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Nicole’s dry eyes flickered open and then closed against the harsh sterile light of the hospital lamps. Then she felt the cool bliss of darkness as the blinds were drawn and the lamp shut off by a dark blurry figure.
“Well finally chile’ I thought you was neva gonna wake up” the jolly lilting voice chided. “Well that sure as hell doesn’t sound like Joseph unless these drugs are more powerful than I thought” she murmured. She tried to focus her eyes without the use of her normal contact lenses.
The blurry pieces came together to form a plump short statured nurse by the foot of the bed – teeth gleaming white against the dark cocoa backdrop of her wrinkled skin. Nicole attempted to swing her legs out of the bed but the older black woman was surprisingly much stronger than Nicole had given her credit for and as quick as lightning she grabbed Nicole’s feet and placed them squarely back on the railed bed.
“Dat’s young folks’ problems dese days – dey all git up and go till they aint got no more go to git up with. You missy ain’t gonna be goin’ nowhere on your feet anytime soon. Oh, yessir I know that yo man’s takin you to Paris mmhmmm. But if that man of yours is stubborn as he was last night I wouldn’t bet on him letting you out to take a picture while you’re there”.
Nicole bridled at being spoken to like a child, she was a CEO of a multimillion dollar translation publishing company and she was the one used to giving orders. However her thoughts switched from annoyed to focused on staying calm for the baby to curious at the nurse’s words.
Before Nicole could get a word out, the nurse continued, “mmmhmmm yessum he been up every hour since you got out of surgery naggin all the night nurses like a motha hen about your iv doses and room temperature. Though it didn’t bother them any – Phew! That is one good lookin man you got out there honey, theyda given him the boss’s office if he’d asked for it with those smoldering eyes of his”.
Nicole smiled to herself, 6 months ago she would have bit someone’s head off if they had spoken to her like that. But now she was taking orders from the self proclaimed ‘mammy’ like from Gone in the Wind. But unlike Miss Scarlett Ms. Nicole adored being a Mrs. Redford. During the next day while Joseph was frantically arranging the house for Paris.
Nicole and Auntie M, as the nurse insisted Nicole call her got very close for the next while in the hospital. It felt good to have a mother-like figure in her life like she’d never had.
Chapter 8
A dark, bleary eyed Joseph met her at the door of her hospital room looking as though he hadn’t slept since their wedding night. In truth he hadn’t. However the darkness left his eyes when he saw Nicole, and his face lit up into a smile and his step quickened as he ran a hand through his dishevelled hair as he came over to her bedside where she was sitting, chestnut hair highlighted gold swept back in a loose ponytail wearing a red nyc sweatshirt and navy & grey maple leafs sweatpants with her luggage beside her, thoughtfully packed by Aunty M with the things Joseph had brought over from the flat.
Auntie M was there to see them off, clucking over Nicole like a mother hen Joseph thought of how he was eternally grateful to this woman who had taken such god care of his wife as he tried his hardest to tie up loose ends at home before jetting off for the next 2 or so months.
It was so frustrating to know how ill she had been days before but now was rosy cheeked and glowing, ideally the picture of health. The doctor had explained however that her condition was one of sudden and rapid onset and that, at the moment she was in perfect health and had no need to be in hospital, however he also explained that that could change in an instant and both her and the baby could be dead in 2 hours if the disease onset rapidly with no insulin supplement to buy them enough time to get to a hospital.
Still, just for safety measures, he made Nicole exit the hospital in a wheelchair, even though she did so humming happily, absentmindedly rubbing her belly that was thankfully still large and beginning to look like someone had stuffed a small football underneath her sweater. As the chauffered car pulled up to the entrance of Pearson airport, Joseph turned to more serious conversation.
“Darling, there has been some media interest in my company and the insurance case my team has been working on, so there may be some photographers hanging around. It’s completely ludicrous how much they are exacerbating the situation, but for some reason its thrown them all into a tizzy and they won’t let go of the bone. But don’t worry the press wont come near you”.
“I’m not worried darling”, she said leaning in to kiss him as the chauffeur opened the door. “When did you become such a marshmallow Nic? The old Nic would have thought up a million different scenarios & analyzed and looked for the most efficient route through everything, yet now here you are content to be herded around here and there” he teased only half jokingly.
“I think, Joe its when I started to look like one. God I can’t wait to get to Paris, I haven’t been since my year traveling after university”. Noting the lack of wheelchair or other transportation devices besides the airplane itself, Nicole actually squealed and clapped with glee. “You mean I actually get to walk around? Yes!”
“Well despite my apparent evil plan to keep you in bed”, at this he smiled at the play on words and Nicole lifted her eyebrow suggestively, “you are supposed to walk so your pelvic muscles are strong enough to withstand a labour without dislocating your pelvic ligaments. Dr. Delinsky said that you are 100% healthy and can do whatever you like so long as you don’t get too tired or your sugar levels unstabilize”.
He reached into his pocket and took out a purple plastic sphere that Nicole recognized as a portable blood sugar tester like the ones they had used in hospital but in a handy smaller version. She wrinkled her nose in distaste, recalling the numerous times she had recently been poked and prodded and tested every hour on the hour.
“You know I hate being treated like an infant – before I met you I was a high flying highly successful independent businesswoman Joseph Redford and just because…” biting his lip to stifle his laughter Joseph spanned his hands around her waist and dipped her into a low kiss that should have set off the nearby fuel tanks on the tarmac.
Behind closed eyelids Nicole saw and heard flashes and pops of light that normally signalled an impending blackout. But she opened her eyes and saw instead a mass of photographers that seemed to have appeared from nowhere arrived on the scene and were now shouting questions and jostled around the security guard trying to get a picture of the hot young controversial couple. The crushed in like cattle as each attempted to get the money shot that had their respective tabloid editors baying for their blood.
The driver, who she had just noticed was wearing a coiled black earpiece swung himself between the mad throng and his clients and escorted them to the plane, discreetly leading them through a crew entry point that led through the cockpit.
Nicole felt the red hood of her sweatshirt being pulled over top of her head to avoid further shots and attention and the flight attendant led them to the first class cabin. Still a tough businesswoman Nicole’s only reaction was to raise an eyebrow questioningly at Joseph until they were seated and the plane took off for the twelve hour flight to Paris.
Joe had the grace to look slightly shamefaced as she drew the entire story out of him. Tricorp’s biggest client was the Canadian government’s Bureau of Economies with his company acting as the mediary between the investing companies and the government.
Some of Joseph’s overtime had resulted in his finding of some substantial figures that did not add up. This escalated into a full blown and very public lawsuit and the uncovering of a money laundering scheme fuelled by one of Joseph’s employees. “To top all of this off”, Joseph finished, “it now looks like – and the media will have a field day with this- that the man at the top of the company, innocent as he may be has now run off to France with a tart”.
“Me? labelled a tart?” Nicole laughed a little bitterly: “you mean they haven’t noticed the” – she pulled back her baggy sweatshirt so that it strained across her belly. Joseph interrupted “the jaw droppingly gorgeous brunette that I just openly made out with one the tarmac which, if no one was paying attention could hide a 6 months pregnancy?”
Automatically, Nicole felt for the familiar lump in her pocket and fumbled for the blackberry, but it wasn’t there. “Joe, where’s my blackberry? Sherri, the office and our pr reps all need to be briefed on the situation”.
“Nic its already being taken care of. Our collective pr has managed to throw them off the track and a plan is already in place if the story does break and become public. Your fists are clenched, good”. Joseph grabbed hold of her hand and pried an unwillingly finger from the clenched fist. He pressed a tiny strip of paper into her finger until the point punctured it and drew a small amount of blood.
“Ow, shit that hurt!” Nicole exclaimed pulling back and sticking her injured finger in her mouth. Squinting his eyes at the tiny ipodlike device Joseph read “sugar levels in normal range blood pressure is 120 over 70 – a little too high for my liking”. “Well maybe if you didn’t go around stabbing me all the time” – she muttered back under her breath as the captains voice welcomed them to their flight.
Conceding for the sake of her baby and because there wasn’t a whole lot else to do without her blackberry Nicole agreed to rest and closed her eyes as Joseph dimmed the cabin lamp. She pressed the button to slightly recline her spacious cream leather seat to support her back that was beginning to arch under all the extra baby weight, pulling her forwards as her center of gravity shifted.
He knew she was sleep when her mouth softened into a moue as her chest rose and fell with sleep, so changed from the tight wry although undeniably sexy set of her mouth when she was conscious. Bleary eyed with exhaustion from running on only hours of sleep, Joseph pulled out his network and attempted to put out some of the fires spreadingly wildly at the Toronto office.
After what seemed like only a few seconds later Joseph opened his eyes to darkness and saw the computer clock display eleven o’clock. They were due to arrive in Paris at 6 am. Hopefully this trip would be more like a vacation or a honeymoon than an evacuation or a fight for survival. But it all depended on Nicole and the baby, God willing, if they stayed as healthy as they were now. Healthy, blooming and full with his child.
For the remainder of the flight Joseph ignored the frantic beeps and vibrations his blackberry emitted and studied his wife’s face. Her just below shoulder length hair had brilliant gold facets when the light of the clouds emerged that heralded an imminent dawn.
The way she slept with one rosy flushed cheek against her shoulder that she had wrapped herself in his baggy faded old red Harvard hoodie and her blue and grey university of Toronto sweatpants that would soon lose the elasticity to stretch across her tight round stomach and instead fold under in submission to its evergrowing mass.
The way the mature successful editor would cross her arms and pout if something wasn’t going her way. He loved the way this fierce businesswoman now slept with her hand tucked beneath her stomach and the other one on top, cradling it as she slept curled up with one foot beneath her.
Joseph slid his hand underneath her and worked her leg free and propped it up on his lap. She was going to wake up with one hell of a leg cramp if she kept it stuck beneath her like that, the muscle was already tight. He noted as he used his thumb to release the tense knot in her calf
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