CHAPTER 22

Tobias sat in a chair next to Marietta, both his hands supported by pillows as he carried a child in each arm. He could only imagine Marietta’s surprise. He couldn’t wait for her to wake up. The doctor had been there a few times reassuring him that everything was fine, and that Marietta’s body was just trying to recover from the trauma. He sat in the quiet room with his babies as the others tried to get the cabin ready and buy clothes for the early arrivals.

“Your mom and I have been waiting for the both of you. We’ve been waiting for three and a half years for you.” He stared at the little boy’s face, and he was just as perfect as Marietta had described him. He was in awe at how precise her imagination had been. Although she was obviously describing the son they lost, but in his arms was a replacement. They were both so much alike and if it wasn’t for the pink and blue blankets, he wouldn’t know which one was which.

Tobias lifted his head when he heard a knock on the door. He smiled when he watched the late comers shuffle into the room.

“You need to be quiet. They just fell asleep.” He beamed.

“I thought you said it was just one baby?” McKay exclaimed.

“I hope you got enough sleep.” Peter teased.

“You want to hold them?” Tobias asked, “Here Peter, you take the girl.”

“It’s not like I could ask her to be wife number eight now.” McKay teased, “I was going to wait until she was in her twenties.”

Tobias moved to Marietta’s side and watched the two men carry his children. They were part of their ever-growing family. He wished Marietta could just wake up and see all the joy filling the room. A few seconds later, his family was back with baskets of fruits, diaper bags, clothes, and bottles.

“How come she’s not up yet?” McKay asked after handing the baby to Elizabeth. He leaned close into Marietta’s face as if waiting for some sort of reaction.

****

Marietta could hear all the voices around her. She could place each one of them, but what were they doing in her bedroom. She froze when she felt the dull ache in her belly. Memories of the past few hours flooded in her mind, she could almost smell the blood, feel the pain and the fear of losing her daughter. She didn’t want to wake up. The last time she had been rushed into the hospital like this she had left without her baby.

Her heart ached as she felt a tear roll down her temple.

She heard McKay speak. “She’s awake.”

“Open your eyes, sweetheart.” Toby’s voice called to her. There was no sadness lined in his tone, but he could be putting on a brave front for her.

Then she heard a tiny cry, and her eyes flew open. The first person she saw was Tobias, but the baby seemed to be hidden behind the small crowd gathered around her bed, “She’s alive.”

“Yes, she is.” Toby smiled a tear rolling down his cheek, “And she’s beautiful. I have a surprise for you though.”

“I just want to see my baby.” Marietta gasped as Jessie stepped forward with the little bundle wrapped in pink. But before she could take the baby in her arms she saw Elizabeth with another baby in blue, “Whose baby is that?”

“Ours,” Tobias struggled for breath. “They are both ours.”

Marietta pushed herself up into a sitting position, ignoring all the pain that seemed to stab at her from all directions, “They are both ours? Are you sure?”

“That’s what they told us,” Edward teased.

“No wonder you looked like a whale,” Jessie piped in.

Marietta patted on the bed in the space just between her legs, gesturing to them to place the babies there. She looked at them side by side and couldn’t believe they were both hers. She unwrapped them and they cried from the cold, but that didn’t discourage her from her mission. She counted their toes and their fingers. She did a complete inspection on the two and then stared at them in a dilemma.

“What is it sweetheart?” Tobias asked, noticing her hesitation.

“I don’t know whom to hold first?”

“How about the first born?” Tobias picked up his son and placed him in his mother’s arms.

Marietta looked down at him and choked back a cry, “You look exactly how I imagined you.” He had the full lips and when his eyes opened, she gasped. He looked right into her soul and immediately she felt at peace and comforted. His deep brown eyes pulled at her. She pushed back his baby cap and ran her fingers through his curly hair, “Just like I had imagined.”

“There is always a greater plan.” Jessie quoted.

“Help me with her?” Marietta asked Tobias as she moved her son to settle on one arm. “Hi, little princess. Which one of you was the one kicking mommy?”

The room erupted in laughter when McKay finally asked, “Do you know why they came early?”

Marietta noticed Tobias blushing as he silenced the rest of the room with just a stare. “He’s not as scary as he looks. I want to know what happened.”

“It’s umm… it’s…” Tobias stammered.

“Let’s just say your husband in packing a big gun in his pants.” Jessie called out.

Marietta stared wide eyed at her husband. “If it wasn’t so scary, I would thank you. It was getting so hard to move around.”

“But I should thank you.” Tobias had begun the embarrassment gone from his face and a deep concern replacing it. His voice was gentle and caring.

“For what? You had a fifty percent involvement in this too.”

“But you carried them, and you are the one who fought for them in that operating room. You are the reason they are here, the reason we are all here.”

“You are welcome. I would say I would be glad to do it again but it’s a bit too soon.” She laughed.

“What are you going to name them?” Chris asked, “I think Christoffer is a good name for the boy. “Marietta rolled her eyes at him, “I was thinking that I could name this little fellow, Tobias Edward David and we would call him Ted for short. And this little princess we could name her Tobbie-Anne Elizabeth after both her grandmother’s and call her Tae for short.”

“You want to name both of them after me?” Tobias asked surprised.

“After you, their grandparents and uncle.” She beamed, “They need strong names if they are going to survive in this harsh world. It’s a good thing their namesakes are a good example.”

“I think we should add one name to our little girl, Tobbie-Anne Marietta Elizabeth, and we can call her Tamey for short.” Tobias suggested. “She’s going to be named after the strongest one of all of us.”

“I like that.”

****

Marietta and the babies went home five days later. There was an increased security presence at the cabin from the media frenzy. Tobias however never let the babies out of his sight, afraid that someone would climb into the window and steal them. A few days later Chris, Jessie, Peter, McKay, and the Spencer’s went back to Los Angeles to get things ready for the baby. Mrs. Bennett stayed behind to make sure they wouldn’t starve.

They had been at the cabin for a week. Work seemed to be pouring in for both and although they weren’t grabbing at the opportunities, they accepted all the well wishes accorded to them. In those days they had managed to formulate a system and a strong sleeping pattern. They would sleep and return phone calls when the babies slept, but when they were awake, they would focus all their attention on them.

Tobias and Marietta sat in front of the warm fire, finally getting a second to themselves.

“I never thought babies could be so much work.” Tobias sighed.

“You are the one who refused to get a nurse.”

“I want to take of them myself.”

“What happens when we get back to work?”

Tobias mused over a thought, “Chris is moving to Los Angeles to be with Jessie, maybe his mother would like to be closer to her son.”

“Are you suggesting we ask Mrs. Bennett to come with us?” Marietta liked the idea, but she would have to run it past both mother and son.

“I accept,” Mrs. Bennet called out from the stairs. “Let’s give it a trial run. I’ll watch out for the kids while you two get reacquainted.”

“Thank you, Mrs. Bennett.” They both called out.

“She wants us to get reacquainted,” Marietta said with a smile on her face as she straddled Tobias.

“I don’t know if it slipped your mind, but our lack of sleep was brought on by having sex,” he moaned as he planted kisses along her cleavage. He rose to his knees with her and placed her on the floor while he hovered over her, “The doctor said no sex for six weeks.”

“Five more to go, but he didn’t say we couldn’t do other stuff.” Marietta teased as she pulled at his jean’s buttons.

Tobias growled at her as he pushed her t-shirt under her arms, exposing her belly and her breasts. He leaned towards her then pulled back, “You are leaking.”

“I forgot to pump,” Marietta swore under her breath.

“I’ll go get the babies,” Tobias volunteered.

Marietta cleaned her nipples with a warm wet towel and got comfortable on the sofa. At the rate at which she was leaking she would have to feed both at the same time. She stood up with a start when she heard a loud thud coming from the babies’ room.

“Toby?” there was no response. “Babe!” Something was wrong and she knew it. She went straight for the window seat. She dumped the cushions aside, as she clawed her way to the plywood that separated her from her defense.

Her head snapped back when she heard Ted let out a scream. She couldn’t hear Tamey, and it terrified her. Marietta fisted her fingers around the hilt of the revolver. It felt heavy so she assumed that there were bullets in it. But soon there wouldn’t be. There was a knowing ache in her gut that made her shiver. Marietta ran up the stairs determined to find her family’s attacker. She saw Tobias’ feet halfway out of the door as she climbed the last few steps. She wondered where Mrs. Bennet was.

Marietta wanted to reach out for Tobias once she was standing over him, but her attention was focused on the six-foot man with the long trench coat and the baseball cap. She could see Mrs. Bennett across the room, her body slumped against the wall. Was she alive?

“What do you want, Robert?” Marietta barked out her hand trembling.

When he turned around to face her, Marietta felt her heart stop. His cold eyes stared back at her, mocking her and yet she could see a hint of lust in them. She took a step forward but didn’t move any closer. Tamey was in his arms, she was asleep and unaware. This was how he liked to attack their prey when they were defenseless, innocent, and oblivious to what was about to happen to them.

Marietta forced herself not to turn around when she heard Tobias grunt in pain, and when Ted cried out in fear. She wanted to soothe them, comfort them both but she needed to focus her attention on her little girl in that monster’s arms.

“Put her down. Take me. You’ve always wanted me, right?” Marietta made herself sound like a little girl. The flash back of when she was eight years old came back to her. That was when she was old enough to know what he was doing was wrong, when she didn’t want to hurt anymore.

He didn’t respond he just watched her. His eyes shifting from her face to the gun in her hand.

“Put the baby down and I’ll put the gun down. You can take me.” She smiled wearily.

Marietta tried to hide her surprise when she felt Tobias squeeze her ankle. She lowered the gun to the ground, close enough so that Tobias could reach it just in case. “It’s your turn put the baby down.”

“She’s so perfect. Just like you.” His voice filled her ears and immediately the terror settled within her. He had haunted her in her dreams and now he was here, trying to destroy what was left of her. “You were so perfect, so small so beautiful. I knew you were mine when you were born. I felt proud, lucky even.”

Marietta restrained the cry that was bubbling up inside her. She blinked her tears away knowing how violent he became when she cried, when she showed that she didn’t like what he was doing. She felt Tobias tremble and heard how his breath became labored.

“I’m here—take me,” she pleaded, “Just put her down.” Marietta looked over into Ted’s crib, he was still whimpering but the screams had died down.

“You’ll come with me?” She saw the excited look on his face and her gut wrenched. Marietta nodded forcing a smile on her face, “I have always loved you. You know that right?” He looked down on the baby and gave her a kiss that made Marietta gasp out in pain, “Can she come?”

“I thought you wanted me?” She steadied her voice.

“She’s still pretty small, isn’t she? Maybe we’ll come back for her later. When she’s six years old?” he smiled, “Her lashes are just as long as yours. So beautiful.”

Tobias gave her foot another squeeze and she knew that the second he put the baby down, he would act. But she wanted the violence out of the babies’ room. Whatever Tobias had planned would have to wait.

When he put the baby down in her crib, Marietta sighed with relief. Now she had to get him out of there. She had one more card she had to play. “Daddy, let’s go.” She stretched out her hand towards him and smiled.

“Daddy, let’s go,” she said again. She almost pulled her hand away when his fingers curled around hers.

Marietta followed behind just like she was taught to. But when they reached the staircase, Marietta lifted her leg and pushed on his back as hard as he could. “I hate you, Robert!”

She watched as he tumbled down the stairs, what she didn’t expect was for him to jump back on his feet and charge for her. Marietta didn’t move, she just watched as the enraged monster came to attack her. But just as he reached her, Marietta heard four shots and then the piercing cry of her children. She didn’t move as she watched the stunned man fall back down the stairs, this time he didn’t get back up.

Marietta came back to life when she felt Tobias’ arms wrap around her. In that same second the house filled with the men who were supposedly there for their protection and a press crew. Tobias and Marietta didn’t pay attention to the people flooding the cabin. They went back into the cabin. Marietta checked on Mrs. Bennett and sighed in relief when she realized she was still alive. She didn’t touch her just in case she was seriously injured.

She watched as Tobias lifted Ted in his arms and called the police. She leaned over Tamey’s crib. She was awake, her big brown eyes stared back at Marietta. She lifted the little girl in her arms and rocked her. “You are always going to be safe,” she whispered to her.

“They both are.” Tobias kissed Tamey a hint of the panicked emotion still in his eyes. “I was so scared. If anything had happened, I would have died.”

“I’m just glad you know how to use a gun,” she said trying to lighten the mood.

“Agent Grayson at your service.” That was the first character that she had created for him.

“Three in the heart, one in the head. Execution style. You are going to need some therapy after this,” she said in concern.

“As long as you come with me,” he repeated.

They both needed some professional help at this stage. There was no way they could just deal with this on their own. “I would follow you to the end of the world.”