Return III

Chapter 22

Michael's POV

Today is the kids' first day of school; and we are a little overwhelmed to send them back. It seems a little too soon, as for everything that has been going on throughout the summer, but the family and I feel that sending the kids back to school will bring normality back into our family.

It is almost hard to believe that Prince is graduated, Paris is a Junior, and the twins are Sophomores in high school. Our beautiful children growing up too quickly; and now we have a baby on the way.

Finding out that Taryn is pregnant excited me and frightened me all at once. At fifty-seven years old, I feel that I am too old to be having a new baby, but to me, the more children the better. I will love this baby just the same as I love my other four children.

After Paris and the twins leave the house for school, Taryn and I start getting ready for her doctors appointment today. It is a check up to see how everything is going, and hearing from the last appointment, everything is just fine. She is roughly seventeen and a half weeks along, and we are supposed to find out the gender today.

"Did you eat, baby?" Taryn calls from the bathroom in our bedroom and I chuckle as I pull a blue button-up shirt through my arms. 

"I should be asking you that, honestly." I say and I can hear her sigh even through the pouring shower water. Soon, the water turns off, and the door slides open. I lean into the frame of the door, and she shrieks, quickly covering herself with a towel.

"Michael!" she yells softly and I laugh, blushing. "Don't look at me!"

"Oh, come on! Why not?" I ask and she glares at me.

"Because I'm so round and fat and, I'm, ugh!" she says and I smile and shake my head. I finish buttoning my shirt and walk into the bathroom. I wrap my arms around her, placing my hands on her bulging belly, and tears begin to fill my eyes.

"I think you're more beautiful like this than you have ever been, sweetheart." I say softly and she sighs once again. 

"You always know how to make me cry." she says, lightly sobbing and I smile down at her belly, then look back up and into her lovely green eyes. I know how emotional women get when they are pregnant, and it is almost amusing. But more importantly, I am mesmerized by how they can endure so much. 

"Can you please get off me so I can get ready?" my wife asks softly and I hesitate, then finally find the courage to pry my hands off of her pregnant belly.

"Sorry." I say softly, then exit the bathroom to give her her space to get ready for the day. I then make my way down stairs and into the kitchen for a small breakfast. I am not very hungry, but I know that I need to eat something. 

My back begins to hurt once again, reminding me that I need to make a doctors appointment for myself as well.

About twenty minutes later, Taryn slowly makes her way down the stairs and I smile at how beautiful she looks. She is not too terribly dressed up, but she did attempt to apply make up.

"You hungry?" I ask, shaking a box of cereal in the air and she nods.

"I'm hungrier than cheetah that can't catch its food when it hasn't eaten in three days." she says and I chuckle. I spin on my heel and open the cabinet to grab her a bowl, but her voice startles me.

"No, I don't want cereal." she says and I smile, turning to face her once again.

"What would you like then, my darling?" I ask and she shakes her head, sighing.

"I don't know, um... can we get McDonald's breakfast? I really want a sausage patty with egg and cheese and french fries and hash browns and-"

"Baby," I say softly, interrupting her and she shifts her weight, placing her hand on her hip. "they don't have french fries at this time of the morning." 

"Okay, then I want all the other things." she says and I nod, carrying my half eaten bowl of cereal to the sink and dumping it. 

"Okay, our appointment is at ten-thirty, so we have roughly an hour and a half." I say and Taryn just nods. I then walk her over to the door, help her put her shoes and jacket on, then do the same for myself.

"Do you have the keys?" I ask and she looks at me mischievously. 

"I want to drive, I don't want you to drive." she says and instead of asking why, I just nod.

"Okay, baby." I say and she smiles. She takes a step towards me, places her hand on my cheek and looks deep into my eyes.

"It's still too dangerous out there for you." she says so softly that I almost struggle to make out the words. I nod in agreement, then kiss her and open the door. She steps out, and I follow her, closing and locking the door before stepping off of the porch.

The drive to McDonald's is not silent whatsoever, and it is amusing to me how much Taryn has to say when it comes to other drivers. I laugh the entire time, and she bashes me for "making fun of her", but instead of arguing, I just tell her how beautiful she is and how much I love her.

When we finally arrive at the clinic, we sign in, and to our surprise, are called in fairly quickly.

The young nurse smiles at us and I try my best to keep my face down, even though she knows about the entire situation. We cannot go anywhere too public or without any kind of security to keep us under watch and protected. And so for that reason, every time we go somewhere, we have to call the guards and have them set up appointments and things like that for us.

"Hello, guys!" Cara says excitedly and Taryn smiles wide. "How are you feeling?" she asks, looking at my wife, who is propped up on the exam table.

"I'm feeling fine, baby hasn't been kicking much, but I'm not worried." Taryn says and my heart sinks as Cara's face turns from smiling to suspicious.

"Well, we'll get you all checked out really quick and you can head on home and plan your shower!" she says, and it lightens my mood slightly. 

Cara tilts the bed back so that Taryn is lying flat on her back, then asks her to lift her top to reveal her belly. Taryn politely obeys, and the nerve on her face is daunting, and I can see her heartbeat through her chest. Cara pushes on Taryn's belly, trying to get the baby to move, but she has no luck. She nervously smiles and Taryn does the same. 

"Okay, same as always, I'll just put this gel on your belly, it'll be cold for a second." she says, then squirts Taryn's belly and places the probe on it, moving it around. We watch as the baby shows up on the screen, and smile with anticipation, but they quickly fade when we see the look on Cara's face.

"You are about nineteen weeks along," she begins slowly, moving the probe around some more. The baby is still, and my heart sinks some more. My heavy breathing picks up as I wait for what the technician is going to say next.

She stares up at the screen impatiently, then quickly removes the probe from Taryn's stomach.

"It's not looking too good," she begins and tears threaten my eyes. "we're gonna have to perform an emergency C-Section." she says and Taryn keeps asking, "why?" and "what's wrong?", but Cara doesn't say another word. She only picks up her office phone and breaks the news to the doctors. And soon after, Taryn is hauled out of the clinic in an ambulance that I am riding in as well to the hospital.