My hands were shaking. I didn’t really realize how nervous I’d been until now. My heart was pounding inside my chest. And the pain I felt was nothing like I’d felt before.
I can do this. I can’t do this. No! I can do this!
Pain slowly built up in my abdomen again, and I knew that from there, it could only get worse. I closed my eyes and tried not to scream.
“Let’s check again,” I heard a female’s voice say, and I didn’t even know who she was speaking with. Then I felt something down there. A finger, a hand, I don’t know. And then an unexplainable pain.
“Son of a gun!” I shouted, and I crushed the fingers I was holding. I could only imagine the pain I was inflicting on that person right now, and I was beyond caring. I would do anything to share even half of my agony.
Instead of cursing or writhing in pain, I felt the person beside me lean forward to give me a kiss on the forehead.
“I love you, cherie,” I heard Travis’s familiar voice in my ear.
I looked up at him, and I saw tears shining in his eyes. I saw love. He gave me an encouraging smile. I knew that he felt my pain. And he would do anything to share it with me, too, if that was possible at all.
“Not yet,” the nurse said, after checking me. “A couple more minutes.”
I squeezed Travis’s hand. “Where’s Anthony?” In spite of my pain, I couldn’t help worrying about our little boy.
“He’s with his grandfather,” he replied. “He couldn’t stop crying—he was worrying about you. Dad had to take him to the toy shop.”
I smiled at that. Travis’s father spoiled his grandchild. It warmed my heart to think about the memories of the past few months. Maybe remembering all those wonderful things would take my mind off the constant pain I felt in all parts of my body.
Anthony came into our lives just over a year ago. He was the cutest three-year-old, with dark blond hair and beautiful gray eyes. We found him in an orphanage. Both his parents had died in a car crash, and they left him with nothing, not even guardians who would be willing to take care of him. The minute I laid eyes on him, my heart swelled, and for the first time, I felt those motherly instincts kick in. I felt this need to take care of him…protect him and nurture him. When I looked at Travis, I knew he immediately understood what I was feeling.
He did all we could so we could bring Anthony home. He was ours the very first moment we saw him. Having him in our lives made Travis realize what a father-son relationship really meant.
Travis gave up his shares of his father’s company and finally ended the battle between them. Before that, his father found out he has liver cancer and might not last long without a transplant.
Travis’s father didn’t have many friends or relatives. He was at the hospital with only his bodyguards for company. When I showed up at his hospital suite one day, he was surprised at first. He found it hard to believe that I would even bother to visit him. But after we got past the awkwardness, he started appreciating having another person in the room who wasn’t on his payroll.
I didn’t tell Travis that I was visiting his father. But I knew that he knew. We’d been married for almost two years, and he still hadn’t stopped making it his business to keep me safe, twenty-four seven. He knew where I’d been going in the afternoons when I was not at home painting, or at the studio dancing, or at my mother’s gallery helping out. I’d been making his old man feel that in spite of the things he’d done in his life, he still had family.
“Thank you, Brianne,” Mr. Cross whispered. “My son is very lucky to have you.”
I smiled at him and gave his hand a squeeze. “I’m sure forgiveness will come for you someday.”
He smiled weakly. “I’m getting worse. And not on the priority list for a transplant. We both know I might not even live long enough to see that day happen.”
Just then the door opened, and I was startled to see Travis enter the room. He gave his father a hard look. Then he handed his nurse a piece of paper. The nurse passed the paper to his father. His father read it, and then he looked up at Travis with a wild expression on his face, his eyes almost teary.
Travis took a deep breath. “I’m not going to do it for you…I’m going to do it for her,” he said, pointing at me. Then he turned to me. “I’ll wait for you outside.” Then he left.
His father was speechless. Then tears rolled down his cheeks. He handed me the piece of paper that Travis had given him. My heart caught in my throat. Just as I suspected, it was his compatibility test for liver donation. Travis was his father’s perfect match. He was going to donate a part of himself to extend his father’s life and give him a fighting chance.
I smiled at my father-in-law. He smiled back at me in spite of his tears. “I will forever owe you my life, Brianne,” he whispered. “Thank you.”
I shook my head. “When you get through all this, please promise me you will do all that you can to fix your relationship with him. The fact that he’s doing this…it means he’s already forgiven you.”
The old man nodded and reached out to give my hand a squeeze.
Travis was leaning against the wall beside the door of his father’s room. He was looking down at the floor, his face cold and serious.
I reached out for his hand. He looked at me. “I have to do it, Brianne,” he said. “I’m the only chance he has.”
I nodded. Tears streamed down my cheeks. “I understand.”
“I just want to do it. Then we’ll move on. I don’t want the burden of my relationship with him to be in the way of me giving myself to you and to Anthony completely.”
I reached out and hugged him. “I know. I just want you to promise one thing to me.”
He gave me a squeeze. “Anything, love.”
I took a deep breath. “Just come back to us, alive and well.”
I felt him smile through my hair. “I promise,” he whispered.
After a week, we were back in the hospital for the operation. I was scared as hell. I almost asked Travis to change his mind about what he was going to do. But I knew he would fight for us. I knew he would wake up and he would recover well. I wouldn’t accept any other possibility or ending.
Just before they brought him to the operating room, he smiled at me. “I will see you in a while,” he said.
“You’d better,” I said, tears rolling down my cheeks. I hugged him.
“Daddy, can we play ball?” Anthony asked, peering up at his father’s bed.
Travis smiled at him. “Sure. Daddy just needs to do something for Grandpa. And then we’ll play ball.”
The child’s eyes brightened. “Can grandpa play with us, too?”
It took a while for Travis to respond. Then he nodded. “Sure, kiddo. I’ll make sure he will be able to.”
I wiped the tears that were rolling down my cheeks. I didn’t want my son to see or feel how worried or scared I was.
Travis stared at me. He smiled and pulled me to him. “Don’t cry. I’m tougher than you give me credit for,” he teased.
I giggled. “You better make sure of that, because I don’t want to go nursery shopping alone in a few months.”
He immediately pulled away from me and looked into my eyes. “You want to adopt again?” he asked. Then his eyes went to Anthony, who was now happily playing with his toy train on the couch. “He would make a good big brother. Maybe we could get a girl this time.”
I smiled up at him. “Yes he would. But no, we’re not adopting.”
He looked at me questioningly. I sighed and reached for something in my bag. It was a plastic pen-type stick with a small window in the middle. The window showed something that could not be mistaken for something else—a clear blue plus sign.
“Looks like those fertility treatments were working just fine after all,” I whispered to him.
It took him a moment to recover. He was just staring at the plastic stick in my hand. When he finally looked at me, his eyes were shining with tears again. He pulled me to him and crushed his lips to mine. Then he leaned his forehead against mine.
“I love you, Brianne,” he said. “As if I needed one more reason to fight for my life. You and Anthony were enough. But now…this. I love you, Mrs. Cross. I love you so damn much! You always have a way of making things perfect for me when I thought they already were.”
I giggled against his lips. “So do you.”
After that operation, Travis recovered at record speed. His father’s body accepted his liver quite well. Now…his father is cancer-free, and trying his best to make amends with his son, starting with his grandchild. He never saw Anthony as being adopted. He was very good to him the moment I introduced them to each other.
Travis didn’t travel for business all throughout the duration of my pregnancy. He was always there, conducting most of his businesses from home. He shared as much of the burden of the pregnancy as he could. It was hard enough to carry one baby—just imagine carrying two.
A sharp pain in my abdomen took me back to reality, stopping me from reminiscing about the past few months of my perfect life with the man who made me the happiest.
The doctor checked me again, and I cursed at her for like the hundredth time.
She smiled. “It’s time.”
Travis gave me another kiss on the lips. He held my hand in his. “I’m right here, love. I won’t leave you. We can do this.”
A few short breaths, a loud wail, a thousand curses, a dozen unsuccessful attempts to push, and then the doctor said, “Give it your best, sweetheart, and it will all be over soon.”
It was my choice to go for natural childbirth. Travis was not so much a fan of it. He wanted it to be as painless as possible for me. But right now, hell! I couldn’t remember why I’d opted for this in the first place!
I took one long breath, and then I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Son of a…” I wasn’t able to continue that curse. I heard a cry that seemed like music to my ears. I looked up at Travis, and his eyes were transfixed on something in front of me, as if he was looking at the most beautiful thing in the world.
“Here’s your baby boy,” somebody said, and they showed Travis something wrapped in a blue blanket. Everything was still hazy, I was still drugged with the pain. And the contractions in my abdomen didn’t even feel slightly less painful.
“Okay, sweetheart. I need you to give me another push,” my doctor said, and I could only assume she was talking to me.
Travis turned back to me. “Sweetheart, one more, okay? Last time.”
I glared at him. “Easy…for you to say!” I cursed when I felt another huge contraction and I couldn’t help the urge to push.
“Dammit, Travis!” I screamed.
And I heard another cry. Instantly, all the pain I’d previously felt was gone. The contraction pains were immediately wiped out as if they never happened at all.
I took the time to catch my breath. I felt Travis’s lips on mine and I tasted his tears. When he pulled away from me, he was crying.
“You did well, Brianne,” he whispered. “Thank you. I love you so much!”
They brought the baby to him. “A healthy baby girl,” the nurse said.
Travis reached to touch her toes. “Hey, little princess,” he whispered, and I knew just how happy he felt at that moment. I knew, because if there was one person who felt exactly the same way he did, it was me.
A few hours later, I was back in our room, cleaned up and dressed in a fresh hospital gown. I closed my eyes and took a nap. When I opened my eyes again, I found that I was in a different room. Or maybe it was the same room, only it looked different. There were flowers everywhere, and a lot of balloons, both pink and blue.
I heard Anthony squealing somewhere.
“She’s awake, Daddy!” he said.
I looked up and found Travis looking down at me. “Good morning.”
“It’s already morning?”
He laughed. “Yes. You were out pretty much the whole night. I didn’t wake you up. You deserved it.” He leaned forward and kissed my lips. “After all, you have given me the greatest gifts I could ever ask for…aside from Anthony and yourself.”
I smiled. “Labor pains…not a joke, Travis. I’m serious.”
“I know,” he said, raising his fingers to my eye level. “You have a hell of a grip,” he laughed.
“That was not even half of what I felt during those times,” I said.
Travis leaned forward to kiss me again. Longer this time. When he pulled away, I looked around the room. The huge VIP hospital suite had been transformed into some sort of flower and balloon heaven. It was absolutely beautiful.
“You did this?” I asked.
“Yeah. Figured you would like it. It was the least I could do.”
“It’s beautiful,” I smiled.
“I helped, too, Mommy,” Anthony said, standing on tiptoes beside my bed.
I smiled at him. “I know you did, sweetheart. Thank you.” I turned to Travis. “So who was here?” I asked.
“Everybody. Your mom, your dad, my father, and my mother…Sarah, Eric.”
“Where are they now?”
“Down at the nursery,” Travis replied. “Drooling over two very cute minimes.”
When Travis said ‘minimes,’ he wasn’t kidding. The nurses finally brought my babies to the room. Our parents and friends had decided to have lunch outside together to give Travis and me some alone time with our new babies. Anthony fell sound asleep on the couch. Travis decided to let his nanny go on lunch break, too. I knew he wanted a little private time just for us, as one family.
“Thomas James. We’ll call him TJ,” Travis said, touching the cheek of our new baby boy. He had black hair, and I could almost tell that his eyes would be blue, just like Travis’s.
I looked up at him. Thomas James. That’s what he’d decided to name our boy. I couldn’t help the tears that slipped from my eyes.
“And the girl?” I asked, looking at our black-haired princess.
“I figured you could pick a name for her,” Travis said. “I will call her Princess no matter what name you choose.”
“Therese Anne,” I said. “And I’ll call her Thea.”
Travis smiled. “My Princess Thea.”
Tears of happiness rolled down my cheeks as I held both my babies in front of me. I felt Travis’s arm around my waist and he gently pulled me to lean on him.
“I have something for you,” he whispered.
“What?”
He reached for his jacket pocket and handed me a black box wrapped in a white ribbon. I recognized the name. One of the famous makers of fine jewelry in the world.
I opened the box and found a startling bangle designed with two infinity signs intertwined together and adorned with white, blue, and pink diamonds, which are quite rare.
“Travis,” I whispered. I was absolutely lost at the beauty of the jewelry. Travis turned it over so I could see the words engraved inside the bangle.
Travis & Brianne…til eternity.
I smiled. Tears welled up in my eyes again. It was absolutely beautiful.
“What’s this for? It’s not even my birthday,” I said to him.
He took the bracelet from me and placed it on my wrist. Then he put the screw in place. He pulled a small screwdriver from the box and screwed the jewelry in place, so it wouldn’t be removed from my wrist at all.
“This is my thank-you gift to you. For giving me three little angels. The white diamonds are for Anthony. The blue diamonds are for TJ. And the pink diamonds are for Thea,” he said, his eyes almost teary. “This is an infinity bangle. I’m keeping the screwdriver, so only I will be able to remove it.” Then he looked at me. “So you will always remember that you and I will always belong together.”
Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn’t say anything. I was overwhelmed by his words. I reached up and gave him a kiss on the lips.
“I love you, Brianne,” he said to me.
“I love you, too, Travis,” I said when I could finally speak.
“I love you more,” he said.
I giggled. “How can you be sure of that?”
“Because I’m sure no one has ever felt this much love for another before,” he replied.
I lay in his arms, all warm and happy. It was perfect. It was bliss. I used to be a kid, mourning the loss of my brother and struggling to keep it together, trying to always see the silver lining even though fate had dealt me a cruel hand more than a couple of times. But Tom was right. He promised me I would never be alone in my life, and I have never been. Travis had always been there for me. Tom promised, too, that I would live a long and happy life. And I am sure he is right. I have a long and happy life ahead of me.
With Travis by my side, we would raise Anthony, TJ, and Thea with all the love and comfort in the world. We would teach them how to love and look out for each other, how to love and value family. We would teach them all the good things in life, and how to live life completely. We would teach them how to laugh and have fun, as well as how to be tough and strong. And we would tell them about their Uncle—Tom—the angel who’s always looking out for all of us in heaven.
“Travis…”
“Yes, my love?”
“Do you think Tom is happy?”
“Yes,” he said. “I know he is. I know he’s happy you ended up with me. I know he trusted me more than he trusted anybody.” I looked up at him. His eyes were dancing, although they were almost wet with tears. “I’m thinking now he would feel…better me than some random guy who would just break your heart, right?”
I laughed. “Yes. I’m very happy it is you, too,” I said, and I knew Tom was smiling down at both of us in heaven now. I knew that when he asked Travis to take care of me, he’d meant for us to be together like this.
I raised my head up and closed my eyes. In my thoughts, I spoke to him. Thank you, Tom. Thank you for asking Travis to take care of me…