Surrender: Keeping Her in the Dark Vol. 4 Read online

  “Maybe less than that,” John said.

  “It’s all too fast,” Liam added.

  “Has your water broke?” she asked. I looked down at my wet crotch and the water running down my leg.

  “What do you think?” I said through my teeth.

  “It’s all over the house,” Liam said.

  “And the car,” John added.

  “How far along are you?” she asked.

  “Thirty Two weeks,” we all said at the same time. Another nurse came from behind the counter and told Liam and John to stay there to answer some more questions while she took me into the delivery room.

  “Don’t worry,” she held her hand up. “I’m just going to help her get changed and check her out to see how dilated she is right now.” She wheeled me away. I kept raising myself up because I really felt like a baby was coming out of me and I was going to sit on it.

  She helped me get out of my wet clothes and into a dry medical gown. She also helped me with pulling my hair back. I made it to the delivery table and assumed the position.

  “You’re only at about two centimeters,” she said. “It could be a while,” she walked over and started hooking me up to machines.

  “How long?” Liam asked as he walked in the room.

  “Well it usually takes an hour to dilate a centimeter, and she needs to be at ten before she can push.”

  “Well when can she have drugs?” it was like he was reading my mind. I couldn’t talk because I was having another contraction.

  “Somewhere between four and six. We don’t want to give them to her too soon, because they might wear off before she has to push.”

  “Four and six!” I shouted. This part I did remember. I knew that was the answer, but a part of me, probably the part being split in two, was hoping she would answer different.

  “Yes,” she said to me. “Now try to relax,” she said with a straight face.

  “I have a watermelon, no sorry, make that two watermelons trying to get out of me. I think relaxing is out of the question.”

  “You look beautiful,” Liam said again.

  “Stop talking!” I shouted.

  The pain just kept coming and so did the water. When you see someone’s water break on TV you don’t actually see anything. This was crazy. My water just kept coming and coming. I began to think I wasn’t even really pregnant, maybe I just had a lot of water in me.

  “I can’t take it,” I said to Liam. He was sitting by my bed holding my hand. “I can’t do this.”

  “Yes you can, little one. Yes you can.” He wiped my forehead and gave me some ice chips to suck on.

  “I don’t think I’m ever having sex with you again,” I said as another contraction started.

  “Well we can talk about that later,” he smiled.

  A nurse came over and started to check me out again, while Liam talked to the one monitoring the machines.

  “So when should we start to call people and let them know?” he asked. “We have a large family. I’m amazed we were able to get out of the house without anyone knowing,” he laughed.

  “Well I guess it depends. Do you want them sitting in the waiting area for hours or back here while she’s in labor?” she shrugged.

  “Ah, Mr. Hastings,” the nurse checking me out said. “You may want to call your family now,” she said. “She’s at eight centimeters.” I squeezed Liam’s hand. “I’ve never seen that before in all my life. Dilating six centimeters in thirty minutes. It just doesn’t happen,” she was kinda talking to herself.

  “Call the doctor!” she shouted.

  Liam jumped on the phone and called Rosa, who had instructions to call three other people, and they had instructions to call others and on and on. We had created the phone tree a while ago.

  Dr. Goldrum walked in and went right between my legs.

  “Well, well, well, Mrs. Hastings. Don’t waste anytime do we?” she was trying to be funny. I didn’t laugh. “Oh, yes, I think you’re just about ready. Ok, Norah, listen to me. You are going to feel lots of pressure, like you have to go to the bathroom. When you feel it, I want you to push,” she looked down at my crotch.

  Liam was at my side holding my leg. I felt the pressure and I started pushing. I pushed for about twenty minutes and then I heard it. A baby cry.

  “Is that?” I asked.

  “You have a son!” she announced. Liam kissed me on my lips and we touched foreheads.

  “We have a son,” I said. “Liam Thomas the 3rd.” I could see the tears in his eyes.

  “I love you,” he said.

  “I love you too,” but my reply was interrupted with more pain. I forgot I was having another baby.

  “Ahhh…..dammit,” I actually cussed.

  “That’s good, Norah. You’re doing great,” she said as I took a few breaths in between pushing. I could see out of the corner of my eye that the other nurses were standing around the first baby wiping him down.

  “Ok, give me another big push!” she said and I did.

  “That’s it, one more, big push!” I pushed and pushed and pushed.

  “You have a little girl!” she shouted and handed the baby to another nurse who quickly took her to the table across the room.

  “A little girl,” I said and grabbed Liam’s hand. “I have a daughter too,” I leaned back on the pillow while they cleaned me up. One of the nurses even wiped down my face and fixed my hair.

  “Thank you,” I said. Dr. Goldrum walked over with a baby in her hands.

  “He only weighs 5.5 lbs,” she handed him to Liam who leaned over and handed him to me. I kissed his forehead and then kissed Liam.

  “Little Liam,” Liam said.

  “Thomas,” I corrected.

  “Thomas,” Liam agreed. He took him from me as they brought our daughter. She only weighed 5.8 lbs. herself. They looked just a like. Both had full heads of dark hair and the cutest little fingers I had ever seen.

  “Catherine,” I whispered. “Catherine Elizabeth,” I looked at Liam. It was the name I picked when I was just a little girl. Catherine was original but Elizabeth was my middle name.

  “Perfect,” he nodded. I smiled. I probably could have said ‘Eggplant Ceiling Fan’ and he would have agreed to it.

  “Liam?” he looked back at me with little Thomas in his hands and Catherine in mine.

  “We’re parents,” I said.

  “Yes,” he said.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Liam

  “Norah?” she turned to look at me. “Rosa is waiting for Catherine so she can give her a bath,” I walked into the room.

  Norah was standing in her old bedroom holding Catherine and pointing out the window.

  “I’m showing her the blackbird family in the big tree,” she said.

  “You can see that tree better from the Great Room down the hall.”

  “I know. But I was also rocking Catherine in the rocking chair.”

  “We have two rocking chairs in the babies’ room.” She gave me a look that meant I didn’t need to pry anymore. So I just held up my hands.

  “Should I tell Rosa to postpone the baths?”

  “No. I’ll bring her along in a minute.”

  I didn’t argue. Sometimes she liked spending time in her old room. She said it made her feel safe and comfortable. I didn’t argue. I knew this was about the babies.

  She had one more week at home with them and then it was back to work. She had been home for three months.

  I went back to work after two weeks. I needed a nap and knew I could sleep in my office.

  The twins were up every two hours at night the first month. During the day they were either eating or pooping. I had to go back to work to clear my head. I was so exhausted and then I would look at their cute little faces and get all sucked in.

  The second month they moved it up to sleeping for four hour stretches. I thought Norah was going to do the happy dance, but I think she was too tired.

  By the beginning of this mont
h she had trained them to sleep for six hours at a time. I didn’t know we were going to sleep train our kids. I thought that came naturally. I knew we would have to train them to use a toilet and eat their vegetables, but I didn’t know I would have to train them to sleep.

  Sleep training wasn’t the only thing I didn’t know. But thankfully Norah had read about 40 books on the topic of babies and toddlers. And we had Rosa. Rosa had six children of her own and four grandkids. She didn’t mind getting up with them at night, or feeding them throughout the day or just holding one of them until they fell asleep.

  Norah and I had been hands on. But Rosa was only too happy to help out whenever she could. She tried very hard not to get in the way or take over. She could look at Norah and see when she needed to leave her alone and let her figure it out. Other times, she knew when Norah needed help and she could step in.

  Norah had broken down about three days in to being a mother and told me she was scared of turning into her mother. When her mother and the rest of her family came to visit during the first month, I reassured her she had nothing to worry about. Norah and her mother couldn’t have been more different.

  We were figuring things out. It wasn’t easy but we didn’t expect it to be.

  The truth of the matter was I bought Norah at an illegal auction over 2 years ago. I bought her, fell in love with her and married her. She has been the key to my salvation and to my sanity. Now we had created life. Something I did years ago in a moment of pure selfishness had turned into these two little lives.

  Our relationship will never be an easy one. When you have lived through the things we have been through things just don’t become easy. But we had evolved. When we met I was a controlling man that liked to hurt women in order for me to get off. But I would like to think I have grown as a person and changed for the better.

  As for Norah, I’m not sure if she has changed at all. She is a sweet, kind and caring person when I bought her and she was a sweet, kind and caring person now.

  I don’t know what the future holds for us. But as I sit here in my den, with Thomas sleeping in a swing beside me and my bride rocking Catherine in a chair across from me, I know that I can make it through anything as long as I have her beside me.

  Norah

  “I love it!” I shouted, closed the book and jumped across the room and hugged him. He had been writing this story for a long time. He wanted to tell our story but didn’t know how to end it. Becoming parents to Thomas and Catherine seemed like the perfect ending.

  “Really?” I leaned back to look at her face.

  “Well I think you kinda overstated my beauty, but other than that,” I kissed his lips. “I don’t know how you had time to write it. But it’s wonderful.”

  “I’m glad you like it,” he said.

  “I love it. What are you going to call it?” I asked.

  “Coming out of the Dark.”

  Epilogue

  I stood under the tree and watched Liam chase the kids around the pond. It was hard to believe they were two years old already and we were expecting our third. I looked down and rubbed my tummy.

  “When do you think you’ll be joining the party?” I said to myself. She was due to join our family any day now.

  “Are you feeling alright, little one?” Liam asked. It warmed my heart that he still called me ‘little one’ after all these years. Especially in my current condition.

  “I’m fine. We’re fine.” We all sat down on a blanket and tried to enjoy lunch.

  Thomas didn’t want his peanut butter on top, he wanted it on the bottom. Liam fixed the problem by flipping the sandwich over.

  Catherine didn’t want to sit down. She never wants to sit down. She likes to run all the time. She runs and her long dark curls just bounce behind her.

  We had just received a formal letter from Fieldstone Adler School accepting the twins into their preschool next year. It probably helped that Liam donated a lot of money and was an alumina himself.

  We had toured lots of schools. I couldn’t believe they were only two years old and we were worried about schools already. I think I went to the Sunshine Daycare until I was ready to go to Kindergarten and my mother certainly didn’t have to apply, interview and reserve a spot a year out.

  I was just happy to have some kind of structure in their day. Most days they stayed at home with Rosa and her band of merry maids. Lina had been elected as our nanny. We asked the ladies if one of them would like to take on the responsibility of caring for the kids while we were at work. Lina volunteered.

  We had converted the Great room on the second floor to a playroom for the kids and the bedroom next to the twins for our newest addition.

  Since we waited to find out the sexes of Thomas and Catherine, I gave in this time. We had the room painted a light yellow and baby pink and big white letters spelling out her name. Isabella Rose. Rosa was more than thrilled and beyond honored that we chose Rose. She was teaching the twins to call her Abuelita. My mother wants them to call her Mary, of course.

  I thought having grandchildren might bring out the mother in my mother, but it didn’t.

  She and Jim were still not married. He wanted the twins to call him Uncle Jim. Liam suggested they call him asshole. I voted for neither and said it would be easier if they call my mother Mary, then they can call him Jim.

  Maggie and Lorraine were the best aunts anyone could imagine. They skyped with the kids at least once a week and mailed them cards and toys all the time. In the past two years they have been here four times and we have been to Florida to see them at least three times. Liam was actually contemplating buying a house there. I was all for that.

  He still likes to control things but he has finally learned patience. His children have taught him that.

  It’s peaceful outside today. No clouds in the sky and a soft breeze. I stretched out my legs and sighed in relief.

  “Oh,” I put my hand on my belly.

  “What?” Liam asked.

  “She’s kicking,” I leaned forward and took his hand to place it on my belly. “Can you feel that?” I looked at him.

  “Yes,” he smiled. He leaned forward and placed his mouth near my belly button. “Can you hear me, Isabella? You feel so strong, baby girl.” He raised my shirt and kissed my belly.

  “It’s nap time,” I made it to my knees and started to clean up lunch.

  “I like nap time,” Liam winked at me.

  Nap time was our special time together. Unless of course I really took a nap too.

  We put the kids in their beds and Liam read them a story. I went to the bedroom and changed into something a little more romantic.

  I walked in the bedroom slowly with a little attitude. I had on my black boy shorts and black sports bra. Liam was sitting on the edge of our bed with only his boxer briefs on. He ran his hands over my belly.

  “You are still so very sexy, my love.”

  He moved me to my back and laid beside me. He started on my shoulders and ran his hands over my body. He caressed my sides and shoulders because he knew how they hurt me.

  I was so relaxed. His touch calmed me. It always had. Somehow in all this caressing he had taken off my underwear and bra. I didn’t even feel them leave my body.

  His mouth clasped my nipple and I let out a deep sigh. His tongue moved on my neck and ear and then down my shoulder.

  “You’re killing me, Hastings,” I whispered. “We don’t have much time, you know that,” I opened my eyes and gave him a look.

  We still managed to have a very healthy sex life, but of course it had changed since the kids entered the picture. Sometimes we couldn’t take as much time as we really wanted.

  His hands pushed my legs apart and slid inside me. He moved in and out slowly driving me crazy. He kept hitting that spot. That spot that made me feel like I could either come or pee. I hoped it was the first one.

  His fingers were soft and seducing. I moved my body closer to his hands and arched my back.

  “Ple
ase, Liam,” I begged.

  “I like it when you beg, little one. You know that,” he grinned. He moved his body between my legs and bent my knees. He pulled me closer to him and thrusted inside me.

  “Oh lord,” I grabbed the side of the bed. His hips moved slowly at first and then he picked up the pace. He groaned and tilted his head back.

  I raised myself up on my elbows and watched him move. My belly blocked the view of him entering me, but seeing his hips move back and forth was just as much of a turn on.

  “Damn, you’re sexy!” I fell back on the bed as I found my release.

  ~Three years later ~

  I stood in the driveway tapping my foot.

  “Let’s go you two. School waits for no one,” I opened the door to the car. Thomas and Catherine finally made it out of the house and thankfully both of them had their book bags.

  “Well it’s about time,” I said as I bent down and pulled up Catherine’s sock. “I appreciate you wearing your school uniform today, Thomas and not your baseball uniform.” I gave them both kisses and helped them into the car.

  “Let them grow up, Norah. They can get in the car by themselves.” John said as he and his son, who was 5 years old now, just a year younger than the twins, came walking up.

  “Glad to see you can make it too,” I joked with him. It was so wonderful to have him and his family living in one of our guest houses. Liam twisted a few arms and got his girls accepted into Adler Academy, and the twins and his son Johnny all went to Adler Elementary.

  “Where’s the little one?” John asked. I chuckled whenever John called Isabell, little one. Sometimes I chuckled. Sometimes I cringed.

  “Here she comes,” Liam came out the door with little Henry in his arms.

  “I don’t understand why I have to go to school but Henry doesn’t!” Isabell had her hands on her hips. She always had her hands on her hips. Her long brown curls just bounced as she walked.

  “I have explained this to you before, little lady. Thomas and Catherine are 6, so they must attend 1st grade. Johnny is 5, so he is in Kindergarten. You are 3, so you must go to pre-school.” Liam handed Henry to me and then bent down to tie Isabell’s shoes.