Act like my wife

41. A mother's pain

🕰...Flashback

I paced up and down the living room with my eyes on the vintage clock, too anxious to lie down or eat.
As soon as the sound of his car revved from the gate, I felt myself let out a sigh of relief I didn't realize I had been holding in all this while. He opened the door and walked inside the house. I rushed to meet him... "You have no idea how worried I was, Geraldo. What took you so long to get home?"

He snapped at me. "Get out of my face, you fucking bitch!" He headed straight for our room. He reeked of alcohol and his movements were unsteady.

I walked behind him and watched him fall to the bed. He looked at me and spat more bitter words at me, "You may look like Her, but you will never be Her, and for that, I hate you, Veronica."

End of flashback...🕰

I cried as more waves of contraction hit my body over and over again, like tides in an ocean. I know my first labor was painful, but this one is traumatic. "I need to go to the hospital, PLEASE!!!" My plea continued to fall on deaf ears, Tessy tried her best but it felt futile. I just had to wait a little more. It had been hours since I went into this spiral of pain, hours of heading nowhere. I needed all the help I could get, but Mira wasn't of any.

Now, looking back in hindsight, I understand why Geraldo constantly compared me to a certain mysterious woman. Little did I know back then that the woman he compared me with, was his boss's wife, Mira. There were so many questions floating in my brain, but the second I opened my mouth to ask them, another contraction would hit me and I'd find myself fighting for my life.

"She's bleeding terribly Mira, please, she needs a doctor," At this point, Tessy had dropped her stubbornness and was now begging for Mira's mercy. I have never seen her in such a state, I hate myself for doing this to her.

Mira only sat in her chair in the corner, watching me shriek in misery. I didn't know what was happening to me, this didn't seem like a normal labor.

"Mira!" I wailed as the pain intensified draining the life out of me. "I think I need a C-section, it's not working! I'm gonna lose my baby!"

She chuckled. "Won't that be the best day of my life?" She pushed herself off the chair and walked up to us. "Fortunately for you, I know a thing or two about delivering a baby, but unfortunately for you, I don't intend to do anything."

"Please" Pleaded Tessy.

Mira sat beside me on the bed. She began stroking my hair as tears flowed down my face. "This reminds me of that night you gave birth. Geraldo was going mad with joy over his firstborn child. You took forever to push that little fucker out, too bad we took him from you... and replaced him with Antonio's bastard daughter".

I gritted my teeth as another painful contraction started. "W-where is my son, Mira?" She didn't answer me but continued to stroke my hair.  "Please Mira, from one mother to another, tell me the truth."

She shrugged. "I don't want to." She giggled. "You can't get to keep all the kids, it doesn't work that way. You keep Bella, I keep David"

"David?" I gasped in excitement, I didn't have much strength left in me, so all I could do was whisper, "His name is David"

"Uh-huh," She confirmed. "And he's mine now, he only calls me mommy. You will never find him no matter what you do. Geraldo was going to tell you eventually, so I had to kill him. Now, no one knows where my David is. When I'm done with you, I'll take my Gio and Patrizio, and together, we'll go back to being a happy family."

I pretended to indulge in her stupid fantasy. "And Bella?"

A scowl appeared on her face. "Bella's blood is tainted with Gina's, I would never have her near me."

"You're one to talk when you were having an affair with Geraldo and Antonio at the same time, shame on you." I spat but regretted it immediately when she grabbed a handful of my hair and pulled it so hard I could hear a few strands snapping off.

She tightened her grip. "It's not wise to provoke the only person who has your life in her hands, huh Veronica?"

"I'm sorry," I apologized amid my tears.

"Good." She brought her lips closer to my ear so that I was the only one who heard what she said next... "Antonio was one of the most powerful men in Italy, you think I'd pass off on the opportunity to be with such a guy?don't be stupid. And Geraldo..." She hesitated, "Geraldo was the only man who truly loved me, he would do anything to make me happy, even if it meant destroying his own family." She chuckled. "Sadly for him, I wasn't as crazy about him as he was about me."

At this point, her words had become more distant. I was slipping away into the silence of death, I could feel it. My body was weaker than ever and I was slowly dying. For a moment, it was all over...

Then, something dragged me back to the surface. I opened my eyes and saw Mira with a syringe in her hand, she had injected me with some medication. With her bare hands, she shifted my baby to the right position in my womb. And with the little strength I got from the drug she gave me, I started pushing, and in less than thirty minutes, I gave birth.

***

Through droopy eyes, I watched my baby boy as he fell asleep in my arms. He too was exhausted from the many hours of labor that he didn't cry much, but I could feel him breathing. There was blood everywhere so Tessy was busy trying to clean us up.

Mira took my baby from me and brought her ear to his chest to listen to his heartbeat. "I thought he wouldn't make it, but sadly, he's got your annoying genes." She placed him beside me and took out another syringe filled with colorless fluid from her first aid box.

"What's that for?" I asked.

"Do you still doubt me after I saved your life?" She asked, but I had nothing to say. She injected the fluid into my veins, then picked up my baby and walked towards the door.

"Where are you going with him?!" I yelled as my anxiety crept up.

She rolled her eyes. "Relax, I'm just gonna give him some Vitamin K, and have him tested for any brain injury."

Tessy went after her. "I'm coming with you cause I don't trust you"

I was a bit calm knowing Tessy was with my baby. Slowly, I drowned in sleep, my body was too tired to stay awake. Too tired to know what is happening around me. My eyes were heavy, so I caved into the desire to nap.

In my deep sleep, I heard Tessy call my name but I couldn't answer.