CHAPTER 11

“Ouch!” Marietta doubled over in laughter the whole time her hand was on the side of her stomach. For the past few weeks, each time she made a move or laughed there would be this dull ache in her side.

“Are you alright?” Jessie asked through bouts of laughter.

“I’m good, just stop making me laugh.” Marietta stood up and took a deep breath. Her eyes cruised around the room, taking in the set. It was coming together nicely, she remarked to herself. And as her eyes continued to scan the room, she felt her body go rigid as she was locked on his cold icy gaze. Marietta took a step back in retreat then all hell broke loose.

“LOOK OUT!” she heard Jessie scream and saw the terror in her eyes. But it didn’t register, not until the fear was replaced by mind numbing pain.

So, what happened between you and Mattie?” McKenzie stared Tobias down waiting for a straight answer. He had been surprised to see that he and Tobias were on the same project again six months later. Tobias was a great actor, but he didn’t think he would join another Marietta Parks original. McKenzie had waited until the table read was over to ask him.

“I thought I was the only one who called her that.” Tobias chuckled a nostalgic feeling enveloping his heart.

He had gone after this project specifically because he thought Marietta would be there. But she hadn’t been at the casting, or the table read. He wondered if she would be there during the shoot or if she had forfeited her project to another script supervisor because he was there. Tobias’ plan to ease back into Marietta’s life was a bust.

“She’s in Miami. It’s the last day of filming on a two-part fantasy movie just in case you were wondering.” The old man added the last bit with a chuckle.

“So… she will be here for this movie?” Tobias asked hopefully.

“If she doesn’t know you have been cast, maybe she will be.” McKenzie laughed once more. “Let’s step into my office.”

Tobias followed McKenzie to his home office He was the only director producer that he knew that would conduct a table read in his own dining room. Tobias guessed that he was trying to make everyone comfortable. But because he had already worked with the old man before he knew it was just a ruse. The director was anything but comfortable he demanded hard work from his crew members and lived by his mantra, ‘time is money and a second wasted is a dollar lost.’

“By the way how did you know about-,” Tobias left the sentence hanging hoping that the director wasn’t past his years and unable to understand what he meant.

“It was obvious. They pay me to see everything. Besides no woman grinds on you like that if she doesn’t already know what makes you tick.” McKenzie poured two glasses of old malt whiskey and drank them both with gulp. “You want any?”

“It’s not even mid-day-old man.”

“It’s happy hour somewhere.” McKenzie traded his whiskey for a bottle of water and sat in a chair across from Tobias. He gazed at Tobias with an old wise man look then said, “You only live once. The rest of the time it’s your heart trying to replace what you lost. If you don’t go after her now you are going to regret it. What if she ends up with that tall dark guy from her birthday party?”

“Chris?” Tobias shook his head in denial more than in doubt, “She wouldn’t. He is her past.”

“The past has a way of coming back unless the future can stop it.”

“We are too similar in too many different ways.” He sighed, “We wouldn’t have time to nurture the relationship with our careers and besides we both like our independence.”

“That is crap!” McKenzie piped in. “Schedules can be coordinated. Women like to have someone they can lean on and men like being taken care of. Differences and similarities just give you more to talk about and discover about each other. Trust me I’ve done it six times.”

“You are a very wise old man.” Tobias teased.

“I’m not that old. I’m fifty-five years old. Having six wives is what made me look older than my actual age. Take it from me, get one wife and stick to her. If you need to get more than one doesn’t have more than three.”

Tobias laughed at the old man’s damaged expression. Just as he was about to land another joke one of McKenzie’s assistants came running in, short of breath and in a panic.

“What is it?” The old man asked.

“I think she’s dead.” The girl gasped out.

“Who, my wife? Which one, the second, third or sixth?” He teased.

Tobias noticed how McKenzie had left out the others. Evidently his first and fourth had been the ones he truly loved or the ones who caused him less trouble.

“No!” The girl picked up the television remote and flipped through the channels. She stopped on TMZ, and McKenzie let out a snarl.

“You know I don’t watch that.” His protest was cut short by a gasp from Tobias.

Tobias’ fingers dug into the chair he was sitting on. He wasn’t exactly sure what had happened or what had led to the picture he was seeing now, but that didn’t keep him from panicking. On the screen in front of him, he saw Marietta on the ground, a panicked Jessie fussing over her as a blood chilling shrill for help escaped her lips. Marietta was motionless and there was no sign of life.

“You need to go.” McKenzie almost pushed Tobias off his chair. “I will call Jessie and find out where they took her, and have a car waiting for you at the airport.”

Tobias barely heard what he said. He was fighting with his brain to work as his whole body just wanted to collapse. He wanted to sit in a corner, his knees held to his chest as he rocked himself trying to extinguish the image of a motionless Marietta from his head. He blamed himself, on his way to the airport and on his flight from New York to Miami. Tobias cursed himself out he was supposed to be there, protecting her. If he loved her, he should have protected her.

Tobias barely noticed the army of bodyguards that led him through the airport to the car waiting for him outside. Someone was in there, trying to brief him on something that his mind wasn’t connecting. All he could hear was his heart pounding in fear, and his brain trying to come up with coping mechanisms. What if he lost her? What if she was the one and he had walked away from her six months ago. If he had given their relationship a chance he could have been at her side and could have stopped her from getting hurt.

But he didn’t. He’d left and now he was stuck in a car playing a what-if game. “Can this car move any faster?” he barked at the driver.

“Is she dead?” He finally talked to the woman in the car.

“No. Not since the last time I checked half an hour ago.” She winced as she spoke.

“Half an hour? You are a joke.” He chuckled in disdain.

“Sir, they aren’t giving any outsiders information. Plus, I can’t reach her assistant, not since the last time Mister McKenzie spoke to her.”

Knowing Jessie, she had probably switched off her phone or she wasn’t taking any calls that were not important. Tobias wondered if Chris had been contacted. Not that he took what McKenzie said to heart, he knew Chris was the only family she had. The car stopped and Tobias jumped out. He walked into the small triangle the bodyguards had managed to form as they fought through the throngs of paparazzi and their flash bulbs. When he got in, he didn’t have to ask which room she was in. Everyone seemed to be rushing in one general direction.

He stepped over a velvet barricade and almost ran when he caught sight of Jessie. She was walking back and forth as the doctor was trying to talk to her. Tobias knew the news wasn’t good and almost stopped in his tracks out of fear. But Jessie had already seen him and called out to him.

“Explain it to him,” she urged the doctor.

“Is he family?” the doctor asked.

“He is… I mean he was the father of the baby,” Jessie stammered out as she spoke.

Tobias felt his heart chill to a block of ice. “What baby?”

“She didn’t know, I swear we didn’t know.” Tears flowed freely down Jessie’s cheeks as she trembled.

“We need someone to sign a consent form.” The doctor said.

“Why? What for? Can’t Marietta, do it?” Tobias was trying to un-hear the news about the baby while trying his best to concentrate on Marietta’s health.

“She’s unconscious. Plus, it would be less traumatizing for her if we expelled the fetus without her being conscious.”

Tobias swallowed the lump in his throat then asked, “What if she was?”

“She’d have to push it out after we induce labor.” He paused. “We also need to stop the blood loss. Surgery is our best option.”

“I’ll sign it.” Tobias couldn’t imagine having to hold Marietta’s hand as she gave birth to their dead baby. At this point he didn’t know if she knew there was a baby. She was the priority now. He signed the form the doctor gave him and watched as they rolled her to the operating room. “What happened?”

“We were standing and laughing one second them wham!” Jessie slapped into the wall next to her, causing Tobias to jump into shock. “One of the ladders just fell on her and she just lay there trapped under it.”

Tobias didn’t remember seeing the ladder. They must have removed it before someone decided to catch the ordeal on camera, “And the… and the… uh… baby?”

“She stood up for a second. Then it was like the flood gates opened.” Tobias noticed the dazed look in Jessie’s eyes and wondered if the girl hadn’t gone into shock, “It was clear liquid, then blood. Then she doubled over in pain. She let out one scream, I swear my dead grandmother heard it, and then she dropped back on the ground.”

“Does she know?” Tobias was glad that he hadn’t been able to see it to that point. He was sure just the sound of her screaming out in pain would have sent him to an early grave. “Does she know about the baby?”

“She was awake a few minutes before you got here. They had to sedate her because she went bonkers. She was hysterical. Then the doctor started telling me about this procedure.” Jessie crouched on the floor, “Dear God why is this happening.”

“Did you call Chris?” Tobias had to ask. He didn’t know whether or not Marietta would want to see him when she woke up. She needed someone who would be her strength and at that moment Jessie wasn’t a stellar candidate.

“I tried, but he’s in some jungle somewhere. But I already talked to McKay, he said he’ll try and help us reach him.” Jessie eased back on the wall and sighed, “I just want to close my eyes and wake up at home. You can’t leave again because I don’t know how to handle this.”

“I can’t leave her now.”

“You can’t leave her ever.” It sounded more like a warning than a request.

There was something that didn’t register with Tobias. The last time he and Marietta were together was six months ago, she should have known she was pregnant. Or were they trying to keep it a secret from him. “Jessie how could she not know? She must have been at least six months along. She should have been showing.”

Jessie stood up and flipped through her phone. She showed him a picture of her and Marietta, “This was taken yesterday. She hasn’t put on a pound, no morning sickness, no cravings, nothing.”

Tobias didn’t understand, Marietta was just as skinny as the last time they’d parted, “Are you sure the baby is mine?” he wanted to kick himself as soon as the words left his lips.

“She slept with you nine years after Chris. She is in love with you and six months would have been nothing. Besides, she was so excited to see you tomorrow.”

“She knew I was in the movie?” he asked.

“It’s Marietta. She approves everyone who works on her set.” A smile flickered on Jessie’s face before she was tearing up again.