Chapter Thirty-Two
Christian walked back into Letty's labor room about to burst from anticipation. Of all the times in his life he had been about to deliver some news, none had ever filled him with such gleeful excitement. Not even Letty's reproachful glare could dent it.
She was pacing on the far side of the exam table, between it and the window. Hannah took a look at both of them and decided she needed to check on something, scooting out the door. Christian walked over to Letty and took her hands. "Letty, I have something to tell you – something very important."
"More important than this," she flatly repeated her earlier objection.
"Yes."
"Oh, this better be good," she informed him angrily.
"Letty, I got a phone call this morning on my walk, and just now I went to meet him."
"Who?" she asked wearily.
"Letty... it's Javier. Your husband's not dead."
As expected, her jaw dropped, then her eyes filled with tears. "That's not very damn funny, Christian. I saw his body."
Just as Javier had done with him, Christian shook his head, pulling out his cell phone. "You saw a body, Letty, of someone who looked like him. Exactly like him." He pulled up the pic of Javier and Miguel and turned his phone around to face her.
Letty took the phone in growing astonishment. "Who is this?"
"The guy he was meeting that night, the night he disappeared."
"How did you get this?"
"From him. From Javier. He texted it to me."
"And how do you know it was him, and not this other guy?"
"Because he proved it to me. Letty, he told me every detail of what happened that night the five of us stayed in the Holiday Inn Express. Remember? And no," he forestalled her with a hand, "it wasn't cold reading. I know how that works, I've had it done to me. I did not feed him one.. single.. clue. He knew it, and told me. Letty... your heart has been right all along. Your husband's not dead."
"Then where is he?" she whispered, voice cracking, just this side of losing it completely.
"He's out in the hall."
"Not anymore," came a new voice from the doorway, ragged with emotion. Letty whirled around to see Javier standing there, his face wracked with pain. She actually let out a scream, both hands flying up to cover her mouth a moment later, and she stood absolutely stock still, not daring to breath, as he walked over to her. Christian melted back to the wall out of the way.
Javier let out a sob as he glanced at her hands and saw her wedding ring there, then he raised his own left hand to touch her ring lightly with trembling fingers, before flipping his hand over and holding it up beside his face to show her his own ring on his finger, which it had never left.
"You're still not an English teacher," he told her, his voice low and intense, just loud enough for her to hear, "and I'm not Elvis. Our marriage was never a joke – not to me. And it didn't start with one."
Still not quite believing this was happening, Letty reached out with both hands to cup his bearded cheeks, her eyes darting wildly around to every corner of his face, as if running a computer facial recognition program. Both of them were sobbing openly by that point, his hands reaching for her body. Suddenly she pulled his mouth to hers, as she had done so many times before, kissing him with all the intense passion she had ever felt in that action – and feeling him return it, just as he always had. This was real. This was Javier. He was here, holding her, kissing her.
She broke the kiss first, flinging her arms around his neck and hanging on for dear life as she sobbed wildly into his shoulder. His hands were touching her back, her shoulders, her hair, as he whispered brokenly into her ear, over and over, "I'm sorry. God, I'm so sorry. I never would have left you by choice – you know that – oh please god, tell me you know that!"
Letty managed to pull her head back to look him in the eyes again and got out, her voice high and tight with tears, "What happened to you? Where have you been?"
He repeated the bare bones again of getting shot, crawling blindly onto Miguel's ship, and inadvertently stowing away on it. "And by the time I was able to use my phone, I couldn't reach you. I couldn't find you! I've been looking for you ever since!" He turned it back, at last asking what he had never yet been able to get a single hint of. "What happened to you?"
Letty shook her head, sobbing anew. How could she tell him what she had done? Before she could say a word, though, the biggest, strongest contraction yet rolled over her, and she literally screamed again, clutching Javier's shoulders in panic at the sudden excruciating pain. He panicked himself, not knowing what to do, only dimly guessing what was going on.
Christian, seeing, did what he had been coached to do, and jumped forward, trying to get Letty's attention and encourage her to breathe through it, like she had been trained. She was beyond listening to him, though, continuing to scream into Javier's shoulder with each panting breath.
Hannah had heard the commotion from outside the room, and came rushing in. "What in the world is going on here?" Spying two men in the room, she shook her head and tried to take control of the situation as her own many years of experience had taught. "There are way too many people in here! One of you gentlemen has got to leave!"
Letty heard, and raised her head as the contraction finally eased. "No! Both of them are staying! Christian, stay!" she cried wildly. There was no question of Javier leaving. She turned to Hannah. "I can have anyone I want with me, and I want both of them!" She knew she was acting out of control, but she couldn't help it – and just then, yet another hard contraction swept over her directly on the heels of the last, and she screamed out again.
"All right, okay!" Hannah said quickly, soothingly – and loudly, to reach through Letty's noise, resting a hand on her shoulder. She put a commanding note in her voice. "But Mom – MOM! You need to calm down, right now! You're not doing yourself, or your baby, any good with this. Your baby is going to go into distress in a minute. Now calm down!"
Letty was beyond her reach – but not beyond Javier's. As he had done so often in the past, he held her even more tightly to his chest, not letting her move, putting one hand on the back of her head firmly enough for her to feel. "Sh, sh, sh, sh," he whispered rhythmically. "Sh, sh, shhhh. Hush, Letty. Hush. I'm here. I'm right here. I'm not going anywhere, ever again. Sh, sh, sh, shhhh. Calm down, baby. Calm down. Sh, sh, sh, sh, shhhh. Breathe, baby. Breathe. Shhhhhhh." His voice slowly softened as he felt her begin to quiet. Hannah seeing the effect he was having, took her hand away and backed off a couple of steps to give him room. At last Letty began breathing deeply like she was supposed to be doing, controlling the pain, panting rhythmically through the next contraction without screaming, her head still on Javier's shoulder.
Hannah looked wide-eyed at Christian beside her. "That was amazing," she whispered softly.
He shrugged, giving her an apologetic smile. "He's the only one who's ever been able to handle her," he whispered back. Then, by way of explanation for his own presence, he added mendaciously, "We didn't think he was going to get here in time."
"Military?" she guessed.
Not willing to lie directly, he merely smiled – but she had already turned away, satisfied. The last contraction had faded, and it seemed Letty was going to get a tiny break before the next one, so Hannah stepped forward again. "That's better, Mom. Thank you. Now, can you get on the table for a moment so I can check your progress?"
Letty straightened her head finally, nodding exhaustedly at Hannah and moving slowly to the exam table. She took Javier's hand as his arms slipped off, and held it tightly, not letting go for an instant through the quick progress check.
"Eight centimeters!" Hannah announced. "Not long now! Do you want to sit up again?" At Letty's tired nod, Hannah reached for the hand not being held by Javier and with him helped pull her upright again and swinging her feet over to dangle at the side – facing Javier once more. "Now, listen up, please," Hannah began firmly, making sure she had Letty's attention. "Pretty soon, you're going to feel an overwhelming urge to push. Don't do it! That's the signal for transition to the final stage. Instead, push that call button to let us know. We'll move you immediately into the delivery room and get that baby out of there. Understand?"
Letty nodded dully. It was her second delivery, after all, even though it had been over a decade since Jacob was born. Still, she remembered how it went.
"By the way," Hannah went on. "What is your little girl's name? You haven't told us." Javier cocked his head, too, eager to catch the answer.
Letty shook her head, though. "Not yet. Not till she's born. Please... don't ask me to explain." She knew she was being unreasonable, but the whole thing felt like a jinx to Letty, if she even whispered the name aloud or wrote it down before saying it to her healthy baby girl in her arms. She hadn't even told Christian.
"That's all right. It's your prerogative. Okay, gentlemen," Hannah went on as she stepped back. "Since you're both staying, I need you both to come wash up and get some scrubs on. I'll take you one at a time. You first?" She pointed to Christian, who nodded and followed her out the door.
"Heeeey," Javier called softly, smiling at Letty, leaning over on his hands on the table, one on each side of her, and touching his forehead to hers, as she put both her hands on his neck. "You're having a baby?" he grinned.
She was too exhausted, both emotionally and physically, to banter. "Brilliant observation," she said drily.
"Forgive me, Letty, please, please forgive me. I just want to hear you say it, just once, and I'll never ask again, I swear." He paused. "It's mine?" he asked tentatively.
"Yes, it's yours," she replied, just keeping the sarcasm out of her voice at the sight of the wonder on his face. But then she couldn't resist adding, "Pampas raton."
" 'Pampas rat'?" he laughed, hardly believing his ears.
She shrugged, smiling at the rise she'd gotten out of him. "I've been reading up on Argentina," she admitted, feigning innocent indifference. "I can even say Buenos Aires correctly." She did, too.
"Oh, muy bien, Señora! I'm impressed!"
Another contraction hit, but not as bad, and this time she was prepared, panting through it as he grabbed hold of both her hands and breathed with her almost unconsciously. When it passed, she looked again into his eyes, but he forestalled whatever she was about to say.
"Letty, I'm very... very sorry." His face was tragic, not giving her a single hint. "But I have to tell you now... I think someone has come between us."
He couldn't keep the smile from pulling on the corners of his mouth, then – and she saw, and let out an exasperated moan. "You have been dying to use that corny line, haven't you?" she accused with some – amused – heat.
He chuckled, then. "Yep," he admitted, completely unrepentant.
Pulling her hands out of his again, she put them around his neck – and pretended to throttle him. But she couldn't keep up even the mock anger. Her face softened as well as her hands, and she looked into his face with tears once more in her eyes. "Where have you been?" she cried softly.
"Far away," was his honest, painful reply, "trying to build a new life. But it's empty without you. I never stopped trying to find you. Finally, I had to come back."
Just then, Hannah re-entered with Christian, now sporting scrubs over his clothes and a surgical cap wrapped around his head. "Your turn, uh.." she gestured to Javier, asking his name.
"Diego," he supplied his new official first name, glancing significantly at both of the others to make sure they heard and understood. They did.
As he stepped towards the door, though, Letty cried after him. "Wait! How did you find me?"
Javier stopped dead, turned around, and grinned hugely at her, then pointed to Christian. "His book. I found it in the airport, and then found him." With a wink and a chuckle, he walked out.
Letty's jaw dropped, and she turned to see Christian giving her what could only be described as a justified, shit-eating grin. She shook her head ruefully, then declared, "Okay. I forgive you for writing it. And for leaving me here this morning to get him." Then she stabbed a finger at him. "But if you write another one, I won't forgive you."
"Don't worry," he told her, coming around to stand before her. "I won't write another one about you. I've run out of material there, anyway – and I don't want to write about anything from the past year. I'll write about something else in the future."
Something is off here, she thought, panting through another contraction. Before it was done, she realized what, and afterwards tilted her head to one side. "Why does that sound like goodbye?" she asked, a little bewildered.
"I guess because it is – or will be, not right this minute. I'm not leaving – you want me to stay. But when you're released from the hospital, you'll be leaving with him, won't you? Going back to wherever it is he's been?" He waited a beat, then went on, reassuring. "And that's exactly how it should be. You're his wife!" He thought a moment, gazing at her. "We're taking different paths from here, my friend." Then he chuckled. "Don't worry, Letty. I'm still not in love with you. Thank god," he added. "If I was married to you, I'd end up killing you."
She stared at him. "I wish that was funny," she grumbled, and he blushed, having done it again.
"Sorry."
Another super-strong contraction hit, and she cried out automatically before she managed to get her breath back in rhythm.
"Hey!" came from the door as Javier, bedecked as Christian, walked back in. "What are you doing to my wife?" he demanded of the other man, mock-angry.
"Me?" Christian replied, radiating innocence as he pointed to Letty's belly. "Oh, no. This is all your doing."
"That's right, it is," Javier said proudly, grinning at Letty as he took her hand.
"Is that you under there?" she tried for humor. He was even wearing a beard net.
They managed to get through the next few minutes, as a few more contractions hit – and then suddenly, the worst one yet rolled in. Letty nearly yelped, panting hard. "Button! Button!" she cried, waving a vague, frantic hand at the side of the table. Realizing what she meant, Javier – the nearest one – dove for the call button and stabbed it for Hannah.
The nurse came running in, unerringly sure why she had been paged: Letty had reached the final stage. She got Letty to lie down on the table again, as it was now her delivery bed, and directed Javier on unlocking his side so she could push it through the doors and across the hall into the delivery room.
Javier stayed at her side throughout, while Christian moved up to stand behind her head. When she asked why, craning her neck to look back at him, he admitted, pointing to the other end of the table, "Now that he's here, that's a view of you I just don't want in my head!" She tried to laugh, but another contraction hit, and there was the doctor, telling her to give in to her urge now and push!
The next few minutes were the proverbial blur; that final stage could move fast and furious. Before they knew it, a tiny, squalling baby girl was being laid on Letty's bare belly.
"Dad? Dad! Dad!" Doctor Peters was laughing, trying to get Javier's attention. Letty swiveled her head to look and laughed, too – he was staring at the baby as if mesmerized, his face an alarming shade of pale. At the last repetition of 'Dad', he snapped out of it and looked at the doctor.
"What?" he panted, vaguely alarmed.
"Are we about to lose you?"
"No. I'm fine," he replied, convincing no one.
"Do you want to cut the cord?" Hannah was offering the scissors she'd picked up from the tray.
Javier stared at the implement hovering above his new daughter with something akin to horror, losing another tiny shade of color from his cheeks. Finally, he shook his head in refusal. "No." Looking at Letty, he added a firm, "Mm-mm."
She couldn't help but giggle at him: former hitman, ultimate tough guy, so squeamish that he still looked like he might faint – though in the end, he didn't. Barely. The giggles got her through the cord cutting and afterbirth. "You can touch her, you know; it's all right." She had been holding the baby on her belly with the hand not holding his, but his other hand was hovering a few inches away, as though perhaps he thought she might disappear in a wisp of dreams. And at last he allowed his fingertips to caress the baby's head, his face flooding with emotions Letty didn't want to name, just watch.
Hannah had been busy with the baby, too, examining her and calling out codes and numbers to another nurse in the corner, who was entering them into a tablet chart. "Is she all right? Hannah? Doctor? Is she all right?" Letty asked, panic seeping in again around the edges.
"She's fine and healthy, Mom," Doctor Peters reassured her. "Her APGAR scores are eight out of ten, and those last two should come up within the next hour. Nothing to worry about. I know," he started to say, but she glanced quickly at Javier and shook her head meaningfully at the doctor, and he understood immediately. He had come into the labor room while Christian was out, introducing himself to his unexpected new patient, and she had informed him of her drug and alcohol use so early in her pregnancy, before even knowing about it, and how concerned (understatement of the year) she was over possible resulting birth defects. Now he rushed to allay those concerns, without giving any hints to the Dad. "We'll run all the usual tests to check her out. But we would have already seen nearly anything wrong by now. She's fine."
Letty tried to calm herself again as Hannah picked the baby up, announcing she was taking her to get cleaned up and checked out. "Christian, go with her. Don't let her out of your sight!" Letty instructed him, overwrought all over again with deferred guilt and hormones.
"I will, I will!" he smiled, squeezing her arm, then following Hannah and the baby out of the room.
"Hey, hey, hey," Javier called softly, getting Letty to turn back to him again. "It's all right. Everything's okay. It's over, babe. Shhhhhh." Gradually, he worked his usual calming magic on her, and at last she was able to let go of his hand. He was shooed out into the hall, then, and the hospital staff worked their magic, transitioning Letty from Woman In Labor to New Mother, beginning the long, messy process of recovering from childbirth.