Lullabye (Rockstar #6) (2 page)

“M
R. KINGSTON, YOU
need to calm down and let us do our job,” the nurse tells me. I don’t even bother to look at her. I keep my gaze fixed on Lucy who woke up for a few seconds and went back under.

“What the
fuck
is taking so long?” I bellow.

“Jesse,” Dr. Mackenzie says as he puts on a pair of gloves, “calm down. You’re not doing any good by barking at everyone in here.”

“Fuck that—”

“If Lucy can hear you, is that what you want her to hear?” he asks with a lift of his brows.

Asshole. He nailed me on that one. Lucy would hate me giving them a hard time, but fuck! I need to know she and the babies are okay. That’s all I want to know.

“Now, let’s take a look.” He reviews the printout from the fetal monitor they immediately hooked Lucy up to the minute I placed her on this bed. I hate waiting. I hate uncertainty. I hate that my wife—my life—is lying here with our babies, unconscious, and I can’t do a fucking thing about it.

“There are a few irregularities.”

My heart drops into my stomach. “What? What do you mean by ‘irregularities’?”

He pulls a paper out of Lucy’s chart and lays it down next to the new one.

“Shit.”

“The changes are significant. I’m going to do a pelvic and see if we need to deliver these babies right now.”

“What about Lucy’s blood pressure?” I can’t stop worrying about her. If I have to choose,
Christ
, I think, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands, if I have to choose, I’ll always choose her. I can’t breathe without her
.

“No bleeding,” Dr. Mackenzie announces and I breathe a little easier. “Those babies have dropped and they’re in there pretty good. Her cervix is thinned. Definitely 100% effaced.”

“What does that mean?”

“Dilated to three,” he announces before sitting back and looking up at me. “It means that our Lucy is ready to birth these babies.”

“Shit. It’s too early, right? They need two more weeks.” I panic. What could this mean for them? We looked up the potential complications for premature birth for triplets and there are way too many to list.

“When she came in two days ago, we did an ultrasound and the babies are estimating three to four pounds each. They’re triplets so they’re going to be tiny no matter what we do, but honestly, Jesse, those are some pretty good-sized babies,” the doc explains.

“It’s no wonder she fainted. Christ, carrying around a load like that in her tiny body…” I trail off.

“We’re going to do a Cesarean section. Don’t panic. It’s what’s been planned, if you remember,” he reminds me.

“Yeah, yeah,” I murmur, looking down at Lucy and then to her enormous belly housing our children. “So she’s carrying nine to twelve pounds in there?”

“Maybe more,” the nurse interjects and I flinch.

“Christ. How the hell can she walk? How can she
sleep
? That has to be the most uncomfortable thing,” I say aloud to no one.

“Let’s get her prepped for surgery,” Dr. Mackenzie tells the nurse. I look over at her name tag. Elaine. This isn’t something Giovanni could have set up for, so no Toni. I almost wish she were here. A familiar face and someone who I know I can trust to do their best with my family—not that Dr. Mackenzie won’t. I’m thinking nurses and shit.

“You’re scrubbing in, right?” Nurse Elaine asks and I nod. “If you want to notify your family and friends, now’s the time to do that. It’ll take a few minutes to draw the labs and get her set up.”

I nod then lean down to kiss Lucy’s lips. “I’ll be right back, Cupcake. I’m going to let everyone know our babies are about to be born,” I whisper to her. God. Babies. Three. No time for panic now. I’ll save it for later. I head toward the door then pause and the nurse looks at me. “You won’t leave her alone?”

She smiles. “No, Mr. Kingston. I won’t leave her alone.”

Still, I hesitate. How do I know—

“I promise, Mr. Kingston. I won’t leave her alone,” she tells me sincerely.

“Okay. I’ll hurry,” I say then rush out the door and down the hall to the waiting room.

Everyone’s quiet but fidgeting in their own way. Meggie with the twirl of her hair, Sera with her constant pacing, and Ben with his head down, elbows resting on his knees, his fingers laced together as if he’s praying. Hell, maybe he is. Maybe I should.

“Jesse,” Sera says, rushing toward me.

“They’re going to do a C-section,” I announce. No point sugar coating it.

“When?” Xander asks.

“Right now. They’re getting her ready. I don’t have much time. They’re letting me go in with her.”

“Is she awake?” Coley asks.

“She was, then she conked out again. Who can blame her really?” I say, starting to pace. “I mean, those babies are each three to four pounds, maybe more. All of that in my little Cupcake’s belly. Christ.” I run my hands through my hair. “She’s been carrying all that around. How the hell is she even able to sleep comfortably?”

“Likely she’s not,” Sera admits. “But our Luce won’t complain about those babies of yours. Ever. They’re her children, and if you think this is trying, wait until you’ve got triplets running around.” She laughs and the panic threatens again. Later. I’ll panic later.

“Do you think it’s my fault? I upset her. It could have spiked her blood pressure,” Xander asks, concern etched on his face.

“Nah, man. That much weight in such a tiny body, anyone’s blood pressure would be high,” I tell him, trying to reassure him.

“Yeah, okay,” is all he says.

“Dude, your dad would have said something if it was caused by an incident,” Kennedy tells Xander.

“True. And he’d be kicking my ass from here to Timbuktu.”

“That’s a fact,” Megs agrees.

“I gotta go. I’ll ask if they can come give you updates. I don’t know how long this shit takes. Fuck,” I say then look at Coley.

“Fuck the swear jar,” she tells me. I smirk and nod.

“Yeah. Fuck that fucking fucker,” Jace says.

“That’s taking it a bit far,” Ethan teases.

“Fuck it,” Jace says again.

“Get ‘em all out now because pretty soon there are going to be babies among us!” Ben announces.

There’s that panic again. Fuck me. Am I ready for this? Will I be a good father? Christ knows I fuck everything up. I nearly fucked me and Lucy up how many times? The fear must show on my face because Sera comes up and gives me a reassuring hug—a long and tight one.

“You’ve got this,” she tells me and it reminds me of when Lucy and I went through so much bullshit. We had it then and we’ve got it now. I hug Sera tighter.

“Thanks, sis. I needed that.”

“Anytime, big bro. Anytime.”

I
WAKE UP
and my back aches something fierce. It’s no wonder. I’m lying on it. I’m not supposed to do that. The baby book said lying on your back can cut off circulation to the heart, affecting not only me, but the babies as well. Where’s Jesse? My body pillow? I need to turn to my left side—not the right as that’s not good for the liver. Yeah, I know I’ve become a worry wart, but there are three babies in there and it’s difficult enough with them pressing on my bladder.

“Jesse?”

“Right here,” he calls out, but he sounds far away.

I look around and see him over by a sink wearing some green hospital scrubs?

“What’s going on?” I ask calmly, much more calm than I’m actually feeling. My heart rate begins to accelerate, the beeping on the machine picking up speed as the level of my fear elevates.

“Calm down, Lucy,” Dr. Mackenzie soothes. “You fainted. Your blood pressure was way too high and we’re doing our best to get that down right now—it was down until just now.”

Did he just chastise me for freaking out?

“Well pardon me if I’m a whole lot worried when I wake up in the middle of an operating room, my husband in hospital scrubs, and you standing next to some pretty fucking evil looking surgical instruments!” I bite back. The hell if I’m going to take this lying down—well, that pun is definitely not intended.

“Relax, Lucy,” the nurse requests and I take a deep breath.

A nurse is helping Jesse put gloves on. Surely he’s not going to go anywhere down there and watch. I’m not sure I like the idea of my husband seeing my insides. Shit like that can ruin relationships. Imagine it: we’re fucking and while he’s inside me, he starts picturing what it looks like in there. Can you picture it? What a turn off.

Jesse strides over, covered from head to toe in the green hospital scrubs.

“Jesse,” I breathe.

He takes my hand. “It’s all right, Luce.”

“What’s going on?” I ask.

He leans down, resting his forehead against mine. “I was so scared, Cupcake. You passed out. I mean, out cold. And you woke up for only a short bit then crashed again. The second time the doc assured me was because you were tired from the meds they were giving you, but it scared the fuck out of me. I won’t lie. I don’t ever want anything to happen to you.”

“I’ll do my best,” I tell him blandly.

“I’m not fucking around, Luce. We need to talk when we get home,” he tells me, pulling back and looking into my eyes, the seriousness in them frightening me a bit.

“Okay, babe,” I agree. I don’t know what’s going on in his mind, but there’s no time for that right now. Nope, no time—not when Dr. Mackenzie is talking to another doctor, who’s holding one hell of a big needle. “Uh…”

“It’s for the spinal. This way you can be awake during the procedure as you discussed with Dr. Mackenzie,” the nurse informs me.

“Wait. Hold the phone. He’s going to stick that needle into my spine?” I ask with a squeak.

“You’ll barely feel it. Before he’s even done, you’ll be numb,” she reassures me.

“Hmm. Color me skeptical.”

“What color is that crayon?” Dr. Mackenzie asks.

“Now I know where Xander gets it,” I tease.

He shrugs. “Damn proud of that fact.”

“If you saw him re-enacting
Magic Mike
dances to
My Pony
I think you might think differently,” Jesse relays.

The nurses laugh, as does the anesthesiologist. At least that’s what he introduces himself as.

“Hi there, Mrs. Kingston. I’m Dr. Franklin.”

He’s an older gentleman, around my dad’s age I’d say, and I eye him cautiously. “Hi. Don’t hurt me.”

He chuckles. “I’ll do my best.”

“That better be good enough,” I tell him and mean it.

“Since you’re already tilted a bit to the left, let’s get you all the way over.”

I try to move but it hurts. Everything hurts. I wish I could have held out the two weeks left but, selfishly, I’m really glad to get these babies out of me so I don’t have to pee every five seconds and can sleep comfortably—not that I’ll be getting much sleep with triplets.

I jump when something cold touches my back. “We’re just cleaning up the area for you, sterilizing it so there’s no risk of infection.”

I nod. “Okay.” I look at Jesse who’s watching what they’re doing. “What are they doing?”

“Using some sponge thing with some orange-y solution that almost looks like iodine on your skin,” Jesse informs me.

“Is that going to stain my skin?” I ask. “Not that it’s going to matter, I’m just curious.”

“Nope,” Dr. Franklin assures me. “It’ll come right off when you’re to the point you’re ready to shower.”

“We get most of it off in recovery if we can,” the nurse tells me.

“Cool. You’re going to stick me now, aren’t you?” I ask.

“How’d you know?” Jesse asks.

“I can smell it. He did the whole squirt-a-bit-out-of-the-syringe-first thing, right?”

Jesse nods.

“There you go.”

“You’ll feel some pressure in your back now,” the doctor tells me and then he pokes me.

“Squeeze my hand, Cupcake,” Jesse tells me.

I breathe through the pain. This shit hurts. “Where are my rings?” I ask.

“Sera’s holding them for you. Mine too.”

Inhale through my nose, exhale out my mouth. “Owie, owie, owie,” I say, closing my eyes tightly and squeezing Jesse’s hand when I feel a sting deep in my back.

“We’re putting in the port for the continuous anesthesia now, Lucy. Almost done,” Dr. Franklin tells me.

I nod once, then continue to breathe deeply, in and out, trying not to think about the pain.