Her Bundles Of Joy

“Uh, excuse me,” she said politely to the wife of the man who owned the townhouse. “May I use your bathroom? Pregnancy makes me pee like an old woman.”

The upper-class woman grimaced. “Right…the guest bathroom is upstairs, last door to your left.” Nicole wondered why the woman pretended to have a British posh accent, especially after listening to the woman tell a story from her childhood in Dallas. Crazy, rich people. She thought. They managed to find a way to express their wealth even through their bathroom sink. The gold faucet was shaped like a swan and Nicole figured it was probably more expensive than a brand new car. The dancer washed her hands and headed down the hallway, sighing out loud as she could already hear the high-pitched voices once again. God, it was going to be a long night. All she wanted was to get back to Leon’s apartment and sleep her exhaustion off. Lost in her thoughts, Nicole tripped over her own feet and stumbled down the stairs with a loud thud. She groaned as she laid face down on the floor, her back aching, as well as her belly. Nicole felt something wet between her legs, and when she finally managed to turn around on her back, she saw there was blood on the floor, and when she touched the liquid coming off her, Nicole saw her fingers come out covered in her blood. She cried out in pain, praying that someone would hear her over the loud noise coming from the ballroom.

“Help!” she screamed in spite of the brutal pain she was feeling.

A young girl from the catering staff grabbed a silver platter with champagne glasses on it and walked out of the kitchen. It was her first night working for this catering company and she didn’t want to screw things over. She had to keep this part-time job to afford her extra expenses at college. As she was approaching the staircase, the girl saw a pool of red liquid on the floor. Her heart began to beat faster. Had someone been murdered? The girl shook away that thought. She should probably stop reading those books about cold-blooded assassins. She carefully placed the platter on a nearby entryway table and followed the path of blood. She saw a pregnant woman lying on the floor, sobbing uncontrollably. The girl panicked. She crouched down next to the woman, who looked like she was in shock, and tried to speak to her. “Leon Murray, please…get him,” the woman whispered in between sobs. The girl rushed to the ballroom and her loud entrance caught the attention of everyone in the room.

So much for not screwing things over on my first day, she thought.

“Is there a Leon Murray here? There’s a pregnant woman bleeding by the staircase and she needs help!”

Leon’s heart stopped when he heard the girl’s words. Nicole was bleeding? He dropped his glass on the floor and ran towards the staircase. If anything happened to the younger woman, he’d never forgive himself. Leon spotted Nicole on the floor and quickly took her in his arms. The dancer was crying silently, she was in a lot of pain. Most of all, Nicole was worried that something bad could have happened to her babies. She already loved them so much, she didn’t know if she’d be able to cope if anything happened to them.

The trip to the hospital was a blur to her. She was bleeding a lot, blood coming from between her legs and also from her forehead, where a gash had opened when her face hit the floor. Leon had probably broken several traffic laws, but he didn’t give a damn. All he wanted was to get to the hospital and make sure everything would be okay with Nicole and her children.

The minute they arrived at the nearest hospital, Nicole was rushed into a room by a medical team. Leon was told to fill some paperwork and to stay in the waiting room as the doctors took care of his wife. Leon’s heart slightly raced as the woman referred to Nicole as his wife, thus he chose not to correct her. However, as he sat in the waiting room, the dark man felt so anxious, it felt like his heart was weighing a thousand pounds. He hated these kind of situations, he hated not knowing how to help Nicole. Speaking of, her cellphone buzzed in his hand and he saw it was Brandi. He still felt weird knowing that Nicole was best friends with Brandi Harris.

“Hello?”

“You’re answering her phone now?”

Leon sighed. For a moment, he almost forgot that Brandi didn’t really like him.

“Where’s Nicole?” The singer inquired.

“Uh, there’s been an accident—”

“What?” she shrieked. “What happened? Where are you?!”

“We’re in the Upper West—”

“Be there in 10.”

The woman hung up the call and rushed towards the door of her apartment. Brandi looked up the nearest hospital and called a cab. She hated the anxiety and fear she was feeling right now, she hated not knowing what was going on. The singer cursed herself mentally for cutting Leon off when he was about to tell her what happened over the phone. She prayed that Nicole was fine, she prayed that the babies were fine. Brandi loved the kids like an aunt, she didn’t want anything bad happening to them. As she thought about the kids, Brandi wondered whether or not she should contact Evan. He might have not mentioned Nicole’s pregnancy at all over the past three months, but that didn’t change the fact that he was the father. Maybe she should tell him. Yeah, he had to know. Maybe he had a change in his heart but was too proud to let them know that he wanted to be in his children’s life? Yeah, right. Brandi rolled her eyes.

“Brandi?” he said groggily. “Is everything okay?”

“Were you sleeping?” The singer checked her watch and saw that it was only 11 PM.

“Yeah, I had a few drinks and fell asleep.”

“Well, while you were oh-so-busy getting smashed, the mother of your children suffered an accident.”

“What happened to Nicole?” Evan sat up on his bed. “Wait a minute, did you say children?”