Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93284 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 466(@200wpm)___ 373(@250wpm)___ 311(@300wpm)
I smiled wide when she finally made it to me. They were perfect. Each was red faced, and had one hell of a scream. They were both wrapped in blankets with pink writing on them, and each had a pink and white knit hap perched on the top of their heads. I reached over and ran my knuckle down one cheek, then the other’s cheek. Beautiful.
“Cheyenne is doing much better. They were able to get the bleeding stop once these two were out, and they are sewing her up now. She should be out within twenty minutes or so.” She said brightly.
“Can we take them over so Sam, their dad, can see them?” I asked her.
In answer she smiled and started wheeling them over in his direction. The motion of the cart made the twins stop with their harpy screams, and they looked around wide eyed. Once close enough I could see Sam alert, and his eyes were directed straight at me. He hadn’t noticed the cart the nurse was pushing, but it didn’t take him long. His eyes trailed down and saw the two babies in the cart. His eyes widened and I could hear the heart monitor start beeping a little faster.
I smiled wide when I got to him and said “Well you did good, old man. They are perfect!”
I turned to the nurse and asked her if it would be all right if to let Sam hold them. She looked torn for a few seconds, but seemed to come to a decision and lifted on of the babies up, placing her on the bed in the crook of Sam’s arm on the uninjured side. The nurse then curled Sam’s arm around, and placed the other baby the opposite direction, with her head resting in Sam’s hand.
I have never seen Sam cry, and I’m not saying he did cry, but he seemed to have something in his eyes. Probably still leftover sand from when Malcolm threw it in his face earlier. He looked awestruck and a little blown over.
The nurse took a hospital band out of the baby bed and walked around to Sam’s other side and clipped it on his wrist. I noticed now that her name was Julie.
“What’s that for?” I asked her.
“This is the ID band that says these babies belong to him. It shows that he is the daddy. We will take them back to the nursery to get cleaned up here shortly, and when we bring them back to him, we will have to match the ID band on his hand with the one on theirs.” Julie answered.
Sam’s eyes caught mine and I could tell that he wanted to know about Cheyenne.
“Can you tell him how she is?” I asked Julie.
“Cheyenne was being stitched up when I left. She’ll be wheeled out here as soon as she wakes from the anesthesia. Then we will place her in this stall next to yours.” She said with a nod to the right side curtain.
Another nurse came up to us and said bitchily, “Julie! You are not supposed to do this. This is against hospital regulations.”
I turned my eyes to her and glared.
“Actually, there are no specific rules in this case. It states that if a father is present, then the children are to go to the father. This is the father. It’s not his fault that he can’t actually accompany them, so I am letting him see them. This other man, is the brother, and he will go with them when I take them to the nursery. The father has already signed a release form for it. That will be all Janet.” Julie said primly.
The release form was news to me, but who was I to argue. I looked over at Sam to see him not paying us any attention. All of it was focused on the two new lives that were cradled in his arm.
The nurse left us alone for a while and I sat at the end of Sam’s bed and watched them interact. Sam couldn’t do much moving, but he could hold them with his one good arm. Julie and another nurse came back fifteen minutes later. They walked up to his injured side and Julie started giving out instructions.
“Okay. Here’s what we are gonna do. I am going to accompany this man to the nursery with these two precious babies.” she nodded at me “And we are going to get them all cleaned up. While we are doing that, Cindy here will take out Sam’s breathing tube, and we will wait for Mrs. Mackenzie to recover. Then we will move you all to the Maternity wing to one of the family rooms. There we will watch over all four of you to make sure you are all doing well. Sound agreeable?” Julie asked.
“Sounds good to me. Does he need to sign anything before we go?” I asked her.
She nodded and gathered the babies, placing them into the basket. They were asleep, but as soon as they were moved they woke up with screeching wails. She placed the pen in Sam’s right hand and the paper and clipboard to where he could scratch his name out. Once done, we all parted ways with plans to meet back here once they twins were checked out and cleaned up.
SAM
1:43 A.M.
I watched them walk away. My two girls. They were absolutely beautiful. Now all I needed was Cheyenne. I felt horrible that I wasn’t there with her when she needed me the most.
The nurse that stayed with me, Cindy, took my vital signs. A doctor sauntered up and picked up the chart that was at the end of the bed.
“Everything seems to be looking great, Mr. Mackenzie. The bullet passed through your clavicle and broke it, clipping the artery that runs underneath it. The bullet exited through the fleshy part at the top of your arm. You were lucky. It missed your lung by a mere four centimeters. If that had happened you wouldn’t have been feeling so well right now. You ready to have that tube removed?” he asked.