Stone Cold (9 page)

There were a few close calls before but
never anything like this. All he could think about was what his parents, in particular his father, must think of him.

“How am I
ever going to look him in the eyes again?” he worried.

Conall had ruined their tr
ust and he wasn’t sure they’d ever be able to forgive him.

He felt completely responsible for
getting Shawn and Bobby involved in his hair-brained scheme. He was told they were both being released the next day and were probably going to have to do community service as punishment for their first offense. Maybe he’d be lucky enough to get the same fate and not have to spend any more time behind bars.

Conall fought back tears as he
was placed in a cell. He wasn’t going to let anyone see his fear and tears were definitely out of the question. He lied down on the cot and placed one arm across his eyes to shield the bright lights overhead. All he wanted to do was sleep and wake up to find out this was all a nightmare. Everything all the way back to the day Liz was injured – all a nightmare!

Chapter
7

Darin Stone had driven
to the police station alone. He convinced Evelyn to stay behind to be with Eden and Kylie although none of them were handling this well.

He’
d been waiting in a corner office for what seemed like an eternity to finally be allowed to talk to Conall. There were so many things he wanted to ask him. His emotions were running out of control – one minute he was angry, the next sad, then disappointed and so on.

His son had been a mischievo
us teen over the past few years. He’d committed some minor pranks like egging cars and soaping windows, but he never believed Conall had it in him to steal or worse.

The blinds were raised so that Darin could see the main lobby of the police station.
There was quite a bit of commotion going on he thought for such a late hour. He marveled at how most people like him go about their business day after day without so much as a thought of what goes on in the criminal world. He’d had that luxury until a few short hours ago.

One couple in particular caught Darin’s eye. They were probably in their mid twenties and their newborn was sleeping so peacefully in his mother’s arms. The mother was called up to the main desk to speak with a police officer and she gently handed the baby to his father. The father kissed the baby on his forehead and began rocking him back and forth to the music that was playing in the background. This image stirred memories for Darin of the day Conall was born.

He wasn’t due for another two weeks. Evelyn woke up one morning and decided not to go to work that day because she wasn’t feeling well. Her back was hurting and she could barely stand without feeling short of breath.

Every detail had been planned out well ahead of time.
When Evelyn went into labor, her mother was to take care of two year old Eden for a few days. That would give Evelyn and Darin some breathing room to bring the baby home and get things situated before adding Eden back into the mix.

The baby
had other ideas.

Darin had been
apprehensive about going to work that day when he saw the level of discomfort Evelyn was in, but she insisted he go. She said she was fine and would call him if anything changed. He made her promise to call her mother right away and have her come get Eden so that she didn’t have to take care of her in her state. He had a feeling she was going to go into labor soon and didn’t want to take any chances of waiting too long to get to the hospital.

Evelyn
called her mother as promised but she wasn’t answering her phone. She left a message for her to come to get Eden as soon as possible.

After waiting for two hours for her mother to show up,
and having called her several times, Evelyn called Darin. By this time she was having a great deal of back pain so he decided to come home and take her to the hospital. They were both very concerned that her mother hadn’t called or shown up so they left a note and once they got to the hospital he would call other hospitals to see if they had anyone there who fit her description.

Darin had little time to
waste. Evelyn was clearly in labor and the contractions were no more than five minutes apart. He had no choice than to bring Eden with them to the hospital. If there was no one there to watch her he would have to make another choice to either let her stay and watch her mother give birth or miss the birth himself to stay with Eden. Either way, the baby was coming.

The hospital staff was waiting for them to arrive at the emergency entrance. Evelyn was in severe pain and Darin
silently wondered how this would affect Eden in years to come.

“
Will she ever want to have her own child after seeing the pain her mother is in? Will she hate her sibling for hurting her mother by being born? Will she hate him for bringing her to witness such a traumatic event?”

“Daddy, what’s wrong with mommy? Why is she screaming and crying?”
Eden asked as she tugged on Darin’s shirt sleeve.

“Mommy’s okay. She’s having a baby and it’s going to be your brother or sister.
”

He could barely stand to see her big brown eyes brimming with tears.

It was amazing how fast they prepped Evelyn. There were at least five people in the room at any given time. Finally a nurse came in and asked if she could take Eden to a play room in the hospital where she would stay with her until after the birth. Darin was relieved at the offer. After verifying the nurses’ identity, he gave Eden a big bear hug and kiss before shifting his full attention to his wife.

He could hear
Eden crying for her mommy as the nurse tried to soothe her on their way to the playroom. He had to shut that out for the moment because he knew Eden was fine and Evelyn needed him more.

On his way back to Evelyn’s room, Darin ran into her sister Dana.

Before he could speak she said, “I was just about to call you. As luck would have it, mom fell down some stairs when she was leaving her house on her way to pick up Eden this morning. She was unconscious from hitting her head and has a broken hip but she’s going to be fine. I have to get back to talk to the doctor. Is everything okay? Where’s Eden? Where’s Evelyn?”

“Oh, thank goodness you’re here! We were worried sick about your mom, not knowing where s
he was or what happened to her. Eden is with a nurse in the playroom and Evelyn is about to give birth so I have to go.”

“Okay, I’ll be back later and we can talk then. Good luck!”

Darin barely heard Dana’s last words as he turned and went into Evelyn’s room. Everything was happening so fast and he found himself overcome with anxiety. A sudden crushing pain brought him back to what was happening in the room.

Her feet were in the stirrups and she was squeezing Darin’s hand with what
felt like superhuman strength. He didn’t dare complain though, having felt the wrath of doing so during Eden’s birth.

“Okay Evelyn, it’s time for you to start pushing!
This baby is ready to be born!”

The doctor positioned himself on a stool at the end of the gurney, ready to guide the baby from the womb.

At this point, Evelyn was fully engaged in her labor so much so that Darin found himself feeling somewhat neglected, like he was in the way. She had her eyes closed every time she pushed and he felt completely helpless and alone.

Just as he was about to give her plenty of space to
push the baby out, Evelyn grabbed his arm.

“Darin, thank you so much for being here, I couldn’t do this without you! Hold my hand! Ouch! Oh ouch! Oh geez it hurts!”
Through the pain, she turned to look at him with a smile from ear to ear.

He remembered thinking, “How i
s it possible that in that moment I can love her any more than I already do?”

Her hair was almost completely wet from sweat which was also running down her face.
She had no makeup on and her skin was flushed in a rash like pattern, but to Darin, she never looked sexier. He was already thinking about how much fun it was going to be to start working on conceiving the next child.

“The baby’s head is out Evelyn. One more push and that should do it!”

Evelyn squeezed Darin’s hand once again and seconds later he heard the sweet sound of his son’s cry for the first time.

Tears had
formed in both of their eyes and they were able to share an intimate moment alone while the medical staff attended to the baby and Evelyn’s aftercare.

The pain stopped immediately
for her but for Darin it was a different story. Evelyn had broken two bones in his left hand during the labor and he would need a cast applied before he left the hospital. Superhuman strength indeed!

After the baby was given a thorough inspection and found to be in perfect health, he was swaddled in a blanket and placed on Evelyn’s chest.
She was clearly exhausted but happy.

Darin couldn’t stop staring at his son’s face.
He was finally able to hold him after waiting nearly nine months and wanted to experience this impossible feeling of love for his child forever. He was in awe of his wife and how incredibly strong he thought she was for being able to endure such immeasurable pain, all in the name of love.

Evelyn had fallen asleep
so Darin decided it was a good time to retrieve Eden and introduce her to her new brother. He placed the baby in the warming bed and left the room to find her.

“Daddy! I found you!”
Eden was much happier than when she was taken to the playroom.

“Hello pretty lady.
I missed you.”

“I missed you too.
Where’s mommy?”

Darin picked her up and thanked the nurse for taking care of her. He walked back to Evelyn’s room listening to everything
Eden had done while her brother was being born.

“Where’s mommy?”

“Mommy’s sleeping but let’s take a look at your new baby brother.” Darin held her up so she could see the baby who was sound asleep in the warming bed beside Evelyn.

Eden
stared at the baby for the longest time. She was smiling and reached her hand out and touched his cheek. The baby made a gurgling sound and she looked at Darin and giggled for a second before returning her gaze to her baby brother.

“He’s my baby,” she whispered, her eyes still
fixed on the new arrival.

“He’s your brother,” explained Darin.

“He’s MY baby!” Eden declared with a much louder voice while sternly pointing a finger at her father.

For the moment, Darin had given
up the fight and let Eden have the last word. It was clear she hadn’t been affected by the events leading up to her brother’s birth and had surprisingly staked a claim of ownership over him. He guessed her possessiveness would subside once the novelty of having another child around to have to share things with wore off.

Evelyn woke up when she heard
Eden’s little outburst.

Groggily she asked,
“What do you think of your new baby brother?”

“I l
ike him. I want to play with him. He’s mine,” Eden whispered again as she touched one of his hands that had come free from the blanket.

Her next question surprised them both.

“Who is he? I’m Eden, who is he?” she wanted to know.

Darin paused for a moment. He and Evelyn had discussed names and had
come to a standoff for boys names. She suggested Darin Jr. but he wanted to give him a name that was all his own. A name that would fit the man Darin hoped his son would become - something strong and powerful.

He had a name
in mind that had belonged to a childhood friend he’d grown up with in Ireland.

E
arly in the pregnancy, Darin remembered Evelyn had asked him to choose this baby’s name because she’d chosen Eden’s.

With that mem
ory, he turned to Evelyn and said, “You asked me to name this baby, do you remember?”

“Yes of course I do, and I meant it and still do,”
she said as she smiled and touched his hand.

“Alright then.”

With his eyes locked with his wife’s, Darin responded to Eden’s question.

“His name is Conall
, Conall Reese Stone.”

“Conall.”
Eden repeated the name softly. “Conall.”

*****