Talon's Heart (25 page)

 "You're really okay with this possibility?"

 "Babe are you nuts that's a part of you and me in there, kid's gonna be fucking awesome."

Months later…

"Talon would you please leave my stomach alone?" She tried pushing my head away.

 "No lil man's kicking."

"He's a she."

"No way girls can't play football."

"Why the hell not?"

"Just because." I kept feeling her little butterball.

"You're such a Neanderthal."

"Yeah whatever, look at him go."

 She's like seven months pregnant and huge but I've learned not to say that shit out loud. The first time her stomach popped out of nowhere overnight I'd made the mistake of blurting out 'baby you're humongous,' shit she'd cried all day. It had taken like ten hours and lots of fucking to reassure her that I found her gorgeous just the way she was.

 Now my favorite pastime is playing with her stomach. The team was keeping progress reports and had all sorts of bets going. If Skylar ever found out that there was a bet on her monthly stats there would be hell to pay.

 I'd won like three weeks running for the craving crunch, my baby ate some of the nastiest shit in creation, and at the oddest hours. I pretty much slept with one eye open and one foot on the floor because it was a sure bet she was going to be hungry in the middle of the night and for something we didn't have in the house.

 One week I'd had the guys on rotation for her midnight runs, we'd stacked up on the nasty ass sauerkraut she just had to have, disgusting shit. Only to be foiled by her need for pickle juice with sour cream. What the fuck! I was so grossed out but I didn't want her to brain me again like she did when I told her the sardines with onions and mustard was disgusting.

 Anyway I like spending time what lil man. I'd gotten rid of the quack who'd wanted to off my baby and got her set up with someone that had actually seen the inside of a medical school and learned more than just how to collect HMOs but also how to be human. I still intended to beat the shit outta the first prick but I had to wait until he was no longer on my girl's radar. If I fucked his shit up now and she heard about it she'd know it was me. I already had some of my boys doing recon, sick fuck wasn't gonna know what hit him.

 "Babe what's he doing in there? he's really moving around in there." She rolled her eyes and went back to reading her book. Good now I can spend as much time as I like inspecting the new changes in her body without her harassing me.

Even more months later…

"Talon he's the doctor he has to look there."

"Fuck naw babygirl nope, I'll deliver my kid myself before I let that happen. Where's the female I hired, how the hell can she be gone when you need her?"

"I can't deal with your brand of crazy right now okay, this baby wants out now...nonna, help."

"Talon, son..."

"Hell no nonna, you bring him back in here I'm knocking his ass out."

"Son he's a professional it's not like he's going to be asking her out to dinner and dancing after the birth."

What can't these people understand? I'm in a private birthing room waiting for my son to be born. The doctor I hand picked after the asshole she was going to before put himself on my shit list had some kind of fucking emergency so she wouldn't be attending the birth. What the fuck kinda doctor had emergencies? the fuck!

 In comes this swinging dick who looked like he was younger than me and shit, all smarmy ass smiles and putting his hands on my girl. I almost ended his ass then and there, like I'm not stressed the hell out as it is. Skylar's in pain and crying half the fucking time, lil man is being stubborn as fuck, probably gonna take after his great grandma, oh joy; and now this shit. I don't care that Skylar's looking at me like I'm an alien form of shit he's not getting back in this room.

 I opened the door to the outer room where my guys were awaiting the good news. "Hey Donner you got your tablet?"

"What you need bro?"

The geek took out his iPad and fired it up.

"I need a condensed version of how to deliver a baby."

 They all grew silent and looked at me strange. That fucking Doogie Howser Md motherfucker was standing by the wall talking to dad. I barely spared his ass a glance, and if he smirked at me one more time I'ma make him swallow his caps, fucker.

 "Dude, you can't."

"Just do what I asked bro time's a wasting junior ain't gonna wait all day."

"Talon get back in here I think you lost your mind...owwwwwweeee..."

"Fuck, shit, I'm coming babygirl. You, get your ass in here and help her, just remember I'm watching you you fuck; one wrong move and I'm dropping your ass."

Great, now the whole football team and my family were laughing at me, I give a fuck.

My son came into the world screaming and bawling like a maniac. My hands shook as I took him from the nurse who’d pronounced him perfect before passing him off. I walked over to the head of the cot so his mother could see him. She wasn’t wailing anymore thank fuck and she looked like heaven. She was all tired smiles and sweetness, nothing like the termagant who’d threatened me with bodily harm just a few short minutes ago.

“Look babydoll, look at our son, he’s perfect.” I had tears in my eyes as I laid him into her out stretched arms. Mother and child, mine. I started to bend over her for a kiss when she started convulsing. “What the fuck?”

The medical team sprang into action as I took the baby back from her not sure what to do. “Give him to me.” I passed him off to mom and went back to Skye who was pushing and panting again. “Looks like we have a hider.”

“What, what the fuck does that mean?” No one was paying me any attention and I couldn’t leave her to go see what was happening.

 “Push Mrs. Avery, one last push.”

Push, push what? There was a flurry of movement down at the other end as I came to realize there was another baby. Then it registered that there was no sound coming from this one. I looked over at the doctor and the nurses to see what was going on.

“Talon…” Her voice was scared and weak. I kissed her hair reassuringly while my heart crawled up to my throat.

“I’ll be right back baby.” I walked over to the table where they were doing something to a tiny form, trying to put something in its mouth. “What’s wrong?”

“Your daughter isn’t breathing something’s blocking her airwaves.” Daughter my daughter; she was blue from what little I could see and not moving. I wanted to push everyone out of the way and tend to her myself. Someone was swearing and making threats and I didn’t realize it was me until nonna dragged me away. “Let them take care of her Talon come on go to Skye.”

Skye, shit this would kill her. I went back to her and she was crying too hard to speak so I spoke for both of us. “She’s going to be okay baby just pray.” I held her as tight as I could without hurting her begging forgiveness for everything I’d ever done wrong in my life and promising that if my kid was spared I’d be the best damn dad the world had ever seen. I felt a moment’s guilt over my secret wish to have a son. That couldn’t have anything to do with it though could it? Had I somehow transferred that thought to her while I was talking to her brother all those months? I felt gutted and ashamed, my baby girl, my little Skye.

 It felt like hours before we heard the sound of her feeble cry. Junior had already been taken care of and was crying for food, now all my attention was on my baby girl.

I followed the nurses out of the room when they took her away. “Where are you taking her?”

“She needs to be incubated she’s too small. Don’t worry we’ll take good care of her.” My ass, I wasn’t letting my kid out of my sight.

 I didn’t have time to tell the guys what was going on someone else would take care of that. I was in a quandary, I needed Skye but I knew she’d want me to stay with our girl so that’s what I did. They tried getting rid of me but that was a lost cause. I left the room long enough for them to set her up in the little glass dome but I watched through the window. As soon as it was safe again I was back at her side.

She looked so tiny, like the size of my palm, but at least her color was a little better. Mom came in a little later to check on us and spot me so I could go see my wife. Skylar was wracked with worry but I reassured her that our girl was doing fine. They’d said she’d be out of the woods in a few days but they didn’t know, that kid is an Avery. She had Eloise Avery in her blood there’s no way she’s not a fighter.

For the next few days we sat with her talking to her, singing to her. Junior was a trooper the greedy little prick was just as bad on the outside as he was on the inside. There were no worries there and he had all the love and attention he could handle with the whole family at his beck and call. When I wasn’t with Amalie I was with him but they wouldn’t let us take him into the room with us and since I wanted to stay with my girl I saw him sporadically for the first few days of his life.

When they finally told us she was out of the woods and breathing well on her own I think that was the first time I took a breath since the whole thing started. Now I could relax and enjoy the fact that I was a dad. Now it felt real, I wasn’t sure how I would’ve handled it if I’d had to go home without one of my kids.

One year later…

“Amalie leave the dog alone.” This kid doesn’t listen for shit. She gave me one of her mother’s sneaky looks and came and plopped down on my lap. She batted her lashes at me before trying to stick her toes in her mouth. One year old and already she’s a con. I smelt her hair taking in that baby scent that clung to her, and my heart did what it always did when I held one of my children. Squeezing her little body close I smiled in fond memory of the past year.

After we’d brought them home Skye and I were like two kids playing house, neither of us were prepared for all that it entailed, not with twins anyway. We’d been semi prepared for one but two somehow seemed insurmountable. We were overrun with family from day one though, which was a big help. But when they had to get back to their own lives and it was just us alone with two babies and a dog that was almost as big as my wife but still acted like a kid himself I thought I would lose my shit.

We’d sat down together and made a list, I thought it was for shit but Skye swore if we did it this way at least we’d have some sort of direction and she’d been right. In the end we decided to hire someone to come in three days a week to help take care of the house. There was talk of a nanny but I decided that since I’d be graduating soon instead of working from home I’d be the resident nanny. No one thought it could be done but I was determined that I was going to be the one to watch over my kids. Well, me, and Sasha, the damn dog thinks my kids belong to him or some shit.

After Skye went back to classes when the children were a few months old it was just the four if us. At first I was afraid that he might hurt them but nothing could be farther from the truth. It seemed that all the love and devotion he’d held for the mother was now shared with the kids, especially Amalie. I think somehow he knew she’d been sick because from the minute we brought her home he’d clung to her.

Now she rules him like she does everything else. She’s all her mother, in actions anyway. Both children have my coloring, my hair and my face but they were blessed with their mother’s amazing eyes, a man couldn’t ask for anything more than that. Junior is a daddy’s boy he takes after me in temperament, though according to nonna he has more manners. Amalie, shit, the girl is her mother and nonna go figure.

She does everything she sees her mother do, which is funny as hell. Especially after I endure one of Skye’s lectures and walk into a room and see my little one year old angel doing the same to the poor mutt. Finger wagging and hand on hip she babbles away at him in her own special language. I never know what the mutt did to incur her wrath but he always whines and hangs his head in shame.

Serves his ass right though because he helps them hide up their shit. My kids can destroy a room in ten minutes flat and look innocent when caught. I don’t yell but I do find myself lecturing them on occasion. Somehow the dog seems to have caught on and decided it was his job to protect them. One day I caught him in the act and if I hadn’t seen him with my own two eyes I would never have believed it. Junior had decided to get one of his wet diapers from the trash and dismantle it for some fucked up reason. I saw him doing it when I was coming towards the room so I know it was him. Sasha saw me coming and took the diaper and started pawing it as if he was the one doing it. From then I knew I was going to have trouble.

He’s about the ugliest damn thing on four legs but fuck if he isn’t worth every penny of that one mil. When it’s naptime I like to lay the kids on the floor on their blankets; don’t ask me why but I think they’re safer there where I can see them instead of up in their cribs. If the doorbell rings while they’re asleep there on the floor Sasha stands over both of them at the ready to protect them from any danger. That’s a good fucking dog, now all I have to do is teach this one that he’s not a toy.

“Where’s your mother and brother angel?” I picked her up before she could babble me to death and went in search of the rest of my family. I found them in the playroom laid out on the floor. Looks like they were building something with Legos. Well Skye was building something anyway, Junior looked more interested in tearing it down.

“Can you please tell your daughter to leave the mutt alone?” Skye grinned up at me from her place on the floor. If anything she was even more beautiful now than two years ago when I’d first laid eyes on her. Motherhood suited her, and I couldn’t see that juggling school, the children and me had done anything to take the shine out of her eyes. I did everything I could to see that that never happened.

“What did she do now?” I let Amalie down to play with her brother and sat next to my wife stealing a quick kiss. “When she’s not lecturing him to death she’s riding him like a pony or trying to open his mouth. Why don’t we just get her a pony?” She rolled her eyes and turned to the kids who were whispering to each other. Shit they were probably planning a coup.