LII

Hurried footsteps padded across the squeaky clean floor, the noise echoing and bouncing off the walls of the hospital's hallway as Emerald ran down the long and broad space with Jordan in tow, their flip flops slapping against the shiny white tiled floors.

They paid no heed to one of the rules held with utmost importance in the hospital; no running in the halls.

Unruly strands of Emerald's hair wisped into her eyes from her loosely tied up messy bun as she raced down the hallways in nothing but her silk pajamas with a thick trench coat thrown over and towards the pacing figure of her stepfather, who was being calmed and assured by her stepsister — an action that didn't seem to be helping much as Luca continued to pace, even going further to chew on his fingernails.

Finally approaching the duo, Emerald came to a sliding halt, only distractedly giving Jordan a grateful yet absentminded pat on his arm, which he had swiftly laced around her waist to prevent her from falling.

“Dad, is everything alright?” she asked, successfully managing to gain his attention. Luca looked up, finally slowing his worried pacing before freeing his fingernails from within the confinements of his teeth. He approached her, pulling her into a firm hug.

“Piccola,” he addressed her, squeezing Emerald further into his embrace whilst she ran her hands up and down his back, giving him occasional pats here and there and whispering soothing words to him.

“Mom is going to be fine, Dad. You know how strong and tough she is. She's a fighter, Dad. Your fighter. You have nothing to worry about,” she soothed, her gaze colliding with Armani's.

Her stepsister gave her a little smile, one which Emerald returned before outstretching one of her busy hands for Armani to hold on to. She pulled her closer and also engulfed her in the family embrace.

She could see the storm of worry brewing behind her sister's eyes and although, she was also dying of anxiety, Emerald would have to stay strong for her family. For Luca. For Armani. For her mother. And most importantly, for her approaching baby brother.

“They wouldn't allow me in there with her, Piccola. Your mother and I had agreed that I would be right beside her when she brings our little bundle of Smoochies into this world, but the nurses wouldn't let me in.

The doctor was also spitting applesauce about my health and me being unable to take in the sight of my wife in labour. I mean how old does he think I am? Some seventy–year old primogenitor? I was responsible for fertilizing our little seed in her in the first place.

If I hadn't ejaculated in the first place, she wouldn't even be here. In labour. Suffering. All because of me,” his voice grew smaller and smaller with each word and Emerald, despite her urge to laugh and cringe at the same time, could vividly hear the blame he was about to issue himself when she decided to put a stop to his mindless rant.

“Dad, stop it. Having a baby involves an agreement between both parties. You and Mom had decided to bring a new life to this world and if Mom hadn't objected to it, then it shows how much she truly loves you.

She loves you enough to have kids with you; that means she was willing to endure all of this pain, so you shouldn't blame yourself, else I'll tell Mom when she gets out and you know she's not going to like it.”

Emerald teased. “Or do you want me to tell her?” Luca hurriedly shook his head, earning little chuckles from Emerald, Armani and Jordan.

For some moments, the family continued to hold each other and Emerald felt a hand rub up and down her back, his familiar touch sending a peculiar wave of comfort through her system. She craned her neck slightly to meet Jordan's gaze.

She mirrored his smile just as he leaned down to kiss her temple, lingering to whisper soothing words into her ear before pulling away, but still standing closely behind her.

Few more minutes passed and they were all now seated with Luca sporting a cup of coffee Armani had gotten him from the vending machine down the hallway with Armani seated to his left, rubbing his back whilst Emerald sat to his right with Jordan by her side, caressing her hands in his.

Shifting her gaze from the silver metallic doors of the room occupied by her mother and the medical personnels tending to her, Emerald turned to look at her stepfather, whose lips were turned up in a grimace as he eyed his cup of coffee — one he had earlier complained tasted like dirt water — before turning to face Jordan.

Her eyebrows knitted on her forehead as she watched him. He appeared to be deep in thoughts since his gaze was trained on the spotless floors of the hospital hallway. Emerald followed his gaze to see what he seemed to find incredibly fascinating, but she was only met with the view of his naked feet, his beautiful toes wiggling in his flip flops.

A jolt of pain coursing through her slender fingers was enough to cause Emerald's gaze to rivet back to Jordan, whose face was now as hard as steel, his grip on her hands unconsciously tightening even further and Emerald had to sink her teeth into her bottom lip to keep her whimper of pain from slipping out.

She subtly nudged his leg with hers, finally managing to pull him out of his trance of rage. Jordan stiffened noticeably, snapping out of his daze before turning to look at Emerald. She gestured to their hands and as soon as he realized what he had done, he immediately loosened his grip, choosing to keep her hands in a hold as gentle and delicate as if holding an egg.

He looked into her inquisitive eyes, remorse and apology shining through his chocolate orbs as he caressed her hands in an attempt to soothe the slight throb echoing through her fingers.

Emerald opened her mouth to voice her concern, but her words dried up in her throat when the silver doors finally slid open, revealing a grinning doctor who, despite her sweaty frame and the obvious fatigue on her countenance, was wearing a huge grin on her face.

“Congratulations, everyone.” Luca was already on his feet even before the doctor could utter a word. “Your new baby is here. You're free to go in and see the mother and son pair,” Luca had made a mad dash through the door as soon as ‘free’ had escaped her lips.

Emerald stood up, thanking the doctor but not missing the sigh of relief that escaped from Jordan. Choosing to drill him later, she walked into the room, certain that he would be hot on her trail.

She moved around the stepfather and stepsister pair, smiling faintly when her mother came into view. She looked utterly drained with her messy hair and the beads of sweat that had collected on her forehead, the bridge of her nose and above her upper lip, were glinting prominently underneath the room's lighting.

Despite how she looked like she was ready to pass out, she had a smile on her face and her eyes were sparkling and vibrant, portraying nothing but sheer happiness and when her gaze collided with Emerald's, her smile widened even more, spreading across her face.

Tears welled up Emerald's eyes as she finally reached her mother. “Mom,” she carefully placed her hand over her mother's, caressing her skin. “How are you doing? Are you okay? How do you feel?” she blabbered.

Maggie smiled, rolling her eyes at the uncanny similarity her daughters and husband shared. “You're not also about to treat me like I'm some breakable porcelain chinaware now, are you?” she joked.

“I'm genuinely concerned, Mom. How do you feel? Tired? Pains anywhere? I could get the doc—”

“Hush now, baby. You haven't even taken a look at your baby brother yet,” Maggie muttered, calling Emerald's attention to the family's new addition.

Emerald slowly turned her head to behold a sight that had her heart melt into a puddle at her feet. Jordan stood to her side with a weeping yet grinning Luca and a cooing Armani crowded around him, but that was not what pulled at her heartstrings.

It was the sight of Jordan carrying a baby, her little brother precisely. He held onto the new life form as though he were the most frangible thing in the world. Her little brother had one of his tiny hands wrapped around Jordan's big thumb tightly while the other rested in a fist on his small chest as he slept peacefully.

Emerald felt a single tear roll down her face and she sniffled, wiping her eyes as she tried to keep her emotions at bay. Jordan finally raised his head, tearing his gaze from the little bundle in his hands so he could look at Emerald. Her gaze remained trained on her little brother and Jordan couldn't help but smile.

“Here. Do you want to carry him?” he asked, moving closer to her and extending the sleeping baby towards her. Emerald's eyes went wide and she looked around at the people in the room, seeing that they were all looking at her with small smiles and/or teary eyes.

“Can I?” she asked nervously, earning encouraging nods from all of them.

“Of course, baby. He is your little brother, after all,” Maggie encouraged, rubbing against Luca's thigh when he came to sit by her side. He kissed her forehead, his eyes still brimming with tears, but a smile on his face regardless. Maggie reciprocated his expression.

With shaky hands, Emerald took her baby brother into her arms, inhaling deeply when his fresh, clean scent wafted into her nose. He smelled just like their mother — the ambrosial air of jonquils surrounded him and a little smile broke out on Emerald's face when she looked up at Jordan who was standing very close to her because the newborn had refused to ease up his grip on Jordan's thumb.

She tentatively lifted her other hand to run her index finger along his smooth, soft and spotless face, chuckling softly when he stirred slightly and made a barely audible baby noise.

Emerald cooed, already falling head over heels in love with her little brother. She brought her face to closer to him, leaning down to whisper into his ear. “Welcome to the family, baby brother.”

As though he had understood her words, the newborn suddenly opened his eyes, earning a soft gasp from Emerald when she took in his eyes. Her smile spread into a wide grin and she excitedly looked up to meet everyone's adoring gaze.

“Lu, he has our eyes,” she whisper–yelled, barely able to contain her excitement at her discovery. Maggie and Carl, Emerald's biological father, had both possessed brown eyes and blue eyes respectively while Emerald had taken her maternal grandfather's emerald green eyes.

So, when Luca had also coincidentally possessed a pair of green orbs, it had seemed like fate when the father and stepdaughter pair had had similarly colored eyes — but where Emerald had emerald green orbs, Luca's shade of green veered towards the grassy hue.

Emerald, with a giddy expression, looked back down at the baby again, staring into his eyes as the infant stared. “Well, actually, he has more of my eye colour than yours, but it's still green,” she continued to ramble, her excitement palpable to everyone, including the baby, who went to reward her with a toothless, reflex smile.

At the sight of it, Emerald gasped again, earning chuckles from everyone when she exclaimed, “he smiled at me!” She caressed his cheek when he began to yawn, his little eyelashes fluttering as he batted his eyelids sleepily.

Emerald gave his frame a gentle smile before looking up at her parents. “What name did you guys agree on?” she whispered, not wanting to wake him up. Maggie and Luca passed each other a look, smiling before looking back at their slumbering son, chorusing his name.

“Emmett Pietro Romano.”

▬▬▬▬▬

A series of giggles resonated round the ward, drawing attention to the chain of family members occupying the room. In the ward allocated to Emerald's mother after the birth of baby Emmett, were Emerald, Jordan, Maggie, Luca and said baby, who was sleeping peacefully in his cot.

Luca was perched on the head of the bed, sitting with Maggie's head laying on his thighs as he combed his fingers through her hair, watching as she continued to chatter animatedly, even with the vines of sleep slowly entrapping her.

Emerald sat at the foot of the bed, her mother's slightly swollen feet lying on her own thighs. Maggie's feet had been begging endlessly for a massage, calling out to Emerald, so she had taken it upon herself to relieve her mother of her aching feet.

The family chain continued on and ended with Jordan, who was seated on a chair beside the hospital bed; he also had Emerald's feet in his hands, gently pressing on her tense and taut tendons. He and Emerald were also busy chatting between themselves, while Emerald simultaneously fought against the series of moans that threatened to escape her lips whenever Jordan deliberately put pressure on certain points in her feet.

Raising her head from its position where she had been looking down at her mother's feet, Emerald looked at Jordan, passing him a murderous glare for the umpteenth time since he had begun his entire massage trickery. Jordan only responded with a deceivingly innocent expression — a large Cheshire grin with both of his eyebrows raised and his chocolate colored orbs wide open.

Emerald scoffed, leaning a little closer to him so her subsequent words would reach his ears only. “What are you doing?” she whispered.

Jordan responded with a tilt of his head. “What do you mean?” his eyebrows were slightly furrowed and his expression, truly one of confusion, such that if anyone else should see him, they wouldn't believe that he had been doing what he had been doing.

Emerald gritted her teeth, just as he pressed on a spot beneath her sole. “Don't act li—” she was unable to complete her sentence before her mother interrupted her.

“Mera,” she sounded sleepy, “where are Armi, Loggie and Ori?” she questioned, drawing Emerald's attention from Jordan, who grinned victoriously.

“Armi and Logan went back to the house to get some things for you and little Emm, while Ori—” she sucked in a sharp breath when Jordan, once again, put pressure on a sensitive spot. She quickly threw him a dirty look, further glaring at Luca, who also chose to laugh at her.

“Oriana went to get some food and drinks from the restaurant across the hospital, ma. They all should be here soon,” she tried to keep the strain out of her voice, but her already slumbering mother didn't seem to notice.

Seeing that her mother had finally succumbed to the wisps of fatigue, Emerald dived towards Jordan, smacking him across the arm before doing the same to Luca, who burst into quiet chuckles in order to keep from awakening his wife.

“Ow,” Jordan whispered, but he failed to keep the amusement from his gaze as he watched Emerald glare hard at him before looking away with a huff. Jordan chuckled at her childishness. It was a side of her he rarely saw but always loved to see whenever it reared its head.

Before any of them could utter another word, the room doors were slid open and Logan walked in with a large bag. Emerald's eyes widened at the size of the bag and she couldn't contain the laughter that slipped through her lips.

“What's with the travel luggage?” she gibed, enjoying Luca's embarrassed look. He had packed the baby luggage himself.

“Beats me,” Logan chuckled before setting down the bag. He straightened up but immediately halted when he took in the scene of Jordan massaging Emerald's legs. He raised a taunting brow. “Are you the next pregnant woman?”

Emerald's eyes widened a bit as her cheeks flushed pink, while once again, Jordan chose to laugh at her expense. She kicked his chest lightly before making a move to remove her legs from his hold, but Jordan was having none of it as he held firmly onto her feet.

She rolled her eyes before looking back at Logan, who had settled into one of the steel set chairs beside the window. “Where's Armi?” she asked.

“She went to join Ori at the restaurant. They'll be here soon.”

“Ok,” she nodded before shifting her attention back to her mother's feet.

“And oh,” Logan called out, gaining her attention. “I found this outside the house,” he held up a white package, “it was addressed to you.”

With furrowed eyebrows, Emerald reached for the package, scanning the odd shaped object with tauten confusion. Too focused on it, she didn't notice the grave expression that had taken over Jordan's countenance at the mention of the package, nor did she notice how his grip on her feet tightened before he caught himself and released her legs.

She tore the carelessly wrapped but thick packaging, her eyes widening when a stream of red flowed onto her slightly exposed thighs, some staining her silk pajamas. In tow, a rose stained with the same red pigment fell onto her lap.

The entire room was engulfed in a deafening silence and a whole second passed before Emerald gasped and hurriedly stood to her feet, tossing the torn wrapping and bloody rose away from her.

“Gem,” Jordan stood up as well as Logan while Luca sat wide-eyed with a sleeping Maggie's head still in his lap. Emerald stared at her exposed legs and palms that were painted in the same pigment from the packaging.

Soon enough, a gut–wrenching smell dominated the entire room, causing Emerald's stomach to churn uncomfortably as the sensation to gag overwhelmed her.

Blood.

It was the smell of blood.

Her hands shook and her eyes watered, but when she looked away from her bloodied skin, she saw Jordan bend down to pick up something from the floor. He held up a letter, whose edges were also soaked in blood and Emerald watched motionlessly as his eyes skimmed through it.

She took in the change in his expression, she took in how hard he clenched his jaw, hard enough to hear the tick from where she stood before he looked up, locking gazes with her.

She also took in the sight of Logan peeking over Jordan's shoulder to behold the content of the paper. She noticed how his eyes widened and his face paled, turning as white as the floor of the hospital ward, which were now stained with blood.

Slowly and hesitantly, she moved towards Jordan, looking into his eyes that were filled to the brim with pain, anger and worry, but worry shone through so conspicuously.

She grabbed the letter from him — although he was reluctant to let go — and took in the contents. Her face was completely expressionless as she stared at particular words, at a particular sentence.

‘By now, your sister should be on her way to me. . .’

“Armi,” Emerald whispered, her blank visage completely shattering as endless streaks of tears began racing down her face. “Armi!” she exclaimed, tossing the paper aside as she prepared to race out of the room to find her sister.

‘She is at the restaurant. She has to be,’ her mind ran a thousand miles per second as undeniable worry filled her, but before she could take three steps towards the door, said door flung open and a disheveled looking Oriana stumbled in, panting heavily as she fell to the floor.

“Ori!” Logan was immediately by her side, trying to help her but Emerald only stood frozen, her eyes glued to the trail of blood running down the side of Oriana's face. Her one eye was starting to swell and her cheek was sporting a purple bruise.

Emerald took in the state of her friend, but still, she was too shocked to move an inch as she waited, as she anticipated any good news, any hope, any light at the end of the dark tunnel, even though everything pointed otherwise.

When she finally managed to catch her breath, Oriana — with her own tearstained cheeks — met Emerald's empty eyes despite the tears streaming down her face. Opening her mouth, Oriana voiced a sentence that completely vacuumed the happiness that had been flowing through everyone's veins just moments ago.

“She's gone. They took her.”