Modern Arrangements: Complete Trilogy (Modern Arrangements #1-3) (74 page)

Scene:  A Birthing
Story
{Night
after Chinese Steakhouse dinner.
Begins with Elora and James in bed asleep}
James Iverson

"James."

I heard my name, but
hell the Saki knocked me on my ass tonight.

"JAMES!"

Jerking up in bed at
Elora’s scream, I twisted to her side of the bed.

"What? What’s the
matter?"

Her face was pale white
and her breathing heavy.

"I think my water
just broke." he sounded scared.

"You think?"
I questioned.

"Don’t be an
asshole James! We need to go to the hospital!" She snapped.

"Okay…okay."
I took a breath and ran around getting dressed, grabbing her hospital bag, and
then collecting my wallet, phone, and keys. I turned around and saw the Elora
was bent over and panting. "Baby, are you okay?"

"Fuck NO, I’m not
okay! There is a watermelon trying to escape my body!" I flinched at the
loudness and the imagery that entered my mind.

"Okay…" she
panted.  "Let’s go. PLEASE."

I helped Elora to the
car and then called our families along the way. Once we pulled up to the
hospital I pulled up to the doors and helped Elora into the hospital.

"My wife is in
labor!" I shouted just like a fucking movie.

One nurse arrived with
a wheelchair and had her sit down.

"Sir you can’t
park there!" A security guard had tapped my shoulder as he spoke.

"Well here you go
then." I tossed him my keys and followed the nurse who was pushing Elora
toward the elevators. I heard him chuckling as I ran after them. Finally we got
Elora situated into her private room and I made a few more calls to people.

"Oh God!"
Elora’s knuckles were white as she gripped the bed rails.

"Breath,
focus…just like Emily…"

"FUCK EMILY!"
Elora shouted.

I flinched away in
surprise.

"Emily isn’t the
one in this bed! I am! And it’s worse than death!"

"It’s okay baby."
I caressed her head, trying to soothe her.
Big mistake.

"Don’t touch
me!"

She yanked her head
away.

"Oh God, you are
getting a vasectomy before we leave this hospital!"

My dick retreated
inside my body at the mention of a vasectomy.

"It will be okay,
just breath Elora, breath." Grabbing her hand in mine, she squeezed. I
never realized how strong Lor is. I swear she was going to break my fingers.
"It’s almost over now. It’s coming down."

She panted, starting to
calm.

"I want drugs
James! Now."

I ran into to the hall
and bumped into a massive wall of human. "What the..?"

"Hey there…slow
down man."

The voice was familiar.

"Dixon? What the
fu..?"

"Hey, hey, there
are kids on this floor." He laughed. "I’m filling in on this
floor."

He smiled wide.

"Oh, Hell no!"
I shook my head. "You are not our nurse…there is no way—"

Elora screamed.

"Hold that thought."
Dixon pushed passed me and into Elora's room.

"Oh Dixon…please,
get me drugs. Please? I don’t want to feel a thing!" Elora pleaded.

Expecting Dixon to make
a joke, instead he grew very serious but kept a face that oozed compassion.

"Take a deep
breath Elora. We'll get the anesthesiologist down here soon, but you have
another contraction coming."

Elora whimpered.

"Grab my hand and
squeeze. Here we go."

"Ow, oh shit, Ow,
oh shit!" Elora chanted.

"Breath in. Breath
out." Elora listened to Dixon's instruction.

"James get over
here. I need to call for the anesthesiologist."

Nodding, I quickly
replaced Dixon.

Dixon left, but
returned quickly. He started going through drawers and grabbing different things
out of cabinets, setting up on a table and a tray.

The doctor came in and
smiled warmly at Elora.

"So, are we all
ready?"

"Oh God,
yes!" Elora didn’t hesitate.

The doctor chuckled.

"Okay, let’s check
your progress." He settled on a stool between her legs and pushed her
knees back. There was little movement as he checked her over. "Well, it
shouldn’t be much longer, but we still have some time and some ways to go.
You’re only dilated to four centimeters."

Elora groaned.

"The
anesthesiologist is on his way," the doctor patted her knee and Elora
looked like she might just do a happy dance.

"Here comes
another one." Dixon announced and stood next to Elora on the other side of
the bed.

"Relax baby,"
I tried to sooth Elora again.

"Relax?" She
yelled and squeezed my hand. "Let me squeeze your balls relentlessly and
see how you relax!" I shivered at the thought.

Dixon chuckled and I
glared at him.

The anesthesiologist
arrived and gave Elora the epidural. About two minutes later she was lying back
like he'd exercised the demon from her body. With a sigh, I sat down in a chair
next to her.

Elora drifted into a
restless slumber. I took the opportunity to lie back in the lounge chair that
was on the side of the bed. It was Dixon’s voice that brought me out of my nap.

"Alright, it’s time
to check on you. Knees up."

Elora complied.

"Whoa, wait a
minute!" I stood quickly. "There is no way you're going to…." I
motioned to between her legs.

"Man, this is my
job!" Dixon argued.

"You are not going
between my wife’s legs, not now and not while she is giving birth!" I
countered.

"So help me God,
Henry James Iverson, if you do not let him get this fucking baby out of me I
will kill you in your sleep!" The demon returned.

"Okay…proceed."

Dixon's shoulders shook
with silent laughter as he continued with the examination.

"I think it’s time
to call the doctor. You ready Lor?" Dixon gave her a big smile.

"Oh hell
yes!" She exclaimed.

Dixon pushed the call
button above the bed. Then he adjusted Elora’s bed so she was sitting up further
and the bottom of the bed was pulled down and out.

"James, you take
that knee and push back when I tell you to, okay?"

Nervousness having
taken away my ability to speak, I nodded.

"Elora, you grab
the back of your thighs, just like in the Lamaze class, okay?"

She nodded.

"I heard someone
is ready to make their arrival." The doctor entered with a large smile and
a nurse following him. He sat down on the stool and pushed the sheet up over
her knees.

Perspiration began
beading along my hairline. My palms grew damp.

"Ready?" The
doctor looked expectantly at Elora.

Elora nodded.

"Alright, when I
say push, you push. When I say to hold it, I need you to try very hard to not
push. We want to avoid tearing as much as possible."

Tearing? What the hell
was going to tear?
The room started to shift and I waivered.

"You okay
James?" Dixon looked me over.

I shook my head.

"I don’t know if I
can…I don’t think I can do this, watch this—"

"Too late now."
The doctor announced. "Push."

Elora grunted and
pulled at the back of her thighs. Dixon had her left knee. I held tight to her
right.

"Keep
pushing," the doctor instructed. "Okay, now the next contraction will
be coming quickly, take a deep breath and push hard into your
bottom…..Now."

"I can see the
head." The doctor informed.

I couldn’t take my eyes
from Elora. Her forehead sweaty, cheeks red, and she still smiled.

"James."
Dixon drew my attention. "Look dude, there’s your baby."

Taking a deep breath, I
looked down.

"Oh my God."
I exclaimed.

"You don’t have to
look." Elora panted, clearly thinking I was disgusted.

"You’re doing it,
baby!" I shouted.

Excitement replacing my
nervousness, adrenalin coursed through my veins. I took a quick glance at
Elora, catching a smile on her face before I turned back to the birth of my
kid.

"Push," the
doctor instructed

"You are doing
great baby. It’s coming. I can see it!"

"Aahhhrrrhhhggg."
Elora released a guttural moan.

A tiny head emerged. I
sucked in a breath, holding it.

"Hold it." The
doctor stood quickly. "Don’t push Elora, hold on for me."

The doctor worked
quickly, and then he started to rotate the baby just like the video from
Lamaze.

"You're doing
fantastic Elora." The doctor praised. "Give me one small push, just a
small one." He continued the rotating movement. "Perfect! And……there
we go!"

He pulled the baby free
and wrapped his hands around a gooey screeching child. Dixon moved fast, placing
a large cotton blanket across Elora’s stomach. The doctor laid our baby on her.

"You have a boy!
Congratulations!"

My son
,
I have a son
.
This
little person was mine, ours.

"We have a son."
I said the words barely a whisper.

Leaning down, I kissed
Elora’s head.

"Yes, we have a
beautiful son." Elora choked out between tears of happiness.

"Would you like to
cut the cord?" The doctor held out a pair of scissors.

"Um…I don’t know.
Uh…" I looked to Elora for direct, but she was mesmerized by the tiny
bundle in her arms. "Okay." I said firm enough to convince myself to
do this.

He held up the cord and
I cut where he instructed.

Warmth trickled down my
cheek. I'd started crying with her.

"You…you are
amazing." I stared at my wife. She was so much stronger than me, it was
undeniable. I was so proud of her. She smiled and then turned back to our son.

"I hate to do
this, but give me fifteen minutes to check this little guy over." Dixon said,
as he reached down and picked my son up into his huge arms. "I promise he'll
be back soon."

Dixon took him to a
large table and began doing some tests on the tiny little DNA cocktail Lor and
I created. Unable to look away from my son, my heart swelled.

Elora had given me
something I never realized would mean this much in just a matter of minutes. Leaning
down again, I took her mouth – firmly.

"I love you so
much! Thank you!"

"I love you too."
She whispered, pressing her forehead to mine.

The doctor interrupted
with some directions for Elora on the final stages of the birth. Apparently,
she has to deliver something else. Not wanting to know what else women have to
deal with during childbirth, I went over to watch over my boy as he wiggled and
screamed.

Once Dixon finished, he
picked up the boy, handing him to Elora.

"You're a lucky
man." Dixon stated, watching Elora with the baby.

"I swear to god
Dixon, if that’s a crack about you seeing Elora—"

"Calm down James.
I was referring to your family." He motioned to Elora and our son.

Feeling brave, I spoke
without thinking.

"Besides, you’ve
seen one you’ve seen them all, huh?" I chuckled, nudging his arm.

"No way, Elora was
especially—"

"Shut up."

Dixon turned to face me.

"Don’t start shit
about my job then dickhead." He smirked, and then winked, heading for the
door. Before leaving the room, he turned. "Oh by the way, you have a
waiting room full of family."

Looking at the clock, I
realized we'd only been here for about six hours. Wow, Elora’s labor was
actually pretty short – intense, but short. After kissing Elora once more, and
placing a soft kiss to my son's head, I went to inform the masses about their
new family member.

Her Side of the Story – A Mother's Sacrifice
Loreley

Since my first memory,
it was me and my father. In fact, he is in just about every memory of my life.
My mother died when I was very young, and my father never once hesitated to
express his distaste for her weakness. I barely remember my mother and was never
allowed to associate with her family, even when they had shown up to our home
to see me.

I knew I resembled her.
This was just one more thing my father never let me forget. At an early age, I
learned that to please my father was the only way to feel successful and loved.
If he wasn’t pleased then he was cold and harsh.

One of my biggest
lessons was the day he took me to my first Iverson Charity Gala. Strictly
instructed to get close to Aidan Iverson III, I was dressed in a sleek red
gown, hoping it would catch young Iverson’s attention. Then came a limousine
conversation, where my father distinctly instructed me to do whatever it took
to get to Aidan; lie, cheat, and seduce.

At the age of fourteen,
I was slightly confused by seduction. I knew the meaning of the word. I was
Gideon’s daughter after all and had seen seduction at its worst. However, I had
never even kissed a boy. Bringing this fact to my father's attention, I quickly
learned to do his bidding without question. He slapped my face.

"That's all
trivial Loreley! You will do what it takes. Kissing, touching, whatever it
takes, do you understand me?"

He held my face, his
fingers digging into my cheeks.

"Don’t cry it will
ruin your make up." He released my face, settling back into the leather
seat of the limo.

Sucking my tears in, I
held them and vowed to never cry in front of him again.

That night, Aidan,
barely noticed me. I was panicked at how my father would react. At one point, I
grabbed Aidan’s arm and pulled him to the dance floor. He was a gentleman and
danced, but he didn’t even look at me twice, all of my attempts failed.

To say the limo drive
home was bad is an understatement. My father slapped me around the back seat,
shook me, all while screaming.

"You can't possibly
be my daughter. Your whore of a mother must've slept around with some
lowlife!" He howled.  "You're just like her. Except at least she knew
how to bed men." He snorted.

 He knew what to say and
just how to say it. I sobbed. He told me I was weak. I learned quickly,
pleasing him was the only way to be loved.

Thinking back now, as
I'm locked away, a prisoner in his home. I realize just how foolish I've been.
My father, whom I tried so hard to please, has used, abused, and locked me up. And
I still didn't have any answers as to why I woke up naked, next to Aidan, and
Lilli shouting.

I really didn’t know
what was going on. Once Aidan threatened me and rushed out of the room, I couldn't
move. Sitting along in the middle of a strange bed, holding a pillow to cover
my body, my head pounded.

When the hotel room
door burst open and Karl and Rashand rushed into the room, I gasped.

"Wh-what’s going
on?"

Karl grabbed my arm,
pulling me from the bed. Rashand appeared with the dress I'd been wearing three
days ago.
What happened to those three days?
I wracked my brain for any
glimmer of memory.  Nothing.

"Get
dressed!" Rashand ordered. I slipped the dress on.

Karl put a coat around
my shoulders, a hat on my head, and sunglasses over my eyes. They ushered me
down stairs instead of using the elevator. When I turned toward the lobby, Karl
grabbed me and pulled me through another door and then another, until we
reached the familiar limo parked at back of the hotel. Rashand opened the door.
Karl shoved me in.

"Loreley." The
smirk my father wore immediately made me shiver.

"Dad, what the
hell is—?"

"You are in no
position to ask questions!" He snapped. "However…" He shrugged.
"I needed a warm healthy body and you’re it."

I grimaced as he
referred to my body.

"I don’t
understand" It came out barely above a whisper.

"You don’t need
to." He spat.

The limo jerked forward
and soon we were surrounded by city traffic.

The duration of the
ride I felt sick and weighed down. There were so many questions, so many things
he would not answer. I thought back to what Lilli had been yelling in the hotel
room. I couldn’t help but sob. She would blame and hate me, assume I had purposely
done this to her. Knowing my father had yet again stripped the only thing that
really mattered from my life, made me sob harder.

"Seriously,
Loreley, what
has
happened to you? You are pathetic. Stop sniveling at
once. It’s highly unattractive." My father scolded.

When I couldn't hold in
the sobs, he lifted his hand. I flinched back, but the hit never came. I peeked
from beneath the hair that had fallen into my face to see why he had stopped.
He never stopped before. All I saw was him breathing heavily and pinching the
bridge of his nose.

"Shut up before I'm
forced to shut you up. I don’t want to Loreley!" Cold hard eyes of hatred
focused in on me. "But I WILL DO IT if necessary!"

I swallowed the
threatening sob, and controlled myself for the remainder of the trip.

Now locked away in my
childhood bedroom at my father’s home, I was guarded at every door and window.
I wasn’t allowed to leave the premises, must be escorted at all times. He had
guards stationed and I could often see them wandering the yard under my window.
The only access to the outside world I held prisoner from was the television.

Soap operas were nothing
compared to my current situation. As I watched some reruns of a ridiculous
reality show, my door abruptly opened. It wasn’t time for dinner to arrive, so
I quickly stood and prepared myself for the worst.

"Here she
is." My father entered wearing a smile.

I wanted to slap the
smile off of his face, but knew Karl or Rashand would stop me before I could
get a few feet. All that would do is piss him off, which would result in some
form of punishment.

"Have you been
keeping her rested and relaxed?" An unfamiliar older man asked.

He wore a dark suit and
clutched a small black leather bag in his hand.  And there was just something
about him that gave me the creeps.

"Of course, she's
been in this room resting for almost five weeks now." My father smiled,
proudly.

Five weeks? But…how, I
thought it had only been four
.

"What’s going
on?" I took two steps back from them.

"Loreley, this is
your doctor. He needs to examine you."

"For what? I'm not
ill." Glaring at my father, I took another step back.

"Not yet." My
father smirked. "Now behave." He ordered. And his all too familiar
cold dark eyes hardened.

"I will do no such
thing! He’s not touching me!"

"Karl!
Rashand!" My father yelled, not further order required.

I tried to get to the
bathroom and lock myself in, but Karl was too fast, too big, and too strong.

"Let go!" I
screamed.

"Now, now dear.
Don’t get upset, it’s not healthy for you or my grandchild."

As Karl forced me to
sit on the bed, my wide eyes focused on my father.

"What grandchild?"

Father simply smirked,
the same dark cold look on his face that I'd seen growing up.

"I didn’t sleep
with Iverson! How could I..? What have you done to me?" Screaming, I
lunged toward my father.

Karl caught me, his
arms like steel bands around my upper arms.

"No you didn’t
technically have sex with him. Unfortunately, your little rebellion a few
months ago ruined all those plans, so other
arrangements
were
made." He waved it off and turned to the doctor. "Will you be able to
get the results to me today?"

The doctor nodded as he
laid out needles, small vials, a rubber strap, and other small medical items.

"Other
arrangements? What does that mean?" I growled out at him.

He sighed and ignored
me.

"What did you put
inside of me? How did you…? Oh god, you let someone…do this to me while I was
knocked out?" I started sobbing and if it wasn’t for Karl holding me I was
sure that I would be in a ball on the floor.

"Stop your
sniveling! It’s ridiculous." He spat. "Don’t worry Loreley, no one
took advantage of you. It was a simple medical procedure."

I looked up at him with
swollen, cloudy eyes.

"You got me
pregnant while I was knocked out." I said, sickly. "And you think
that isn’t taking advantage?"

He laughed loudly.

"Oh Loreley, you
were completely prepared to sleep with him before, now you're cringing at the
thought of being pregnant with his child. Well, hopefully you’re pregnant and
you don’t fail again." His tone changed to condescending. "You have
been such a disappointment lately." He snorted.

"Though, it was
entertaining to watch Hillary
extract
the necessary
component
from Aidan." He chuckled. "She, unlike my daughter, is very anxious
to please."

He smiled. Nausea crept
from the pit of my stomach, lodging at the base of my throat. I didn't know if
I could swallow the lump. My vision doubled.

The doctor motioned to
Karl. He gripped my arm, holding it out for him. I didn’t even bother fighting.
They took the vials of blood and left me sobbing on my bedroom floor.

When I woke on the cold
floor, my mind began reeling. I had to get out, to get away and hide. Knowing
if I gave birth under this roof, my father would take the baby and simply dispose
of me if I didn’t go along with his plan.
How am I going to get away?

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Six months of
imprisonment passed. I tried my best to be on ‘good behavior’, hoping it would
allot me some freedom. During those six months, I thought about what had led to
my being locked away.

After Lilli stood up to
her family, for me, for our friendship, I understood what it felt like to be
accepted for who I am. Of course, at first, I'd bad intentions and was
pretending, but soon I couldn’t help but be infatuated with Lilli. She is so
compassionate. And when I began helping her at the shelters, I felt a shift
inside of me. It wasn’t a welcome change for me, but I had no choice but to
succumb. I knew I couldn’t hurt Lilli. I cared for her. Even though we were
about the same age, she is the mother or female figure I'd never had in my
life. Her interaction with her children and other children only made those
feelings embed themselves into my soul, a soul I swore was lost many years ago.

Confronting my father,
telling him I would not go along with his plan and would not sleep with Aidan
and destroy their marriage, effective destroying Lilli, had not gone over well.
He was furious and told me to stop being absurd. When I told him that I was done
and turned to leave, he grabbed my arms and threw me to the floor.

"You are
disgusting, just like your weak pathetic mother! She couldn’t handle it. She
couldn’t handle anything. Hell she didn’t even care enough about you to follow
orders. Instead she goes and kills herself! Absolutely pathetic!" He
sneered.

"Mother killed
herself?" I choked on this new information. A whirlwind filled my head,
confusion and despair began to fill it.

He smirked at me.

"Of course she
did. I suppose she did me a favor." He shrugged and I felt sick. "It
got her out of the way and allowed me to raise your properly." Then he
looked at me in disgust "How disappointing that you turned out just like
her, even with her not around."

He sighed heavily.

"Get out of my
sight! You are no longer my daughter! I will not have a disrespectful,
uncooperative, and weak child!" He pushed a button on his desk that I was
all too familiar with. Karl entered and removed me from the room.

"You're a sick
bastard!" I screamed as Karl drug me out of the room.

"Goodbye Loreley."
My father said. Without any emotion he watched me dragged from the room.

That was the night I
had nowhere to go. Afraid to go to my apartment, fearing my father's wrath, I
ended up on Lilli’s doorstep, eyes swollen and red. She had tried to get me to
talk with her, but I couldn’t. If she knew what I'd been a part of, she
would’ve hated me and she was all I had. Instead of pressing it, she offered me
a place to stay. She completely amazed me with her compassion.

I was surprised at how
things went when I did return to my apartment. I was sure my father would cut
everything off and have me locked out, but he didn’t. So, I tried to quickly
find a new place to live, withdrew as much money as I could from the bank and
kept the cash around.