27. Thunder

THUNDER

“Mom, come take a look. Did he hit his head on anything?” Those were the first words I heard when I came to. What the hell am I doing on the floor? The room came back into view after my vision cleared, and that is when I remembered the last few embarrassing seconds before I passed out.

“Where the fuck is that doctor?” There was no one else in the room except my wife, her mother, and one nurse who was on her way out. I got to my feet with the help of my mother-in-law, who was trying hard not to laugh.

My wife was wearing the nightgown I’d packed for her, real silk and not that nasty shit they make people wear when they come here, and her hair looked like it had been freshly brushed. What the hell happened? Was it a dream?

“How long was I out?”

“About twenty minutes.”

“Where are my kids?” I looked around the room, almost in a panic.

“They’re being cleaned up; they will be back soon. Our sisters are with them right now.”

“You, show me.” I pointed at the nurse, but it wasn’t necessary because two nurses wheeled the babies into the room just then. I felt that weakness in my knees again, but there was no pain, just raw terror now that they were here.

They wheeled them over to us, and I looked at them, trying to figure out who was who. “Is that a girl?” I pointed at the one that looked a bit suspicious to me. Ask me how I knew which one was her. Two of them were screaming their heads off or fussing in some way while the other was asleep.

Yeah, that’s trouble. She came into this shit with no fucks given. I leaned over to get a better look but still wanted to keep my distance, and she opened her eyes, my eyes, looked at me, did some shit with her mouth, and went back to sleep.

I wasn’t sure which one to pick up first. Wouldn’t they get mad when they grow up and ask? I looked at her for support, but one of the nurses was already taking one of them out to pass to her. I followed suit and picked up the other one, and the idiot nurse had the nerve to pick up the sleeping Diva and place her in my arms as well.

My heart almost stopped until I reminded myself that I had been raising my little sister for the past six years, and she was fine. But that’s the problem; she’s a pain in the ass to raise.

I’d already passed out once and didn’t want to make an ass of myself again, so I acted like I wasn’t scared out of my damn mind. It wasn’t just my baby girl that made me nervous, though, in all fairness. I find that practice and theory are two different ball games.

I thought I was prepared, but nothing prepared me for the wave of emotion I felt. Fear, excitement, joy. It was all wrapped up in one. I looked at my sons, one in his mother’s arms and one in mine, then turned my attention to my daughter.

I don’t want to be one of those dads, but yeah, just like her mother, I’d do twenty to life for her. It’s weird; she looks exactly like her brothers, but just knowing she’s a girl makes me feel different.

Like I needed to hold her more carefully and not put too much pressure on the arm I was holding her in. They were small, all three of them, but from the chatter in the room coming from the nurses, they were all healthy.

Like they would fucking know. “Where’s that quack?”

“Thunder, behave; Dr. Jolie explained that your daughter was hiding behind her brothers, and that’s why she didn’t know there were three instead of two.”

“Uh-huh! Pull the other one. You two did this shit on purpose.” She thinks I can’t see her trying not to laugh in my face.

“No, we didn’t; remember, if you’d let me get the ultrasound, this wouldn’t have happened.”

“Oh, so now it’s my fault?”

“What would you have done if you had known?”

“I would’ve been prepared, at least.”

The idiot doctor came swanning in, but I noticed she stayed her ass far away from me.

“Doc, I’m gonna report you to somebody.”

“Why? What have I done?” Another one who was hiding her laughter.

“What is this? You missed a whole other person.”

“But isn’t it a nice surprise?” Surprise my ass.

“Oh shit. We only have two of everything.” Panic mode activated.

“I know, don’t panic. I’ve already asked Mom to call the store in the morning to order another crib, and Joy and Angel will pick up some things until we’re ready to go shopping. It’ll be fine.”

Why does it seem like she’s the one who’s been calming me down this whole time instead of me her? And why the hell is she so calm? I gave her a look, then looked at the Doc squinty-eyed because I wasn’t sure they hadn’t pulled one off on me.

Because of the new hospital regulations, only one person was allowed in at a time, so for each one that came in, I gave a new order. From the smirks and bullshit, I knew they’d heard about me passing out cold.

I almost lost my shit when the idiot doctor claimed my wife could leave the next day, but because she’d had multiples, whatever the fuck that meant, the babies should stay at least one more day just to make sure all was fine.

“I thought you said they were fine.”

“They are; everything checks out. But with multiples, we like to be sure.”

“Then we’re all staying.” I don’t trust these fucks not to sell my kids on the black market.

“You still don’t trust me?”

“Right in one. For all I know, you purposely hid the kid. Who knows what the hell you were planning to do.”

“I don’t see why it should matter. Didn’t you say you didn’t want any girls?”

I tried to cover my daughter’s ears, but her brother had my other arm occupied. “Don’t say that in front of her. What is wrong with you?” Both she and my wife started laughing like I was their comedy hour.

That night I insisted that the babies stay in the room with us when given the option and didn’t sleep a wink as I stayed up watching over the four of them. It was sometime later in the middle of the night when my little girl woke up hungry, and I held both her and her mom in my arms as she nursed that the fear disappeared.

That shit had a chokehold on me since she and her brothers were born, but now, as I looked down at that helpless, beautiful being with my eyes, something inside of me shifted from fear to absolute adoration.

Her mother and I laughed and whispered to each other as we both kept touching our child. “She’s perfect, like her mother.” I had a lump in my throat and my eyes stung a little as the enormity of all of this hit me at once.

How could life change so much in just a year? How could I have every happiness I ever wanted and never imagined having just landed in my lap like this? It felt as if all of this was to make up for my crappy childhood.

And the beautiful thing about it is that I was in a position to give my kids the childhood I wish I’d had. I already had a nursery full of shit for her brothers since I was hellbent on getting two sons out of this deal. I got my wish with an added bonus.

Not for nothing, but I’m almost certain that it was this kid that made me sick all those months, and I’m not sure if that was a foreboding of things to come or not. Whatever it was, she’d made her presence known before making an appearance, so that must mean something.

It’s kind of like how I saw her mother long before we met. That turned out well, so let’s hope for the best.

* * *

CECILE

* * *

I drove home quicklyfrom the hospital because it was already late in the evening, and I wasn’t sure if I’d reach the lawyer at this time of night or have to wait until morning, but I couldn’t wait. I have no doubt that bitch would kill my son. This was her fault, after all.

Everything went wrong because of her, and now my son was lying in a hospital bed half dead. If she’d stayed, he never would’ve moved in with Deidre, and none of this would be happening. If she’d stayed, his life would’ve gotten back on track, and he wouldn’t have lost hope.

Thankfully, I reached the lawyer before he left for the evening, and just as I suspected, he recommended me to someone else at his firm. I had a consultation first thing the next morning.

I didn’t sleep a wink that night; I just sat up in the nursery, watching over the baby as if I was afraid of losing him, too. He was all I had left. I didn’t even hate him because of what his mother did; I couldn’t. How could I? He was part of my son.

In the morning, I went to see the lawyer, and the fee was astronomical, but that was no problem. I could refinance my home, take out another mortgage, anything. The house was already paid off, thanks to my in-laws, and if they made a fuss, I’d just worry about that later.

I was on my way to the bank when I got the call. I’ll never forget that numbness that overcame me or the way the world went dark. I turned around as if in a daze and hurried back to the hospital, not even knowing how I made it there.

I was allowed to see my son for the last time. He died five minutes before I got the call. I screamed a lot of questions at the doctors and nurses. How could someone on life support die? They were lying to me; they had to be. I begged and pleaded for them to do whatever it took to bring him back to me, but they just went about their business, unhooking him from the tubes and carrying on with business as usual.

I stood there for the longest time after they left. My husband and daughters came, and other people walked in and out of the room, but I didn’t notice; I was too numb, too heartbroken to care about any of it.

I rushed from the room and ran from the building back to my car and sped home where I’d left him with the teenage daughter of my next-door neighbors. I grabbed the baby up in my arms and held him close as I broke down in tears.

He’s at that age where he understands emotion, and that sweet little boy just patted my shoulder as if to offer comfort. It was little solace, but at least I had him, not that anyone could replace my son.

* * *

DEIDRE

* * *

“What is it now?Did you get those drug charges dropped? It was Dan’s house, so…”

“I’m not here about that, sorry. Dan Stewart passed away last night. The charges are now murder in the first degree instead of attempted murder. Also, do you recognize the name Stanley Thorpe?”

I felt the room spin around me and struggled to keep my composure. “No, who’s that?” He looked at me as if I was draining his energy. I don’t see why; didn’t he go to school for this? Isn’t it his job to get me out of here?

“Think carefully because the D.A. is going to try to throw the book at you. Your claim of self-defense is already hanging by a thread because of what the DEA captain claims was happening when they busted down the door. Not to mention most of the wounds on Mr. Stewart were towards his back…”

“Listen, I don’t care what anyone says they saw; he attacked me first. Now do your job and get my bail and where is my son?”

“He’s with his grandmother, of course,” I smirked at him but said nothing. What a load of crap.

I can’t afford to falter now, though; I have to keep my wits about me until the very end. I’m not beaten yet. So that fucker died, big deal. I’m not about to spend the rest of my life rotting in here because of that.

I need money, and I need a better lawyer than this public defender joker. But how did he know about Stanley? Nobody knows about Stanley, even I haven’t thought of him in years.

I was never fingerprinted, so there’s no way anyone from back then could’ve found me, I always made very sure of that. So, how did they even know that we were connected? Stanley doesn’t know my new name so he couldn’t have told them.

I kept the name Deidre but even spelled it differently from the original and got myself a new last name that had nothing to do with me or anyone I knew. I only kept it so that I wouldn’t mess up and forget to answer to a new name because who had time to get used to that shit?

No one knows me; I never really kept any friends because of what I was into. There’s my bitch of a sister, but we haven’t spoken or seen each other in years. Not since I seduced her husband, and she lost her shit. That’s what she got for always trying to be so perfect.

We both lost our parents and other siblings at the same time, so why was she the only one who got comforted by everyone else around? Why was she the one everyone felt pity for? So what if she was in the car with them when it happened?

So what if it was because I’d insisted they come see me cheer? I didn’t tell Dad not to know how to drive, and they didn’t need to bring all their brats with them. Who asked them to? Is it my fault that they were all stupid?

“Are you listening?”

“What did you say?”

“I said we need to come up with a new defense because this isn’t looking good. Now we have this situation in Arkansas with Thorpe that, if it checks out, is only going to make things worse.”

“I need to talk to Cecile. Tell her I need to see her.” I’m not about to talk on the phone where these people can listen in. I don’t care how much she hates me right now because of her son; if she wants to keep my son, she’d do as she’s told.

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”

“Tell her that if she wants to keep my son, she’ll show her face.” It’s not time to panic yet. No one ever got anywhere by doing that shit.