an: Well, here's the next chapter. It was originally going to end differently, but the story seems to write itself, you know, and to that end, you guys are getting an extra chapter! Be happy! However, writing three chapters in one week is going to be crazy. I think I'm going to combine the last interlude and the epilogue, okay?
I only got three reviews on the last chapter! *cries* Come on, you guys! You're the ones that brought me to over 100 reviews… I have faith in you. Don't let me down now!
Oh, and check out my story in the collection "Tea and Biscuits for the Takari fan's Soul" by says TB—in the collection it's just "Takari Story," but it's really supposed to be titled "What Dreams May Come." =D
By the way, I revised the beginning of "Together Again," now that I know how the story turned out. And there's an extra scene in Chapter 1 of "Together Again," so go re-read it if you haven't!
One more thing – in the next chapter, you'll be treated to lots of songs, yay!
Okay. Now read. It's kind of sad at the end, but yeah… anyway, you know they're not mine, except Aaron, Hope and Steve.
*
One Light, One Hope
Chapter Twelve: Disaster
With the prospect of a new baby on the way, news spread around fast. The first to know, was of course, Aaron. I could tell he was really confused about how in seven months or so, there would be another baby, even though he couldn't really talk yet. He still seemed excited, though.
Tai and Sora were beyond excited, considering that Sora due pretty soon, and that her girls would have another cousin not too much younger than them. And Mimi and Joe, of course, were excited as well. It seemed that everyone was more excited about this baby than Kari and I were. Oh, we were happy we were going to have another child. But it just seemed that… life was getting harder. Kari was irritable when she got too big to go to work, claiming that we didn't have enough money. So I worked harder to get the first of my three novels out, and then she got irritable that I didn't spend much time with her. I shook my head. Women.
Our new baby was due at the beginning of August, right when it was really hot and muggy in New York. Aaron was getting into everything, and it was hard for Kari to chase after him, now that she was pregnant. I tried to help out, but it was hard when I was the only one trying to make money, and once again, the royalties were sporadic, so there were times when there wasn't enough. Michael sent us mp3's sometimes, so that Kari could still listen, but it wasn't really the same. Life was stressful.
A bit of good news came in March, when Tai called us to tell us that Sora had beautiful, healthy twin baby girls. "I named one Kari, for my sister," he explained. "Sora named the other girl Marina, because she thought it was a pretty name. And then we decided to lengthen Kari's name to Karina, so that we wouldn't be confused."
Kari laughed. "Do you realize their names rhyme?"
"No, I didn't," Tai said, laughing.
"Yeah, and their names rhyme with your last name. When they're old enough, you are never going to hear the end of it."
We all laughed, at the little ray of light in our lives.
As the months progressed, and Kari's due date got closer, I began to get more jittery, especially since I still had that convention to go to. We had decided we didn't want to know if our second child was going to be a boy or a girl, so we picked out names for both possibilities.
"Light?" I asked her one night, when we were lying in bed.
She turned. "Hmm?"
"If the baby is a girl… can we name her Hope?"
Kari smiled. "Well, alright, since Aaron has my crest name."
I shrugged. "We couldn't have named him Hope, now could we?"
Laughing, Kari shook her head. "I guess not. That's a pretty name. Hope." She looked down at her slightly rounded stomach. "Are you my little girl?" She waited, to see if there would be any reaction, when all of a sudden, her eyes widened. "What?" I asked, alarmed. "What is it?"
Kari said nothing, just took my hand and put it over her stomach. "Hold on. Maybe she'll do it again."
"She?" I raised an eyebrow. "How are you sure all of a—" I was cut off when I felt a movement underneath the skin. I turned to my wife, my eyes widening. "Was that…"
"That was the baby kicking," she said, a sheen of tears making her eyes sparkle more than usual. "She can feel us."
"How are you sure she's a she?" I asked, then laughed at the redundancy of my own question.
"Because when we suggested the name Hope, that was the first time the baby kicked. Maybe it's just coincidence, but I have a feeling she can hear us and wants to let us know that we're right."
I sighed. "I just hope you're not disappointed when it's a boy."
Kari shook her head. "You already have your boy. I want a little girl, too."
I wrapped my arms around her as we prepared to sleep. "We will see, Light. We will see."
The weeks came and went, and as Kari's due date loomed even closer, something began to bother me, and continued to bother me for a while. It had to do with the convention—I had never told Kari about it, with the pregnancy and all. I knew that it was extremely close to her due date, and I would be gone for Aaron's birthday as well, but if I wanted to keep making money to support them, I had to go. I didn't know exactly how to tell Kari this, so I threw myself into my writing. The ironic thing is that my writing was what was bothering me in the first place.
One night, after trying to keep my distance from Kari for a while, I felt a hand on my leg as I sat at the computer, yet again. I looked down and found Aaron, very close to his second birthday. "Hey you," I greeted him. "How's it going?"
He made the cutest sad face and told me, "Mommy sad."
I looked at him peculiarly. "Really?"
Aaron nodded.
I sighed. "I'll go see what's up, okay? Thanks for letting me know." Before I could get up, he hugged my legs tight. "Love you, Daddy."
I smiled, picked him up, threw him in the air—something he loved—and caught him, then kissed him on the forehead. "Love you too, Aaron." Then I carried him over to our (Kari's and my) room, where I could hear sniffles. Aaron's big blue eyes filled with tears, as he struggled to get down. I put him down and he rushed to his mother. "No sad. Daddy's here."
She turned and saw me in the doorway, then turned back to Aaron. At that moment, my heart broke, seeing Kari so hurt. I knew then that I had blown it. "Kari."
She didn't turn, although she did stop sniffling. I decided it was time to tell her. "Aaron, go play."
"No," Kari protested. "Let him stay. I need him."
What a blow. My heart broke just a bit more as I sat down on the bed next to her and touched her shoulder. Surprisingly, she didn't recoil like I thought she would, so I took it as a good thing. "Light… I'm so sorry. I just… something's been bothering me lately, and I didn't want to tell you because, well, I was afraid you'd act like this, and I didn't want you to."
"You could have told me and then I would decided," she said, a very scalding note in her voice. I sighed. "I know I shouldn't keep things from you and I'm sorry. I just… there's a convention I need to go to next month, in order to keep my contract, and I know it's really close to your due date. I just… Kari, this is my only way of contributing to this family monetarily, my way of providing for us. Isn't that my job? I'm just sorry I didn't tell you sooner." When her back was still turned to me, I sighed and said, "I hope you forgive me," and got up and left, sitting in our too-cushy sofa and just stared at the wall.
The next morning, I was still there. I sighed at the crick in my neck and went in to check on Kari. "Hey, you okay?"
She looked over at me and smiled—a tiny smile, but still a smile. "Yeah. I'm just… I thought a lot about what you said last night, and I understand. I just… you know you can tell me anything, T.K. I don't want us to be keeping anything from each other."
"Does this mean I can sit on the bed now?" I asked mischievously.
Kari smiled a little bigger. "Yeah, the baby and I missed you."
I eagerly, maybe too eagerly, jumped on the bed, effectively making Kari giggle, and hugged her tight. "I love you, T.K."
I grinned. "I love you, too, Kari."
A week later, I was on my way to the dreaded convention. On the plane, I thought back to what I had told Kari and Aaron, trying to quell the rising fear that I had of flying in planes…
*Flashback*
"Kar, make sure that if anything should happen, you call Joe as soon as you can, okay?"
She smiled. "I have had a baby before, you know."
"Still, though. I won't be here and I want to make sure that you'll be okay. It's not like it's a piece of cake."
Kari laughed heartily. "You can say that again." Then she slowly sobered. "T.K., please make sure you're okay. I don't want to go through this without you."
"Well… she's not due for another two weeks, so hopefully that'll be enough time."
"So the baby's a she, huh?" Kari asked, raising an eyebrow.
I shrugged. "You never know." Then I turned to Aaron. "Hey, buddy. I know it'll be your birthday soon, and I promise I'll bring you something from where I'm going, okay?"
Aaron grinned his trademark grin. "Kay, Daddy."
I gave them both huge hugs. "I love you guys. Aaron, make sure you take care of Mommy, okay?"
He nodded. "And Kari… remember, at the first sign of anything fishy… call Joe. And let me know. But don't try to wait for me, I won't make it in time, I'm pretty sure. I don't want you in danger just because you want me there."
She sighed. "T.K…"
"Kari, please. I am more concerned for your health and your safety than anything else. Just do it for me, okay?"
Kari nodded, slowly. "Okay."
I swept her in a huge hug. "I love you."
"T.K…. be safe," Kari implored, in my ear.
I kissed her in the forehead in reply, saying, "I promise," and then picked up my bags and headed out the door.
*Real time*
Now, flying farther and farther away from my family, I sighed. The convention was only for a few days, but I missed them already. I tried to distract myself by writing some stuff on a notebook that I always carried, but it didn't quite work. Finally, I gave up and tried to sleep, but dreams of my family haunted me. I had a feeling something was going to happen.
After too many long hours, I got off the plane and was headed to my hotel. It was a decent morning hour when I got there, and the convention was scheduled to start about an hour and a half later, so as soon as I got into the hotel, I unpacked really fast and headed over to the meeting rooms.
Six very interesting hours later, I wearily made my way back to the hotel room. The jet lag was starting to set in, and all I was concentrating on was getting one foot in front of the other. After I completed my mission, I got ready for bed, and right before I went to sleep, I noticed the blinking light on my phone. Hastily, I called to retrieve my message, and it went something like this:
"Hey, T.K. It's Joe. Listen, Kari was complaining about stomach pains, so I'm over here now. It doesn't seem like much right now, so she should be okay. I'll call you if anything else happens."
I nodded to myself… I was glad to have Kari in such safe hands.
Later that night, I was interrupted from my dream of flying pandas attacking Tai and Matt by the shrill sound of the phone. "'Lo?"
"T.K., it's Mimi. Kari's going into labor!" she said, breathlessly.
"What?" I said, already pulling myself out of bed. "But… her due date…"
"Well, this kid's determined to get here sooner, I guess." In the background, I could hear Kari yelling, and I sighed. "Hurry up, T.K. Get here as soon as you can."
"I will. I'll keep in touch." I hung up and rushed around my room super fast, taking a record two minutes to pack up. Then, I went down to the desk and told them I had to leave, and then rushed to the airport to find a flight.
The first available flight was scheduled, luckily, an hour from the time I got to the airport. I rushed frantically to the ticket counter and was put on standby, not knowing if I was able to get a seat. It was a crowded flight, even though it was late, and I was seriously worried. I told the attendant about my predicament and she pledged to help, but couldn't promise anything. Thankfully, I was able to get my seat, and when the time came, I rushed onto the plane.
It felt like forever until the plane finally took off, and even longer for the flight. It takes maybe about two hours to fly from Chicago to New York, so I was a little restless while we were flying. I kept tapping my pencil, or shaking my leg, until the guy next to me got annoyed and asked me to stop.
"Listen, what would you do if you knew your wife was in labor and this was the fastest way to get to her?" I snapped bitterly at him.
He shrugged. "Don't have one. Now will you stop?"
"Fine." I resorted to staring out the window, wondering if my second child would be a boy or a girl, what he or she would look like, and most importantly, how Kari was holding up…
A very tiring two and a half hours later, I practically ran into the hospital. "Kari Takaishi?" I asked the receptionist.
"Room 529, sir."
"Thank you." I rushed into the elevator and waited very impatiently for it to get to the fifth floor. When it dinged, I darted out and counted the rooms. "514, 512, 506… I'm going the wrong way!" I exclaimed in frustration, then found my way back to the elevator and headed in the other direction. On the way there, I passed by the nursery, the same one I had paced in front of almost exactly two years ago, when Aaron was born. I smiled at the new lives that were getting acquainted with the world. I touched my fingers to the glass, trying to see if my new son or daughter was there. Seeing those innocents calmed me down, and I tried to look my best so that I would look decent to meet my next baby.
Taking smaller strides now, I walked calmly down the hallway, even though the underlying feeling of anticipation was definitely still there. Finally, on my right side, I reached room 529, and was about to knock on it, and then realized that I had nothing to give Kari. Sighing, I knocked on it anyway. "Can I come in?" I poked my head in the door and found the most amazing sight.
Kari was sitting on the bed, holding the smallest little bundle of blankets and blonde hair I'd ever seen. She had a tired, but dazzling smile on her face, and her eyes lit up with tears when she saw me. At this sight, I now definitely regretted that I had nothing to give her, when here she was, holding my…
"It's a girl, T.K.," Kari whispered. "She's sleeping."
Wordlessly, I kissed my wife on the forehead. "I'm so sorry I couldn't be here for you. I rushed as fast as I could, really, I did."
"I know." She smiled again. "You look it."
"Do I?" I looked down at my rumpled clothes, then at the baby. "I'm sorry, baby, that you have to see me for the first time like this, but your daddy got here as soon as he could." I looked down at the tiny bundle. "What's her name?"
"What else? Hope."
I nearly started crying when I heard that. "Oh, my little angel, Hope… that's a perfect name."
"I knew that was the name you wanted for her, so that's what I told the nurse her name was," Kari explained. Before I could ask another question, she beat me to the answer. "She doesn't have a middle name yet."
"I was just going to ask that. You want to give it to her or should I?" I asked her.
"What do you think would be a good name for her?" Kari asked me. "I can't come up with a good one."
I gazed at my daughter, and thought about the family she was coming into. Suddenly, it came to me. "Akira."
Kari looked at me a bit strangely, then looked down at Hope, then nodded. "Hope Akira. It works." She smiled. "Do you want to hold her, love?"
I nodded. "Please?"
"Of course." She gingerly handed me our daughter and I held her gently in my arms. "Happy birthday, my little girl." I kissed her on her tiny, tiny forehead and she suddenly yawned. "Oh…" I said to Kari. "I think she's waking up."
Sure enough, Hope opened her eyes and I found that she had the exact same chocolate-ruby eyes as her mother. I smiled at her. "Hi, love. I'm your daddy."
As soon as I said that, I swear she gave me a smile back, and my heart melted. I looked over at my wife, who was watching the scene with tears in her eyes. It was always an amazing experience when a baby was born, especially our own, but something about Hope bonded me to her even more than Aaron. Maybe it was because she was a girl… maybe it was because she had my crest name. I didn't know exactly what it was, but I felt the familiar wave of unconditional love wash over me.
"Kari," I whispered, over the baby.
"Yes?"
"I love you. Thank you for giving me a beautiful daughter."
With Hope coming two weeks early, she coincidentally shared a birthday with her big brother. Aaron was staying with Mimi and Joe, and so when the visiting hours started, which was a few hours later—Kari and I both fell asleep in the room until then—Aaron rushed into the room. "Baby?" he asked. Then he saw me. "Daddy!" He ran over to me and I picked him up. "Hey, buddy. The baby's sleeping right now. But you know something?"
He looked up at me, questioningly, with his big blue eyes.
"Today is your birthday, too. You and the baby—it's a girl, by the way, and her name is Hope—you guys have the same birthday."
Aaron's eyes lit up and he smiled. Just then, a nurse came by with the bassinet and Hope was making tiny, tiny baby sounds. Kari rose to take the baby out of the bassinet and Aaron went over to the bed to have a look at his new sister.
"That's the baby, Aaron. That's your little sister. Make sure you take care of her, okay?"
He stood on his tiptoes, but still couldn't see, so I lifted him up onto the bed, next to Kari. He made this little sound, like he was exhaling, kind of, and tentatively stuck out one finger to touch the baby. "Be careful, Aaron," Kari chided him, and he gently poked her—not even poked her—tiny hand. "Little," Aaron declared.
Kari smiled. "Yeah, she's tiny, isn't she? But she's so beautiful."
Aaron made that gasping/exhaling sound again and Kari turned her attention to Hope once more. Sure enough, she was opening her eyes again. Aaron stared, wide-eyed, at Kari, and Kari nodded. "Yeah, she's a little baby, just like you were. Isn't it amazing?"
I smiled over all their heads, just happy to be a family. And, another amazing thing happened—Aaron said his first full sentence on his second birthday. I know it's kinda early for kids to be talking that soon, but it was truly amazing to hear him say, clearly, "Happy birthday, baby." Somehow, that image stayed with me, as clearly as it happened, until now.
The next four years were very tumultuous. Kari began working again, and about two years after Hope was born, Stratus Records exploded when they discovered the biggest thing in pop music since Britney Spears (except she wasn't big then). To this end, Kari started working furiously over there, and wasn't there much for us. I, on the other hand, was sick and tired of the contract I was working for, and so I quit. It wasn't worth going through all that trouble, especially now that I had two kids. The only thing was that we didn't have the extra income. So, in the hopes of finding a decent publisher, I started publishing my stories on FictionPress.com (AN: shameless plug for FictionPress.com—and my stories there that have no reviews… haha), and got many comments which they called reviews. One of these reviews was a publisher. He had said that he enjoyed my work very much, and even recognized my name, and he would be happy to pick up what I had. However, he was based in California. He—his name was Daniel—had said that it wasn't too hard to get manuscripts from here to there, but he preferred that I was as close to the publishing company as possible. I told him that wasn't an option at the moment, and he understood, and he would publish my work, but if there was any opening whatsoever into moving to California, then he would be really happy.
So I threw myself into writing again. It was a good arrangement, because I was there for Aaron and Hope too. Kari had decided that she was making enough money at Stratus, so she dropped out of school. It was a shame, too—she was about two quarters off from graduation when she decided to drop out, and all she really needed was her teaching credential. But, apparently, she didn't mind her job too much—actually, it was a great job, we both had to admit—and it was our primary source of income, so we were all okay with it. Her parents weren't too happy, but when she told them how much she made a year, they softened a bit. See, she was very ambitious, and soon was promoted to some fancy job with people under her to do some work.
Aaron was growing up to be quite the storyteller. He had an imagination that was amazing. He gave me some inspiration for my stories, too, sometimes, and I started a project to branch out into children's books, thanks to him. He also loved his toy camera and loved taking pictures of things. We bought him a really cheap Polaroid camera, too, one of those sticker ones, and he'd take pictures, which would end up being of people's knees, or shoes, or the wall two feet under the window… it was really funny, but he had a penchant for photography—like his mom before him.
And of course, he was a great big brother. As he and Hope were growing up, he made sure to always take care of her, make sure she didn't fall when she was trying to walk, make sure she didn't stick her hand into the electrical socket—I think he had personal experience with that one—and just kept her company and played with her. They had a great brother/sister dynamic, and I was really happy that we had decided to have another child.
As for Hope… she was truly the anchor that held the family together. She had a charming little smile, even when she was still a baby, and as soon as she could talk, she would hum little tunes and sing to herself. We got her a toy ukulele for her second birthday, and she'd go around and plink at it for hours on end. Aaron would make up funny words to her plinking, and it was the funniest thing. I even got one of them on tape one time, just in case Kari didn't see one. But she did—they did it all the time.
Kari's workaholicness (is that a word?) didn't bother me too much before, but now that we had two kids and her career was taking off, sometimes I felt like she was neglecting us. I didn't care if she neglected me, but Aaron and Hope needed their mother, too, and she wasn't there nearly as much as I wanted her to be. Every time I tried to talk about it, she'd say, "But T.K., I can't get that much time off," or, "T.K., without my job, we wouldn't have anything," or something like that. It truly annoyed me that all she could think about was her career. Growing up in a broken home with a mother that was a workaholic, I knew from personal experience. She didn't have that kind of perspective—she had had a house with both her parents and her big brother Tai. I didn't even see Matt all that much.
One day, I persuaded her to take some time off. "We need a vacation. We need to go far away, take the kids somewhere where they'll have a blast." It was just after Aaron's fifth and Hope's third birthdays, respectively, and I decided that they needed to see something that would really make them excited and happy in the way all little kids are excited and happy.
"But T.K.," Kari began, and I knew what was coming, so I cut her off before she could continue. "Listen to me, Kari. All you do is whine about how your job is so important, how we won't have any money if you don't go to work, all that stuff I've heard a million times. Money isn't everything. And at the rate you're going, you're starting to neglect your family."
"Me? You're the one who's at home doing nothing," she retorted.
"You have the audacity to say that to me, Hikari? I am at home, writing—that's the only way I can monetarily contribute to this household—taking care of our two kids, and you say I'm doing nothing? You can afford to take three days off of work. A week, even. You don't know what it's like to grow up in a broken home with your mother, the ever ambitious reporter, always out trying to find the best angle for a story, or staying up until all hours trying to type up an editorial. Ever since I was six, Kari, that's the life I've had to live. Before you even knew me, that's the life I was living. I thought you knew that better than anyone, but I see that your mindset of putting others before you was something you lost when you lost the innocence of childhood. And I'm not just talking about physically, either. I'm determined not to let my children live the same kind of life I did."
Kari stood there, not knowing what to say. I could see it in her eyes. She knew I was serious because I hardly ever called her by her real name. Just then, I could feel a tugging at my pant leg, and I looked down to see Hope. "Daddy, I'm hungry."
"Okay, we'll go and make dinner, okay? What do you want?"
"Ummm…" She struck this adorable pose with one finger on her chin, one hip jutted out slightly to the side, her other hand on her hip. "Spam!" she finally declared.
I laughed and tousled her hair. "Okay. But you know, you shouldn't eat it too much, it's bad for you."
"How?" she asked, her big scarlet-brown eyes looking up at me in wonder, like she'd never heard anything so profound in her life.
I squatted down so that I was eye level with her. "It tastes good, right?"
Hope nodded her head up and down vigorously. "Well, sometimes what tastes good isn't so good inside your tummy. Too much of it will make it feel bad."
"So… if I eat some today… can I have some tomorrow?" she reasoned.
I laughed. "Sure. Come on, let's go." I turned back to Kari, who was still watching us, a pensive look on her face. "Think about what I said, Kari."
She nodded, and then Hope squealed, "Mommy!" and hugged her legs. Kari picked her up and smiled absently. "Hey, love. How are you?"
"I miss you, Mommy. You should come hang out with us more often." With that, she jumped out of her mother's arms and I took her to the kitchen. I turned back to look at Kari one last time and I could see the tiny shimmer of tears falling out of her eyes.
I guess you could say my powers of persuasion worked on my wife, because about two weeks later, we journeyed to Florida. It was kind of bad judgment on both our parts, because it was the beginning of August and it was super hot, and muggy to boot. Even with the yucky weather, Aaron and Hope had a ball at Disney World. Aaron was positively enthralled with Princess Jasmine—he said he wanted to marry her—and Hope loved Goofy and Winnie the Pooh. It was so funny. In the hotel, they had a play area where you could leave the kids while the parents went out and did some other stuff—shopping, having some alone time, what have you—and so we left Aaron and Hope there for a while, just so Kari and I could have some quality time. Mind you, since we were always busy, we didn't always have that at home. And it was truly well-spent.
The week passed by much too quickly, and before I knew it, we were back in New York, back to our boring lives. Kari was convinced that she had taken too much time off of work and went back to working as much as ever. I continued to write and take care of the kids. Aaron's first day of kindergarten was coming up, and he was super excited. I helped him pick out an outfit, and Kari even bought him a new shirt.
On his first day, we took a picture of him all decked out in his school clothes. He had the biggest grin on his face when we took the picture, and Kari had volunteered to take him to school, as it was on the way to her office. I gave Aaron a hug and said, "Have fun, bud," while Hope nearly cried because she'd be all by herself. "I'll be sad," she said. "You won't be here to play with me."
Aaron smiled, his patented big-brother smile, and hugged Hope, saying, "Don't worry, Hope, it's only for a little bit every day. I'll be back here and we'll be able to play again."
This made Hope feel better. "Okay. Daddy will be able to play with me when you're gone, right?"
"Sure."
"Okay. Have fun, Aaron!" she waved airily, her shoulder-length blonde hair waving behind her.
Hope and I had great fun on those days where it was just us. We made breakfast together, I asked her opinion on some ideas I had on my story—very generalized and easy for three year olds to understand, of course—and I helped her make up words to go along with the plinks on her ukulele. Of course, I didn't live up to her big brother's standards, but she deemed I was okay enough to continue to play with.
The days passed on like this for a while, until one day, Kari came home a bit earlier with expected, Aaron in tow. She was beaming.
"What's up, Kar? Got a promotion?"
She shook her head. "Where's Hope?"
"I'm right here," she announced, breezing into the room. Even at a young age, she had a penchant for theatrics. "Hi, Mommy." She embraced her mother and Kari hugged her back. "Hi, Hope. Wanna sit down? I have something to tell you all."
"Okay!" She plopped down on the couch and folded her hands in her lap, looking the part of the perfect little girl. After greeting my wife hello, I asked her, "What's up?" Kari sat next to me, Aaron on her lap, and announced, "Well… I went to the doctor for my regular check-up, and we discovered something."
"Are you okay?" I asked in alarm.
She put a reassuring hand on my arm. "T.K., I'm fine." Kari smiled. "In a few months, guys, we're gonna have another person living here. A baby."
I gasped. "You're not…" Kari just nodded.
Aaron grinned. "Another sister?"
"Or brother," Kari said.
Hope had an interesting look on her face. "Where is it?"
Kari took her daughter's hand and put it on her stomach. "It's right here."
"Really?" she asked, with wide eyes. "It's so small!"
"It'll get bigger," Kari told her, a sparkle in her eye.
Hope's eyebrows were furrowed, like she was trying to figure something out. "How did it get there?"
Kari and I exchanged glances. Ooh, boy. This was gonna be interesting.
With the notion that we had another mouth to feed coming soon, Kari threw herself into her work. I was really disappointed because I didn't want her to have any complications—Hope coming two weeks early, the doctor had said, was due to stress more than anything else—but she wouldn't listen to my protests, and if anything, worked even harder. So I let her be. However, I found myself becoming more engrossed in my own work, while struggling to be there for the kids. Aaron was having a blast in kindergarten; he was making new friends and learning new things, which he would always tell us when he got home. "Daddy, Daddy, look what I did today!" he'd say, and show me a drawing, or a letter, and I'd smile. Hope would get caught up in all the excitement and just jump around happily, excited that her big brother was home so they could play. There were days that were difficult, and days that were rewarding. But it was still a struggle, most of the time.
Soon, Halloween was upon us, and to my surprise, Kari came home early. "Hi," she said, and I turned from the computer. "Hey," I greeted her warmly, enveloping her in a hug. "What's up? Did you want to see the kids in the costumes?"
"Yeah, well… that too, but I'm not feeling too good. The baby's not too happy with me or something." She sighed and rubbed her slightly protruding stomach absently, then proceeded to sit down and lie back on the couch. At that point, Hope came out, in her princess dress already, and ran to Kari. "Hi, Mommy! Look at me!" She twirled around excitedly and Kari grinned.
"You make a beautiful princess, honey. Where's your crown?"
Hope made a mock horror-stricken face, then ran back and retrieved her plastic tiara. "Here it is!" she proclaimed, and gave it to me. "Daddy, will you put it on?"
"Of course, Hope." I placed it gently but securely on her head and kissed her forehead. "There you go."
"Thank you, Daddy," she said in her sweetest tone. Then she frolicked away into her room so she could play, or whatever three year old girls did.
Later, when Aaron was picked up and the kids were decked out in their costumes, they were already jumpy to go out and get some candy. I got them to calm down just a little to eat a bit and take some pictures. Kari was laughing at the poses they struck. Finally, after much pleading, I said, "Alright, alright, we'll go now." I turned to Kari. "You okay here?"
She nodded. "I'll be fine just giving out candy."
"Okay… just make sure you call me if anything comes up, okay?"
Kari shook her head. "You are way too overprotective of me."
"That's because I love you." I kissed her lovingly on her forehead and out of the corner of my eye, saw Aaron and Hope exchanging kid glances that could only say "yuck." I smiled amusedly and said, "Okay guys, say bye to your mom."
"Bye mommy!" Aaron called—he was already on his way out the door.
Kari smiled. "Bye, Aaron." Then Hope came up and hugged her legs. "Bye, mommy. And bye bye, baby." She blew a kiss up to Kari's stomach and Kari smiled again. "Bye, Hope. Be a good princess, okay?"
"Okay!" Hope took my hand and I blew a kiss to my wife before taking the kids to get candy.
About an hour later—Hope was getting cranky—we returned back to our floor with lots of candy. I opened the door, and was attending to the trick-or-treaters that were waiting when Hope shrieked, "Mommy!" and Aaron followed, "Daddy, come here quick! And hurry!"
Now thoroughly panicked, I told them, "Just take two," and rushed to the room. I think they understood because they could hear the screams of my children, too.
When I got to the room, I was greeted with a horrible sight. Kari was laying on the floor, a pool of blood starting to form around her. She wasn't moving, wasn't saying anything—her eyes were closed. "Oh, my God. Kari!" I yelled, shaking her. But she didn't respond. I turned to Aaron and Hope, who had identical looks of horror on their face. "What's wrong with Mommy?"
Aaron asked.
"I don't know, Aaron, I don't know. Listen. Get the phone. Press the button that says 'Mem' and then press two. Hurry." Aaron rushed off to get the phone. Hope was crying now. "Is Mommy going to be okay?" she asked, in a small voice.
I got up and picked her up, and held her close to me. "I hope so, love. I hope so."
I could hear Aaron's voice frantically saying, "Auntie Mimi? My dad told me to call you, my mommy's not moving." He then thrust the phone in my direction. "Meems? Get Joe on the phone. Hurry," I nearly barked into the receiver.
"Okay." She didn't even ask what was wrong, which was unusual for her. I guess she understood the severity of the situation. After what seemed like an eternity, Joe came on the line. "T.K.? What's wrong?"
"Kari's lying on the floor of our apartment, there's blood everywhere, and she's not moving. I don't think anyone shot her, but I think there might be something wrong with the baby."
"You're right, T.K.—she's probably miscarrying right now. Get her to the hospital and I'll meet you there."
"Okay, thanks." The words didn't have time to register as I rushed her and the kids downstairs, while calling 911 on my cell. Only when I was off the phone and waiting for the ambulance did Joe's words ring in my head. She's probably miscarrying right now. Why didn't she call me? I shook my head. "Please, God, let Kari be alright."
As the ambulance zipped by, I held my children close, watching all the other children on the streets of New York, happily enjoying the experience of collecting candy with their parents, and hoped to God that my own kids would still be able to have that same experience.
When we got to the hospital, a whirlwind of activity surrounded us. Joe met us just like he promised, with Mimi and Steve in tow. She told me, "I'll take the kids," and I smiled gratefully at her. I waited helplessly for any news on Kari's condition. After what seemed like an eternity, Joe came out. "She's asking for you, T.K."
I let out the breath I was holding. "So she's okay?"
"Herself, yes. But…"
I searched Joe's face and knew what he was going to say. "We lost the baby, didn't we?"
He nodded sadly. "It was an ectopic pregnancy. The embryo didn't attach itself to the wall of the uterus—she was bound to miscarry anyway." He paused. "I'm really sorry, T.K."
"It's… it's okay."
"T.K.?" I heard a faint voice calling me. "Can I…"
"Of course," Joe answered my unfinished question.
I rushed to the cubicle and then turned. "Does she know?"
Joe shook his head. "She just woke up."
I nodded in understanding. "Okay." I headed over to the cubicle and found Kari, smiling at my presence, but looking overall disoriented. "What… what happened, T.K.? I remember giving out candy one moment and the next, there was this pain in my stomach and…" Her eyes widened. "T.K., is the baby okay?"
I couldn't answer her.
"Tell me! Is our child okay?" Kari yelled hoarsely.
Looking up at her, I saw her eyes pleading with me to just tell her the truth, tell her that it wasn't so, that in five more months she'd be holding her son or daughter in her arms, but I couldn't, because she wouldn't. Sighing deeply, I shook my head. "No," I said in a whisper. "Our baby… it's gone."
Kari said nothing more, but just sobbed, sobbed and sobbed until there wasn't any strength left in her. The whole time I held her tight, letting the reality and the pain of losing a child sink in.
That was kind of a sad ending, I know. But review! Please!!! Please? =(