Taming Eric (42 page)

“FUCK! Natasha, baby!” He lunged and caught her before she could hit the floor, swinging her into his arms. Shit she weighed nothing to him. He was almost afraid to hold her too tight in case he broke some
thing.

Gently he lowered her limp body to the lounge, hastily cleaned the vomit off his shoes and the couple of splatters on his jeans and ripped his mobile phone out of his pocket, dialling triple 0 to get an ambulance out for her. He considered driving her but he was terrified something might happen to her, she needed urgent medical treatment and he wouldn’t be able to drive her fast enough, unlike the ambulance which wasn’t governed by road
rules.

While he waited for it, he found Natasha’s bag and dug around looking for her mobile, hoping like hell she didn’t have a lock on it. He needed to call her Mother and let her know what had happened. He looked over at Natasha’s limp body where he’d placed her on the lounge. She was so still and pale, she scared the hell out of him. He couldn’t stand it if anything happened to her. She was everything t
o him.

Fortunately there was no lock on the mobile and he quickly scrolled through her contacts until he found Kathryn’s number and called her to tell her what had happened to her dau
ghter.

“Oh my god!” Kathryn’s voice was filled with shock when he explained the situation to her. “Why didn’t that silly girl tell me she was so sick? I told her I thought she’d lost weight and she only seemed to pick at her food when we were together. I’m leaving now for the hospital.” She said before hangi
ng up.

Eric didn’t even get a chance to tell her what hospital it would be since he didn’t know himself yet but maybe there was only one hospital she could be taken to. He had no idea, he didn’t live on the Central
Coast.

It felt like an eternity before he heard the sound of an approaching siren and before the paramedics could even get to the door, he ripped it open and ushered them inside. It was a flurry of activity after that as they took her vitals and decided she was going to need to be admitted to hospital immediately. “She’s very malnourished and dehydrated.” One paramedic tol
d him.

They placed her on a stretcher and wheeled her out to the ambulance. “I’m coming with her.” Eric told them and they shrugged, stepping back to let him climb into the back with Na
tasha.

They didn’t bother with the sirens on the drive to the hospital so Eric tried to reassure himself that, that was a good sign. If she’d been really bad they’d have had the siren going s
urely.

When they arrived at Gosford Hospital Natasha was taken straight in to be examined. Despite Eric not being next of kin he refused to leave the room when asked to do so. “You’re not fucking well pushing me out of here. She’s carrying my baby dammit. I’m not going so deal with it.” He snapped, glaring at anyone who looked remotely like they were going to argue the point wit
h him.

He got out of their way though and leaned against the wall to give them room to work on Natasha. She was hooked up to a heart monitor and the steady beep beep of her heart filled the room. He found his eyes fixed on the line as it blipped its way across the screen, willing it to keep going and barely noticed when they quickly got a drip into her vein and started running much needed fluids int
o her.

Eric was only just holding it together, fear for her health and even fear for the safety of their baby kept him frozen as he watched everyone doing whatever they could for her. It was only when someone came in and pulled down the sheet they’d covered her with, once they’d undressed her and proceeded to rub some kind of clear gel over her lower stomach, that he leaned forward a bit to see what they were
doing.

When the rapid beep of the tiny heartbeat inside her filled the room, almost overshadowing her own heartbeat, tears filled Eric’s eyes but when another tiny heartbeat joined in, he had to grab the wall and hold himself upright before he collapsed on the floor. He had to be hearing things surely? Two heartbeats? Maybe he’d confused Natasha’s heartbeat with the baby’s and he listened harder before accepting that yes there were two other heartbeats that could be heard in the room besides Nata
sha’s.

One of the doctors came over to him smiling. “You’re expecting twins.” She told him. “Congratulat
ions.”

Eric smiled weakly. “Thanks.” He mumbled. “Is she going to be ok? What happened to
her?”

“She’s going to be fine. She’s very weak, extremely dehydrated and suffering from malnutrition but you got her here in time. Unfortunately for her, the morning sickness has been extreme and it doesn’t look like she’s been able to keep anything down for quite a while. Babies are like little parasites though and will keep pulling off the mother regardless of her health. Sometimes it’s more common for women carrying twins to experience more severe morning sickness. She’s going to need full time care for a while. Do you to live toge
ther?”

“No, we don’t, but that’s going to change as soon as she’s able to leave the hospital.” Eric told her, as his eyes shifted over to Natasha. “Why isn’t she wakin
g up?”

“She’s so rundown and I suspect she’s been too ill to even sleep. She’s going to get better but we’re getting fluids into her as quickly as possible and medication to settle her nausea.” She put a hand on his arm, smiling up at him. “She’s going to be ok.” She told him softly. Obviously the fear he was feeling was showing on his face for the doctor to go to so much effort to reassur
e him.

“I’d been out of the fucking country for a week. I spoke to her on the phone every damned night. Why the fuck didn’t she tell me she was so sick?” He snapped, not really directing his anger at the doctor, just more frustrated that he hadn’t realised how ill she’d become. He felt like he’d failed her and he felt guilty that she was even in this position to begin with. It was his fault she was pregnant, his fault she was suffering so badly now. It was proof that everything he’d said to her was true. His babies were products of him, his blood and now they had gone about as fucking close as he ever wanted to go to killing her. Tears welled in his eyes. He just wanted her to wake up. He needed to see for himself that she w
as ok.

The doctor’s hand on his arm again brought his attention back to her and she was looking at him with an expression of concern. “Please, she’s ok. We’re going to move her to a private ward now. You can come with her if you
like.”

If he liked? Of course he liked and even if no one else had have liked that idea, fuck them, no one was telling him he couldn’t stay wit
h her.

*     *
     *

Half an hour later Natasha was in a private room, still hooked up to the heart monitor, the sound of it beeping being the only noise in the room. Why didn’t she wake up? He just wanted to see her eyes looking at him. He needed to see for himself that she was ok but she lay there, so still and pale, her body looking fragile and painfully
thin.

There was a knock at the door and Kathryn stuck her head inside. “There you are. They wouldn’t let me in the damned room when she was first admitted. Then I couldn’t find the ward. Someone gave me a bum steer I think.” She bustled into the room and rushed straight to Natasha. “Oh baby girl.” She cried. “What have you done to yourself?” She grinned at Eric. “So twins? Nothing wrong with you two when you come together then is t
here?”

He found himself blushing at her words, something that was foreign to him before his expression hardened and he turned on her. “How come you didn’t see how sick she was getting?” Eric tried to keep the accusing tone from his voice, but he was frustrated that Natasha’s health had gone downhill so rapidly and no one seemed to have no
ticed.

“Don’t you even think about trying to blame me for this Eric. I’ve seen Natasha a couple of times when you first went off to the UK on business and she seemed ok. She picked at her food, but she was eating, although when I think about it, she was wearing loose fitting clothing. Maybe she was trying to hide from all of us how bad it was getting. Foolish, foolish girl trying to get through something like that alone. She’s going to have to be monitored carefully when she gets out of
here.”

“She’s not going home Kathryn. I’m moving her into my home. I have full time help there. Even while I’m at work Alice will be there to keep an eye on her until I’m home. Alice is great. She’ll make sure Natasha eats properly, whether she likes it or not. I’m sorry if you don’t like that, but I have to do it for my peace of mind. I can’t lose her.” Those last words came out in a whisper as he turned his gaze back on the woman who meant everything t
o him.

He missed the smile Kathryn gave him before her eyes also looked over at her sleeping daughter. “I think it’s a brilliant idea Eric. You have my full approval. My baby girl can’t be alone. This pregnancy is going to suck the life out of her if she isn’t taken car
e of.”

Eric turned on her in surprise. “Really? You’re ok with my sugges
tion?”

“Of course. I can see you care for my daughter more than she realises I’m sure and I also know how stubborn and pig headed she can be. If she’s on her own and gets sick again, she’s not likely to ask for help. Too damned independent that one.” She straightened. “I need a cup of coffee. Do you want somet
hing?”

Eric shook his head. “No thanks.” He sat down by Natasha’s bed and took her hand in his. It felt cold to his touch and he cradled it in his, trying to get some of the warmth from his body into
hers.

Once Kathryn had left the room he lifted Natasha’s hand to his lips. “Natasha baby. Wake up, please baby.” He begged. His eyes shot to her face when she groaned suddenly. Her eyes were opening slowly blinking against the harsh lighting over her head. He could see the dazed, confused expression on her face as she blinked and peered around the room squinting as if her eyes were hurtin
g her.

Finally they settled on him and he got to see their gorgeous colour as she stared at him questioningly. “Eric?” Her voice sounded raspy and croaky but he was just so glad to see her awake he gave her a huge smile of r
elief.

“Yes baby, it’s me. How do you
feel?”

“My head hurts, my throat hurts. It’s too bright in here. Where am I? Water, I need water.” She croaked at him. Eric poured her a glass of water and held it to her lips, tipping it carefully so she could drink from it. She drank thirstily, finishing the whole
glass.

He brushed her hair back from her face. “Be
tter?”

She nodded. “Where
am I?”

“You’re in the hospital baby. You fainted when I came to see you. You’re lucky I showed up at your house when I did otherwise you could have ended up in serious trouble. You scared the hell out of me. I thought I was going to lose you and the babies.” He picked up her hand and raised it to his
lips.

“I feel like crap.” Eric watched as her eyes suddenly grew really wide. “What… did… you… just…
say?”

“You scared the hell out of me baby.” He started repeating what he’d said to her, but she cut hi
m off.

“Not that Eric. I must be still out of it a bit because I could have sworn you said babies as in more than one, plural. You didn’t say that, did
you?”

Reality of the situation had just crashed down on Natasha going by her shocked expression. “Yes baby. I said babies. We’re having twins. Who would have thought? That’s part of the reason you’ve been so sick. When you collapsed, I rang for an ambulance and once they got you here the first thing they did once they started getting fluids into you was check the baby but they got two heartbeats. God can you believe it? I was terrified about becoming a Father to one child but now there’s two of them.” He raked his hand through his hair as the enormity of their situation started to sink in. They were going to be parents to
twins.

“Are they ok?” Her worried eyes searche
d his.

“They’re doing better than you baby. All the vomiting had severely dehydrated you. You were dangerously ill sweetheart. Why the hell didn’t you say something? I could have helped you.” His fear for what could have been started to swamp him again. “See this is my fault. I get you pregnant and now my seed could have killed you. I’m bad news baby and now those babies carry my bad blood and you paid the price. You could have died.” His voice cracked, the emotions he’d been holding in so tightly were like a dam breaking and tears began to track their way down his
face.

He lowered his head embarrassed that she was seeing him cry but unable to stem the flow of tears anyway. He felt her hand come out and cover his and when he looked up at her, there were tears in her eyes too. “Eric please, this is not your fault. I couldn’t be happier to be carrying your babies. Ok, it’s a bit of a shock to hear there’s going to be two of them, but they will be perfect and beautiful babies because they carry your blood.” She pressed her lips against his
hand.

“Eric this is silly. A lot of women get sick when they’re pregnant and I’m not the first one to need time in hospital because of dehydration. The reason I’m here is because of my own stupidity. If I’d paid more attention to how bad the vomiting had become and gone to the doctor, I probably wouldn’t be here now but I was stubborn, convincing myself it would improve soon. It’s got nothing to do with the babies being yours. These babies are going to be beautiful because they carry your genes, please don’t let your past colour your future, pl
ease.”

He dropped his head down on her hand and his eyes closed when he felt her fingers in his hair, combing through the strands. They were both silent for a while. Eric struggled to get his emotions back under control and Natasha seemed to know he needed some sort of comforting and continued to run her fingers through his
hair.