Caught up, p.32
Caught Up, page 32
“Love you, Chloe,” he whispered. I smiled and placed my hand over his.
“Love you, too,” I replied.
ILoveDPG
Chapter 22 ~ Aaron
“One week.....one weeeeeek,” sang Chloe as she stood in front of the sink, washing dishes. I stood in the door and shook my head. She did this singing thing when she was happy or excited. The festival in Willowvale was this weekend. She looked up when she saw me standing there and grinned. Her belly was huge, it entered the room before she did. But I wasn’t going to be stupid and tell her that. Her sister Cait was due around the same time, but she was much smaller.
“Hey, baby, how was your day?” she asked. She wiped her hands on a dish towel and gave me a hug. She smelled like cinnamon and cherries. A weird combination, but when I saw the cherry pies on the counter, I understood.
“It was good. Busy. A lot of bikers in town for the festival in Willowvale coming into the shop to look around, get their bikes tuned up. Axel is working like a crazy person. Oh and Seattle finished the booth. It looks great!” She smiled wide.
“Can we go see it?” she asked. I shook my head, which made her frown.
“Why not?” she asked.
“Because I have a surprise for you,” I replied. Her eyebrow cocked and she put her hands on her hips.
“Really?” she asked. I nodded and kissed the tip of her nose.
“Yes, really,” I replied, “Let me go take a quick shower and then we can go.”
She nodded and sat down on the couch, rubbing her belly. She looked like she was in pain and this was not the first time I had seen her wince in pain since the weekend camping trip. She kept telling me that she was fine, so I didn’t press her about it. But it concerned me. I walked into the bathroom, turned on the water and sent a quick text to my sister before I climbed in under the spray of water. The water felt good on my sore, aching muscles but I hurried because I really wanted to be with Chloe. I couldn’t wait for her to see what I had for her. I kept my left arm out of the spray of water, it was still bandaged. My son, Matt, had hooked me up with a very special tattoo this afternoon, but I wanted it to be one of Chloe’s surprises. I jumped out of the shower and wrapped a towel around my waist. I grabbed a pair of jeans, shrugged on a t-shirt and grabbed a clean pair of socks. Chloe looked up from her Kindle when I walked into the room. She smiled at me and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear.
“Ready, baby?” I asked her. She wiggled her feet to show me she had on some flat red shoes with bows on them. I laughed.
“I guess so,” I remarked. She nodded, turned off her Kindle and grabbed her purse.
“Why are you still carrying that thing?” I asked her, pointing to her massive black leather purse. She frowned.
“Don’t start. I have everything in here,” she replied. I shrugged and held open the door for her. We walked out to the car and I noticed she was walking a little bit slower than usual. I looked at my phone in my hand, waiting for the sister’s response. My stomach had those butterflies in it, but not the good kind. I was worried about Chloe and I wasn’t sure if going out tonight was a good idea. She buckled herself in beside me and I looked at her before starting the car.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” I asked her. She looked at me, and I noticed he eyes were tired looking and there were dark circles under them. She nodded slowly and gave me a small smile.
“Okay,” I breathed. I started my truck and drove down the road. I drove through town, past the shop and the Demons’ clubhouse. I smirked when I saw Sid outside his restaurant talking to a man standing next to a backhoe. Chloe noticed too and shook her head. I kept driving right out of town. Chloe hummed to herself as we drove, her fingers entwined with mine.
“This is nice,” she said softly. I nodded and brought her fingers up to my mouth to kiss them. She closed her eyes and sighed. My heartbeat sped up a bit at the little noise she made. We pull onto a dirt road and I pull over. She looks at me with a puzzled expression on her face and I smile. Reaching into the middle console of my truck, I pulled out a grey bandanna.
“What is that for?” she asked.
“Trust me, baby,” I tell her. She nodded, but she bit her bottom lip. I reached over and tied the bandanna around her face, covering her eyes. I waved my hand in front of her face.
“I can’t see a damn thing!” she muttered. I laughed and pulled back onto the road.
“Are you planning on killing me and burying me out here?” she asked. I chuckled.
“No. That wasn’t what was on my mind?” I replied. She huffed.
“This isn’t some weird, kinky sex shit is it?” she asked. I rubbed her thigh with my hand.
“Baby, I’m not going to kill you or do anything kinky with you in the woods. I promise,” I replied. She nodded and sighed. I pulled up to our destination and turned off the truck. I ran around to her side of the truck, letting her out.
“Take my hand,” I told her. She placed her small hand in mine and I helped her down out of the truck. Slowly, I led her to our surprise, stopping just before the entrance. Slowly, I took off the blindfold and she gasped.
“You like it?” I asked. She didn’t say anything. In front of her is a white and red striped circus tent, with white lights strewn all over the place. A tall, skinny man in old fashioned circus clothing stood at the entrance with a red leather book in his hand. She looked at me and then back at him, confused.
“Let’s go,” I tell her. She twined her arm in mine and we walked up to the opening of the tent.
“Mr. Drawn. Miss Van Zant. Welcome,” he said with a clipped, British accent. I nod to him and he smiles secretly. Chloe whimpered with excitement. We walk inside and I heard her soft exclamation. Everywhere are more white twinkle lights. Aerialists twirl above our heads while brightly colored ribbons hung down from the ceiling. Music played softly and she smiled when she recognized the artist. In the center ring was a small, round table surrounded by elegant black candelabras, the candles lit. I led her over to the table, pulled out her chair and then went to sit across from her.
“What is all this?” she asked. I smiled. Before I could answer, the man from the front came to the table with a bottle of sparkling cider. He filled both of our glasses and then smiled down at us,
“While you wait for dinner, enjoy the show,” he said to us. Chloe nodded and smiled, her cheeks red with excitement. She was so preoccupied with watching the illusionist perform his act, that she didn’t notice the small box I placed on her plate. She clapped loudly as the performer ended his routine.
“Oh, Aaron! How did you know I loved magic shows? I used to spend all my time going to different ones when I would visit Cait, in Vegas,” she breathed. She grinned happily and I was so fucking excited. The waiter guy came back out with a covered tray and frowned at Chloe.
“Is something wrong?” she asked him. He pointed a long finger at her plate. Noticing for the first time that her plate was not empty, she gasped. She touched the box with trembling hands and looked up at me, her blue eyes wide.
“Aaron?” she whispered. I smiled.
“Chloe, I love you. It doesn’t come any plainer than that. From the minute you marched into my apartment, if you could call it that, and checked out my new pierced junk, I was hooked. I just didn’t know it at the time. I have tried to stay away from you. I have tried not to hurt you. I have tried to forget about you. But I can’t do any of those things. I love you so much it hurts, but in a good way. I can’t promise you picket fences, but I can promise you a lifetime of love. I guess what I’m trying to ask is will you marry me?” I asked, holding my breath. She looked down at the box, back up at me and then down to the box again. Her eyes are filled with unshed tears and she bites her bottom lip. It feels like forever when she opens her pretty pink mouth and looks at me.
“Yes,” she whispered, her voice barely audible.
“Come again?” I asked as my heart thundered in my chest. She smiled shakily and nodded her head.
“Yes, Aaron, yes!” she yelled. She launched herself at me across the table and I laugh as she covered my face with kisses.
“Sweetie?” I ask. She looks down at me. She sits on my lap and cries happily as I slide the ring on her finger. It is a half carat diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds. Bleu said it was very vintage and that Chloe would love it. Chloe looked down at it and smiled then kissed me again.
“Honey?” I asked her. She looked up at me, her crystal blue eyes filled with unshed tears.
“Yes?”
“Did you spill water?” I asked. She frowned and looked down. Suddenly I hear her gasp.
“Aaron, I’m bleeding,” she cried. Looking down, I see that my pants have blood on them, not a lot, but enough to make me fill with dread. I picked her up and carried her out of the tent. I buckled her in the truck and sped out of the parking lot.
I sped like a demon to Willowvale General Hospital which is only ten miles away, but closer than the one in Jasper Falls. Believe me, it felt like a hundred. On the way, I called my sister and told her to meet us there. We tried to call Chloe’s doctor, but lost signal. Chloe wasn’t looking at me, she just squeezed my hand as tears coursed down her face.
“It will be okay,” I told her. She just nodded without looking at me. I pulled into the parking lot of the hospital and barked at the valet to grab us a wheelchair. A nurse came out and took Chloe from me.
“Sir, you’re going to have to wait out here,” I’m told. She gives me a stern look and I’m pointed to a family waiting room. Head in my hands, I couldn’t breathe. Looking up, I laughed as my sons plowed into the waiting room, all loud and anxious.
“Where is she? Is she alright?” asked Axel and Matt as they slid into the waiting room. They sat down across from me and before I could say anything, Bleu ran in, hair stuck to her face, out of breath. Dom was on her hip and looking thoroughly jostled by his mother. Running a hand over his spiky hair, she looked at me, waiting for something.
“Well?” she asked.
“Nothing yet. They won’t even let me in there. She was bleeding, Bleu,” I muttered. She handed Dom to Matt and we see her stomp to the nurses’ desk. I can hear my daughter yelling and a few minutes later she is escorted back to the waiting room by security.
“Good job, Calamity Jane,” remarked Axel. She flipped him off and smiled at her son.
“She’s in good hands, Dad. She is a touch chick. She’ll be fine,” says Matt. Axel nodded in agreement. I couldn’t sit down, so I paced. I went back and forth in the waiting room. Bleu looked at me and I could see she had her hair wrapped around her finger. She did it again and again. We all looked up as Almeida then Chloe’s parents entered the room. Randall hugged me hard and so did Belle.
“Any word?” asked Belle.
“No, but you’re her family. Maybe they’ll tell you something,” I replied. Belle nodded and walked out of the waiting room. Randall leaned against a wall and ran his hand through his hair, a shuddering sigh breaking the quiet in the room.
“What happened?” he asked.
“I took her to the country and had this whole thing planned out. I proposed,” I told him. He grinned, white teeth showing.
“You proposed!” exclaimed Axel and Bleu. I nodded. Matt grinned.
“She had been acting weird all week though. Really tired, in pain. She pretended like she was fine. But I could tell she was hurting,” I told them. Axel nodded.
“I noticed that too, Dad. I even canceled some of her appointments and made it like they were no shows,” he replied. I patted him on the shoulder and he shrugged.
“So she just started bleeding?” asked Randall. I nodded.
“She came over to kiss me after I proposed and when she sat on my lap, she bled on me,” I replied. “I texted my sister earlier in the night to ask her to check on Chloe later. Later never happened.” Almeida nodded.
“She is in good hands here, Aaron. They recently hired a new OB. He is supposed to be phenomenal,” said Almeida. I squeezed her hand in thanks as she sat down beside me.
“Where’s Tangler?” I asked.
“He is watching all the kids and Gran,” she replied with a smirk.
“You better check on him soon, Gran might rape him,” I replied, trying to make light of the situation. Almeida chuckled softly and nodded. We looked up again as Belle came into the room, her face pale.
“Aaron, you can go back,” she muttered. She put a hand on the wall and kind of zoned out. I vaguely saw Randall go to her as I ran down the hall. A nurse gave me a small smile and led me to Chloe’s room. I took a deep breath as I swung open the door. She was lying on a bed in a light pink hospital gown that was pulled up over her belly. There were two belts wrapped around her belly and attached to a machine beside her bed. She looked up at me and smiled. I could hear a fast whooshing sound with a sort of echo.
“Hey, baby,” I said as I rushed to the chair next to her bed. I kissed her softly and she smiled. I heard a weird sound and I looked to the machine next to her. It sounded like someone had made a record skip or something.
“That the baby?” I asked. She smiled.
“No, it’s not,” she replied cryptically. I looked at her and shook my head.
“Are you alright?” I asked.
“Perfectly fine. My blood sugar is a little high, so they are going to run some tests,” she replied.
“What about the bleeding?” I asked. She frowned.
“Well, that’s what happens when you’re as small as I am and you’re carrying twins,” she replied. I looked at her like she was speaking a foreign language. She laughed.
“Aaron? Did you hear what I just said?” she asked. I heard the words coming out of her mouth, but I was having a hard time understanding exactly what she was saying.
“Huh?” I replied. She giggled, making the machine jump.
“We are having twins, Aaron,” she replied. My heart stopped for a minute and then resumed beating so fast I thought it was going to explode out of my chest. I put my hand on her belly and my head on the bed beside her. She smoothed her hand over my head. She sighed and I listened to the baby, no babies, for a minute until I heard the door open. I lifted my head and turned.
“Miss Van Zant?” said a deep, gravelly voice. An incredibly tall man wearing a white lab coat, black dress pants, pale blue dress shirt, and red tie stood in the doorway with a chart in his hands. His blonde hair was long enough that it reached his collar. Those eyes, I would know those eyes anywhere. I had looked into those same eyes when his mother was alive. He looked over at Chloe and smiled, then it faltered when he looked at me.
“Beau?” I whispered. Chloe gasped softly behind me. My son, Beau, walked into the room and looked down at me. He bit his bottom lip, just like his mother used to.
“Dad?” he asked. The chart he was holding clattered to the floor. He stood there, frozen.
“Yeah, son, it’s me,” I replied. My eyes filled with tears and I knew I was going to fucking cry. He walked over to me as I stood up, putting his hand on my shoulder, touching me gingerly as if I was a hallucination or some shit.
“Dad,” he whispered again. I heard Chloe sobbing behind me. I didn’t care if I cried at that point. I grabbed my son and pulled him into my arms. He wrapped his arms around me so tight and felt his body shaking with sobs. I held my son, breathed him in. I felt my heart click into place and swell with love. My fucking son was right here, in my arms. He pulled back, tears on his face.
“You look just like your fucking mother,” I said. He laughed.
“Thank god,” he replied sarcastically. I poked his shoulder and he laughed.
“Where the fuck have you been?” I asked, my face wet with tears. He frowned and shook his head.
“Not where I needed to be,” he replied sadly. I hugged him to me again.
“Doesn’t mean shit, son. You’re here now. You’re fucking here now,” I murmured, kissing the top of his head. My boy. My son, Beau, I had him. I looked up at the ceiling and smiled. I knew Angel had something to do with this shit. I knew it in my soul. Everything was going to be okay.
Epilogue ~ Aaron
Shit wasn’t all sunshine and roses after seeing Beau in the hospital. After we hugged, cried and hugged some more, he told me about Chloe. She had gestational diabetes, Placenta Previa, and was carrying very big babies. Bed rest. My little woman was confined to the bed or the couch and could only get up to go pee. He said they would try and keep the babies in there until thirty six weeks, but would monitor Chloe closely.
Once we got that all squared away, we had a fucking family reunion in the waiting room. Axel cried like a baby when he saw Beau and so did everyone else. Matt and Beau eyed each other warily and then did this awkward hug thing. Beau had to get back to work, but promised to have dinner with us once Chloe was released from the hospital.
A few days later, Chloe was released and we were able to go home. She finally told me that she was planning on marrying me at the Willowvale festival. She had everything set up. Yeah, she had a kick ass booth planned, but she also was going to try and get me to marry her too. Not happening. My last wife surprised me. This time around I was getting married in a church, the right way. I explained how I felt about it to Chloe and she was relieved. Apparently, she felt the same way I did, but felt like she had to force the whole marriage issue because she was pregnant. Her father was happy about us getting married traditionally too, even though he had initially agreed to go along with Chloe’s scheme.
A few days after Chloe was released from the hospital, I found out from Almeida that Beau was only filling in for the on call doctor at Willowvale General. He was moving back to Jasper Falls and taking over the practice for Chloe’s old OB. We would be seeing a lot more of him. I could tell that there was something he wasn’t telling us, but he didn’t hate us like I thought he did. He would tell me what was wrong, when the time was right. I knew that for certain. Things were going good. I was as happy as a pig in shit. Now if I could just get my other two boys, Matt and Axel, squared away then I wouldn’t have to worry about them. Fuck that, I was their dad. I would always worry about them. Always.
