I dedicate this chapter to anupamarc thank you for your help and support :)
2 WEEKS BEFORE
October 23, 2013
Victoria Thorne rolled over and groaned, not wanting to open her eyes, or wanting to acknowledge the brilliant stream of sunshine radiating from the bedroom window.
She silently cursed herself for not having thought to draw the block out curtains all the way the night before.
"Shhhh baby," she whispered and rolled over again to escape both the gargling coming from the next room and the pesky stream of cheerful morning sunshine - both equally determined to chase her from her bed.
She was still tired, and a little hung over from the night before. It had all seemed like a much better idea at the time.
Slowly, almost hesitantly Victoria opened her eyes and blinked once or twice trying to focus. When they finally did she found Danny inches away from her lying in bed, propped up on one elbow smiling as he watched her sleep.
Lovingly Danny brushed a stray lock of hair from Victoria's face, "good morning beautiful, how was your girls night out?"
"Just what I needed," said Victoria as she drew Danny closer to her from under their doona cover and kissed his dark shiny hair.
His hands caressed her upper thigh all the way up to her buttocks through her silky black spaghetti strap night dress, "Ooh does that mean I might get lucky then?"
"I don't know about that, someone else in the next room is awake and has other ideas," said Victoria with a laugh as she untangled herself from Danny's grip and wriggled towards the edge of the bed. She wasn't looking forward to the task of attending to their 4 month old daughter Emily. Baby would be wet, more than likely stinky not to mention hungry and just like any baby, she didn't like to wait.
Danny drew her back close to him before she had a chance to hop out of bed and whispered, "No, I'll go, you lay in for a while, you look like you could use a little more rest,"
"Really, thank you honey, whispered Victoria surprised, but at the same time secretly relieved. She really didn't want to get up just yet or face a smelly nappy.
As he began to wriggle out to one side of the bed Danny said, "I didn't even hear you come in last night, what time was it?"
"After midnight," Victoria groaned propping herself up on one elbow, then feeling her head pulsate in protest she quickly let herself fall back onto the pillow. Danny sat up on the edge of the bed and stretched out his arms, making the muscles on his well-toned back ripple slightly.
As he stood up and walked around the bed, Victoria tugged gently at the leg of his striped boxer shorts, catching him before he had chance to leave the room. "Thank you, for watching the kids while I took a time out. I'm sorry about before...."
As she said it she scolded herself, what sort of an apology was that. Annoyed she let her gaze fall from Danny's face onto the thick chocolate brown carpet on the floor. Why couldn't she get anything right?
She stopped herself. No, she wasn't going to beat herself up any more, the past was over with. Today, starting this morning was a new leaf. All of the promises she had made to her beautiful little family were going to be kept, starting with no more moping around.
Danny stopped and took her outstretched fingers, removing them from the edge of his boxers, then kneeling down beside the bed he placed her hand to his face. With his lips he caressed, first her finger tips, then her knuckles, then he kissed the fresh, still red scar on her wrist and continued all the way up her arm. Looking up at his de facto wife adoringly he whispered, "I love you, we all do, Emily, Amanda...you are the best thing that ever happened to us."
"What did I do to be deserving of such a beautiful family?" Then finally acknowledging the steady stream of golden sunshine outside of the curtains, she said, "Have you seen the weather? After breakfast let's all go out somewhere, we could make a day of it, the girls will love it. Besides I think we are all overdue to get out of this stuffy house...."
"Ok, let's get this baby up and fed first, before she gets impatient and wakes the whole neighbourhood." said Danny signalling at the rise in pitch coming from baby Emily's room.
As Danny left Victoria sighed. He was still the same beautiful person she had fell in love with 5 years ago. Danny was the most thoughtful person she had ever met, it was that one thing that made her fall in love with him over and over again.
Victoria met Danny through his twin sister Demi, at her wedding. Victoria smiled as she thought about what a small world it was, Danny had been working in the same advertising firm as her for about 4 years. She was in sales with Demi and he had been in production, designing the adverts. They hadn't realised they had Demi in common.
Victoria knew Demi had a twin brother, but they hadn't really hung out together or anything, in fact she had barley ever spoken about to him in all the years her and Demi had been friends.
All that changed when Danny and Victoria come face to face at Demi's wedding. Demi had paired them together in the bridal party. Victoria was dressed in a flattering strapless dark purple bridesmaid's dress that had made her miniscule cleavage look ample. Danny wore a black suit, with the same coloured material belt around his middle. The moment they met they seemed to complement each other just as well as their outfits did.
Seated next to each other at the bridal table they started to talk and hadn't stopped, much to the delight of Demi and her new husband Ben. It was hard to believe that it was only 5 years ago.
So much had changed for Victoria and Danny. They moved in together and last year they had taken full custody of Danny's daughter Amanda who was 8. Then there was Emily - just 4 months ago their beautiful 8 pound, 1 ounce baby daughter had arrived. She was perfect in every way.
Victoria knew she should have felt incredibly blessed, but things had been tough for her lately. The stress of having a new baby and all the responsibilities that come with being a mother had brought up a lot of painful memories. That was all over with now and she wasn't her mother. It was going to be clear skies from here on. Nothing was going to stop her from enjoying every precious second she could with her family.
As she lay back in bed moving slightly closer to where Danny had been sleeping, she closed her eyes. Breathing in his scent Victoria pretended he was still there next to her and not in the kitchen making Emily her bottle. She smiled again and let the covers cocoon her in their fluffy warmth.
"Victoria come quickly...." cried Danny suddenly, his voice thick with panic.
Sitting bolt upright in bed, flinging the covers from her as though they were on fire Victoria catapulted over the bed and ran towards the door.
"What, what's wrong." she cried out sensing the desperation in Danny's voice. And feeling her own pang of fear twist deep in the pit of her stomach, as if it were preparing her for whatever was awaiting.
Victoria ran frantically out of her bedroom door and down the hall. She past a bleary eyed Amanda who had only just began to step into the hallway to investigate what the commotion was about.
Amanda jumped back through her door quickly looking surprised as Victoria fled past nearly knocking her over and rushed through the next door into Emily's bedroom.
Once inside the room, she slowly approached Emily's cot and looked at Danny's ashen face. He was standing there breathing quickly with his mouth slightly open his big brown eyes almost bulging out of his head frozen with terror.
On a normal day Victoria would have laughed at the sight of Danny, standing there with his mouth open looking horrified, surrounded by a plethora of pink girly fluffy things. She always joked that he was such a bloke... But today was not an ordinary day, she knew instantly that Danny was not comically reacting to something pink and fluffy lurking in the shadows. Without him needing to say a word she knew this was serious, she sensed it the moment he called her from the bedroom.
Victoria inched forward again, this time allowing her to see Emily in her cot. She wasn't crying. The noises she made were deep choking noises, almost like barking from a dog and she was a shade of blue that Victoria had never imagined a person could go. Emily's tiny body was stiff as a board as her tiny back arched in pain. Thick white foam bubbled out of her tiny blue lips, and the whites of her eyes were blood red.
All of that was shocking but it was Emily's head that took Victoria by surprise the most. It was bulging and pulsating like an angry volcano with thick blue - black coloured veins spilling over like dark lines of larva. Her tiny head looked set to erupt at any moment.
"Jesus Christ Danny she is choking."
"What do we do, do something, help her!" he cried out in a strangled desperate voice that didn't even sound like him.
Victoria scooped up the tiny baby's body from her cot as she desperately tried to recall those first aid classes she had taken years ago at work. All she could remember was how she had sat through them, daydreaming, thinking they were a waste of time.
Victoria stood there frozen, scolding herself, if only she had taken those classes more seriously. If only she had known one day she would need them so much.
Scrambling for ideas, she looked in Emily's open mouth, hoping to find what was making her choke. Nothing. then she tried putting her finger inside Emily's mouth and down her throat to create a gag reflex, to find what was obstructing her breathing. Panicking she realised there was nothing there either. Emily was going even bluer by the second. Was she helping or making it worse?
Victoria recalled something she may have seen on television, or somewhere at least, about dislodging things from children's throats....she couldn't be so sure, it didn't matter though, anything that might help her baby was worth trying. Repeating the action from the television show, she turned Emily upside down, holding her tiny feet up near her chin gently she shook her a few times, trying to dislodge something a little deeper.
"Breathe god damn it, breathe baby," she begged.
It wasn't helping.
With options dwindling and panic setting in, she realised that Emily could choke to death if they didn't do something quickly. Turning her the right way up and holding onto her tummy she tilted her headfirst towards the floor and tapped on her back. All the while begging her to breathe, but to no avail. Victoria held her own breath - she was out of ideas. What now, what should she do, what could she do?
Just then Emily let out a high pitched squeal, and went limp in Victoria's arms.
"Danny, Jesus Christ, is she dead, screamed Victoria jumping on the spot, trying to rouse Emily, who was unmoving and still bright blue.
Danny snapped into action. Waking up as though he had been in a deep slumber, he grabbed Emily from Victoria's arms. Victoria stood there helplessly arms outstretched as if she were asking him to think for her.
Running towards the door Danny cried out over his shoulder, "find the keys, get Amanda, we have to get Emily to the hospital now!"
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Thanks for reading. This was a really hard chapter to write , but it was also an important part of the story. I hope you are enjoying BROKEN. Don't forget to take a moment to vote and comment. Thanks Neysh :)