It took me a while to recover from his proposal. The ring is simple and small. It has a rounded diamond at the center of the ring with smaller diamonds around a gold band. I love the ring because it's not flashy and it isn't big. While I continue talking to Xander I can't help but notice he is holding something back.
"What?" He asks noticing my sudden silence.
"Nothing," I say.
"Natalia." He begins and I sigh.
"Xander you seem a little distracted. Is it about Alistar?" I ask.
"No, it's not that it's just...," He pauses before he could say more, "Can you promise me that you won't get worked up after I tell you something?" He asks and I nod.
"Yes, I promise," I can't promise how I'll react but I want to know what he is holding back.
"Our daughter is alive." He says after a minute of silence.
"What?" I ask. How is it possible?
"I know! I was also shocked." He admits.
"How?" I ask.
"Alistar had faked her death and sold her off to a couple making them believe he was an adoption agent. The past few days he held her captive until I gave him money but she's fine now and Alistar was captured." He says and I want to ask how she was rescued but I think Xander doesn't want to say anything further.
"Where is she?" I ask. I want to see her.
"She's here in the hospital getting looked after but she's beautiful Natalia." He says and a part of me is a little jealous that he got to see her and I haven't.
Xander lets me rest soon after the nurses check my wound. Apparently, the bullet was nearly inches from my heart but I was lucky I was only wounded. I didn't feel lucky because I had yet to see my daughter. Moments after the nurses checked on me I started to feel my eyes grow heavy but I fought the sleep because I needed to stay awake in case they brought my daughter.
"Go to sleep Natalia, I'll wake you up if I hear anything." He promises and I rest my head back into my pillow.
What feels like hours later I feel a hand gently shake me.
"Natalia?" I hear Xander ask. I slowly open my eyes.
"What's going on?" I ask sleepily.
"The nurses say they're transferring her to your room." He says and it takes me a moment to remember that he is referring to our daughter. Seconds later I see two nurses walk in my room and wheel in a small hospital bassinet.
"Mr. Reed and Ms. Fuller I believe someone is here to see you." One of the nurses says while moving my daughter closer towards my bed. Inside the little bassinet, I see her. She has the same chestnut hair like mine but some of her features like her ears and nose were the same as her fathers.
"Can I hold her?" I ask the nurses.
"Yes, just be careful with her IV." The nurse cautions as she gently moves my daughter in her arms. She's so tiny that I'm afraid I would break her but I know it's not possible.
"She's beautiful," I mumble to myself.
"Just like her mother." I hear Xander say next to me and I smile. My daughter is only 3 months old and I feel like I missed so much of her life. I can only hope the worse will happen to Alistar because he took away our daughter for his own selfish reasons. I just hope my daughter knows who her parents are because this is the first time I'm holding her since her birth.
"We'll be leaving your daughter here till you both recover." The nurse that handed her to me says.
"Before you leave can I ask what happened?" She has an IV running up her small wrist and it makes me weep inside when I see it.
"In the past three days, she was malnourished and was drugged to sleep due to the way she was cared for. As of now, she is doing better after being fed and she should be waking anytime." The nurse reassures me. I'm upset that she was improperly cared for while in Alistar's captivity but at the same time, I'm thankful she is here with Xander and me.
"Thank you," I say to the nurses. When they leave, Xander and I take turns looking after our daughter until I fall asleep. Xander promises to watch over us until I wake.
The next day my nurse changes my bandages from surgery while Xander steps out for a second to answer a call. After my nurse finishes, Xander returns to my room.
"Who was that?" I ask as I readjust my position in my bed. I still can't sit up but I'm able to make some movements without feeling pressure on my chest.
"That was the police. They said the couple who took care of Carena would like to see us." He says.
"Tell them they can," I say. I would like to meet them because they took care of our daughter when we weren't present.
"Okay I'll call them back but I think some people want to see you and Carena." I smile up at him and nod. I haven't had any visitors other than Xander, the nurses, or the doctor. I'm excited to tell them that we're okay.
The first visitors were Xander's parents. They were all told of Carena's existence but they didn't know she would be found alive. Xander's mother, Elaine, wept when she first held Carena, her grandaughter and Xander's father looked as if he would cry but kept in for our sake. I guess Carena had some magnetic pole that pulled us together because she was welcomed into the Reed family.
The next visitors were Alizah and Nick. Alizah was happy to see me but she was happier to see her niece and even Nick was proud to be an uncle. Alizah promised to visit me since I would be in the hospital for a full week of recovery. I thanked them for visiting and for keeping Xander sane the days I was out.
The final visitor was Trina and this was the only visit I was without Xander's company. He had to rush back to change because I insisted he does so.
"How does it feel being a mother again?" Trina asks.
"It all feels unreal," I say while I carefully switch Carena's position in my arms.
"Wait a minute! What is that on your finger? Did I miss something?" She asks while pointing at my ring.
"Oh...um, Xander proposed to me about a day ago," I say while looking down at my ring.
"And you didn't care to mention that before?" She asks.
"I didn't want to make a big deal of it since finding my daughter alive and waking up from surgery," I admit. Xander and I discussed the idea of announcing our engagement soon as I'm ready.
"Well you should but I understand you need some time to adjust." She says and I'm once again thankful for her empathy.
"Thank you. I really appreciate it." I say.
"No problem, but we should celebrate when you're obviously recovered." She says and I giggle at her response.
"That's for sure," I say. We keep talking until Xander returns and Trina leaves soon after she promises to visit me the next day.
"Hey," I say to Xander.
"Hey, how're my two girls doing?" He asks and I feel myself blush.
"We're doing fine," I say.
"Good. The couple that I mentioned is here to see us." Xander announces.
"Of course, please let them in," I say and Xander exits the room to escort the couple inside my hospital room. I haven't had much time to make myself look presentable other than from earlier when Trina braided my hair.
Xander and a young couple walk into my room. The woman has light blonde hair and is in a green sundress. The man who I assume is her husband has brown curly hair and is dressed in light denim and a blue shirt.
"Hello, I'm Morgan Castor and this is my husband Adam Castor." She says as we exchange greetings.
"It's nice to meet you," I say to them.
"It's also great to meet you. I know it must be hard to have all of this happen to you." Mrs. Castor says.
"It is but I'm happy to know that our daughter was in good company," I say.
"We were happy to have her. Speaking of how is she doing?" She asks while looking towards the bassinet next to my bed.
"The doctor is running some vitals into her IV but she's recovering well." It's not long until she is off from the IV. I've noticed it's uncomfortable for her whenever the fluid runs into her IV. It pains me to see her this way because I would do anything to get her back to perfect health.
"That's good to hear. We're sorry that she was taken away without any of our knowledge. If we had known we would have contacted the police long ago." Mrs. Castor says.
"It's not your fault, the real fault is Mr. Castelle," I say
"We're truly sorry but the reason for our visit is that we had some information on Mr. Castelle that may help you." Mr. Castor says.
"What information do you have?" Xander asks.
"We met Mr. Castor in Florida when my wife and I were on vacation for our anniversary. While we were at a party he bumped into me and we began talking. I must have consumed a lot of alcohol because I mentioned mine and my wife's infertility situation. You see we had always wanted to be parents but we didn't have much luck getting an agency to help us. We also tried to conceive but to no avail. Mr. Castelle mentioned that he worked at an adoption agency and that he could possibly help us. I thanked him after exchanging contact information. I didn't hear from him until a week later when he mentioned that he had found a match for us. He had said an abandoned infant was found in the park and brought to his agency for immediate adoption. I told my wife and we agreed to adopt her." Mr. Castor explains and I'm in shock how Alistar fooled all of us.
"Towards the end of the third month, Mr. Castelle visits us and gives us the news that the father of the baby asked for his daughter to be brought back. My wife and I were upset when he told us that we would lose another child. When she was taken back, Mr. Castelle had an abrupt phone call that he answered outside. We were happy about our extended parting but I couldn't help but listen to his conversation. Most of what I heard was in Spanish and he sounded annoyed but the few things I could pick up on was that he said he would be leaving the states soon." Mr. Castor concludes.
"Could this mean he was planning to run off?" Xander asks.
"Possibly, the man was well dressed and I have no doubt he probably has connections." Mr. Castor mentions.
"Thank you for this information. I'll let the police know to keep an eye on him." Xander says
"Your welcome and we're glad your daughter is safe from all of this." Mrs. Castor says.
"We really appreciate everything you did. What did you name her?" I ask out of curiosity.
"We named her Rose." Mrs. Castor says while looking down at our daughter.
"It's a beautiful name," I answer back.
"We'll be leaving then. Please take care." She says while we say our goodbyes.
"We will and your more than welcome to keep in touch after all you took care of our daughter when weren't there for her," I say and she nods in agreement.