*Alejandro *
I held onto the stretcher as the nurses rolled Andrea away. The stainless white walls and strong stench of disinfectant were the last thing on my mind as one of the nurses hurriedly called the attention of a doctor. I fisted my hands helplessly when the doctor asked me to wait outside, watching as they rolled her into the room. I brought my fist to my lips, shaking my head and trying to control my rising panic.
I lowered myself on the chair in the waiting room, tapping my feet impatiently on the floor. I hated hospitals. It was filled with such sad people. A woman pushed a man on a wheelchair passed me. Kids ran around the waiting area, oblivious to what was actually going on. It wasn’t hard to imagine what I looked like. My hair was a disheveled mess and sweat clung to my skin.
I looked at my watch. It had only been two minutes since Andrea had been in the room but it felt like an hour. I stood up and paced around the hallway , unable to continue sitting in one place. How had everything happened? It seemed like everything had happened in a blink. One minute I had the three most important persons in my life by my side, and the next they were being kidnapped by my psychotic ex-wife.
After waiting for what felt like forever, the door was pulled open and the doctor walked out. I immediately ran to him, eager to know if Andrea was doing okay. I couldn’t continue life without her. “How is she?” I asked, holding my breath. The doctor took off his gloves and facemask, throwing the items in a trash can as two nurses stepped out from Andrea’s room.
He gave me a small smile, speaking calmly. “She’s not exactly in her best state right now, but I can assure you she’ll be fine.” I released a deep sigh of relief. God. It was okay. She was okay. I hadn’t realized just how much I’d feared for her life until that very moment. Andrea had become a bigger part of me than I was of myself.
“Can I see her?”
The doctor shook his head no. “You’ll have to patiently wait for that. Right now, her body is fighting to keep her alive and adjusting to the medication we’ve given her.” His voice was empathetic. “She needs a bit of time before anyone sees her.” I’ve heard that when people are unconscious, a part of them could still hear the voices of people around them. I didn’t want to distract Andrea from whatever internal fight she was having.
I shook hands with the doctor and thanked him.
I went back to my seat just as my cell phone rang. An officer was on the other end of the line, asking if I could pay a visit to the station. Since it was a kidnapping case, the police automatically had to be involved. I let them know I couldn’t be at the station right now since I was in the hospital but that my P. A would speak to them. I had the hope that they would find all evidence they needed on the dash cam.
Alison’s call came in a minute later after I finished speaking to the officers. “We’re in Lucas’s room.” She informed. “Austin and I.” There was some background noise and then I heard her footsteps. She was probably stepping outside his room so we could talk. “You can come see him if you want, he’s awake.” She said quietly. I pinched the bridge of my nose, not sure how to respond to that.
Things were tense now that we’d discovered the secret Nora has been hiding for so long.
“Yeah,” I finally replied. “I’ll be there in a short while.”
She asked how Andrea was faring and I let her know she hadn’t woken up yet. Lucas was staring blankly at the wall when I walked in. He turned, giving me his attention for a moment before looking away. Alison was seated beside him, Austin on her lap. She met my eyes and then stared as Austin hurried down from her lap to hug my legs. Laughing, I picked him up, ruffling his hair playfully.
“Momma,” He cried, wrapping his hands around my neck and hiding his face in my shirt. He was such a mommy’s boy. I rubbed his back, my eyes connecting with Alison’s.
“Momma is alright, my boy.” I consoled. Lucas was still staring fixedly at the wall. Alison gazed worriedly at him, opening and closing her mouth as she struggled to find the words to comfort him. My heart went out to them. It reminded me of times when I wanted to be alone and Andrea struggled with comforting me.
I signaled for Alison to give us some time alone. She reached for Lucas’s hand and squeezed gently before taking Austin from me and leaving the room. I exhaled audibly and Lucas tensed. Running a hand through my hair, I replaced Alison on the seat. “Thank you,” I rasped gratefully. If Lucas hadn’t gotten to Andrea when he had. . .
I didn’t want to think about what might have happened.
He turned his gaze to me then, shaking his head no. “I’m so sorry dad,” He said tearfully. “I’m so sorry for ever making you get married to that woman. I’m so sorry dad.” He looked away, pressing his lips together. “If I even have the right to call you that anymore.” I instinctively reached out, patting his free hand lightly. I didn’t give a shit about what Nora had said.
“Of course you do, son.” I assured him, his eyes meeting mine sadly. “I don’t care what Nora said. You will always be my son and I will always remain your father.” He blinked back tears from his eyes, wanting to stay strong. My chest felt less tighter when he managed a small smile, nodding in agreement. Just then my phone rang and I raised a finger to excuse myself.
I didn’t step out of the room, moving to the window to take the call instead. My P. A Jane was unfortunately calling to remind me of the conference I was supposed to attend in Florida. I wasn’t sure how I would find my way around it since I needed to be here with my family. Lucas didn’t have his eyes on me but I was sure he was following through with my conversation. I asked her to see if she could get the conference postponed for a few months and then ended the conversation.
“I can go on your behalf,” Lucas suggested just as I slipped my phone in my pocket. I stared meaningfully at his injured arm. There was no way I was letting him travel all the way down to Florida for a business meeting when he hadn’t fully recovered. We argued about it for a while but he was persistent. I ended up giving in, with the condition that he would only make the travel when he had gotten a little better.
After leaving his room, I returned to Andrea’s room, unable to contain the smile on my face at realizing she was awake. Alison and Austin were seated by her side when I walked into the room, trying to cheer her up. Her eyes found mine, the usual spark in them now replaced by a pool of sadness. I rounded her hospital bed and kissed her head, gently rubbing her hands.
“How are you feeling babe?” I asked hoarsely.
She shot me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m feeling better,” Her voice sounded calmer and weaker than it usually did. Alison beckoned on Austin with her hands and they both left the room. Andrea stared deep into my eyes, hers glistening with unshed tears. “I’m sorry I left alone. I should have informed you about it. I shouldn’t have-”
“It’s not your fault babe,” I quickly cut in. I raised her hand, kissing the center of her palm. “Please don’t feel bad for being a good mom to Austin. If anything it’s my fault,” I gently shushed her when she began shaking her head. “You went through all this because of me and for that I’m deeply sorry.” The door was pushed open before she could respond.
A doctor stepped in to check her vitals and run a few tests. Minutes later, I was driving her and Austin to my penthouse, I wanted to have them close to me. Alison took care of Lucas’s meds and called the driver to take them home. Andrea shot me a puzzled look when I stopped the car at my place instead of hers. “You’re staying at the penthouse with me now,” I said simply, leaning to give her a quick kiss.
I got down from the car and opened her door, before gently helping Austin down from the back. With Nora gone, nothing was obstructing our love anymore. I showed Austin to his room which had already been put together with some help from Jane. I asked him to brush his teeth, closing the door to give him some time to get familiar with the room before doing so.
“Where’s my room?” Andrea asked, following me into mine. I turned to her, gently placing her bag on the bed.
“What room?” I asked back. “We’re staying together.”
Our eyes collided.
“We can’t stay together Alejandro, you know that.” Her voice had lowered. She walked to the dressing table and sat halfway on it, her bum resting on the edge of the table. I walked to her, gently pulling her legs apart and tracing her lower lip with my finger. “I know what you’re trying to do,” She said but she wrapped her legs around my waist.
I raised an eyebrow, leaning in to give her a kiss. Just then our room door got pushed open and we leaped away from each other. Austin ran into the room, oblivious to what had been going on. He tugged on my pants. “Someone’s downstairs.” I frowned, meeting Andrea’s eyes as she picked him up. We weren’t exactly expecting anyone.
At least not so soon.
We hurried downstairs and I instantly fisted my hands when I realized it was Williams in the living room. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing in my house?” I raged. Andrea instinctively covered Austin’s ears and carried him back upstairs. Williams watched them leave, raising his hands in the air. He had some nerve walking into my house like things would ever be okay again between us.
“Hey, calm down. We can talk-” I didn’t wait to hear the rest of his sentence, angrily driving my fist into his face. He moved a few steps back on impact, tentatively touching his jaw but he didn’t try to fight back. The fact that he was just going to stand there and take it angered me even more and before I could stop myself, I was throwing hard punches at him from every direction.
He made attempts to block them but his attempts were feeble with how blinded by rage I was. We crashed down and I tightened my hands even more, making sure to give him the hardest blows of his pathetic fucking life. He’d slept with her! Had a son with her! And all these years he’d had the guts to carry on looking me in the eye like he hadn’t betrayed me in the worst way possible.
The bastard!
I was so angry, I might have beaten him up till he was unconscious. The only thing stopping me was Andrea’s loud pleas for me to let him go. I felt her tug at my shoulder and I immediately stopped punching him for fear I would accidentally punch her. I let her pull me off of him, my chest rising and falling rapidly with how angry I was. Williams wiped at his battered mouth, blood seeping from the cut in his lip.
He gently stood to his feet and I felt a bit of satisfaction from how awful he looked. Good. The bruises he would get would take weeks to heal. His eyes bounced from Andrea to me. He opened his mouth, probably to give some lame ass apology. I wasn’t having it. I intertwined Andrea’s fingers with mine, looking at Williams with as much hate as I could muster. I pointed towards the door.
“Get the fuck out of my house and never show your face here again.”