Antonio's heart dropped, his hands began to shake and dropped his phone. "I'm sorry... I have to go." he says, picking up his phone, and quickly leaving the office in a panic. He hurriedly ran to his car, and squealed his tires out of the parking lot. He ran every red light that got in his way, and hoped that no cop was around.
Antonio pulled into the driveway, leaving his car door open as he got out quickly and ran into the house, also leaving the front door wide open while he ran up the stairs, skipping steps to get to the bedroom faster. He ran over to Harlow and lifted her up, and held her in his arms.
"Harlow! Wake up! Harlow!" he cried out, patting her face. He looked at Sadie in tears, and yelled frantically. "Call 911!"
"I already did, they should be here any second." she said in tears.
"Harlow, please wake up, please...." Antonio begged, with tears flooding his eyes.
The paramedics arrived, and Sadie directed them up over to the bedroom. They walked over to Antonio, and set their things down on the ground. "Sir, I need you to let go of her please."
As much as he didn't want to let her go, but knew he had to, he laid her on the ground, he stood up crossing his arms, and watched them work on her, then covered his mouth as he watched. The girls ran into the bedroom to see what was going on. "Daddy?" Isabella asked.
"Girls, you need to get out of here right now." Antonio said in a panic, pushing them out of the room, and calling for Sadie to grab them. He rushed back over to Harlow, not caring they were still working on her and kneeled on the ground next to her. He could see she was barely breathing. They asked him to step back while they placed her on a stretcher. They carried her down the stairs, and put her into the ambulance. "I'm coming with." Antonio said quietly, and shook up.
He had Sadie stay with the girls while he went to the hospital with Harlow. On the way to the hospital Antonio kept an eye on her vitals, panicking when he saw that her numbers weren't very good. Once they arrived at the hospital, they rushed her inside.
Antonio was then met with a team of doctors and nurses, asking what exactly happened. He insisted on going into the room with her after the doctors told him that he had to stay behind while they worked on her.
At that moment there was no time to argue with him, and he got his way. He tried watching them as they worked on her, but had to look away, and looked down at the ground. He knew it was time, and placed his face in his hands, praying for God to help her.
They were tried their hardest with her, while Antonio prayed. He heard the noises of the machines, and just knew she was gone. He didn't even have to look up to know what the sounds were, and cried.
One of the doctors walked up to Antonio placing his hand on his back. "I'm sorry your-... "
"I know..." he blurted out, covering his head with his hands.
"I'm sorry." the doctor said sounding sincere.
The doctor pulled the sheet over her face, and Antonio quickly stood up. "Please, can you give me a few minutes with her before you take her away?"
"Certainly." One of the nurses said to him. "We'll give you a few minutes with her." she says, looking at him with sadness in her eyes. As the doctor's and nurses left the room, he walked up to Harlow and pulled the sheet down away from her face, and grabbed her hands, holding them tight. He leaned down and kissed her forehead, and moved down to her nose, then moved to her lips, giving her a long hard kiss, not wanting to release his lips from hers. When he finally released his lips from hers, he stood there staring at her, talked to her, and apologized to her, begging for her to come back.
"I'm so sorry Harlow... I cannot believe you're gone. You always were my angel, and now you literally are our angel now. Please watch over our girls, and keep them safe." he says, kissing the top of her hands, and placing her one hand on his cheek. "I'll always love you, my love for you will never go away..."
"Mr. Russo?" he heard from behind him.
Antonio turned his head, and looked at the nurse. "I'm sorry but we have to bring her out now." the nurse said sadly.
"OK." He looked back over at Harlow, and studied her face, giving her one last kiss before they took her from the room. "I love you, Harlow." he says to her, pulling away from her lips.
He stood there, watching them take her out of the room, and followed them out. He walked outside to get some fresh air, and looked up into the sky, hoping to see a sign from Harlow, but didn't see anything different. He pulled his phone out of his pocket, and called for his limo driver to come and pick him up.
When he got into the limo, he was asked where he was going. Antonio, still in shock didn't know what to say. He sat there quietly, ignoring the driver as he looked out the window, feeling lost and unsure what to tell the girls. "Mr. Russo?"
"Just drive for now, anywhere, I don't care where. Just please don't stop." Antonio said quietly, barley getting the words out of his mouth. He looked at his phone and sent Sadie a text she's gone.
"As you wish." the driver said, while looking in his rearview mirror at Antonio. He knew it was because of Harlow, and knew it wasn't good and was afraid to ask. He did what he was told and drove Antonio around for hours, until he finally spoke. Speaking quietly, and trying to clear his throat while he spoke. "Harlow passed away."
The driver felt goosebumps roam his body, and held the steering wheel tighter. "I'm sorry to hear that Mr. Russo, she will be greatly missed."
"I don't even know how I'm going to tell our kids, they're so young." Antonio felt a shiver go right through him, and believed that it was Harlow letting him know that she was there with him.
"You better bring me home, so I can start making the funeral arrangements." he sighed.
When he got home, he stood outside the door, hesitating to walk into the house. He stood, staring at the door for about ten minutes before he finally walked inside, and heard the girls playing, and laughing in the bathtub upstairs. Not wanting them to know he was home he went straight to his office, quietly shutting the door behind him.
He started making phone calls, letting his family know about Harlow, as well as her brother Ethan. He made another call to Judge Stevens, letting him know about Harlow, and that he will be taking some time off.
Antonio knew the time up with Harlow was coming, but didn't think it would be this soon. He stared across the room, and looked at a bottle of bourbon he had on the table, debating about having a drink or not.
Sadie got the girls dressed into their pajamas, she thought she heard the door earlier, and left the girls in the room to see if Antonio was home. She wanted the girls to say goodnight to him, thinking he could use a hug from them. She saw that his office door was closed and knocked before walking in.
She knocked and noticed the door was unlocked, and opened it peeking her head inside to see if he was in there, after he never responded to her knock.
"You are in here; would you like to say goodnight to the girls before I put them to bed?" Sadie asked quietly.
"Sure, send them in here please."
Sadie got the girls, and sent them to see Antonio. They both ran into his office jumping on his lap. He looked at them, holding them both tightly in his arms. As he held them, he felt hurt and lost, still unsure of how to tell them that their mother was gone, and not coming back.
"Daddy... why are you crying?" Gabriella asked, looking up at him, while she pulled away from his hug. He didn't answer her, and cupped the back of her head, pulling her back to his shoulder, and kissed top of their heads.
"I love you kiddos." he quietly said, choking up. "You should go get some sleep, and I'll talk to both of you in the morning." he says to them with a broken heart.
The girls ran out of the room, looking for Sadie. When they saw her sitting on the couch and walked over to her. She brought them up to their rooms and tucked them into bed. As she looked and talked to them, she could tell that Antonio didn't tell them about their mom, and her heart broke for them, wondering how they would take it, being as young as they were.
"Goodnight you two, we'll see you in the morning." Sadie tells them, as she shut the light off, and partially leaving the door open.
She went into Antonio's office to talk to him, and stood there looking at him, wondering what to say to him. He was covering his head, and sniffling.
"Antonio." she said softly, wanting to let him know that she was there. "I'm really sorry about Harlow."
He raised his head up and looked at her, pissed at himself. "I never should have left earlier."
She walked closer to him slowly. "Antonio... you didn't know, nothing would have changed."
"I still should have been here for her."
"It may not be the right time to say this, but I think she knew it was about to happen... she had been saying some strange things to me lately, and I could tell she was saying them with her heart. I wasn't understanding why at the time, but I'm understanding now why she was saying those things to me. Earlier tonight the girls went to lay down with her, when I let them lay with her, she looked at me and smiled, thanking me. She looked like she was at peace with them in her arms." Sadie said in tears. "Isabella was the one who came and got me, saying that her mom was making funny noises, and that she couldn't wake her up." she said hesitantly, choking up.
"Isabella? Oh god." Antonio said, leaning his head back. "I didn't have the heart to tell them that their mom was gone."
"I think they might know after the commotion earlier; I don't know for sure, but maybe they'll understand, maybe they won't. But you have to tell them." Sadie insisted.
"I do plan on telling them tomorrow, I just couldn't tell them tonight before they went to bed. Did they not ask about her?"
Sadie shook her head slowly. "No. They didn't ask about her at all."
Antonio sighed "I cannot believe she's gone, and this soon. It wasn't even the six months the doctor thought it would be.... but the more I think about it, he didn't sound so sure about that either."
"You'll have to come to understand that she isn't in any more pain. It may be hard to think that way, but towards the end there, she was in so much pain, and she could hardly breathe." Sadie says, inching closer to him.
She walked closer to him and leaned down to hug him. He sat there limp for a minute while her arms were around him thinking about Harlow, he finally reached his arms around her, and sobbed on her shoulder. "I'm here if you need to talk, just let me know and I'll be there for you." she says, as she stood back up. "I'll let you be..."
Sadie left the room to let him be alone, and Antonio started looking at what pictures he had on his laptop of Harlow, ordering for them to be printed off.
He opened the bottom drawer of his desk and pulled out a bottle of bourbon that he had hidden from Harlow, and started to chug on the bottle.
He guzzled, and guzzled on the bottle, wanting everything to go away for the night, even if it was only for the night. He continued drinking, thinking that all his problems would go away. Once the bottle was finished, he walked over to the bottle of bourbon on the table, and drank that until it was gone.
He sat back down at his desk, and grabbed their wedding picture he had sitting at the corner of his desk, and stared at the picture for a while, before holding it against his heart. He closed his eyes, remembering that very special day. It was the first best day of his life, before his girls were born, with that being his second-best day of his life.
"I'm so sorry Harlow, I'll always remember you, and this special day of ours." he muttered, sadly.
While holding the picture to his heart, he started remembering the day they first met, and how upset she was with him. He remembered their vacation in Cancun, and when he proposed to her there, worried her brother was going to ruin it. He set the picture back down, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes and began begging for Harlow's forgiveness. Apologizing that he didn't do more for her, and wishing he was with her when everything first happened.