Awakened (10 page)

CHAPTER TEN

“Phoebe, push baby,” Linc said.

Linc and Alistair stood at her sides holding her hands. Encouraging.

“Come on, sweetheart. Just a bit more and then you can sleep.” Alistair squeezed her hand.

Phoebe’s heart thumped in her chest, sweat poured from her. Fifteen hours of labor was taking its toll. “I’m tired. I want it out,” she cried as a nurse mopped her forehead.

Dr. Moore was seated on a stool at the base of the bed monitoring her progress.

Linc noticed Dr. Moore’s worried expression and his frown. He turned to the nurse who was assisting. “Nurse, page Dr. Chen please and ask Theatre to get ready for a caesarian.”

“Who’s Dr. Chen?” Alistair asked.

“He’s a Specialist,” Dr. Moore answered. His eyes never lifted from his patient.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Linc’s worry was reflected in his voice.

Phoebe’s stomach reared high in the air. She grunted and pushed down so hard her face turned beet red. Finally, her baby daughter slid from her worn out body.

“Your daughter has arrived, Phoebe.” Dr. Moore said as he plunged the syringe containing Oxytocin into her thigh.

She smiled as Linc and Alistair joined hands and severed the cord.

The nurse held out a towel, the baby was placed into it and whisked to the other side of the room to be cleaned and weighed.

“Not long now, Phoebe. As soon as the placenta is delivered, we’ll let you sleep.” Linc and Alistair were focused on what the nurse was doing with their daughter. They didn’t notice the river of blood flowing from Phoebe or the look of worry on Dr. Moore’s face.

A short, middle aged man entered the delivery suite. The door closed with a whoosh. “Dr. Moore,” he acknowledged as he sat on the stool beside his colleague.

The nurse distracted Linc and Alistair. “Here’s your beautiful baby girl. She’s 7lbs 12ozs and 18inches long. The cleaned and swaddled baby was placed into Linc’s arms. Alistair wrapped his arm around his partner’s waist. They gazed down at their beautiful, dark haired daughter with intense adoration.

Tears filled their eyes. Their child was a beauty and resembled her mother.

Alistair placed his finger in Aline’s hand. The baby wrapped her tiny fist around it. Alistair melted.

Their pleasure was short lived when they realized something was wrong.

“Nurse get that blood down here now,” Dr. Chen barked. “And, is Theatre ready?”

“Placenta Accreta?” Dr. Moore asked.

The tension filled voices terrified Linc and Alistair. They moved closer to Phoebe’s bedside. Her face was deathly pale, her breathing shallow, her body almost lifeless.

Linc’s heart slammed against his chest. “What the fuck is happening?” he demanded to know.

“Shut up and stay out of the way, or leave. We have an emergency and I don’t have time to deal with you,” Dr. Chen growled.

Alistair and Linc clung to each other.

Alistair whispered, “there’s too much blood. It’s everywhere.”

Dr. Moore and the nurse frantically mopped at the blood while Dr. Chen’s arm seemed to be buried deep inside Phoebe’s body.

A nurse poked her head through the door. “Theatre’s ready, Doctor’s.”

“Move,” Dr. Chen barked.

“We don’t have time. Blood’s pouring from her. We’re losing her,” Dr. Moore cried.

Alistair and Linc cried out, “Noooo. We can’t lose her.” Tears poured from their eyes. They clung to each other and hugged Aline close.

“Please Dr., don’t let her die. Please.” Linc’s plea was heartbreaking.

They moved close to the woman who had captured their hearts. Alistair lay across her chest. “Please sweetheart, don’t leave us. We need you. We love you with our whole hearts. Please, come back to us.” They were the last words Phoebe would hear before she was pulled into darkness.

Machines started beeping. The Drs. sprang from their stools. Dr. Moore pushed Alistair and Linc aside and commenced CPR while the crash cart was hefted over by the nurse. Dr. Chen reached for the paddles and started the charging process.

Dr. Moore shook his head at his colleague. “It’s too late. She’s gone.” He faced Alistair and Linc. “I’m so sorry. There was nothing we could do.”

The men wailed. Consumed by grief.

“She didn’t get to see or hold Aline,” Linc sobbed. “Please, she can’t be gone.”

Alistair leaned over Phoebe and smothered her with kisses.

“She has to hold Aline, Alistair.” Linc’s heart was breaking.

Alistair crossed Phoebe’s arms and Linc placed Aline against her chest. He supported their daughter while he kissed Phoebe’s lips one last time.

“Gentlemen, I’m so very sorry. We need to clean Phoebe and transfer her to the Funeral home.” Dr. Moore patted Linc’s back.

“I can’t leave her,” Alistair sobbed.

“What about Aline? Can we take her home?” Linc asked. His voice shaky with emotion.

“There will be forms to sign. I’ll ask the nurse to show you how to feed and bathe her and then you can take her home.” Dr. Moore cleared his throat. “Do you have a preferred Funeral home?”

The men shook their heads before they kissed Phoebe one last time. They left the suite with Aline. Their arms wrapped around each other. Joined in extreme grief.

David and Tony were all smiles when the new father’s entered the waiting room with their daughter now in Alistair’s arms. Until, they noticed the tears tracking down their cheeks and their grief stricken expressions.

David and Tony rushed forward. “What the hell is wrong?” Tony asked.

“Please tell me those are tears of happiness,” David demanded.

“She’s gone,” Linc sobbed uncontrollably.

“What the fuck do you mean, she’s gone?” Tony’s fingers dug into Linc’s arm.

“She bled to death. The doctors couldn’t stop it. She’s gone,” Linc turned his face into Alistair’s chest. The four men hugged as their hearts broke. Their bodies shook as they cried.

Aline gurgled in Alistair’s arms drawing all the men’s attention.

“How will we get past this?” Alistair asked.

David placed a hand on Alistair and one on Linc. “You have to find a way past this. Phoebe would want you to raise Aline like you all discussed. Make her proud. We may no longer have our beautiful lady but we have a very precious piece of her. We’ll always be around to help.”

David’s words brought about a fresh round of tears. They held each other for a few more minutes before he and Tony left the hospital.

Alistair and Linc collapsed into chairs.

Linc ran his hand over their daughter’s fine, dark hair. “Just like her mother’s. It breaks my heart that she’ll never know her mother.”

“We’ll make sure she knows what a wonderful, beautiful lady her mother was,” Alistair assured his lover.

A nurse entered through the waiting room door and spoke quietly. “Gentlemen, please follow me. I’ll show you how to feed and bathe your daughter before you take her home.”

The men stood, held hands and followed the nurse. David was right, they no longer had Phoebe but they did have a very precious part of her who was totally dependent on them.

It wasn’t an ending. It was a new beginning. They would make Phoebe proud.

EPILOGUE

5 years later

“Daddy, I don’t want to go. I want to stay with you and Dad,” Aline cried. Her small arms tightened like a vice around Alistair’s neck.

Tony’s wife, Rebecca and David’s wife, Celeste had warned Linc and Alistair their daughter would not be happy on her first day of school.

Alistair unwound his daughter’s arms and placed her on the ground. He and Linc knelt to speak with her.

“Honey, remember Dad talked to you about
big
school. If you want to be clever like your mummy, you have to go to school.” Alistair said.

“You and Dad can teach me. I wanna go to the gym with you like always.” Aline swiped at her tears.

Linc cleaned her face with a hankie before urging her to blow her button nose. “Sweetheart, I know you want to stay with me and Daddy but
school will be lots of fun. You’ll make friends and get invited to parties. When you have your birthday in a few months, you will be able to invite lots of friends.”

Aline’s small hands gripped each side of Linc’s face and she moved her face closer to his, “Dad, can I have pony rides and a jumping castle? And, no boys!”

Linc swallowed the laugh that bubbled inside him. She was much too serious for him to show her what she said was funny. “Yes, you can have pony rides and a jumping castle. If when the time comes you still don’t want to invite boys, then you will have a party with girls only. But, what about Max?”

Max was the ‘best friend in the whole wide world’ according to their daughter.

“Max can come. He’s my bestest friend even if he does go to a different school.”

Alistair chuckled.

The bell rang indicating it was time for school to begin. Her fathers stood, clasped one tiny hand each and led her through the Grammar school gates toward her classroom. They had been shown where it was during orientation.

The men supervised while Aline hung her backpack on a hook by the door and greeted her teacher, Miss Davis.

“Hello Aline,” Miss Davis smiled down. “Are you ready for your first day?”

Aline pushed back against Linc. “No. I wanna go home.” Tears started again.

Linc swept her into his arms. “Honey, I promise daddy and I will be here as soon as the bell goes this afternoon. You’ll be able to tell us all about your day.”

A small hand tugged at Linc’s shorts. “Mister, I can looked after her. I’n a big boy ‘cause my mummy says so. I’n not scared,” a little boy said.

Linc crouched down, Aline still in his arms. Alistair crouched beside him. “What’s your name?” Linc asked.

“Bradley Sims and I’n five years old.” He held up five fingers proudly.

“Well Bradley. This is our little girl, Aline Bennett-Miller. She’s five years old too but she’s not as brave as you. She’s a bit scared of school,” Alistair said.

“I am not,” Aline retorted. “I only want to be with you and Dad.”

“Where’s your mummy?” Bradley asked.

It was the question Linc and Alistair knew would be asked but they still tensed. Aline’s family situation had the power to hurt her badly, something the men would not stand for. They waited, allowing Aline to respond.

“My mummy died when I was borned. Uncle David and Auntie Celeste said I’m really lucky ’cause I still have two daddies to love me. Uncle Tony and Auntie Becca said lots of kids only have one daddy but I’m special.”

“Wow, I wish I had two daddies. That would be really cool. Do you wanna come and play in the sand pit?” Bradley held his hand out.

Aline turned to her fathers. “I’ll be fine now. Bradwee will look after me.” She hugged them both and kissed their cheeks, slipped her hand into Bradleys’ and ran off.

Linc and Alistair watched with tears in their eyes. Phoebe would have been so very proud of their beautiful little girl.

They turned to leave. “I can’t believe how fast she’s grown up. It seems like only yesterday we were trying to figure out how that damned jumpsuit buttoned up,” Linc said.

“I still remember the first night we brought her home from the hospital. We were devastated at losing Phoebe but she looked up at us and gurgled when we lay her in her crib,” Alistair reflected.

“It was as though she was telling us everything would be okay,” Linc said.

“We’ve managed darling. A few skinned knees and elbows, buckets of tears, hundreds of giggles and so many hugs. There is still a long way to go but I’m sure we will make Phoebe proud.” Alistair wiped a lone tear from his eye and slid his hand into Linc’s.

“Thank God for Rebecca and Celeste. Without them, well, I don’t want to even think about how we would have managed,” Linc said.

They slipped into the car, kissed and headed for the gym. They had successfully achieved their little girls’ first milestone in life.

THE END

Aline’s story as an adult – ENTANGLED will be available in late 2015, early 2016

Other Books By This Author

Mastering Law

Taming Gemma

Greek Affair

Guardian Cop

Whispered Pleasure

Murder: Hawaiian Style

Loving Hurts

Captive

Deadly Secrets

Website: 
http://robertslacey1955.wix.com/lacey-roberts