Page 60 of Forced By the Bratva King
“Wh…what is it?” I asked, tensing up as my brain was thinking a million and one things at once. Confusion settled in, and I was disoriented for a second. “Is it the babies?”
“Ahhh, I think my water just broke,” she strained to say, staggering, but I was quick to hold her. “The babies are coming, Artem…they’re coming,” she announced with trembling lips.
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“Ahhh!” Her wails echoed through the ward as she lay on her back in the labor room, sweating profusely.
Her grip on my palm tightened the louder she screamed, and I could tell that she was in so much pain; it was obvious. I’d never been more scared in my life despite the type of danger that I faced every day. Sweat dampened her dress, her face was moist, her pupils were dilated, her skin was paler than usual, and her voice was so faint when she managed to speak.
The first baby had already been born, a boy, and she was on her second delivery now.
“Artem, Artem…” she called with almost a whisper. She was so tired and completely drained, her breaths coming out in short pants.
My heart ached, and I whispered, “I’m here. I’m still here.”
“I don’t think that I can….”
“Yes, you can!” I rebuked the negativity creeping into her mind.
“Almost there, Sierra, you’re doing a good job. Just one more push,” Dr. Everest urged her.
I looked my wife in the eyes, encouraging her with my gaze. “You can do this; I know you can.”
She shook her head, but I wouldn’t let her utter one more negative word.
“Listen to me. You are Sierra Tarasov, and you never give up. You won’t start now. You can do this.”
She nodded in affirmation, drawing in a deep breath with determination coloring her eyes. Sierra let out a series of sharp exhales in an attempt to gather momentum.
“That’s it. That’s the spirit,” I said, my voice helping to charge her up.
“Alright, Sierra, I need you to push with everything in you. Can you do that?” Dr. Everest asked her.
My wife nodded, panting.
“Good. Now push!”
Sierra strained so hard that veins lined her forehead and her whole body stiffened as she pushed with what seemed to be her last strength. Her eyes were squeezed shut, her teeth were gritted, and her lips trembled.
Seconds later, the cry of a baby filled the room, and her body dropped to the bed, exhausted. It wasn’t until she loosened her grip on my palm that I realized how firm it had been all this time.
“You did it,” I said to her, chuckling as I wiped the sweat on her face.
She was too tired and too excited to speak, but the smile on her face was priceless.
“It’s a girl,” the doctor announced with a bright smile.
At the sound of that, I felt a different kind of joy gradually creeping into my heart, and all I wanted to do was hold that cute little baby girl. Smiling, I stretched out my arms, and the baby was handed to me. She looked so adorable, and the moment that I carried her, she stopped crying. I felt a deep connection to this child, and I knew at that moment that I would kill for her; I’d go to war for her, and no harm would ever come to her for as long as I lived.
I jerked my head toward my wife, and there she was, cradling our baby boy in her arms with a beautiful grin spread across her face as she looked down at it.
“This is the best gift I’ve ever received,” I said to her, sitting on one side of the bed. “Thank you.” First, I kissed her forehead; then, I moved down to her lips. “I love you, Sierra.”
“And I love you, too, Artem.”
Epilogue – Sierra
“Mikhail, Marina! Get back here!” I shouted in an attempt to corral the twins as they made a break for freedom, dashing out of the car the moment Artem pulled over by Kara’s and Frank’s driveway. “Oh, my God, these two are gonna be the death of me, fuck.” I slapped my forehead, frustrated by how difficult they could be at times.