Deadly Expectations (87 page)

“Sugar … we’re here,” he whispered as he scooped me up.
 
The pressure I felt now wasn’t letting up when my stomach relaxed.

“I have to push now …”

“Wait …” Paul said as he hurried trying not to slip.

“Now!”

“Breathe Anna … breathe,” he kept repeating and I focused on his voice and did what he said.

“How’s she doing?”
 
I heard Ray say.
 
I hadn’t realized how much fear had gotten to me until I heard his voice and was sure I was home in one piece.

“She’s pulled it together … she’s okay now.”
 
Paul said as they kept walking.
 
“Wants to push.”

“Push Ray …”

“Okay Kiddo, let’s get you inside.”

“Now Ray …” I whispered as Paul started telling me to breathe again.

Ray got the door for Paul and they took me right down to the room at the end of the hall.
 
The kitchen fell silent as we hurried past and Paul put me on the bed.

“Is that her blood on the shirt?” Ray asked.

“No,” Paul said.

Ray gave Paul some scissors.
 
“It’s coming off then.”
 
He put a sheet over my legs and quickly started an IV then he put the stethoscope on my stomach and listened through a contraction.

“She’s doing fine.
 
Do you know if she’s hurt anywhere else Paul?
 
I don’t see anything.” Ray asked.
 
I had a handful of Paul’s shirt and couldn’t talk.

“No,” Paul said quietly.
 
“I don’t think so.
 
She’s been on her feet like this all night.”

I felt her line had left me.

“Checking you Kiddo,” Ray said but he put my leg back down almost as soon as he had it out of the way.

“She’s right there … no wonder you need to push.”
 
He said then he pulled over a small rolling table with a tray of instruments on it.
 
“Do you know what to do Anna?”

“Catherine remembers,” I said.

“Paul, get your arm behind her and help her curl up around the baby.”

“Now?”
Paul asked.
 
He didn’t sound very ready.

“Now,” Ray said.
 
“Unless you want to catch.”

I was already grabbing my knees and filling my lungs.
 
Paul got his arm under me and pushed me up.
 
Ray counted, his elbow pushing on one of my feet.
 
The cut was starting to hurt and I had a hard time getting that leg up.

“Good girl,” Ray said.
 
He quickly pulled on a paper gown to cover his clothes then he shook his head as he sat back down on the foot of the bed.
 
“You cut things awful close … one more like that … when I tell you to breathe … you breathe.”

“Her line … I can’t feel it in me,” I whispered.
 
Paul put his hand on my stomach as I curled up around her again.

“She has it,” he said.

I pushed twice before Ray told me to breathe.
 
Stopping the push felt like I was trying to stop a train with my lungs.
 
He was clearing her nose and mouth.

“My God,” Paul laughed quietly.
 
“There she is.”

“One more little
push
Kiddo …” Ray said.

I took a quick breath and nudged her out the rest of the way.
 
Ray caught her and held her gently while he cleared her nose and mouth again and then he set her on my stomach.

“Paul …” I said.
 
Ray had a soft blanket and dried her off.
 
Paul held my head in his arm as he watched then his hand reached to her and he brushed his fingertips on her cheek.
 
Happiness and tears covering his face.
 
He kissed my eyes.

“Thank you Anna … I love you,” he said.

“I love you too,” I whispered as she started to howl.
 
We could hear cheers from the kitchen.
 
Ray had clamped her cord.

“Paul?” he said handing him the scissors.
 
“Here … not my finger.”

Paul cut and Ray took the scissors.
 
She kept howling.

“I need to weigh her before you feed her Anna,” he put her on a sling that he hung from a small scale.
 
Then he measured her.

“Nine and a half pounds.
 
Twenty four inches.
 
Big girl,” he said.
 
Then he listened to her heart and lungs.
 
She howled through the whole thing.
 
Paul was near her at the table Ray had set up, looking back at me constantly as he tried to be in two places at once.
 
Then he helped Ray put a little diaper on her and wrap her up before he brought her to me.
 
Even for a big girl she looked so tiny in her father’s arms.

“Can you turn on your side to feed her?” Ray asked.
 
“Your leg is still bleeding.
 
I can’t leave it the way it is.
 
I’ll fix up your arm after.”

I turned and settled her beside me.
 

“Impatient little thing,” I said softy.
 
“You hungry?”

We watched her for a while as Ray stitched up my leg.

“I was going to send you to her Paul … when I went to see her she told me I had to keep you away.
 
She stopped me tonight because the mistake that killed us was mine.
 
I used all my energy to do it so I didn’t survive.”

He was still looking at her, his nose on the back of her head.

“He sent you where I was going to … he had no idea how far and used almost all of his doing it.”

Paul kissed the back of her head, then her fist which was still by her cheek.

“What else did she tell you?” he asked me.

I tried to remember, it had been so long ago.

“That she’s mated to one of Damian’s sons,” I whispered.
 
“This is the first life he’ll remember too.
 
But he’s good, not like his father at all.
 
She said I had to go get help because none of you knew what I was.
 
She said to do whatever it took to keep you away tonight.

“She said that you would forgive me.”

Paul nodded.
 
“I do.”

Then he smiled.

“I found myself at the pond, surrounded by a little metal fence, sitting on a bench.
 
As my eyes focused there were two grave markers.
 
Mine and yours.”

He rubbed his eyes with his good hand.

“When I stood and turned I could see a woman lying in the grass.
 
Long brown hair and a purple dress.
 
I opened the gate, the noise woke her.
 
She pushed herself up and reached for a spot in front of her where the grass had been pushed down.
 
‘Mother’ she said and started to cry.
 
‘Sugar?’
I said to her and she turned.
 
It was your face … ’it’s Dad.’ I told her.
 
She put her hand on her mouth like you do when you cry.
 
I got to her before she could get up and held her for a while.

“She wanted to know where you went so I told her you were fighting Damian alone … I would go back to you when it was over.
 
She said if you failed she would at least have me … if you succeeded we would all be together.

“I asked her what her name was but she just smiled and said that would be up to us.
 
That we’d choose something different than what Ray chose for her.”

I glanced over at Ray and he was smiling.

“Something caught my eye past her,” Paul continued.
 
“There was a man there, watching us.
 
He looked so much like Damian.
 
I asked if that was her baby’s father, she turned and waved to him.
 
He smiled back and started to walk over to us, but then I heard screaming, everything was dark.
 
After a couple of minutes I realized I was back in the flames, the wreckage.
 
You were still screaming.
 
I followed the sound and found you after it stopped.

“I thought he had you but you were getting your knife out of him.”

I nodded as Ray spoke.

“Everyone okay?”
 
He had come over and was standing behind Paul.

I looked up at him.
 
“Thank you Ray,” I told him.
 
“Thank you.”

He leaned over Paul and kissed my cheek then he put his hand on Paul’s back and patted him.
 
Paul turned to him and Ray shook his hand gently.

“Thank you Ray,” he said.

“It was my pleasure.
 
I gave you something for pain … you should have her on the other side for a while.
 
And I need to see what’s going on with your arm.”

She wasn’t happy to have to let go but settled down again once we rolled over and let go of me as she fell asleep.
 
Paul helped me sit up and I rubbed her small back.

“Paul,” I said quietly.
 
“It’s leaving me.
 
Whatever he did to me is going.”

“I know.
 
I can almost see you changing.”

I was relieved.
 
Maybe we did have a chance.

“What about what Andre said about your father?”

Paul shrugged.
 
“He never said a word.”

“He knew, Paul.
 
He could see Andre.
 
Your father new exactly what Pilot did to
me.
”

He never took his eyes off his daughter as she quietly rested on me.

“Are you going to phone your family?”

“Yes.”
 
He smiled then he was more serious.
 
“We never talked about names … I was thinking of your mother.”

“Allison?”
 
I said.
 
“I like that … but not for her first name.
 
If she was here she would appreciate it, but she isn’t.
 
I want to thank the woman who would have raised her in our place if things had gone wrong.”

“My mother?” he asked.

“Yes,” I said.
 
“Camille.
 
I want to thank her for raising her … even though she won’t now.
 
It doesn’t change how much I appreciate that she would.”

“Camille Allison Richards.”
 
He said then came over and kissed her little head again.
 
“Happy Birthday.”

I smiled at them then I yawned.

“Get some sleep now.
 
You’ve been on your feet all night.
 
You’re fine in here as long as you want,” he said.