Locked in Marriage 2: Here Comes Baby

Chapter Nine

Kayla watched the siblings as they sat in silence in the room. She and Anna had sat in the hallway for several hours without being invited in. Kayla began to pace in the hallway and was repeatedly checking her phone, like she was waiting for a phone call.

"Don't worry, they will invite you in. It's a weird family thing they do," Anna said watching Kayla as she walked back and forth.

"Then why didn't they invite you in?" Kayla asked angrily.

"Because I'm not blood family. Robert will ask for both of us and when he does we will go in," Anna said calmly. Kayla sighed and sat back down next to Anna. She had called her parents and told them of what happened. They were quite concerned, concerned enough to want to fly to Vegas to see Robert. Kayla had told them to wait for her phone call and when she knew something she would call them.

Byron stuck his head out of the door and invited Anna in. She walked past him and their hands lingered on each other's torsos as they went into the room. Kayla was always confused about their relationship. She wasn't really sure if they were even dating, but they did spend all their time together and were quite close. Kayla sat in the hallway listening to the beeping and hospital noise. It was so weird for her to be here; she wanted Robert to be okay. He needed to be. He was going to be a grandfather. Her hands found there way to her stomach and they held it until Colton walked out.

"Is he okay? Is he talking?" Kayla asked as she jumped out of her chair.

He didn't look at her when she spoke to him. He knew what this second heart attack meant. It meant his father wasn't going to make it and that every second now counted. He wanted to be positive, more than anything in the world, but he also knew the reality of the situation. He knew that these would be the last days he would spend with his father and right now he didn't want to talk with Kayla. He didn't want to know how her first day of school went; he wanted to talk to his father.

It was hard having Anna in the room, she was a sister to him and it was hard to watch her in this familiar setting. He and his siblings had been they're when her parents died; they were both so young and Anna had handled it very well. Now she was going through the same thing again with his father. He could see the pain in her eyes and in her voice, he knew she could only handle so much and this was her breaking point. He wanted to take all of her pain away and put it on himself, but he didn't know how to do it. He watched her in the window; she sat beside him and held his hand just staring. They weren't saying anything in the room and she continued to stare. She also knew this would be the last time she would ever have a father.

"What's going on?" Kayla asked quietly as she walked up behind him. Colton didn't turn around; he just continued to stare at Anna in the window.

"This is it," Colton said simply.

"What do you mean? He isn't going to make it?" Kayla asked as tears began to fill her eyes. Her hands fell to her stomach, but Colton didn't think anything of it.

"This was his second heart attack. We all knew he wouldn't make it after the second. That's why I've been taking over most of the business, so he wouldn't be so stressed out," Colton explained leaning against the window. Kayla couldn't believe that Colton had hidden this from her. She was becoming angry with him and then looked up at him and saw the sadness resonating off of his body and began to feel guilty. She put her arm through his and rested her head on his arm. He just stood there; he didn't move away from her, nor did he attempt to comfort her. Giovanna stood up in the room and Colton jolted from his spot to open the door.

"He is waking up," she said solemnly as Colton walked in behind her. Kayla waited and she turned around beckoning her to follow them. Kayla felt relieved that they were finally allowing her into the room; that Giovanna thought of her as family. Colton went and stood over Anna who hadn't moved from her sitting position. Kayla stood behind Colton but could see Robert from over Colton's shoulder.

He looked half dead already. His face was completely pale; there was no color whatsoever. There were big black droops under his eyes and he looked so much smaller than then man she had seen a few months ago. He smiled weakly and opened his eyes to see everyone standing over him.

"I know I'm not going to last long, so we need to get down to business," he said seriously as all his children looked on. Kayla almost burst into tears, but when she looked around the room she noticed that none of his children even flinched. It was almost like they were incapable of compassion or feeling of any kind.

"The company, in full, will go to all three of you. You may run it and choose to do with it as you see fit. The one thing I ask is that you don't run it into the ground and you agree on everything you do. All three of the estates in Europe will over course go to each one of you. Anna, you may have the estate in Ireland as I know you love it there so much," Robert explained as he looked at Anna when he addressed her. She smiled lovingly at him, but did not cry. No one said anything after that, Robert fell back asleep and Byron and Anna left to get food. Colton was still in his suit and loosened his tie as he sat next to his father's bed. Giovanna was on the opposite side and they were both on their phones. Kayla was disgusted by the way they were acting. But he didn't want to say anything to them; maybe this was how they dealt with problems like this.

Byron and Anna came back with take out and everyone sat around the table silently eating there food. No one said anything; Kayla could only hear everyone chewing their food, Robert's shallow breathing and his machines beeping. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. It was GG, the photographer. Giovanna jumped up and grabbed the picture frame from him and shut the door again.

"Is that the picture?" Anna asked as she cleaned her fingers off with the napkin and stood up.

"Yes," Giovanna answered simply as she began to hang it up so when Robert woke up he would see it.

It was the serious picture they had taken. Kayla was sitting in the high back chair with all three siblings around her. Colton was on her right with his right hand in his pocket and his left hand, showing off his large diamond wedding ring, was on Kayla's shoulder. Kayla's right hand was up holding Colton's fingers. Giovanna was standing next to the chair as well and had her left hand on her hip as she stared into the camera. Byron was more in the background, which he didn't mind, and had both his hands in his pockets and was looking up at the camera head on.

Kayla stood up to get a better look at it and she couldn't believe how much the siblings actually looked similar. They all had the same stare, same eyes and same pout. They way they stood was even the same.

"Why weren't you in the picture?" Kayla asked pointing to Anna.

"I don't usually do the family portraits," Anna answered. Kayla noticed that it didn't bother her that she wasn't in the photograph either. Robert began stirring and opened his eyes to see everyone standing over him.

"If you guys stand over me like that every time I open my eyes, I will have another heart attack," he said trying to lighten the mood.

"Sorry," Kayla murmured looking down at her feet.

"What is that on the wall?" He asked pointing at the picture.

"We got a family portrait for you since we are all getting along," Giovanna explained as Byron took it off the wall and handed it to her. She slowly handed it to her father who put on his glasses that were on the tray in front of him.

"Wow, that is very nice. Thank you," Robert said. Colton looked up surprised, it had been a while since he had heard his father say thank you.

"It was G's idea," Byron said smiling.

"Of course, just like her mother," Robert said quietly as he continued to look at the picture. "Hang that back up for me so I can see it all the time." He handed it back to Byron and he hung it back up on the wall.

That was the only conversation they had hike Robert was awake. After the picture went back up on the wall everyone went back on their phones and even Robert sat watching TV in complete silence. Kayla couldn't believe it. They all knew their father wasn't going to make it and yet they weren't talking to each other. She felt a twinge of guilt going through her body as she was harboring such a large secret. She wanted to tell everyone, but she especially wanted to tell Robert. He needed to know that he was going to be a grandfather. She needed to tell him when Colton wasn't in the room, when none of them were in the room, which was going to be difficult. She looked at him and all of his children, and even Anna, they all had the same concentration expression on their face. This was the family she had married into.