Chapter Two-Hundred and Ninety-Two
Claire marched through the hospital staff trying to stop her from going to John's room after visiting hours. "Like it or not, I am going to see him." She pushed his door open, gently kissing John's lips and crawling into the bed beside him. She laced her fingers with his, examining the scabs and scars on his knuckles. "Daddy got your ring back…" She took the ring off of her thumb, slipping it onto his finger and turning it to show the turquoise stone inlayed into the top. It wasn't really much, as far as a precious stone, but it meant something to him. It was his birthstone, and with every passing year it would represent he and Claire's love as a new birth.
Claire loved turquoise, it brought out the rays of blue in his eyes, and let the brown show even more. Plus, it reminded her of him. The stone was a symbol, a symbol that he'd survived for seventeen years and every single one had made his stronger.
She nestled into his chest, listening to his raspy breath and the uneven heartbeat that had taken over since he'd developed pneumonia. "Fight it. Fight this infection. Fight this pain. Fight like your life depends on it. Because if you're going to marry me, I need you alive."
His arm tightened around her body, his lips quirking into a small smirk as he held her to him. "I knew you would come…" He croaked, rolling onto his side and letting his brace and pillows support his head for him. "You always do…"
"You big faker!" She laughed, kissing his lips and very gently holding his head in her hands. "How did you know I wouldn't give up on you?"
"Because you're my Princesa. And a Princess never gives up on her knight." He closed his eyes as her fingers tangled in his hair, her body pressed against him, her thigh resting on his hips and her hips pressed against his. "Catheter…" He winced, moving his hips back slightly as the damn thing was accidentally pushed deeper into his bladder.
"Sorry…" She carefully moved away from him, looking at the urine bag at the end of his bed. "Does it need changed?" She asked, noticing that the normally yellow coloring was slightly orange with what she assumed to be blood from the irritation in his urethra and bladder.
"Yeah… but it can wait." He sighed, kissing her lips with a soft passion that was so clumsy from his exhaustion. "I don't want this to end."
Claire rolled her eyes, climbing out of the bed and leaving his room to find his nurse for the night. "I'll be back in a little bit. Don't wreck the place."
Clarissa bounced Flynn in her arms, holding her tears back at what could have been if she hadn't miscarried. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine… you make me happy when skies are gray…"
Jade yawned as she walked into the small nursery they'd made in the room next to Clarissa and Thomas's. "Mom?" She asked, rubbing her eyes as she stepped inside. "Do you have anything that could get my nipples to stop hurting so bad?" She'd been breast feeding for more than two months, and by now, she was losing more blood than milk with each feeding.
"You don't have a nipple shield?" Clarissa asked, noticing the small red and yellowish stains on Dominic's old t-shirt that the teenage mother wore as a pajama shirt.
She shook her head, crossing her arms over her breasts to try and get them to stop hurting. "No…"
"A pump?"
She shook her head again. "Uh, uh."
Clarissa sighed, laying Flynn in his crib and sitting Jade down on the small bench. "May I see?"
Jade nodded, lifting her shirt to show the red, swollen, chapped skin surrounding her nipples. "They hurt really bad."
Clarissa gave a little smile, pulling out a small container of Vaseline. "I'll get you some nipple cream in the morning, and a shield set, and a pump."
Jade smiled, tenderly rubbing the moisturizer on her skin. "Thanks…" She yawned, sighing as one of the quads started to fuss for a changing. "I wish John was home to help… he's so good with them, and I think they only sleep well when he sings to them…"
Clarissa chuckled, helping her with the babies. "I think I can help with that."