Braxton

 

There’s a flurry of activity once several nurses and a doctor rush into the room, pushing me out of the way. I feel arms pulling me back and nearly swing out trying to get loose. Then I hear Twisted say to me, “Let them do their job, man, you could do her more harm than good at this point in time.” Knowing he’s right I back off and let them tend to my girl.

I look over to check on Luca and see his eyes open wide in alarm at seeing his mother laying on the floor unconscious. I immediately go over to his side and hold his hand, and I reassure him that his mother is going to be fine...I hope and pray that that’s the truth. We both watch as Cara is put onto a stretcher and wheeled out of the room. I look up and notice Mom and Paisley both standing there looking lost...welcome to the club, I think.

“I knew she wasn’t feeling well, Son, but I never imagined it was serious,” Mom says ringing her hands together.

“This isn’t your fault, Mom. Could you please stay with Luca so I can go check on her?”

“Of course, I will,” she says as she comes to stand vigil at Luca’s bedside. I lean down and brush a kiss over his forehead and tell him I’ll be back as quickly as I can.

Rushing out the door a nurse comes up to me, “Do you know her medical history or if she’s allergic to any meds?”

I’m getting ready to tell her that I don’t when I hear a voice behind me say, “I do.” I turn to look for who said that and see DJ striding my way with purpose in every step. Hatch is trailing behind her with a look of concern on his face.

When DJ finishes answering the nurse’s questions, she turns and looks at me, “Tell me what happened.” I tell her about Cara getting sick, looking pale and finish with finding her on the floor. She has a twinkle in her eye and I nearly tell her off until I hear the words that come out next. “You know, this is exactly what it was like when she first got pregnant with Luca.”

My eyes widen as it sinks in what she said. “Pregnant...Luca,” I mumble out.

“Yes, sir, this is exactly what happened. We rushed her to the ER then too,” she says with excitement in her voice.

“Are you...are you trying to tell me she’s pregnant? With my baby?”

“No, I’m telling you this is what happened with Luca, same symptoms and her body did the same exact thing. And it’s the milkman’s, of course it would be yours if she is, you moron.” I don’t even care that she’s calling me names, all I’m visualizing is Cara round with my child growing inside of her. I envision a little girl who looks just like her with pigtails and a goofy grin, sitting on her hip as we play with the other kids.

“Wow,” is all I can manage. “And I know if she’s pregnant it's mine! Give me a break, woman, I just found out I might be a dad again!” I hear Hatchet’s laughter as I leave the two of them, once again on a mission to find my woman.

When I finally find her room, with no help from the staff I might add, I see a nurse taking vials of blood, checking her blood pressure and examining her eyes while the doctor looks over her chart. “Has she not woken up yet?”

“Not yet, sir, do you have any idea what symptoms she’s been displaying?” the doctor asks.

“I’ve been on the road for work, but when I talked to her she’s complained of an upset stomach. We’ve had strep and a virus running through the household.” I’m looking at the nasty bruise coming up on the side of her face and cringe, knowing it’s going to hurt.

“I don’t believe this is strep or a virus or she wouldn’t have lost consciousness. Is there any possibility that she could be pregnant?”

“There is,” I tell the young doctor that’s been grilling me with endless questions.

“I’d say so with the way you two go at it like a bunch of teenagers,” I hear DJ say. I turn around and glare at her, normally this would cause people to cower in fear from me, but she just smiles at me.

“Get the lab to check for pregnancy, iron levels and for possible diabetes.”

“Diabetes!” I yell out.

“Just as a precaution, sir,” he says to me as he dismisses his nurse with his instructions. “She’s stable, vitals are good...we’ll know more once she wakes up and we get her results back. For now, let’s let her sleep since her body seems to need it and we’ll keep checking on her.” He then leaves the room and me to my thoughts. Pregnant, could I really be so lucky as to have my child growing in her belly?

 

 

An hour later, Cara opens her beautiful eyes and looks around the room. She notices me sitting in the chair beside her with my hand in her own. As she takes stock of where she is she begins to panic and tries to get out of bed. “Take it easy, baby,” I tell her.

“Luca…”

“Is fine, Mom and DJ are with him. He’s sleeping soundly and is recovering nicely. They’re going to keep him overnight for observation, but will be releasing him in the morning. He has a room being set up for him right now, I had them get him a private room. I don’t see either of us wanting to leave his side any time soon. Now, let’s talk about you.”

“What happened? I don’t remember anything after getting sick in the bathroom.”

“You passed out, taking ten years off my life and adding some grey hair to my head,” I say trying to lighten the mood. “Can you tell me what’s been going on with you while I was away?”

“Well…” she starts to say as the door to the room opens abruptly.

“It’s good to see you awake, Mrs. Jensen, you gave your fiancée here quite the scare,” the doctor says to her as he opens her chart. “I have the results from your labs back here. It looks like you’re pregnant, we’d like to schedule an ultrasound before we release you with a prescription for vitamins and folic acid.” He carries on as if he didn’t just drop the ultimate bomb in our laps.

“Did you—did you just say pregnant?” she asks the doctor, but her eyes are all for me.

“I did, congratulations. We’ll be checking to see how far along you are and hopefully you’re far enough along that we can hear the heartbeat today. That should settle some of the father-to-be’s ruffles.”

“Braxton.” I stop her with my finger to her lips and smile over at her.

“You’ve made me the happiest man on the planet, sweetheart, the rest we can talk about later. Let me enjoy this moment with you before we deal with anything else.”

“Okay,” she responds with a small timid smile of her own. I look over and see a nurse wheeling in a machine, I somewhere in the back of my mind remember this from when Lily was expected. It has a small screen and a bunch of gadgets, but all I care about is that this contraption is going to let Cara and I see the life inside of her that we created together.

Cara is instructed to lift up her gown to expose her belly, so I tuck the blanket securely around her lower region, I don’t want this young guy to see all that is mine. Once she’s situated, he pours a good amount of goo on her stomach, saying, “We’ll try this way first, hopefully you’re far enough along that we won’t have to use the wand.”

Wand? What wand? And why is it that I don’t think I’d like the idea of using that? Cara leans over and whispers in my ear what it is and it entails, then she points it out to me and I call out, “I don’t fucking think so!”

“Relax, Braxton, it doesn’t hurt and you have to be so far along to use the probe that goes over the stomach.”

“If you’re not, we’ll wait until you are,” I tell her in no uncertain terms.

“Honey, there will be a lot more invasive things done to me during this pregnancy, you’re going to have to get used to it if it’s what’s good for the baby.”

“Or the mom,” the nurse says. “We don’t want to take any chances with their health,” she states to me as if she’s speaking to a small child. I glare over at her and she acts as if she didn’t see it. I’ve had men piss themselves from just that look alone, and these women act as if it isn’t scary as fuck. Crazy ass women! No self-preservation whatsoever.

“Ah, look at that, you’re measuring in at nine-weeks and three days. See, we can see the baby perfectly. You can relax, Dad, no internal wand needed.” Nine-weeks, three days—that means the first time we had sex I knocked her up. All of a sudden, I feel as proud as a peacock, I want to puff out my chest and shout from the rooftop.

“He looks like a very proud and happy man,” the child doctor whispers to my woman. I scowl at him, he shouldn't be whispering anything to my woman. “Caveman to the core I see,” the doctor says with a smile on his face, one I want to immediately knock off.

“Braxton! Did you just growl?” Cara says with disbelief in her voice. What does she expect? This kid is flirting with her right in front of me.

“No!” I say, suddenly feeling like I need to protect my family makers if the scowl on her face is anything to go by.

“Yes, you did! Am I going to have to go to all of my doctor appointments without you?”

The fuck she will! “Hell no!” I all but shout.

“Then you need to calm down with all of the growling and scowling looks. I’m sorry, doctor, he must’ve hit his head.” Did she seriously just apologize for me? I mean I might be acting a little dominant where it comes to her, but I can’t seem to help myself.

“Do not apologize for me, give me some time to adjust. Things will calm down once I have my ring on your finger and my patch on your back and skin. Until then, until that day comes, you need to bear with me, y’hear?”

“Braxton,” she whispers, “did you take something? I’m worried about you right now, you’ve never acted like this before. Is this what I have to look forward to?”

“It is until…”

“I heard you! Until your ring is on my finger and I’m branded with your patch. Aren’t those things we need to discuss first?”

“No.”

“That’s it? Just no?” she asks with an exasperated sigh.

“Right, we’ll just leave the two of you alone to discuss this...here are a couple of pictures of your baby. Congratulations again,” the doctor says handing me some black and white fuzzy pictures. I look down trying to decipher what is what.

“Hand them over, let me show you what is what,” Cara says. She shows me the head, arms, feet and suddenly I realize, I was so wrapped up in myself that I missed hearing the heartbeat. I’m such a fucking fool!

 

 

I went home to check in on Lily and Mom. Mom has both of the kids so that DJ can stay at the hospital with Cara and Luca. As I’m about to enter his room I hear DJ say, “No, he did not!” then she starts laughing hysterically.

“Yes he did, I thought that poor doctor was going to piss his pants, right there and then. I don’t know what got into him,” Cara tells her friend. I don’t want to eavesdrop on them, but I really want to hear what Cara says next.

“You do so, he told you what was going on with him.”

“What? The caveman in him needs the ring and patch to know what I mean to him?”

“No, he needs those things to secure the fact that you’re in this as deep as he is.”

“He never mentioned marriage before, DJ, what if he only wants to marry me now because of the baby? I can’t be in a marriage because of those reasons.” Is that what she thinks?

I don’t stop to think, I march into the room and say to her, “What have I ever done or said to you that makes you think I’d settle like that? I love you, Cara, that’s why I want to marry you, that’s why I want to give you my name and my patch...there is no other reason other than that… I. Love. You.”

“Aaannnddd...that’s my cue to go,” DJ says as she stands, gives us both a hug and tells us congratulations as she scurries out of the room.

“You, you love me, Braxton?”

“I do, to the depths of my soul, you’re my world. You, Lily and Luca...you three are my everything. I wake each morning, I breath and I exist, solely for y’all.”

“I love you too, Braxton,” she says as she leaps out of her chair and into my arms. “I love you so much!”

“I love you too, Daddy.” And that’s when it happens, that’s when for the first time in my life I hit my knees, gravity taking me down by my son’s bedside, and tell him how much I love him too.

“Marry me,” I know this isn’t the most romantic setting, but I feel the need to do this here and now. “Marry me, baby, make me the luckiest man in the world. Say yes, Cara, please say yes.”

“Yes,” she whispers with tears falling down her face, “I’d be honored to marry you, Braxton.”