Open Wounds

Chapter 4

"Mommy, why can't you tell me what's going on in your tummy?" Matias asked when Valeria tucked him to bed.

"Because I promised daddy not to tell him or you," she simply said.

"But whyyyy?" he asked again.

Alexander passed by the room exactly at this point of the conversation. He stopped next to the door and listened.

"Because... Daddy wants it to be a surprise for you both," she told him.

"So how come Stephanie knows?"

Alex sighed at this question.

"Because she went with me to the doctor," she replied.

"Can I come with to the doctor next time?" he asked again, half-asleep.

"No, mi amor... But soon as daddy will let me tell you, I will," she kissed him on his forehead and left, when she surprisingly met Alexander behind the door.

"Oh! Oh, hey, honey... Didn't see you there," she said.

"I know, I was... On my way to the bathroom and... I couldn't not listen," he told her and pulled her into his arms.

"It's killing me on the inside, because I want to know too, but it's for our family's safety," he told her.

"I know. And I appreciate it," she said, then each of them went to their own way – he went to the bathroom and she went to the bedroom.

After he stepped out of the shower, he got dressed, then looked at himself in the mirror.

'Life was so simple 5 years ago, when you didn't know Stephanie was your daughter and Valeria didn't move to town, and you didn't have this 5 year old kid jumping all around. You were just Sportacus,' he thought to himself.

'Yeah, life was very simple without your dream life coming true!' said another voice in his head.

'You gotta be kidding yourself, Alex! You love them! You love them with all your heart!' the voice kept saying. He rubbed his temples as if his head was hurting, then he decided to just go to sleep.

Valeria was just reading some articles on her smartphone about twin pregnancies when Alexander hopped under the blanket, so she quickly closed her phone.

"Hey, is everything ok?" she asked when she saw his face.

"Yeah, just... Thinking too much," he said.

"Oh, do you want me to get you a glass of water?" she asked and already sat on the bed with her legs on the carpet.

"No," he stopped her by putting his hand on her stomach.

"I'll be fine," he said and she covered herself again with the blanket.

"Ok, if you're sure," she said, and laid her hand over his as he peacefully went to sleep.

She just sat there, leaning on her pillows and the head of the bed.

She looked up to the ceiling, then closed her eyes and quietly prayed, "god, please make this end."

*****

Meanwhile, in some secret place, somewhere, Mark and his men were ready for some action.

"I want The Sportacus dynasty to end, once and for all! They always had everything, all the people liked them... And only I had to break something in the house only so my own mother will notice me!" Mark yelled.

"I spied on his wife and daughter today, they were going to a doctors clinic from some reason," one of the men said.

"Ok, this might actually can help us," Mark looked at him, then at another man.

"Jacob! I need you to dress up as doctor or something and go to this hospital and get Valeria Scheving files. I need to know if we're about to lose her, because if so, destroying Sportacus 10 and his little children will be easy," Mark evilly smiled.

"No problem sir," the man named Jacob nodded.

"Good."

*****

At around 5:00 in the morning, Alexander woke up to the feeling of Valeria leaving the bed, and then heard her throwing up in the bathroom.

"...Here we go again..." he said when their bedroom door was opened.

"Daddy, is mommy ok?" Matias asked as he rubbed his eyes.

"Yes, she's fine... It's just the baby making her sick, that's normal. Now go back to bed, you have another two hours until you really have to wake up," Alexander smiled weakly.

"Ok," Matias said and climbed onto his parents' bed.

Alexander laughed a little, but moved the blanket so his son could climb in and cuddle against his chest. It has been a long time since he slept with them like this. In fact, the last time was around 6 months ago, when he was still scared of monsters. But both Alex and Valeria promised him that once and for all, monsters did not exist.

When Valeria was back in the room, she saw her this beautiful image of her husband and son cuddling together. She kept this as a mental picture in her mind, then went back to sleep.

*****

Around 9:00AM, Jacob went to the hospital, pretending to be a male nurse.

He got in very easily, nobody was suspicious.

He reached to the files, and looked for the letter S.

Then he found it – Scheving Valeria.

He opened her folder when nobody was looking, and what he discovered there he knew his boss wouldn't like.

He immediately called him.

"Hello, boss?"

"Hello, Jacob! Well, you got anything for me?" Mark asked.

"Yeah, but you're definitely not going to like it," Jacob said, and then told him the news.

"SHE IS PREGNANT?! WITH TWINS?!" Mark shouted.

"Ok, ok, I'll think of a new plan," he told Jacob and hung up the phone.

"Ugh! This isn't going like I planned!" he groaned.

Then an idea came up to his head.

"But... If she's pregnant... and with twins... It could also ruin the family faster when I kill her," he came to conclusion, then he laughed wickedly.

*****

Alex was awake since 9:00AM, since he got a strange feeling. The strange feeling again. He looked at the way of the stairs, seeing his wife coming down (after throwing up for the third time this morning).

'She doesn't deserve any of this,' he thought to himself.

"Oh my god, my stomach is burning!" she groaned.

"Could you please be a sweetheart and make me some tea?" she asked and groaned again.

'If now she's in pain, I don't want to know what Mark will do to her,' he thought again.

"Sure, my love," he smiled and went to the kitchen.

"There you go," he brought her the hot cup of tea, then hugged and kissed her cheek.

"Thank you," she smiled weakly.

"And thank you for being the most wonderful and understanding wife a man could have," he told her, and kissed her again on the cheek and stroke her stomach.

"Oh my god, we're so sweet it's making me sick again," she laughed and took another sip of her tea.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" she asked as she sat down in the living room.

"Yeah, sure..." Alex said hesitantly and sat down next to her.

"Why did Mati sleep in our bed this morning?" she smiled.

Alex let out a breath of relief and laughed.

"Well, you woke him up, so I told him that you were fine and that he can go back to sleep. So he did went back to sleep. In our bed," he laughed.