Lullabye (Rockstar #6) (4 page)

“She’s tachy,” the anesthesiologist announces and I look up at Xander’s father, a man I’ve known all my life, a man I’ve trusted completely just as long, knowing he’s going to have to make the call any second.

“Wait,” he says. “Just wait.”

“BP keeps dropping, Matt. You need to make a decision.”

“
Wait.
”

“We can’t wait much longer. She’s going to flatline,” the anesthesiologist tells him and I start to go numb.

“She’s not going to flatline. God damn it, where are you, you little prick?” he bites out, looking, searching.

Lucy’s blood pressure is slowly dropping and I know we’re running out of time.

“Suction!” Dr. Mack calls out. “
There
.
Right there!”

Then he’s passed some instruments and, shit, I don’t look at or watch what they’re doing. I can’t watch anymore. Seeing all that blood when I peeked around the draped blanket thing was enough. The sight of blood and me don’t work so well.

“There we go, Luce,” I whisper. “Xan’s dad is fixing you up. You’re gonna be just fine. Don’t stop fighting in there.” I lean down and kiss her forehead, then rest mine against hers, feeling tears fill my eyes. This woman is my everything. Without her, I’d be lost.

“If you want, you can head out and let everyone know she’s—” one of the other nurses starts.

I look up and shake my head. “I’m not going anywhere until she’s ready to go to recovery.”

“It’ll be quite a while for us to stitch her up, Jesse,” Dr. Mackenzie tells me.

I nod. “That’s fine. I’ll just keep warming Lucy’s hands until you’re finished.” His gaze meets mine and I can see the smile behind his mask.

“Well and truly hooked,” he teases.

“Without a doubt,” I admit.

“I never thought I’d see the day.”

“Me either, but I didn’t stand a chance against Lucy.” Relief begins to cautiously move through me and I sit back in the chair. I notice the anesthesiologist looking at me and I lift a brow. “What?”

“Nothing really. I just don’t see people who love with this intensity very often,” he informs me.

“That’s a shame.”

He nods. “It really is. A love like you have? That’s the forever kind of love and it’ll stand the test of time.”

I nod in return. Yeah. Lucy and I will stand the test of time. We’ve conquered so much already there’s nothing that can hold us down.

We got this.

I’m exhausted as I make my way down the hospital corridor toward the waiting room, eyes trained on the ground as my mind goes blank. When I look up I see a familiar sight that doesn’t surprise me anymore. I see
everyone
is here, including Nana Russo.

“Dude,” Xan begins, “what took so long?”

I blow out a breath and shake my head. I look to Regina and Nana Russo. “You might want to take a seat.”

“Oh no,” Regina says, wringing her hands, perching on the edge of her chair.

“Relax, Regina,” Carlotta tells her. “Lucy’s just fine.” And then I know I didn’t even need to have Carlotta sit down. From the gleam in her eye, she was working her mojo and knows everything.

“I’ll leave the good news for last,” I begin and Sera gasps, holding Cage tightly. “After the babies were born, Lucy started bleeding. They couldn’t find the bleed for what felt like forever. I thought for sure they were going to have to do a hysterectomy.” I look at Xan. “But your dad is a persistent man and he kept on, pushing it to the limit until he found the bleed and fixed it. He saved Lucy’s uterus, man,” I tell him and Xan swallows.

“I can’t come up with a joke,” he replies, his eyes shiny. “My dad saved our girl.”

I don’t bother trying to correct him. He’s right. She is
our
girl… she’s everyone’s of our girl. Every single one of us.

“He did. And damn, Lucy’s tough. Those babies she was carrying? They weighed nearly thirteen pounds,” I tell them, hearing ‘holy shit’ more than once.

“Oh my,” Regina begins. “Are the babies okay?”

I nod. “They’re in the NICU. The nurse came down to tell me how they were doing. As soon as I’m done here, I’m heading up.”

“
Well?
” Meggie asks.

I chuckle. “You’re not going to believe this.”

Sera laughs. “Oh, sure we will. It’s you and Lucy, isn’t it?”

“True, true.” I nod. “The first boy—”

Regina gasps. “A boy!”

“He weighed three pounds two ounces. Baby boy number two, weighed three pounds four ounces,” I relay, ignoring the murmurs. “Baby boy number three weighed in at three pounds six ounces.”

“Wow, man,” Ben begins. “Three boys.”

I nod.

“Guess my mom was wrong,” Sera says with a frown.

“Hold up,” Kennedy says.

I look over at him with a smirk. I knew it’d be him.

“You said the babies weighed nearly thirteen pounds. That’s only nine pounds twelve ounces,” he tells me with a frown.

“Yeah, yeah it is.”

“What the fuck?” Trace asks.

“Well, you see, we had a bit of a surprise. A
good
surprise,” I reassure them when they all start to panic. “Seems we had another baby in there that was hidden.”

“Get the fuck out!” Sera shouts.

“Serafina!” Regina scolds.

“Oh, come on mama, you know you’re thinking the same thing.”

Regina nods. “Maybe. Go on, Jesse.”

“Imagine our surprise—imagine Xan’s dad’s surprise when there was a little baby girl in there who’d been surrounded by and protected by her brothers,” I say, a tear running down my cheek.

“Already protecting her,” Xan mutters. “Those are going to be some good boys.”

I nod. “She weighed three pounds one ounce and she’s got the biggest set of lungs of the lot.”

Sera laughs through her tears. “I can’t believe it.
Four
babies.”

“The Kingston Quads,” Ethan announces.

Everyone begins talking and congratulating me and while I’m happy, I can’t forget the look of Lucy lying there. I’ve seen it too many times already. I don’t want to see it again. Ever.

“She’s all right, man,” Ben tells me, clamping a hand on my shoulder.

“She is now. It was touch and go, Ben. Like
real
close,” I tell him quietly.

“Holy fuck,” he says and pulls me in for a hug. Now, we’re not normally touchy-feely brothers, but right now I need this hug so I let him. I hug him back and bite back all the tears that I’ve wanted to cry for the last however many hours. “She’s good, bro.”

I nod and pull back. “Yeah, she is.”

“Let’s go take a look at our babies,” Xander announces and I groan.

“No teaching them bad things,” Meggie scolds.

Xander scoffs. “Please. Someone has to do it.”

“And you’ll take all kinds of pride in it, won’t you, Xan?” she asks.

He nods, head bobbing up and down. “Damn straight. I’m gonna be the cool uncle. Uncle Xan Man.” His chest puffs up with pride and I grin.

“I’ll teach them how to work a computer like no one else ever could,” Kennedy declares.

“Hell yeah,” Ben agrees. “I’ll teach ‘em how to play the hell out of a guitar.”

Ethan nods. “I’ll teach ‘em how to clean up after themselves so Mama Lucy doesn’t get all pissed off.”

Everyone chuckles, Xan shudders. “Cranky Mama Lucy won’t be fun.”

“Hell no, she won’t,” Trace agrees.

“So no pissing her off,” Jace instructs Xan.

“Dude, I don’t piss her off. I’m her Xan Man. She loves me.”

“She loves us all,” Jace mutters.

“A heart of gold,” Carlotta tells us. “Lucy’s got a heart of gold.”

“That she does,” Giovanni agrees.

When we step off the elevator, we head toward the NICU. We approach the glass window and look around for the babies.

“There!” Meggie points.

“Oh, look, Anthony,” Regina exclaims, tears littering her voice.

“They’re beautiful, Jesse,” Lucy’s dad tells me with a pat on the back.

I can only nod. There’s a lump in my throat the size of the Grand Canyon and I know if I give in, I’m done. I’ll wait until I’m alone to have my breakdown. I don’t need my kids seeing me for the first time mid-mental breakdown.

“She’s so tiny,” Xander mutters.

“Yeah, they all are,” Jace agrees.

“What’s that gunk in their eyes?” Xan asks.

I shrug. “I dunno.”

“Antibiotic ointment,” Kennedy informs us and we all turn to look at him.

He shrugs. “What? Lucy’s not the only one who read the baby books.”

I grin. “Of course she’s not.”

“Dude, you know how nerd boy is,” Xan teases.

“Like you didn’t read them,” Kennedy mocks.

Xan nods. “I gotta know how to take care of our kids.”

“You gonna change diapers?” Cage asks.

Xan nods. “Sure am. I’m not above cleaning up shit pants.”

“Then I know who to pass the baby to when they do their business,” Jace states.

“Change your own shit pants, man. It’ll do you some good,” Xan counters.

“Yeah,” Ethan agrees. “It’ll build character.”

“Whatever,” Jace mutters. “I’ll do whatever they need me to. Look at them.”

“They’re sleeping,” Trace says, stating the obvious.

Jace gives him a look. “But they’re here. Living, breathing mini-Jesses and a mini-Lucy.”

Everyone’s quiet after that. We just stand there for the longest time before Anthony breaks the silence.

“Have you two thought of names?”

“Nope. We decided we were going to wait until we saw them and go with what felt right,” I reply.

“Good plan,” Xan assures me.

“Thanks for your approval.”

He nods. “You’re welcome.”

I chuckle. The fucker.

“I want to hold one,” Xan says.

“Can’t just yet,” I tell him. “Hopefully soon. Whenever they’ve run all the tests they need to.”

“I’m just glad they don’t have to be on ventilators,” Meggie mutters softly.

“Our brood?” Xan asks. “Pffft. We’re as tough as they come.”

I think to Lucy, all the blood filling her abdomen, her blood pressure dropping—and her fighting back. “They’re just like their mama.”

“W
E NEED TO
talk, old man,” I say to my gampy.

“You will watch your tone, young lady,” Nana scolds.

“Yes, Nana. But do you know what he did?” I ask.

She gives me a wry grin. “I always know what he does. I don’t always approve, but I know.”

“This time it was too much. Keeping that from us, the ones who were right there doing the protecting,” I say angrily as I pace in front of the vending machine.

“Serafina,” gampy begins and I shake my head. “I did what was best.”

“You can’t decide what’s best for Jesse’s sister!” I hiss. “That’s for him and Ben to decide.”

“It might be, but would they be rational?” he asks.

“Did you see their parents? Did you see how they dealt with them? Very rational,” I remind him.

“True enough. I can’t change what’s already done,” he says. There’s a tick in Cage’s jaw and I know he’s pissed. “Say what you want to say, Cage. You’ve already spoke your mind on the matter, but let your wife hear this time.”

I turn to Cage in surprise. “You spoke to him about this already?”

Cage nods. “There are rules and the first one between the Boss and second in command is: no secrets and no lies. When that rule was broken, I was ready to walk away from all of this. How will I know he’s got my back if I can’t trust him?”