and screaming out questions about what was wrong with Abigail and if she was Gifted.
The Crown Governor moved to the driver’s seat as officers opened the passenger side door for Mrs. Haydenshire’s arrival. They moved back into place as other officers held the lines, keeping the press away from the vehicle.
“You’re sure you’ve got her, Daniel?” Mrs. Haydenshire was on the brink of tears again.
“I’ve got her Mrs. Haydenshire. You know I would never let anything happen to her.” Vindico used the tone Rainer recalled him using to soothe Fionna when she’d called because Eric Kent was at the arena.
Mrs. Haydenshire nodded. She seemed to draw fortitude and resolve from the air around her.
“Okay.” Her eyes sought solace from Rainer and Logan. Nodding, Logan moved to push his mother’s wheelchair. He set his shield over her. Rainer added his as Portwood, Ericcson, and Garrett casted and surrounded her and moved to the elevators. They raced out of the hospital with millions of flash bulbs going off constantly.
The press thought she was carrying Abigail. Garrett moved and helped his mother up into the vehicle. He closed the door firmly. Non-Elite blocked her, and the rest of Elite raced back into the hospital.
“Ok.” Vindico exited the elevator wearing Abigail, who was sleeping soundly, in a chest harness carrier. He’d fitted his bulletproof vest around her. The press wasn’t getting pictures of Abigail on his watch, that was certain.
Checking the
baby carefully and cupping his arm under her diaper to prevent her from being jostled, he wrapped his other arm over her tiny body and shouted, “Let’s go.”
Vindico ducked and sprinted. His bright luminescent green shield surrounded himself and the baby. All of Elite Iodex ran in formation around him. The press broke through the lines and began racing towards Vindico.
“Shit,” he spat as Elite held them back. Vindico flew into the Suburban, slammed the back doors behind him, then, blocking the windows with his back, he unstrapped Abigail and placed her lovingly into her car seat.
An hour later, Garrett, Rainer, and Logan fell into the farmhouse kitchen completely exhausted.
“Thank you.” Mrs. Haydenshire fussed over them, kissing the tops of each of their heads. Rainer was astonished at how much happier and at ease she seemed now that she was back at home.
She was moving around the kitchen happily, though the Governor continually asked her to sit and let him do whatever needed to be done.
“Stephen, honey, I’ve been sitting in a bed for a week. I want to move. Now, get out of my way.”
“I know, sweetheart, but you also had a baby, not to mention major surgery,” he reminded her.
“All right, give me a minute,” she demanded.
The Governor backed off, considering her tone.
Abigail slept soundly in the bassinet that had been placed near the fireplace.
“Well, shall we tell them about their little sister?” the Governor urged as soon as Mrs. Haydenshire had prepared herself a sandwich and a glass of iced tea, which seemed to delight her.
“Oh, we’ll just go.” Fionna looked terrified that she and Vindico were intruding.
“You will do nothing of the sort. You will sit down. It makes me smile to see you two together in my kitchen.” Mrs. Haydenshire ordered with a wry grin.
Vindico chuckled as he seated himself at the table and pulled Fionna into his lap.
Mrs. Haydenshire smiled and nodded for her husband to begin. Governor Haydenshire, who also seemed thrilled to be back on the farm, winked at his wife and then took in the vast number of eyes all gazing at him.