Daddies' Girls

By Dottie

Copyright 2012

Chapter 18

Jade

            It's officially the worst summer ever.  Calleigh and Reese have been in Florida for almost three weeks.  Nick's gone almost every day with the boys. Even when he's not with our sons, they are in daycare and he's out with Howie and AJ writing songs.  I spend most of my time at home, alone watching soap operas.

            This particular Wednesday morning seems worse than normal. My back is killing me. Jasmine keeps pressing on my spine and kidneys and I just ache. Five more weeks. Five more weeks and my baby girl will be here and this part of it will be over.

            I keep telling myself that as I make my way down to the basement.  Now that it's almost time for Jazz to be born, I want to get the baby stuff out of the storage room and start cleaning it up.  I can't move the furniture. That will have to wait for Daddy. 

I push aside the stroller and watch as one of the wheels fall off. I rub my stomach and say, "Well, Miss Jazz, looks like you'll have new stroller."  I pull out two boxes of clothes, hearing a thud as something falls behind the changing table.

I groan and mutter "Dammit!" I push the table and it scoots about 5 inches. I lean to my left and look down. What I see makes me feel faint. I see Lilly wearing a lacy, white nightie and underneath her picture it says, "Lilly of the Night". 

I lean heavily on the changing table. Why is her movie here? How did it get here? I shake my head.  No, it can't be. Nick wouldn't...he...

I turn, blindly making my way upstairs. Who else could have put it there? Cameron and Michael? Calleigh?  I sit down half way up the basement stairs and close my eyes. It's like every nightmare I've ever had coming true. 

I don't know how long I sit here. I hear my phone ringing upstairs, but I don't move. I can't talk to anyone now.  There's no way. How could Nick do this? We had a long talk before we ever got married. Not only about Lilly but about how we wanted to live our lives for Calleigh's sake. No porn in our house, no rough playing in our house, no bondage, no master, no submissive. At home we are equals. If we want to play, we take it to a hotel. This was HIS idea. HIS promise!  And now he breaks it?

I don't know how long I've sat here.  I hear the front door open and Aspen yelling at me. "JADE, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU?"

            I open my mouth but all I manage to do is whisper, "Red?"

            I hear the basement door open and her footsteps behind me. "Twig, what the hell? Are you ok? Did you fall?"

            Did I fall? I snort, hysterical laughter bubbling up inside me. "Did I fall? Oh God, Red, I knew it was too good to be true!"

            She kneels in front of me, her barely visible baby bump causing my arms to ache to hold my babies. All of them. "What's wrong, Jade? What happened?"

            I sniffle...tears starting to fall. "I found...behind the changing table...Aspen, he PROMISED!"

            As I'm sobbing, she runs down the steps and into the storage room. When she comes back, she's pale as a ghost, carrying the DVD. "Jade...there has to be an explanation."

            I just shake my head.  I feel an uneasy warmth spread across my nether regions. I think I've been sitting too long and my ass is asleep. I stand and turn to walk up the stairs. When I look down...well, let's just say fear is a lame description of what I feel. The step I was on is covered in blood. I grab my stomach and whisper, "Jasmine, NO!"

            Aspen sees the blood and grabs me from behind.  "Jade? OH FUCK, Jade. Sit back down. I'll call an ambulance. Sit.  SIT!"

            I do as she asks, my heart shattering in my chest. I feel Jasmine kicking. I rub my stomach and whisper, "Baby Girl, hold on. Please, please hold on!"

            By the time the ambulance gets there, I've begged and pleaded with God to spare my baby and take me instead. I can tell Aspen is as scared as me, but she stays strong and tries to keep me calm. Once they have me on the gurney, she says, "Jade, I have to call Nick."

            Nick! I had forgotten about everything...but she's right...he has to know.  I nod and whisper, "Red, what can I do?"

            She crawls up into the ambulance behind me and says, "Trust him. Trust your marriage. Twig, he may not even know it was there.  Maybe it's an old copy he forgot he had. Honest to God, you know Nick would never hurt you like this." Deep in my heart, I believe that too. But that movie hasn't been there the whole time. I know that for a fact. She says, "Twig, you have to think about Jazz now. You need Nick. Forget about all this until...just forget it, ok? You need Nick now. And he's gonna need you."

            I nod, tears falling down my face. "Red, she has to be ok. I can't lose her." I sob and whisper, "I want Nick."

            She nods, crying with me. She presses a button on her phone. I listen as she says, "AJ, it's me. Listen, I need you to bring Nick to the hospital. Now. Jade is...she's bleeding AJ. A lot." I close my eyes. She lowers her voice, but I still hear her say, "I don't know AJ. We're in the ambulance now. Just get him to the hospital."

            I'm rushed straight up to the maternity ward. A doctor rushes in, asking me all kinds of questions about if I had been spotting any before, if I'm having contractions, is Jasmine still moving...he scares the shit out of me, but once the monitor is on and I see her heart is still beating, my heart rate soars.

            The doctor does a quick examination and says, "Mrs. Carter, you are not dilating any, but the level of bleeding we're seeing indicates there could be serious problems. I feel like an emergency c-section is our best option."

            I put my hand on my stomach. Before I can answer, the door opens and Nick comes flying in. I forget all about the video as I reach for him. He grabs me close and whispers, "What's wrong? What happened?"

            I sniffle. "They want to take her Nick. I don't know why I'm bleeding but she's...Nick, I can't lose my baby!"

            He kisses me gently. "We won't lose her, Jade." He turns to the doctor.  "What is it?"

            The doctor is going over my chart. "We don't have time to do an extensive exam, but considering age and this is the fourth pregnancy, placenta previa would be my guess.  We can't get the bleeding under control. The fetus is far enough along we can deliver with minimal chance of complications, but we need to move quickly." He turns his gaze to me. "Mrs. Carter, you are in as much danger as your baby. We need to move fast."

            I nod, closing my eyes and squeezing Nick's hand. He whispers, "Do it! NOW!" I feel him lean over me and I open my eyes. With tears in his, he whispers, "I love you Jade. Don't leave me."

            Tears flow heavily from my eyes. "I love you too Nicky. If something...Nick promise me she'll be ok. She has to be ok! She's the most important thing!"

            He puts his forehead to mine. "You will BOTH be ok. I'll make sure of it. Fight for me Jade. Fight because our babies need you. I need you Jade, so dammit, FIGHT!"

            I close my eyes.  I will fight. Fight for my babies. Fight for my Nick.