Page 52 of Tiny Precious Secrets (The Brothers of Calloway Creek The Montanas #4)

Asher

Time has slowed to a halt while they work on my lifeless son. It feels like minutes have passed when I’m sure it’s only been seconds. When he finally cries out, his cries are met with cheers from the healthcare team. And it’s now when I start breathing too.

Allie bellows out a sob. “He’s alive? Is he okay?”

I sit on the stool next to the bed, my legs barely able to hold me up as the last minute of my life has been the most stressful of my entire forty-one years. “He’s crying. That’s a good sign.”

Allies rises on an elbow. “Hudson?”

He looks to the neonatologist for confirmation. “One minute Apgar is seven. That’s acceptable. But I’d like to take him to the NICU for monitoring. Standard procedure in situations like this.”

“What is the situation exactly?” Allie asks, her head likely still fuzzy from lost sleep and… everything.

“The cord was around his neck,” the neonatologist says.

“While he wasn’t without oxygen for a prolonged period, he did require stimulation and a bag mask to get him breathing.

He’s looking healthy, but to be safe, we’ll monitor him there for a while.

” He swaddles the baby and brings him to Allie.

“You can hold him for a minute. This little guy is six pounds on the dot. A healthy weight.”

Allie welcomes him into her arms. She studies him, crying happy tears.

“You look nothing like your sister. And you definitely have your dad’s nose.

” She glances at me. “He’s all you. And that makes me so, so happy.

” Alex makes a noise then his eyes open and he looks directly at Allie.

“Alex Christopher,” she says, her voice hitching on his name.

“You’ve got big shoes to fill.” She kisses him.

“And you also happen to have the world’s best guardian angel. ”

“We should go,” the neonatologist says. But before they leave, the nurse puts a second ID band on Allie’s wrist and then mine.

“Go with him,” Allie tells me. “He needs you. And Asher, find Bug. She needs reassurance.”

It hits me again what Bug said about it being her fault.

“You’ll be all right?” I look to Hudson for the answer.

“Placentas are coming out now. She should be back in her room shortly. I’ve got her.”

“Thanks, Hudson. For everything.”

“You’re welcome.”

I glance at Christina, who’s sleeping peacefully in the baby warmer, and I follow the other doctor as he pushes Alex’s warmer out the door. But then I see Bug at the end of the hallway, curled into a ball on a chair while being consoled by a nurse.

“Um, where’s the NICU? I need to do something real quick.”

The doctor points. “End of the hall to the right. Ring the bell and show your ID band.”

I put a hand on my son’s head to let him know I’ll be right behind him. Then I walk to the chairs and nod to the nurse, who gets up and walks away. I sit and put an arm around her. “He’s going to be okay.”

“He w-wasn’t crying. And they had the m-mask thing on his face.”

“He just needed a little help. He’s okay now. They just need to monitor him for a few hours.”

“It’s all my fault. He wasn’t breathing. If I hadn’t opened the door, she wouldn’t have fallen. It’s my fault. I did this.”

“Hold on there, sweetie. Slow down. Start from the beginning. What do you mean she fell? Allie? When?”

She looks up at me with red-rimmed eyes, makeup smeared beneath them. “She didn’t tell you?”

“Tell me what? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

She shakes her head. “It was a few months ago. Allie and I had kind of a fight. She wanted in my room but my door was locked. I didn’t know she was leaning against it and when I opened it, she fell.”

My jaw drops in abject horror. “Down the stairs?”

“Into the room. I just know something happened. That’s when the cord got wrapped around his neck, isn’t it?

She said the doctor told her everything was okay, but it wasn’t.

He wasn’t breathing, Dad. What if he went too long?

What if what I did makes him have CP like Christian?

That’s what he said caused it, that they think he may have been deprived of oxygen during birth.

What if it’s the same with Alex?” She rocks back and forth, hands clutching her knees to her chest. “What did I do?”

I catch a glimpse of Hudson coming out of the OR. “Dr. McQuaid?” I wave him over.

“She’s doing very well. No issues with the delivery of the placentas. Allie and your baby girl will be back in their room momentarily.”

“That’s great, but what can you tell me about a fall Allie took a few months ago? My daughter was just telling me about it. Allie came to see you?”

“It was nothing. She was just being cautious. I did an ultrasound and everything checked out.”

I rub and hand across my jaw. “She never told me.”

“She probably didn’t want you to worry.”

I stand up and whisper. “Could the fall have caused what happened in there… with my son?”

“No, no. Of course not. More than likely, when he shifted around after his sister was delivered, he got himself wrapped up in the cord. Listen, he’s going to be fine.

I’m no neonatologist, but I deliver a lot of babies, even high-risk ones, and believe me when I say what happened was frightening, but there should be no lasting damage or deficiencies because of it. ”

I ask once more, louder this time so Bug can hear. “So the fall she had did not cause this?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Thank you.”

“My pleasure. You have two great kids.” He eyes Bug. “Pardon me, three.”

I nod and sit. “See there, the fall had nothing to do with what happened.”

“You both are just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Yeah, doctors don’t really do that. If he thought the fall was significant, he’d have said it.” I thumb down the hallway. “Come on, let’s see if we can get you in to see your brother and you’ll see for yourself.”

“I can see him?”

“I don’t see why not. You’re his big sister, aren’t you?”

She wipes a tear. “He’s really going to be okay?”

I stand and hold out my hand. “He really is.”

~ ~ ~

Thirty minutes later, we’re heading back to Allie’s room.

I halt in the doorway, stunned to see her holding and nursing Christina.

She’s smiling down at her. And she’s crying.

Then she starts singing. It reminds me of the time I walked in on her in Antigua when she was singing to Mitchell.

Oh, how that moment means so much more now that I know her past. It’s the same song, and I wonder if she sang it to Christopher in the short time he lived.

“Hey,” I say quietly.

She looks up and smiles. “Hey, you guys, come in.” She glances at Bug then back at me. “Everything okay?”

“Yup. Alex is crying like a champ. They have no reason to believe he won’t be out of there by this afternoon.”

She sighs as if the weight of the world has just been taken off her shoulders. Then her eyes grow super weary and I’m reminded she has barely slept, pushed out two babies, had a bad scare with one, and now she’s probably crashing. I scoop Christina up and place her in the bassinet by the bed.

“Sleep now, while you can.”

“Mmmm.” Her eyes flutter.

“Allie?”

“Mmmm?”

“How come you never told me about the fall you took?”

“Didn’t want you to be mad.”

“Why would I be mad?”

“At Bug. I didn’t want you to be mad at Bug.”

She drifts off to sleep and I turn to see Bug wiping at her eyes. “You heard that?”

She nods.

“You could do far worse in the stepmom department, I hope you know that.”

She nods again. “I know, Dad. She’s… pretty great.”

I’m hoping Allie heard the compliment, but I doubt it. I’ll tell her about it later. I still can’t believe she didn’t tell me, and she kept it secret in the interest of her own relationship with Darla. Damn, that woman is going to make one hell of a mom.

Bug and I take turns holding Christina while Allie sleeps. After a few hours, there’s a light knock on the door and a nurse comes in rolling a bassinet.

I hop off the couch and race over. “Is this for good, or just a little while?”

“Dr. Bundy released him from the NICU. He’s doing great.”

“Oh, thank God.”

“Did you hear that?” Bug leans over and says to Christina, “Our brother is one tough little dude.”

Allie stirs and I roll Alex over to her. “Somebody really wants to see you.”

Her hand flies to her mouth. “He’s good?”

“He’s better than good.” I pick him up and place him into her arms.

“Beautiful family,” the nurse says, then leaves.

I wrap my arm around Bug, who’s still holding Christina. “I’d have to agree.”

Once Allie has traced every feature on Alex’s face, she asks, “Have they seen each other yet?”

“Not since they were vying for space inside you.”

“I think they should meet.” She motions for Christina. “I’d like to introduce them.”

I gather her up from Bug and put her into Allie’s free arm. “Guess we’ll have to get used to balancing two of them, huh?”

She situates them both like she’s already a pro. “Christina, meet Alex. Alex, this is Christina, but her big sister calls her Chrissy.” Unable to wipe her tears, they flow freely down her face. “And I’m your mom.” She turns to Bug. “Maybe one day, you’ll let me be yours.”

I can tell it’s hard for Bug to contain her emotions, no matter how much she’s trying. She smiles, trying to brush them off. “Maybe. But you realize you’d have to marry my dad before that could happen.”

I cock my head. “Are you saying you’d be okay with that?”

“I’m kind of surprised you haven’t already done it.”

“It’s her fault.” I point to Allie. “She wouldn’t let me marry her without your blessing.”

“Wait… seriously? So all this time, you were waiting on me to be okay with it?” She looks more than a little guilty. Walking over near Allie, she leans close to each baby then says, “They say go for it.”

I take the opening when I see it, and pull the engagement ring out of my pocket.

I’ve been carrying it around for nearly six months waiting for this opportunity, no way am I letting it slip by.

I drop to a knee beside her bed. “You’ve stolen my heart.

You’ve had my babies. We have the blessing.

” I hold out the ring. “ Now will you marry me?”

Since the day she told me about Christopher, I haven’t seen her cry this much. The difference is, these are happy tears. Tears of joy and hope. Tears I’ve shared in more than once on this monumental day.

She nods over and over. “Yes. Of course I will.” She holds up her left hand the best she can while still securing Alex. “It’s beautiful,” she says when I slide on the ring.

I lean down and kiss her. “It was my mother’s.”

“Oh.” Allie examines it with hesitation.

When it dawns on me what she must be thinking, I add, “Nobody has ever worn it but you. I mean, and my mother.”

“Stella didn’t…?”

“My mother was a huge believer in soulmates. When Dad gave me the ring after she died, I knew it could only go to one person. Stella wasn’t that person. I don’t even know how I knew. But now I know it was meant for you all along.”

“Quit being so cheesy,” Bug says behind me.

When I turn, however, she’s crying. Hopefully my daughter believes in soulmates too. Because I wish nothing more for my children than to find someone who completes them as well as Allie does me.

“Get over here,” I say to Bug.

She joins us, her on one side of Allie’s bed and me on the other.

I get out my phone, hold my arm out, and take our very first family photo.