CHAPTER 21

Marietta was awakened up by a sharp pain in her back and her lower belly. She sat up and as soon as she did, she felt something warm pooling around her legs.

“My water broke.” She turned towards Tobias’ side of the bed, but he wasn’t there.

She swung her legs off the bed and stood up and as soon as she did another gush poured out of her. Immediately her mind went back to the set where she lost her baby. It was too early. She looked on the soaked carpet and saw huge blotches of blood Panic ripped through her and out of her lips.

“TOBY!”

Tobias looked up in the direction where the scream had come from. He knew the tones of Marietta’s voice by heart. She wasn’t just calling him; she was screaming out for him. She needed him. Immediately a chill settled in his bones. This wasn’t good.

“Mom!” he called out to his mother.

“What is it honey?” Elizabeth walked into the room and was startled when Tobias’ name ripped through the air one more time.

“Call Chris and ask him to tell you where the hospital is.” Tobias decided to take a breath, there was no use in panicking. He needed to be calm for all of them.

He ran up the stairs taking them two at a time. When he walked into the room he froze. Marietta was staring down at her legs and so was he. A pool of blood had managed to form at her feet. He looked at her legs and could see that there was still blood running down them. Breaking his panic induced trance, he ran to her and picked her up in his arms. He wasn’t sure how she was feeling, her face was blank and emotionless. He felt her shiver in his arms and he knew that she had started going into shock.

“Mrs. Bennett, I need a blanket,” he called out when they reached the living room.

Everyone stood watching them, frozen into place. No one was moving, they all seemed to be rooted to the ground.

“Hey, you need to snap out of it.” Tobias yelled and he felt Marietta’s jerk in his arms. At last, a sign of life. “Dad, you are driving, Mrs. Bennett, you are going to help with directions. Mom, you are with me in the back seat.” Tobias rushed her to the waiting vehicle. He sat in the back seat with her, cradling her head as Elizabeth covered her with the blanket.

Tobias hadn’t heard the phone ring but everything else was at bay.

“It’s Chris. He said to take a short cut through the fields, then take the tarmac into town. Once you are there take the road towards the highway and then take the next exit.” Mrs. Bennett rumbled on, “he said it should take you roughly twenty minutes. But if you drive faster, we’ll be there in ten.”

“Then we’ll be there in ten.” Edwards said as he tore through the field.

Tobias knew they didn’t have ten minutes. Marietta was struggling to keep her eyes open, and one of the blankets his mother covered her with was already soaked in blood. He put his forehead against hers and just closed his eyes.

“Stay with me.” She nodded and he tried to smile, “You are going to be fine.”

Tobias heard his father curse as he drove. His mother was quietly crying at his side while Mrs. Bennett murmured a prayer. They were finally at the hospital after what seemed like an eternity. Marietta had lost consciousness two minutes back. Tobias gathered her in his arms and ran into the emergency room with her.

“I need help!” he shouted as a team of nurses and doctors gathered around her. They took her from his arms and laid her down on a gurney, “She’s eight months pregnant. Her doctor is Dr. Caplain. She had a miscarriage three years ago, but the baby had to be delivered through a C-section. She didn’t complain of any pain. She was fine, she was perfectly fine this morning.”

He watched as they rolled her through the operating room doors. He stood helpless as he mumbled on, “She was perfectly fine. We just celebrated her brother’s birthday this morning. We also talked about our son. She was perfect, I swear she was perfect.”

“What happened?” Chris and Jessie ran toward them, terror scribbled on each of their faces.

Tobias turned to them and said the same thing he had been mumbling the past few seconds, “She was perfectly fine this morning. Then suddenly… there was so much blood.” He looked at Jessie when he heard her gasp.

Only she had been there with him the first time as they waited in the waiting room as the doctors fought to save Marietta’s life while knowing there was no salvation for their son. “I can’t go through this twice in one lifetime. I won’t survive it; she won’t survive it. I can’t live without her; I can’t bare it.”

Tobias stared into his mother’s eyes as she put each of her hands on his cheeks, “She’s going to be fine. God wouldn’t allow you to go through this again.”

“Where was he the first time? Or all those years when Marietta was going through hell?” he gasped.

“He’s going to be here.” Mrs. Bennet patted his back.

“She always says everything happens for a reason.” Jessie said wild eyed, “She says that God doesn’t let things happen without their being a greater plan.”

“What’s the plan?” Tobias’ tongue was filled with steel.

“She’s strong. You must trust in Marietta if in no one else. She’s strong.” Chris nodded as if he was trying to convince himself and Tobias.

“Husband?” A lethargic large nurse appeared in the waiting room. She had a scowl on her face as she approached the small crowd, “Mr. Harden, you need to sign this.”

“How is she?” Tobias asked as he scribbled on the forms.

“They are prepping her for surgery,” she replied.

“Do you know what caused it?” Elizabeth asked.

“I don’t know what kind of ammunition this guy is packing in there, but he managed to rip into her cervix.” She glowered. “Next time keep the sex to the simple things.”

“But is she going to be fine?” Tobias asked feeling guilty.

“Oh yeah, she’s going to be fine. They are just going to deliver the baby and get the bleeding under control.”

“Why is she still bleeding?” He wasn’t so convinced.

“It’s normal to bleed when you are giving birth. You said she had a C-section, right? The scar might have been ripped open during a contraction. Don’t worry about it, Doctor Caplain is on top of it.”

“She’s not telling me everything.” Tobias mumbled once the nurse had disappeared into the operating room. “Why wouldn’t she let me go in with her?”

“It might be because you are covered in blood. They need to keep the place sterile.” Chris pointed out.

Tobias looked at himself for the first time. He hadn’t noticed all the blood on his clothes. That still had him panicking. She had lost so much blood.

A few minutes later the nurse came back with her clipboard. “We need some blood.”

“Why?” Elizabeth asked.

“She’s lost a lot of blood, but we are giving her some. But we need a supplement for the blood bank here in the hospital. It’s going to replace the one she been plugged into.” The nurse went on, not once looking up at them.

Tobias felt like grabbing the clip board and smashing it on her head. She was infuriating. “How much blood did she get?”

“Two pints,” she pointed out.

“I’ll do it.” Chris volunteered and Jessie went along with him, “You should get a change of clothes. Marietta is going to go nuts when she sees you covered in blood.”

“Alright then. By the way I love your movies.” The nurse added as she walked away.

“I’m going to strangle her. I swear it.” Tobias said through clenched teeth.

“I think we should go get you a change of clothes.” Edward held him by the shoulders and led him out of the hospital.

As they walked, they noticed all the stares they were getting. At first, he thought it was because of all the blood, but when he heard someone yell his name then his father’s name he groaned in frustration. “Dad, I think you better get some security here. I’m going to call McKay before he hears about this on the news.”

An hour later, Tobias was seated in the waiting room, his fingers drumming on his knee. His pacing seemed to be driving everyone nuts, so they all encouraged him to take a seat. He was beginning to panic, no one had been back to apprise them of the situation. In the last hour Tobias had gotten calls from McKay who was on his way, and so was Peter. He had also been informed by both his and Marietta’s publicists, managers and agents of the media circus going on back in Los Angeles. He was glad he wasn’t back home. He knew he would be going crazy if he had to dodge the paparazzi too. His bodyguards had managed to create a wide perimeter around them.

Edward and Elizabeth had managed to secure a private room in a less populated area of the hospital. A hefty contribution to the hospital had ensured them some privacy with a couple of private nurses.

Tobias jumped to his feet when Doctor Caplain appeared. He looked distressed and Tobias felt his heart sink.

“What is it? What went wrong?”

“Nothing.” “Then why do you look like that?” Tobias asked.

“The hospital and my office have been bombarded with calls from the press. It’s stressful. I don’t know how you do it.”

“How are my wife and baby?” Tobias registered the puzzled look on the doctor’s face but tried not to assume the worse.

“Apparently we missed something during our earlier appointment. She was so huge I should have figured it out. But your wife never came as frequently as she should have. This is a small facility, so we don’t have as much technology as some places do.” The doctor fell silent and decided to get to the point after being urged by Tobias’ scowl, “Marietta lost a lot of blood, but we were able to get it under control. She got a blood transfusion too. Her C-section scar tore because of them trying to push each other out.”

“Them?” Tobias coughed out, “What do you mean by them?”

“You have twins Mr. Harden. A little boy and a little girl.” He beamed. “They are getting checked out right now, but you can see them soon. Marietta is in recovery, but she’ll be in her room in the next hour.”

Tobias fell back into his chair wide eyed and dazed. He ran his fingers through his hair as everyone around him congratulated him. From a far he could hear some of the nurses and patients scream over the salutations. He was yet to believe it. They had planned for the little girl, waited for her. But the boy?

His mind went into overdrive. “I need to call Peter. He needs to get the nursery reconstructed. We need to widen the space and cut into the other room next to it. We need to paint and get some boys stuff in there. Oh! We need a new crib and bassinet, blue basinet, and clothes, plus another changing table. We need to get a pair of everything.” He paused for a beat, “I have twins, little boy and a little girl.”

“I’ll leave for Los Angeles in the morning and get everything ready. My baby had babies.” His mother kissed his cheeks.

“I have a family.”