Taming Eric (66 page)

“Baby, how do you feel? God I feel so bad for what you’ve been through. I can’t believe Vivian would do this to you and poor A
lice.”

“How is she Eric? Please tell me she’s going to be ok.” Her eyes searched his, her gaze ple
ading.

He smiled reassuringly at her. “Fortunately she’s going to be ok. She does have a fractured skull, but there’s no swelling to her brain and the doctor said she’ll make a full recovery, but she’s going to need a long time to rest and heal baby. I’ve told her she’ll stay with us so we can keep an eye on her and I’ve arranged for a temporary house keeper to look after things until Alice is well a
gain.”

Once Natasha had been brought to hospital with the twins and had been taken in to theatre to have surgery on her broken leg and her shoulder put back in place, Eric had gone to see Alice while his wife was being se
en to.

Alice had looked so small and frail in her hospital bed with her head bandaged, but she’d woken while he was there and she had been able to tell him what had happened at the house, how she’d walked in to find Natasha lying down the stairs. She hadn’t heard Vivian come up behind her though and she’d felt the pain explode in her head but after that she had no memory of anything
else.

He told her she was to stay in the house with them until she recovered from her injuries and apart from a small argument Alice had given in and a
greed.

Once he had Alice’s care sorted he got on the phone to the agency that he’d used in the past to arrange for another housek
eeper.

In the middle of everything Kathryn called in a state of panic over what had happened and Eric had been forced to give her every sordid detail or what he could a
nyway.

Kathryn was distraught when she heard how much Natasha had suffered but proud of her daughter’s strength to have given birth under such horrendous circumstances. She wanted to see her and the twins but Eric told her she was in surgery and the twins were being taken care of in the nursery until they could be reunited with their m
other.

She told him she was about to leave for the hospital and she’d see them all soon and hu
ng up.

“Where are Erica and Nathaniel?” Natasha’s voice brought Eric back to the present. “Eric please, where are they ? Are they ok?” Her eyes moved around the room searching for
them.

He raised her hand to his lips. “Calm down baby, they’re fine. The midwives are taking care of them until you woke up. They need to feed from you to get their first milk, whatever the doctor said that’s called but you were in bad shape sweetheart so while you were receiving medical treatment, our son and daughter got checked over and I’m sure they will be able to be brought to your room to be with you
now.”

“So they’re ok?” Her eyes searched his. “I was so scared Eric, that something would happen to them. That was the most frightening thing I’ve ever experienced, being in labour and alone and god, the pain. I never got to have any drugs for it.” Suddenly her eyes widened. “Oh my god, Mum! Does she know what’s happened? She’s going to be so disappointed that she missed the b
irth.”

“Stop worrying baby. Erica and Nathaniel are fine, trust me and your Mother knows, she knows everything, well as much as I could tell her. Only you can tell the whole story and you’re going to have to tell the police what happened. They haven’t got Vivian yet. She really did fly out of the country but authorities are waiting to arrest her as soon as her plane lands. She’s going to do time for this baby, I promise you she will pay for what she did to you and Alice and what she tried to do to our ba
bies.”

“That’s such a relief Eric. I had no idea Vivian was so unstable. I hated that she kind of sucked me in. She told me she was sorry for what she’d said and done. She wanted to see the nursery and god, I took her up there. What was I thinking? I can’t believe she changed so much. If you could have seen her Eric. The anger and hatred on her face was horrible. How could she do that? I’m not sure if she was trying to kill me or kill our babies and then she hit Alice and left her to die and she laughed, she actually laughed. What sort of person does something like that? How the hell did you end up going out with someone like her for fuck sakes
Eric?”

Eric felt another wave of guilt at her words. This was all his fault. If he’d had nothing to do with Vivian in the first place then none of this would ever have hap
pened.

“I don’t know baby. I’m so sorry that I put you at risk. I never should have called off Roman. I let myself get sucked in too thinking she really was sorry but I think it was a case of me wanting to believe it was over with her. My judgement was bad and I’m sorry sweetheart. Can you forgive me?” His eyes were tortured with the pain he was feeling as he stared down at his
wife.

She reached up with her good arm to cup his cheek. “It’s not your fault Eric. It’s no one’s fault. How does anyone know what a person is capable of until something pushes them over the edge? She said she loved you and that you’re a hard act to follow. She didn’t want to give yo
u up.”

He gave a hollow sounding laugh. “She didn’t love me baby. Vivian only loves one person and that’s herself. She just doesn’t like to lose and because I told her it was over, she couldn’t handle losing. Plain and simple. What I never expected was the lengths she was prepared to go to. I don’t know what I would have done if I’d lost you or the twins.” His voice broke and tears filled his eyes as the horror of what had happened to her started playing over in his
mind.

He felt her touch again as the tears that threatened began to roll down his cheeks and she wiped at them gently with her thumb. “We’re all fine though Eric, so don’t think like that. You know Vivian said that. She wanted you to find out how it felt to lose someone important to you. That’s why she did what she did. She said you wouldn’t want me anymore after she’d hur
t me.”

“I’d always want you baby. I love you.” He stood and leaned down to gently touch his lips to hers. She winced and he pulled back angry with himself that he’d hurt her. “God I’m sorry sweetheart. You’re lips. I don’t know why but you’ve chewed up your lips pretty
bad.”

“It was during the labour. It hurt so much, everything hurt so badly. It was so bad
Eric.”

A shaft of pain speared its way through him at her words. He hated knowing she had suffered so much and he’d been unable to do anything to help her. “How do you feel now baby? Is the pain bad? The doctor fixed your dislocated arm and your leg has been set and plastered. You’re going to have a scar from where the bone came through but the doctor thinks you might be lucky and not have to worry about infection. Still, you’re on antibiotics just in case. Is the pain bad, do you need somet
hing?”

“The pain isn’t too bad if I don’t move too much. My shoulder hurts but nothing like it did when I dislocated it. That was my own fault. I was trying to stop myself falling all the way down the stairs and I grabbed the banister but it yanked my arm really hard stopping my fall and that’s when it happened. I got reefed around so hard I smashed my leg and that’s when I broke it. I can still hear the sound of the bone breaking Eric, it was a
wful.”

Eric tightened his grip on her hand, bringing it to his cheek and pressing her palm against his skin as if in some way he could absorb some of the pain she’d suffered. “My baby, I feel so terrible for what you’ve been through and with all that, you had to give birth. You almost had them all alone. You must have been so sc
ared.”

“I’m just glad it’s over Eric and that our babies are healthy. I was more scared about what my fall could have done to them, not so much what had happened to me. I was terrified about giving birth alone and what if I couldn’t push them out by myself and no one came to hel
p me?”

Her words made him shudder because he’d worried about the same thing. What if she hadn’t been able to deliver the twins? If something had gone wrong he could have lost them all. It scared the hell out of him just thinking abo
ut it.

“I’m just glad I got there in time although when the doctor said you couldn’t go to the hospital I nearly strangled the
man.”

She laughed at his words and Eric’s heart swelled at the sweet sound. “So I noticed. You just couldn’t seem to grasp what he was trying to tell you. Trust me if anyone had tried to move me when I could feel our baby’s head almost ready to come out of me, I would have strangled them. All I wanted to do was push. I didn’t feel the pain in my leg or shoulder, just those fucking contractions. You were too funny Eric. My big confident CEO and you completely fell apart. Mum said you would and she was r
ight.”

Eric gave an indignant snort. Fell apart? He didn’t fall apart at all. What the hell was she going on about? “I didn’t fall apart at all. I he
lped.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “You fell apart Eric. Do you remember how many times I had to ask you to have a look and see if you could see if the head was showing?” She poked him in the arm with a finger. “Face it Mr CEO, you… fell… a
part!”

The more she spoke the more indignant he was feeling. She accused him of falling apart but at least he hadn’t abused or insulted her. “Well Mrs Rothman, you were rude to me. I swear the language coming out of your mouth would have made a truckie blush.” He gave her a smug
grin.

“Well let me tell you this Mr CEO, you’d be swearing too if you were trying to push a watermelon out of your ass. Would you like to bend over and I’ll see if someone can bring me one and we’ll stick it on up there and I’ll sit back and watch you push it back out without swearing. What do you think about that idea Mr Rothman?” She smirked a
t him.

Eric couldn’t help himself, he burst out laughing at her words and the expression on her face. His wife was coming back to him. “You must be feeling better baby, you’re back to your usual sassy self I
see.”

“I’d feel better if I had my babies Eric. Where are they? I haven’t had a chance to see them properly yet. I want to hold my babies.” Sudden tears filled her
eyes.

Eric felt tears prick his eyes again at the sight of his beautiful, battered but incredibly strong wife weeping for her babies. “Hey baby, don’t cry. Let me go and see what the hold up is.” He stood up, reluctantly releasing her hand so he could step out of the room and find someone who could tell them where Erica and Nathaniel were, but before he could get out the door it opened up and two midwives walked in each carrying a
baby.

He wasn’t too happy when he was told to get out of the way so the midwives Brenda and Lisa could reunite Natasha with the twins and also help to get her positioned so she could feed them. They uncovered her breasts so Erica and Nathaniel could feed and Eric was surprised at how engorged looking they had b
ecome.

When Natasha tried to pull herself up into a more upright position he rushed forward to help her with an arm around her waist. Once Erica and Nathaniel were attached and feeding he came forward again to sit by the bed staring in wonder and awe at his son and dau
ghter.

Nathaniel had blondish hair and Erica’s was auburn like her Mother’s. She was slightly smaller than her brother weighing in at 5 pounds to Nathaniel’s 5.5 pounds but that didn’t stop her getting in and feeding just as strongly off her mother as her brothe
r was.

As he looked down on the vision of his beautiful wife feeding their babies he felt tears well in his eyes. His heart swelled with the overwhelming depth of his love for Natasha and now their children. He reached into his pocket and pulled out his mobile phone so he could take a couple of photos of them suckling from their m
other.

“You look beautiful baby. Watching you feeding our children is the most beautiful and amazing thing to see. They’re just perfect aren’t they?” He gazed at them still in awe that he and Natasha had made them. They were t
heirs.

“Isn’t it amazing Eric? As soon as they’re born the love for them is overwhelming. I’m just so relieved that they’re healthy, that Vivian didn’t hurt them when she pushed me down the stairs. I’d happily break both arms and legs if that meant it kept them
safe.”

Eric shuddered at the thought of her in pain. “I know baby. I never want to feel the way I did when I walked through our door and saw you lying there so broken and trying to give birth alone. You are so strong my sweetheart, stronger than me. You must have been in so much pain and so frightened but look what you did. You brought our son and daughter into the world, largely by yourself. No bed, no hospital, no pain killers and all that with a broken leg and dislocated arm. You are amazing.” His voice broke as tears threatened to fall again when he thought about all she’d endured and survived and now she lay there with their children nursing from her, smiling as if she hadn’t just recently suffered horribly. She really did amaz
e him.

“You are such a sap Eric.” She smiled at him and he smiled back although the tears were still rolling down his
face.

“Yeah baby? Well don’t you go telling anyone that now will you?” He said hu
skily.

“As if I would Eric. You might be a sap but you’re my sap and I’m not sharing that part of you with anyone.” She smiled at him again with her love for him shining in her eyes and he could do nothing more than grin back at her like the big emotional sap she said h
e was.

CHAPTER 28

Eric couldn’t stop grinning at Natasha. He was just so relieved that everyone was ok. His wife had suffered terribly but she was so incredibly strong and to see her now, lying there, smiling and feeding their babies left him in awe o
f her.

A knock at the door interrupted them and he got up to go and see who it was. Kathryn stood there armed with flowers in one hand and in the other, balloons that floated above her head, one announcing ‘It’s a boy’ and the other ‘It’s a
girl.’

He stepped back to let Kathryn enter the room and she breezed in, balloons tangling around her head. When she saw her daughter she rushed over. “Baby girl, just look at you. How could you do this to me darling? You went and had my Grand babies without me being t
here.”

Natasha groaned. “Well I didn’t exactly have a choice Mum.” Her tone was dry and Eric tried to hide his smile at the look she was giving her m
other.

He wanted to give them time to catch up, so he leaned against the wall of the room watching and half listening to the conversation but his mind was on Vivian and whether the police would get her when her plane landed in New York. He’d love to get his hands on her first and squeeze the life right out of her. He was so angry with her and angry with himself for bringing someone like her into his life who in turn had caused so many problems for Natasha and himself and had put her life and the lives of the twins at
risk.

For about an hour he listened as the two women talked and Kathryn got to know her grandchildren. Eric listened to his wife describe in detail what Vivian had done to her, the fall, breaking her leg and dislocating her arm, Alice being attacked and his brave girl’s crawl down the stairs, in labour, dragging her broken leg to get to her mobile and put it back together so she could call him. As he listened to her he felt his anger rising until it was like an all consuming rage that clouded his v
ision.

“That bitch will pay for what she did to you baby. I can’t use my phone in here. If you’re ok for now, I’ll go outside. I need to give Roman and the police a call. Will you be alr
ight?”

“She’s fine Eric, she has me with her. You go do what you have to do to get that evil woman. I’ll look after Natasha while you’re gone.” Kathryn tol
d him.

With one final glance between the pair of them, he left the room. Once he got outside the hospital he pulled out his phone and called Roman to get him back on the job of investigating Vivian’s activities just prior to her showing up at the house and anything else he could find of interest. After him he called the police and found out there were officers in place in New York ready to arrest her once her plane l
anded.

They still wanted to talk to Natasha but Eric had to explain she wasn’t quite up to speaking to anyone yet after what she’d been th
rough.

After he’d finished with his calls he decided to go for a walk to clear his head. He was still filled with a rage that made him want to hit something. He wasn’t just angry with what had happened to his wife though or what Vivian had done, coming into their home and attempting to either kill her or seriously harm her. He knew a lot of his rage was directed at himself because it was his poor choice of a girlfriend and then ignoring the warning signs as to what she was really like that had caused the suffering his wife had en
dured.

He felt so guilty, so completely responsible for what had happened. He’d told Natasha he’d keep her safe and he’d failed her and he’d failed the twins. It could have ended so tragically. He could have lost them all and all because he called off Roman too early. He made the mistake of thinking Vivian wasn’t as bad as his gut instinct had earlier told him and for what reason? He knew, he just had wanted it over, for their lives to return to normal so he had chosen to believe that Vivian had changed and was ashamed of her behaviour but he should have known b
etter.

He couldn’t believe he’d done something so stupid. He wasn’t sure he could forgive himself for what he’d done and he wouldn’t be surprised if Natasha couldn’t forgive him either once she had time to think about what she’d been through. As the whole afternoon played out in his mind again, his fear when she’d called him at work, the blood around Alice, that first vision of his wife lying on the stairs, the bone sticking out of her leg, the fear and pain in her eyes all became too much as the images filled his head like a horror movie. The tears that he’d fought so hard to restrain all afternoon started to fall. They came so fast that he was blinded in seconds and had to stop walking. He stumbled his way to a bench under a tree which was relatively private and he sat, head in his hands and sobbed for what had happened, for what could have happened, for the anger and frustration he felt towards himself but most of all for feeling like he’d failed the people who meant the most to him and who relied on him. He hadn’t had a real family in years. What he’d had with his biological parents wasn’t a family and the various men his mother had been with didn’t count as family either. Maggie, Tom and Alice had been the closest to family he had and when he finally had a family of his own, a wife he adored and who adored him and now their babies, he’d failed them. He hadn’t been able to protect them and his wife had proven she was a much stronger person than he ever would be, with what she’d done after Vivian’s attack. He just couldn’t stop thinking about what might have been, how badly it could have gone and what had he done to avoid it all? Nothing and for that he wasn’t sure if he could forgive hi
mself.

Once he got himself under control he headed back to the hospital, stopping off at the men’s room to make sure his face didn’t bare evidence of his earlier
tears.

Just as he stepped back into Natasha’s room he found them laughing and when they saw him, they laughed even harder. He felt a flash of irritation at their behaviour, especially when it was obvious it was being directed at him. “Ok what’s so damned funny?” He snapped and rather than answering him they burst into another fit of lau
ghter.

He folded his arms across his chest glaring at them both while he waited to see if either of them were going to answe
r him.

“Oh it’s alright baby.” Natasha said in a cooing voice like she was trying to calm him down. “I was just telling Mum how my big CEO husband was reduced to a dithering, nervous mess when I was in la
bour.”

He pulled himself upright, deeply affronted at her words and the blow to his masculine pride. “I can tell you now, I don’t dither Natasha and I wasn’t nervous at all.” He said indignantly and watched as she rolled her eyes a
t him.

“Oh of course you weren’t.” She joked. “I only had to ask you, how many times was it, to look and see if you could see one of our babies crow
ning.”

Eric glared at his wife and Mother in law. “Well I hope you two are having fun at my expense, but in my defence baby, I had kind of figured you’d deliver our son and daughter in a hospital and maybe drugs for the pain, not what I walked in on in our home. I think I handled myself very well under the circumstances.” He gr
owled.

“Ah ha.” She grinned at him and he walked over to her staring down at her for a moment at the humour that gleamed in her eyes. He bent his head closing his lips over hers and tracing her bottom lip with his tongue. He heard the tiny catch in her breathing and he pulled back from her his expression smug. She could tease him all she wanted but he still held the control when it came to sex, to her response to him and he had no shame in using that control to keep her in line, or teach her a lesson and teasing him in front of her Mother was a prime example of her needing to be taught a l
esson.

As they stared at one another defiantly Kathryn interrupted them by standing up. “I should get going baby girl and let you get some rest. One thing you’ll find being a new Mother Natasha is you need to rest while your babies rest otherwise you’re going to be exhau
sted.”

“I will Mum. Thank you for the flowers and for helping me with Nathaniel and Erica.” Eric watched as Kathryn bent down so Natasha could kiss her and she gently hugged her daughter back, mindful of her injuries. She came over to him and hugged him and with a final wave, she left them
alone.

Eric turned to his wife a look of regret on his face. “I’m going to head off too baby. I need to check on Alice and I need to meet up with Roman. I’ll be back later ok? I love you baby.” He dropped a kiss on her lips and stopped at the cribs to stare at his son and daughter as they slept before blowing a kiss to Natasha from the door and walking out of the
room.

*     *
     *

A week later and Eric was helping Natasha into their home. He carried the twins as his wife was still getting the hang of moving around on crutches since her leg was in plaster and he felt his stomach clench with pain when he saw her eyes stray to the staircase. All evidence that anything had happened there was gone of course but no amount of cleaning products would be enough to remove the mental images of what had taken place there a wee
k ago.

When she shivered he put his free arm around her shoulders. “It’s over baby. They got Vivian, she can’t hurt you now. She’s locked up until her court case and she’s also having a psychiatric assessment done. Hopefully her lawyer doesn’t try and get her off on an insanity plea because it was premeditated as far as I’m concerned. She made a conscious decision to come here to try and harm you and she attacked poor A
lice.”

“Poor Alice, Eric, I feel partially responsible for what happened to her. She was just trying to help me and now she’s recovering from a serious injury because of Vivian. I was so scared she was going to die.” She shuddered and he pulled her tighter against him trying to comfort her as well as he could from the horrible memories of what had hap
pened.

“Please baby, don’t blame yourself. Alice certainly doesn’t. You saw her in hospital. She was so upset over what happened with you and she’s relieved Vivian’s locked up now. The doctors think she’ll be able to come home in a few days so she’s going to be staying here with us until she’s well enough to take care of herself again. I have a new housekeeper for now. You’ll like Beverly. She’s staying in Alice’s cottage since we’ll have Alice in the house with us. Beverly is also a trained nurse and is excellent with children. I wanted someone who could help you baby when you need it so you can get a break from these
two.”

“How about we get these two upstairs Eric and get them settled and keep our fingers crossed that they sleep for a little while at l
east.”

Eric nodded. It sounded like the perfect suggestion. He couldn’t carry the twins around all day in their capsules anyway and he was looking forward to spending some time with his wife alone, in their home if they were lucky and Erica and Nathaniel slept for a while l
onger.

They rode up in the lift and Eric gently moved the twins from the capsules to their cradles. He was very careful as he didn’t want to wake them and he tucked them in snuggly under Natasha’s watchful eyes. Once they were tucked in and sound asleep, Eric picked up one of the monitors and they quietly left the
room.

As soon as they were out of the nursery and the door was closed behind them he pulled Natasha gently into his arms. Fuck but it felt so good to hold her again, to feel her body against his. Actually it was feeling too good as his cock was stirring in his jeans at being so close t
o her.

“You feel so good baby. This is the first real chance I’ve had to hold you. God, I’ve missed you in our bed. When I think how close I could have come to losing you. If something had gone wrong and you couldn’t deliver our babies or if you’d hit your head hard, anything. I hate that you were hurt as badly as you were sweetheart.” Tears pricked his eyes as he gazed down a
t her.

She reached up and cupped his cheek and he closed his eyes at her soft touch. “I’m ok Eric, our son and daughter are ok. You can relax now and stop worrying. I love you. You and the twins are the most important things in my
life.”

“I love you too baby and I never as long as I live, ever want to feel the way I felt when I walked in that door and saw you lying at the bottom of those stairs.” He shuddered and buried his nose in her hair, breathing in the scent that was Natasha’s usual mix of her perfume, shampoo and jus
t her.

He straightened so he could study her face, his eyes moving over every feature until finally his attention turned to her lips that were parted slightly as she watched him. He bent down, his mouth closing over hers, nibbling his way along her full bottom lip before parting her lips and thrusting his tongue i
nside.

She responded, kissing him back, her tongue tangling with his and Eric groaned, his cock hardening until it was pressing up, painfully against his fly. Fuck but he wanted her. It had been so long since they’d made love and the timing was all wrong, she was just out of hospital. He shouldn’t be wanting her like this and he pulled back, breathing heavily, trying to control his desire and feeling guilty for wanting her the way he did when she was on crutches with a broke
n leg.

“God I’m sorry baby. You’re only just out of hospital and I’m already mauling you. Fuck, waiting 6 weeks to have you again is going to kill me. I’m going to need a hell of a lot of cold showers.” He gave her a rueful grin when he thought about how long it would be before she stopped bleeding and he could make love to her
again.

“You don’t have to wait six weeks Eric. I can take care of you.” She said softly, reaching up to press her lips to his chin. “Just because I’m out of commission until the bleeding stops, doesn’t mean you have to suffer all that time. Let me take care of you.” She caressed his
cheek.