Chapter 22: Chapter 22: The Arrival

CADEN

After we get back from vacation, work is busy. So busy that the next few months fly by. Fernando is keeping track of our new clients coming in. Eva and I have been working hand in hand.

Well, I have been doing more since Eva is barely getting around anymore. Most times, she makes it downstairs to the couch and that’s about it.

Although, this morning, she is up to help with files and work which is great, but it only distracts me. I am so nervous—I feel that the kid is going to just drop out any second when she walks.

She swears it doesn’t work that way, but I think she is lying. She gets so annoyed because any time she isn’t right next to me, I have a guard following her around just in case.

I stand up, and I walk over to her side and help her stand up. Once we have completed that task, I help her as she slowly waddles to the shower to climb in.

I have started to help her shower because I am tired of her cussing for not being able to reach certain areas.

Besides, I get to shower with my very, very sexy pregnant wife. It’s as close as I get to anything at the moment, so I will take what I can get.

Once I get her and myself all lathered up, we quickly rinse off, and get out so we can get an early start to our day.

Frankie and Tank have started taking Nate to school so I can be with Eva, which has helped out a lot. If it was up to us in the mornings, that kid would be late every day.

It takes his mama quite some time to get ready in the morning, understandably. Aside from trying to find clothes that still fit, she needs shoes she can slip on without cussing up a storm—that alone takes thirty minutes.

Once we have completed that task, it’s time to head downstairs to our office to work.

When we enter the conference room downstairs, we see Fernando with his laptop, talking on his phone. As soon as he sees Eva, he runs over to hug her and rub her belly.

We all sit down, getting to work, and after about thirty minutes, Tank and Frankie walk in and sit down. I can tell they are pissed about something.

“What’s wrong?”

They look at each other, then at me, and then at Eva. She stops what she is doing and just stares. I can see they are nervous about talking about it in front of Eva.

Before I can say anything, Eva yells at them, making us all jump. “Just fucking say it already!”

“After Nate walked into the school, we heard some of the women chatting.”

“What did they say? I swear to God, I’ll kill that bitch.”

“Eva, I don’t think that’s a good idea. You are about to pop, and you don’t need to get stressed out,” Frankie says.

“Should have thought about that before walking in here,” Eva says, “but since the cat is out of the bag…”

Frankie turns to me. “They said the only reason she isn’t dropping him off anymore is because you left her.”

Eva jumps up and looks at me. I can see the rage going through her, and I know that no matter how much I protest, I will not win.

“I’m picking up our son, today, and you are coming with me,” she says.

I just nod because I have learned you do not ever argue with the pregnant lady. She storms out and heads toward the kitchen, so I jump up and follow.

I hear Rita ask if she’s okay, and when she doesn’t get a response, she looks at me and I just shake my head. She nods back and quickly runs around the kitchen.

“Here, Eva, here. We have chocolate, some candy, and here is a pint of ice cream! Your favorite—chocolate chip cookie dough!”

She waits for a response, and Eva grabs it all with a smile and walks away. We let out breaths that we didn’t realize we were holding and thought the crisis was averted—thankfully!

We hear the TV in the entertainment room turn on and sobs coming from the room. I know I’m up for damage control as I make my way out of the kitchen and walk down the hall to the room.

I cautiously make my way to the door. When I peek in, I see my girl bawling, holding her gorgeous belly. I slowly walk over and crouch in front of her. I know better than to say anything, so I just wait.

“Why would she say that? I have gotten so big. You wouldn’t leave me, would you?”

“Eva, baby, when I saw you that day walking with Nate, I knew you were my goddess! I wanted you and my son for the rest of my life. Now you are blessing me with a daughter.

“I love you and Nate more than life itself. And will love little Jocelyn the same. That woman is clearly jealous and loves to run her mouth. Don’t ever think for one second I would leave you!”

I see her start crying harder and think, shit, I said something wrong until she throws herself at me and just about knocks me over. We sit on the floor for who knows how long because, before I know it, she has fallen asleep.

I shift myself around so I’m leaning back against the couch so she can sleep. I’ve learned to never wake a sleeping pregnant lady.

I’ve had plenty of practice with all the wives and watching the mistakes my guys made. You bet your ass I made mental notes for just these exact moments.

We must have both been tired because, before I know it, she starts stirring in my lap. She looks up at me and smiles while I look back at her, smiling.

I bend down and kiss her forehead thinking how fucking lucky I am with such a goddess in my life.

“What time is it?” she asks.

“It’s about an hour before we go get Nate. Why don’t we grab you some food and head out to go get him.”

She smiles while trying to get up on her own. She’s unsuccessful so I got behind her and help her and she quickly heads to the kitchen. As I follow behind her, I see Rita hand her a plate of food as soon as she walks in.

Rita has been a lifesaver more than once with Eva. Always knowing what is needed when. Eva grabs the food and just looks at it.

“Eva, baby, are you going to eat?”

Eva looks at me with wide eyes, and I can tell something isn’t right. I can see it in her eyes.

“I don’t feel so good.”

She bolts over to the sink and starts throwing up. Thank goodness, she chose there instead of heading to the bathroom, because she barely makes the sink. Me and Rita just look at each other with questioning looks on our faces.

“I don’t think the ice cream and chocolate settled.”

“It’s okay, baby. We will take the food with us in case you get hungry.”

She nods her head while Rita wraps it up, and we head out with Tank and Frankie to go get Nate. We load into the car, and Eva snuggles into my chest while we head down the driveway.

The car ride is nice and quiet while Eva rests against me. As we pull into the school parking lot, I can see some of the moms already standing there chatting, including the chick who always loves to run her mouth.

When Tank puts it in park, I look down at Eva and she slowly smiles as we get out of the car. I walk with Tank while Eva follows behind me, talking to Frankie.

When we walk up and wait, I hear that chick say quietly to the other women, “See, I told you. He ditched her.”

On cue, out walks Eva and she looks pissed. The color from that lady’s face drains because she can clearly see why Eva hasn’t been around.

I grab Eva around her waist and hold her, as she is ready to rip that lady’s head off. I walk in front of Eva and tell her to stay. She huffs in response. I turn and walk over to the ladies and speak softly so only they can hear.

“Apparently, you didn’t learn the first time you kept running your mouth. Be glad we don’t allow my pregnant wife to carry her guns with her. Wouldn’t be wise to piss off a very pregnant lady who is packing.

“She obviously hasn’t been here for a reason, as you can see. Next time I hear you running your mouths, you will be explaining to your husbands why they no longer have jobs.

“They all work for the port, right? Well, guess who owns it. I do my fucking research also.”

They all get really quiet, and I walk away. They better listen and not fuck with the pregnant lady. She smirks at them, and the kids start to file out. Nate comes running and jumps at his mom for a hug.

I bend down and scoop him up, hugging him. I smile at Nate then I turn and kiss Eva’s head. I wrap my arm around her, and we slowly walk to the car.

Nate is talking about his day, and we are listening when all of a sudden, I see Eva start to stumble. I quickly set Nate down and grab her. The moment she is in my arms, she goes limp.

“Eva, baby, what’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong with Mommy?”

“I don’t know. Frankie, call for an ambulance, now!”

“Eva, baby, come on, love. You got to wake up! Tank, get Nate in the car! Frankie, where is the ambulance?”

“It’s on its way. It will be here in a few minutes. What happened, Caden?”

“Fuck, man I don’t know. She was walking and, like, passed out!”

Frankie is standing there, and I am sitting on the ground with Eva in my arms. I see a lady run over from the office with a stethoscope and bag.

“My name is Jan, and I’m the school nurse. What happened?”

“I don’t know. We were walking and she just passed out. She threw up food before we came and didn’t eat any lunch.”

“Okay, how far along is she?”

“Thirty-eight weeks tomorrow.”

“Okay, let me get some vitals really quick.”

She takes her stethoscope off and starts taking Eva’s pulse, then switches over to a blood pressure cuff. She is working quickly when we start to hear sirens in the background.

I keep talking to Eva to try and wake her up, and I can hear Nate crying inside the SUV where he’s sitting with Tank.

It’s tearing my heart out, hearing our son scream and cry for his mother, and that I’m not able to do anything at the moment.

The fire truck and ambulance arrive. Their sirens cut off, and I can hear car doors open and shut and people start running over.

Eva still hasn’t woken up, and I am starting to freak out. They get the rundown from the school nurse and everything seems to be utter chaos.

Things are being set down everywhere while they are cutting away her clothes to start hooking her up to machines. They bring over the gurney to get her loaded on. They pick her up and get her loaded and start doing more work.

I jump up and turn around to grab Nate. I throw open the car door and Nate jumps on me, trying to get to his mom. I just hold him while he clings to me, hysterically screaming for his mommy to wake up.

“Nate, son, listen to me! I am going with them and your mom. Uncle Frankie will ride with you in the back and get you home.

“I will call as soon as I find out what is going on. Also, as soon as it’s okay, I will have Frankie and Tank bring you to the hospital, okay?”

“Mr. Maxwell, we are leaving.”

“Nate, go with Frankie. I will call as soon as I can, okay? I love you, son!”

I quickly pass him off to Frankie and turn to run and jump into the back of the ambulance. I can hear Nate crying and screaming for me, but I know he will be fine.

I hear the door shut and a fireman hits the back, and we are off with sirens blaring. Just sitting there, holding Eva’s hand and praying they can figure out what’s going on.

I stare as the paramedic in the back works tirelessly, grabbing stuff off the wall and tossing it on the gurney.

When we pull up to a stop light, I hear, “Sharps out!” as he quickly gets the IV in and fluids hung. Then he yells, “Sharps done.” I hear the sirens blaring as we keep racing to the hospital, and she still isn’t responding.

We pull in, and they get out and rush her into the emergency room. They take her into a room and quickly hook monitors up for the baby, and I wait to hear the monitor come to life with the baby’s heartbeat.

I let out a sigh and started crying as I heard Jocelyn’s heart beating strong. The doctor comes over and kneels down to look at me.

“Hey, I’m Dr. Kent, and I will be treating your wife. We got the rundown of what happened and will be running a ton of bloodwork. We are watching the baby closely as your wife is in active labor.

“The baby seems to be handling everything beautifully, but we don’t want them to get too stressed out. Has she ever had anything like this before or does she have a family history of anything similar?”

“I don’t know. I can call her mom and dad.”

“That’s a good idea. We just need an idea if there’s anything we are missing.”

I nod as I take out my phone to call Gracie.

“Caden, oh my God, how is she?”

“She is still unconscious. Is there anything in the family history of this happening before?”

“When I was pregnant with Frankie and Eva, I would pass out. Whenever my stress got too high, my body would pass out. Do you think that’s why? I would wake up after about an hour.”

“It could be. I will call you later.”

As I get off the phone, the doctor walks back over.

“Anything?”

“Apparently, if her mom got too stressed out when she was pregnant, she would pass out, also, and would wake up after about an hour.”

“Okay, it’s been about forty-five minutes so far. We will keep proceeding as normal and running tests and will watch to see what happens within the next twenty or so minutes.”

I nod my head at him. The nurse yells to get our attention.

“Umm, I think her water just broke!”

We both look over and, sure enough, clear fluid is spilling all over the floor from the bed.

“Shit, get towels down to soak this up.”

He quickly runs over to the phone and punches numbers while he hits a button on the wall.

“Hey, Dr. Mana, this is Dr. Kent in the emergency room. I have a twenty-seven-year-old female here that’s unconscious at the moment, and who is thirty-eight weeks tomorrow, and her water just broke. Okay, we are on our way.”

I watch him punch some numbers then request a response to our room. Within seconds, I see a team of people come running in as the doctor starts shouting orders.

“Okay, I need two people to grab clean sheets, a gown, and a blanket.”

I jump in and help the rest of them strip her clothes and lift her quickly, changing the sheets so she is dry. We quickly strip her wet clothes off with the sheets, and toss them aside.

“We are rushing her over to labor and delivery! Now, go!”

He grabs the bag of fluids and hands it to me. “Here, hold this!”

I grab it as he loads the other monitors onto the gurney, and we are wheeling her down the hall to an elevator. We squish together, loading up into the elevator.

We wait patiently as we slowly go a few floors up. The moment the doors open, there is a team standing there waiting to take over. They grab the gurney and start walking quickly as a nurse points to the bag I’m holding.

I quickly hand it over, and they start walking while I follow behind. The emergency room doctor walks by me giving the new doctor all the info he has.

I can feel my heart beating fast, not knowing what is going on and what will be happening.

When we get to a room and settle in, I sit in the chair and just stare. I look at my watch, hoping she will be waking up within the next few minutes. I’m lost in my thoughts when I hear whimpering.

I look up and see Eva’s face grimacing from pain. I jumped up and hit the nurse’s button for them to come. The nurse comes running in. I can hear Eva whimpering while the nurse pages the doctor.

While she is checking vitals again on Eva and the baby, the doctor comes walking in.

“Okay, it looks like she is starting to wake up, as she is starting to feel the contractions. We are going to give her some pain meds just to take the edge off, so when she wakes up she isn’t hit full force with the contractions.”

I nod my head at her and she turns to the nurse and starts giving directions for the meds. I see the doctor get gloves on to check how far along Eva is. She turns to me and says she is about four, almost five.

Then I hear the most quiet but wonderful voice.

“Caden?”

I rush over to take her hand “Eva, baby, just relax, love. You passed out and are just now coming to. Don’t stress out, but we are in labor and delivery. The baby is fine, but you have gone into labor, okay?”

“Caden, I didn’t fall down, did I? Oh no, the baby! Oh my goodness, Caden!”

“No, baby, you didn’t fall. I caught you and sat with you on the ground. Everything is fine, okay? Just relax. I am not going anywhere.”

She nods at me and slowly relaxes. I pull open my phone to call Frankie.

“Caden, tell me you have some news! You’re on speakerphone.”

“Okay. Eva is fine. She is awake now and is resting. She has pain meds because she has gone into labor.

“She is around four to five centimeters dilated right now, so now it’s just a waiting game. Mom and baby are looking good, and soon, Jocelyn will be here!”

“Oh, thank goodness! We will be on our way shortly!”

“Okay, Gracie! Tank and Frankie, why don’t you bring Rita and Nate and wait in the waiting room.”

“You got it!”

I hang up then I look at Eva and can tell she is starting to get uncomfortable again. As if on cue, the doctor walks in and smiles.

“I think we are getting close. I will check her again in a minute.”

She walks over, getting gloves on and talking to the nurses, then she sits on the bed and reaches under the blanket. I see Eva squirm and grimace in pain from the pressure, then the doctor removes her hand.

“She is five to six now, so we are moving pretty quickly.”

I hold Eva’s hand as the contractions start to get more intense, and my hand feels like it’s going to break at any moment from her grip. She starts having to breathe through them.

The door flies open, and in run Gracie and Fernando. They missed the first pregnancy and birth and won’t miss this one for anything.

Gracie comes over, giving Eva kisses all over and rubbing her back. Now that the crew is here, let’s get this party started!

A couple hours have gone by when Eva starts yelling that she has to push. I push the nurse button to get things going. When the nurse walks in, Eva yells that she has to push so she grabs the phone and calls for the doctor.

More nurses start piling in. One starts getting the bed set up and Eva in position. One nurse is getting tools laid out when the doctor walks in. She quickly gowns up, puts on gloves, and pats Eva on the leg, saying it’s time.

The amount of love I had for Eva was beyond anything until I saw what a woman has to go through to bring life into this world.

After the final push, I watch them place Jocelyn on Eva’s chest and I never thought my heart could ever get bigger. I just met this little girl, but she is my world!

I let tears stream down my face when I lean over to Eva, kissing her head. How does my goddess bless me with a son and now a mini goddess? She looks a lot like her mom and already has me wrapped around her finger.

I watch as they slowly lift her up and take her over to the warmer to clean her off. I follow and so does Gracie.

“What is our granddaughter’s name?”

I think now is the perfect time. “Jocelyn. Jocelyn Gracie Maxwell.”

Gracie wraps her arms around me, crying, and then runs over to Fernando. I just look down at my daughter in awe. She slowly opens her eyes and looks at me as I put my finger out for her to grab. My little princess.

~FIFTEEN YEARS LATER~

JOCELYN

“Come on, Jocelyn. You got to get ready for school! You’re going to be late, and you know Uncle Frankie hates you being late! Especially it being the first day of your sophomore year!

“I’m up, Dad!”

I throw my covers off and run straight to my bathroom. I quickly shower and throw on some skinny jeans with a shirt and my flats. I throw my hair in a ponytail, grab my backpack, and run down the stairs.

I hit the bottom where I see my dad, my mom, my brother, Nate, and Uncle Frankie, all smirking.

I quickly hug my brother and kiss my dad and mom before grabbing my breakfast from my uncle and following him to the front door. When we walk out, I see Tank in the driver’s seat tapping on his watch.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!”

Frankie jumps in the passenger seat while I jump in the back seat of the SUV, and we are off to the high school. Last year was eye-opening with all the people that wouldn’t talk to me.

I have a couple friends, Mary and Kerri, who weren’t afraid, which made the year go by quickly. We kept in touch with each other over the summer, and it will be fun seeing them again!

While Tank is driving, I quickly eat my breakfast while he and Frankie talk back and forth.

We pull up and people stare as Frankie jumps out, opening my door. I’ve told him multiple times he doesn’t have to, but he likes scaring people.

I jump out and Mary and Kerri come running up and pull me into a big hug. After we pull back, we enter the school and head to our usual hangout area.

As I am laughing and walking arm in arm with my girls, we round a corner and I run into a brick wall of a body. As I am about to fall flat on my ass, two arms reach out, quickly grabbing me and pulling me up.

I look up, trying to figure out what I ran into, and I’m met with Ricardo. He seems to have gotten bigger over summer, if that was even possible. Seems like he is giving Jesse a run for his money.

“O-M-G, I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, beautiful. I’m glad I caught you!”

“Literally. You literally caught me!”

“I did, didn’t I? How was your summer, Jocelyn?”

“Great, and yours?”

“Okay. It would have been better if you were with me.”

As my face starts to flush, I realize he still has me in his arms.

“Jocelyn, wanna hang out after school? I can drive over to your house and hang out.”

“Um, sure, but aren’t you a senior this year? Why would you want to hang out with me?”

“Well, I wanted to do it last year but was too shy and there were other issues, obviously.”

“Oh, okay. Yeah, we can hang out, I guess.”

As he releases me from his arms, he smiles at me, winking. I look at my friends who are looking at me and smiling. They quickly grab me and drag me away.

NATE

I wait for Mandy to finish as I wonder just how much makeup she has on. She slowly opens the door and walks out of the bathroom, when she sees me standing there.

My heart breaks instantly for this girl. She looks like she was used as a fucking punching bag.

I slowly step forward and can see the damage up close. She even has fingerprint-shaped bruising on her neck. It looks like she was choked.

“Mandy, I will ask you a question, and I’m praying you will be honest with me. Do you have any other bruises elsewhere that I cannot see?”

“Yes, sir, I do.”

“Who did it?”

“Please, sir, I don’t want to say.”

She covers her face, sobbing, and my heart goes out to her. I remember my mom being so scared to say anything when we were with Scott. She knew if anyone found out what the consequences were.

I wrap my arm around Mandy and stand in front of her.

“Who the fuck did this, Mandy?”

“My boyfriend.”

***End of Book One***