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Julio’s thoughts seemed distant, for the first time things felt awkward, wrong. Lissa suddenly wondered if she’d repulsed him, with her bold and slutty behavior. She needed time to think, time to be alone.
“Uh, listen, I need to get back and relieve Joan, she’s been alone with the babies all day.”
“Yeah, I’ve got some things I need to do as well, see you tomorrow?”
“Tomorrow.”
# # #
As Julio headed out the front of the lobby, to go do whatever he needed to go do, Lissa, didn’t get off on her sister’s floor. She’d totally lied about Joan needing a break.
They’d arranged for hotel nannies to help out, and she was sure Joan was just fine. They’d expected Lissa to be busy all day, maybe even all night. Joan had told her not to even think about coming back until morning.
So, she showered, and washed her hair, and went to bed naked.
She tried not to cry, she tried not to regret anything, but even still, it took many hours before she finally fell into a restless sleep.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
She woke to the sounds of banging on her door. “Lissa, are you in there?”
The urgent tone in Julio’s voice made her instantly awake. She jumped out of the bed and grabbed a towel out of the bathroom, covering her nakedness as she opened the door.
It was dark outside, she glanced at the digital clock. It was three in the morning. Her heart flew into her throat. “Oh, God, what’s wrong?” she shouted as Julio pushed into her room.
“I’ve been trying to call you. Joan’s been trying to call you, get dressed. We need to go to the hospital.”
Lissa’s heart felt like it was going to rip out of her chest.
“Oh, my God, one of the boys. Which one? What happened?”
“I don’t know, Joan just called me and said to get to the hospital right away. One of the boys fell ill or something and all of them were taken to the hospital, Joan’s been trying to reach you. I’ve been trying to reach you.”
Guilt tore at Lissa, as she remembered that she’d taken her phone off the hook and had turned off her cell phone, while she felt sorry for herself, wallowing in her post dirty sex doubts. She hadn’t thought to call Joan and check on the boys. What kind of mother does that make me?
“Come on, hurry,” Julio said.
Lissa struggled to find clothes, and couldn’t seem to remember how to put on her pants, as fear and panic gripped her, shutting down all cognitive power.
“Here, let me help you,” Julio said. He opened a drawer and found a t-shirt and helped her into it, neither of them caring that she wasn’t wearing a bra. He picked up her purse and room key off the dresser and walked her out of the room.
In the taxi on the way to the hotel, Lissa lost it, breaking into uncontrollable sobs.
“There, there,” Julio said, pulling her into his arms. “It’s going to be fine, I’m sure, everything’s going to be fine.”
When they got to the hospital, Julio grabbed the first nurse he saw.
“My sons, my babies, can you tell me where they are?”
The nurse just looked at him, and shook his head, then pointed to a reception desk in the corner.
Julio was stomping towards it, Lissa right behind when they heard a familiar voice behind them.
Abby. “Julio, Lissa, thank god you’re hear. Joan’s about to go mental on me.”
“Abby, what’s happened, are the boys alright?” It was Julio, asking, the fear in his voice matching the fear in her heart. If anything happened to her boys while she was feeling sorry for herself, she’d never forgive herself. She already felt bad enough every time she left her babies as she worked to become the best consultant in the business.
She felt Julio’s fingers entwining in hers, supporting her, and being supported as they awaited the dreaded news. Please God, please God.
“Joan called me after she couldn’t reach either of you. She said that Marco was real sick, I got the hotel doctor to meet me up in their room, and Marco was a limp as a rag, feverish, barely able to open his eyes. The doctor took one look at him and called an ambulance, and while we were waiting he examined the other boys and said they were showing signs of getting sick as well. He made them take all three to the hospital.”
“Oh, my God, what’s wrong with them?” Lissa’s eyes were swimming with tears. “Where are they, I want to see my babies.”
“Follow me. Joan will be glad to see you.”
Julio’s fingers entwined Lissa’s and he held onto her hand tight as they followed Abby through the maze of hallways, before finally arriving at the infants and children’s ward.
Joan rose from her seat, as she saw them come in, and came running over to her sister.
The two women hugged.
“What’s
going on, Joan?” Lissa asked.
“I don’t know, they won’t tell me anything,” Joan said, and then she collapsed back in to her seat and buried her head in her hands.
Abby spoke. “There’s the doctor.”
They all looked up as a diminutive woman with striking grey hair and even more striking grey eyes walked towards them, in her white doctor’s coat and stethoscope wrapped around her neck. She walked up to Julio and began speaking to him in rapid Spanish.
Julio nodded, and then his face broke into a relieved semi-smile.
“Gracias, doctor,” he said, as the doctor scurried away.
“What? What’s going on? Are my babies alright?”
Julio guided everyone to the seats. “Sit down, and yes. It’s good news but I’m not going to tell it to you standing up.”
Lissa felt relief flood through her, and almost burst into tears of happiness. Her worst fears weren’t materializing. Her boys were going to be okay.
“What is it? Julio, tell us!” demanded Joan.
“Apparently, the boys have contracted some kind of infection. Marco had it the worst, and he’s going to need the most time to recover, but the other boys were treated in time, so they’re already coming around. Either way, they want the three of them to remain here for a few days.”
“When can I see them?”
“He said that a room was being prepared and that the two less sick boys would be in there within the hour, but that Marco would need to remain on the intensive care unit until further notice. He said, that we could come back and see him in about thirty minutes, but just two people at a time.”
Thirty minutes later, Joan and Abby insisted that Julio and Lissa go back first. They followed a nurse into the back of the ward and were taken to a viewing room.
“Can’t we go in?” Lissa asked, as she realized that they were to only look at their sick baby through a window.
“Nurse?”
“Si, ?”
Julio spoke to the nurse in Spanish, then translated. “No one is allowed in the intensive care nursery except doctors and nurses.”
