Lost and Found (54 page)

"Well, I will corner her about it one day, whether she likes it or not. She made sure that I straightened my crap out, so
one day soon in the near future it'll be her turn. I'm not
enjoying watching her deny herself some happiness in her
life. Not to change the subject or anything, but you do
realize what time it is, don't you?"
He looked up at the clock and got a shocked look on his
face.

"Oh, God! I'm so sorry. I bet you're starving, aren't you?
I'll be right back with breakfast. Do you feel better? You sound better."

"Yes I do, but I didn't mean for you to rush out of bed like
that, Cash. Take your time. Thank you for calming me down. I love our talks, when we are able to get them in. Even when I'm crazy. Haha..."

"I love them, too Honey but just think... Any day now, we
will be cleaning up spit up and changing diapers and will be so exhausted we won't have enough energy to talk! I
can't wait either! I'll be back with breakfast in just a few
minutes. Try and rest, okay?"
God, I love that man. He is definitely my Prince Charming.

"Okay, Sweetheart. Take your time and make sure to have
the kids come see me when they finish."

"Will do, Baby."

********************

"Mrs. Kingston... Will you please go get some rest? I told
you there's nothing more that needs to be done before the
babies arrive. The nursery is ready, all of their clothes have
been washed and put up, and I've already packed their
bags."

"Carmen? When are you ever going to quit calling me
Mrs. Kingston? Call me Olivia! I'm not going to tell you
again, okay?"

"Yes ma'am. I'm sorry." Great! Now I've bitten her head off. I walk over to her and put my hand on her shoulder.

"Don't be sorry. I apologize for biting your head off, but
really Carmen, just because you work for us, doesn't mean
you have to call me that. Remember, I used to be an
employee too. Just because Cash and I are married now,
doesn't change anything. Please call me Olivia, we are
friends, okay?" There, I got a smile out of her then.

"Okay, Olivia! Haha. I will stop it, but I refuse to call
Mr. Kingston anything else. I don't care how much he offers to pay me."

I chuckle thinking back to Cash offering her $1000 more a
week, if she would call him Cash and she gave him that
stern look and told him flat out that it was never going to
happen, and to do a better job at cleaning up his mess on the
weekends. He just knew that I had told her, but I hadn't.
She's a smart tough cookie for sure.

"I guess you're right. I do need to go lie down and rest for a little bit. I'm surprised my mother hasn't come up here
chewing me out yet about being out of bed. I can't believe
these turkeys haven't tried to come out yet!"

I'm not due for another three weeks and every week that I
show up to my doctor’s appointment, she's just as shocked
as I am that I haven't gone into labor or delivered yet,
because trust me, I'm as big as a whale and I don't see how
they have much more room to grow. I've never felt so
blessed and miserable in all my life!

"Miss Eden has your mother entertained on the back porch
for a tea party and when those babies are ready to come out,
they'll let you know. How was your labor with your other
three?"

"My first one was the hardest. I didn't think he was ever going to come out, but 24 hours later, he finally found his
way out and the other two were 12 and then 6 hours.
Hmmm. That makes me wonder if I'm going to have these
two in 3 hours, since every delivery I've had got cut in half."

"That might be a possibility. You haven't been having any pains today, have you? I've noticed you've been massaging
your back a lot today."

By now Carmen has helped me into bed and covered me up,
but her question has me wondering if I was already in labor,
because my back has been killing me all afternoon. I had a
lot of back pain with Jeremiah and didn't realize I was in
labor with him, until it was almost too late.

"Oh, Carmen. I don't know why I couldn't remember what
that felt like! Um... What time is it?" She looks at her
watch.

"It's 4:15, Mr. Kingston should be here any minute. Should I call Lucas and tell him to hurry up?"
I get the hardest cramp in my stomach and then whoosh!
My water breaks and the pain started immediately. I pull
the covers off of me to make sure I was right and sure
enough, fluid is everywhere on the sheets and blankets.

"Are you alright? Was that a labor pain? Olivia? Did
your water just break?"

"Yes, it did, Carmen. I'm not sure if I'm even going to be able to make it to the hospital. I can't believe I didn't know I was in labor! I know the last time I was in labor was
almost 7 years ago, but how could I have been so stupid!"

I hear Cash running up the stairs with his every day Ricky
Ricardo voice yelling that he's home and there's no way I can hide this. He's going to flip out when he walks into
what's going on. I wince at the next contraction, which lets
me know that I'm too far into my labor to even think about
him driving me to the hospital. I look at Carmen for help.

"Okay, Olivia. I'm going to call an ambulance, okay?
Then I'm going to get some clean towels to put under you
after I strip the bed. Do you think you can sit over there in
the chair for a few minutes, until I get everything ready? I'll
have Lucas watch the kids and I'll get your mom up here.
You're going to have to calm him down, because I already
know he's going to flip out when he walks in here."

Thank God she's calm, because inside I'm freaking out. I'm
not necessarily worried about having the babies at home,
but Cash is about to walk into his nightmare and it’s up to
me to reassure him. Geez!
This is about backwards, which gets me to laughing, because
he should be reassuring me. Oh lord, here he comes.

"Honey, I'm home! Where is my beautiful sexy
wife?"
The look on his face when he walks in seeing me waddle
across the room in pain is priceless. He went from a full out
grin to panic and his face is as white as a ghost.

"Yes, Honey. I'm in labor, but there's no rush to drive me to
the hospital. Carmen has already called for an ambulance
and is getting the bed ready, because the babies are coming
now. Don't worry. Everything is going to be fine, so just
calm down."

"Oh no no no no no no NOOOOO... Um... LUCAS!
COME HELP ME GET OLIVIA TO THE CAR!
NOW!"

"Cash! Stop it! We need him to watch Gideon and Eden,
so that they don't freak out and get scared. It's okay. We have this under control!"

"SO THEY DON'T FREAK OUT? WHAT ABOUT
ME? ARE YOU SERIOUS HERE? WE NEED TO
GET YOU TO THE HOSPITAL... LIKE NOW!"

"Cash! Quit yelling!"
Oh... Another hard contraction. Carmen is done putting
new sheets and towels down and motions for me to go back
to the bed. I have to stop and lean against the dresser for another hard contraction and I'm already feeling like I need
to push.

"Carmen, I think I need to push."

"Do your breathing, Olivia. Breathe through it. We can't
have you pushing until we get you back into bed, okay?"

"HOW CAN YOU TWO BE SO CALM RIGHT NOW?
DON'T GET INTO THE BED! COME THIS WAY, LIV!
WE NEED TO GO! NOW!" Man,. he's losing it and
I'm the one having the babies!

"Cash, I don't have time for you to freak out right now.
Look at me. CASH! Look at me!" He looks at me with
fear in his eyes.

"Do you remember the dream you had? About Vanessa?"

"Yes. Why are you bringing that up now?"

"Because, Cash, you need to focus. What did she tell you
in that dream? That I would be okay, remember? The babies
will be okay, remember? Everything is fine. Yes, I'm in
labor and oh my God this is a big one,
oh
man! Ohhhhhhhhhh
okay... Oh man.... Cash? Please get over here and hold my hand or something. Oh god!
Carmen? I don't think I can do those stupid breathing,
whatever you call it anymore! I've got to push!
Now!"

"Okay, Olivia. The baby is crowning, so let’s have one big
push, okay? On your next contraction, just go for it. The
paramedics should be here any minute."

Cash is finally by my side, pushing my hair back and even
though he looks panicked, he's trying to soothe me with his
words. My mother walks in with a panicked look on her
face.

"Oh my God, Olivia! Sweetheart? Oh lord! I'm coming
baby..." She gets on the other side of me on the bed and
helps Carmen hold my legs back, waiting for the next contraction.

"Okay. Elizabeth? I've got some blankets here and when
the first baby comes out, I need you to have a blanket ready
and I'm going to hand you the baby, okay?" Thank God for
Carmen's take charge attitude.

"I'm ready, Carmen. I'm glad you know what you're doing,
because we'd be in a world of a mess if I were here by
myself."

"Thankfully my mother was a midwife, or I wouldn't have
any idea what to do."

"Are you two through chatting, because I feel a contraction
coming on,
like
right now!
Oooooooooh
my God!
" I lean back onto the
pillows and I hear crying almost immediately.

"It's a boy! And boy does he have a set of lungs on him!
He looks just like his daddy too! Has a head full of jet black hair and his facial features."

"Oh, Cash! Oh let me see him! Mom? Show him to me
please." She leans over and puts him on my chest and
Carmen is right, he does have a healthy set of lungs, but
he's so beautiful and looks so much like Cash.

"Oh, honey. He's so beautiful! He's absolutely perfect."
I look at Cash and he seems to be getting some of his color
back and he leans down and kisses me and then the baby,
and has tears in his eyes.

"Oh, Liv. He's perfect! Are you doing okay? Are you tired? You still have to do this one more time. Can I get you anything?"

"No I'm fine. I think she may be hiding right now after her
brother's big grand entrance."

We hear Lucas telling someone which room to go into,
which must mean the paramedics have arrived and sure
enough, three men walk into the room.

"I heard someone was having a baby and needed some
assistance. Well, it looks like we are too late.
Congratulations!" Carmen gets up to greet them.

"No, you guys are right on time. We still have one more to
deliver, a little girl; she doesn't seem to be in too big of a
hurry, though."

I start having a big contraction again and she must not have liked what Carmen had to say, because she seems to be in a
hurry now.

"I don't know about that Carmen! My contractions are
starting back up again."

"Okay. Looks like maybe we are needed after all. Okay
Mrs. Kingston, try to breathe through it and on the next one,
we're going to have you push, okay?"
I nod at them, because the pain is so bad with this one I
can't even speak. I look over at Cash and he's smiling and
nodding his head and breathing with me.

"That's right, Liv. You can do it. After what I just
witnessed with you having our son in our bed, I think you
can do anything! On the next one we get to meet our
beautiful daughter. Okay, are you ready? Push Olivia!
Push!"

"Ooooooooohhhh my
Godddddd!"

"We have a girl everybody! I see 10 fingers and toes and
what looks like blonde hair for this beautiful baby girl."
I hear her crying and nothing but oohs and awes coming
out of Carmen and my mother's mouth.