Chapter 11
Gloria and Geoff arrived on Wednesday, three days before their wedding, which
was cutting it close. They stayed at Eugenia’s apartment, which Gloria still
considered home when they were in New York. They were all leaving for East Hampton
on Friday morning, with the rehearsal dinner on Patrick’s boat that night.
Everything was moving at high speed, and Eugenia greeted them warmly when they
arrived, despite the unpleasantness between them earlier in the week. Geoff was on his
best behavior, and had had a haircut. There was a thin veneer covering Gloria’s
underlying anger on every subject, which Eugenia chose to ignore. She didn’t want to
spoil her daughter’s wedding week, and kept things light.
The bridal couple had dinner with Geoff’s parents on Wednesday night, and Gloria
had a fitting for her wedding dress on Thursday morning with her mother and her best
sewer. There were only a few minor alterations to be made to achieve perfection.
Gloria looked exquisite in the spectacular gown. She was going to wear her auburn hair
in a loose bun at the nape of her neck, with her veil over it. Everyone in the room, the
sewers, her mother, and her older sisters, Eloise and hugely pregnant Daphne, stood
watching her in awe. Eugenia said she was the most beautiful bride she had ever seen,
and meant it, and the dress was magnificent. The sewers helped Gloria take off the
gown carefully and carried it away, wrapped in white satin to protect it, to make the
final adjustments. It had been very moving to see her at her final fitting. Gloria and
Geoff had dinner with Umberto and his woman of the hour, Delphine, that night,
Thursday, which gave Eugenia time to have an early dinner with Patrick on his boat. He
was moving it to the Hamptons the next day, Friday morning, while the family drove to
the rented house for the weekend, and on Friday night Patrick was hosting the rehearsal
dinner. Thursday night was their last chance to have a quiet dinner alone, while Gloria
and Geoff had dinner with her father and Delphine. It was a heavy schedule to keep up
with and Patrick noticed that Eugenia looked tired when she came across the passerelle
onto the boat. He called down to the gym for the head masseuse to come up and massage
her feet while he poured her a glass of white wine.
“You spoil me,” she said, smiling at him. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this,
but it’s sheer heaven.”
“I figure this is your last night of relative peace and sanity for the next few days.
How is everyone behaving?” He knew that Eugenia had been nervous about additional
battles with Gloria.
“They’re all right. I’ve hardly seen them, I’ve been so busy, going in a thousand
directions. Fashion Week will be a relief after this.” She questioned now the wisdom of
holding the wedding so close to Fashion Week, but it had seemed like a good idea at the
time.
She nearly fell asleep over dinner, and he wished she could spend the night, but she
needed to go home, pack the last details, and leave for the rented house in the Hamptons
the next morning. She was more grateful than ever that Patrick was taking care of the
rehearsal dinner. She didn’t have to do a thing, except for the wedding on Saturday.
Then she had to get to work on Monday to prepare for her fashion show a week later.
Patrick hated to bring it up over dinner, but he’d been studying the weather reports
for the weekend before she came on board. There was a tropical storm heading toward
Long Island, due to hit land on Friday night, which made him uneasy. It was moving
through the Caribbean and heading for the mainland, gathering strength and speed. It
might just miss them if it hit the mainland late on Friday night, but it didn’t bode well for
Saturday, the day of Gloria’s wedding.
“Do you have an alternate plan for Saturday?” he asked Eugenia, concerned about
the wedding. “In case of bad weather.”
“The club said they can put up a tent if it rains.” It would add another eighty
thousand dollars to the bill, which she wasn’t happy about. “But they said that tropical
storms usually wear themselves out before they hit land.” Unless they got stronger and
turned into hurricanes, Patrick didn’t say to her. She had enough on her plate without his
worrying her more than she already was, while trying to keep track of everything. She
had managed to avoid any arguments with Gloria, but she was handling her with kid
gloves and they were keeping their distance from each other. The tension between them
was always just below the surface. Gloria was still angry at her mother and her
questions about Geoff. She was his fiercest defender, which added further tension to the
wedding plans.
Eugenia left the boat early, as she still had a lot to do and needed to get to bed.
Friday would be a busy day.
—
When she woke up on Friday, it was raining and there was a slight wind. It got stronger
as she got to Long Island, to the rented house. Her car was full of details for the
wedding: escort cards and place cards, the calligraphied menus, the party favors for
each guest, silver frames with a photograph of Gloria and Geoff in each, which the
guests could replace with their own photographs later.
It was raining harder by midday and the yacht crew put up the plastic curtains to
keep the party area dry, hoping the rain would stop by dinnertime. The boat was so
beautiful that the weather didn’t matter, but it would make for a prettier party if they
could see the sun setting. But the dark clouds showed no sign of disappearing, nor the
wind of abating. The clouds got darker and bigger and the wind stronger throughout the
day, while Eugenia organized everything she’d brought. Gloria was staying with her.
Geoff was staying with his parents at the Airbnb they had rented in Bridgehampton that
night. He couldn’t see Gloria after the rehearsal dinner, until the wedding. He thought it
was a stupid tradition, and tried to talk Gloria into letting him stay with her at the rented
house, but she wouldn’t let him and insisted it was bad luck.
—
When they all got to the dock for the rehearsal dinner, in the vans Patrick had sent for
them at their various locations, the sea was choppy but the boat was secured at the dock.
The boat rocked a little but not enough to make anyone sick. Geoff said he was already
queasy when they got to the yacht, and it was only rolling slightly. The crew had done a
beautiful job decorating the boat and the tables. There were white streamers flying from
the masts in the wind and rain. There were white lace tablecloths on two long dining
tables and the buffet, and white orchids and gardenias and candles everywhere. It
looked incredibly romantic and Eugenia thanked Patrick, as a small band played
romantic show tunes. He had consulted Daphne for Gloria’s favorites. There was
suckling pig and a full buffet, and a shellfish table decorated with beautiful shells. He
had gone all out to make it festive and elegant. Geoff’s parents were awestruck when
they saw the size of the boat, and so was Umberto. He made a point of being nice to
Patrick, and the bridal couple looked happy and proud. Geoff was feeling better by then.
There were numerous toasts at dinner, and excellent champagne. The food was
delicious, and the atmosphere was warm and relaxed, as the storm continued to worsen
and the wind got stronger by the hour. They were protected by the curtains the crew had
set up in the driving rain, and Eugenia noticed Patrick consulting quietly with the
captain at frequent intervals. The captain looked concerned as the wind whipped around
them and the crew added additional bumpers to prevent the yacht from slamming against
the dock and getting damaged.
“It hasn’t hit land yet, but they just upgraded it to a hurricane,” the captain informed
Patrick in an undertone no one else could hear. The wind was very strong, and the rain
was coming down in sheets. The yacht was rolling more than at first, but no one was
sick or complained. They were having too much fun to notice. “It’s expected to hit land
between one and two .. They’re expecting flash floods on the roads, and they want to
set a midnight curfew for the area. We need to send them home so we can tighten things
down and put them away,” the captain said, and Patrick looked chagrined. “I think the
sea is going to get rougher soon.”
“I hate to break up the party, everyone’s having a good time.”
“They won’t if we get it full on when it hits land, and you don’t want people getting
hurt when they leave the boat. The ride back to wherever they’re staying is going to be
tougher and wetter than when they arrived.” They had already removed some small
objects that could fly away.
Patrick took it seriously, and a few minutes later he spoke to Eugenia quietly and
told her what the captain had said. She was sorry too, but they didn’t want anyone
getting trapped in floods, or hit by falling trees on land if it was as bad as they said on
the weather reports. “I think we have to send them home,” Patrick said regretfully. It
was eleven-thirty, and they were all having a good time, drinking a lot and singing on
the dining deck, with the plastic sheets all around the area to protect them. Most of them
hadn’t even noticed how bad the storm had gotten, and didn’t care. The boat was rolling
but her stabilizers kept her fairly steady. Even Geoff hadn’t complained of seasickness.
He had eaten heartily and was drinking heavily.
“If it stays like this, it’s going to be a mess tomorrow at the wedding,” Eugenia said,
worried.
“It’s either going to get a lot worse or a lot better when it hits land,” Patrick said,
concerned.
The captain joined them while Patrick and Eugenia were conferring. “I think we
need to take them home now, sir,” he said in a firm tone. “The wind is picking up.” A
few minutes later, Patrick stopped the band, and made a short announcement, and
apologized for the sudden end to the evening.
“We want to get you all back to your houses and hotels safely before the storm gets
any worse,” Patrick said. “I’m so sorry, but if you gather up your things now, the vans
are waiting for you on the dock.” There were four vans waiting to drive them home.
And the crew was waiting to tie everything down and put things away.
It only took them a few minutes to get their wraps and party favors, and some of the
gardenias from the table, and once they left the yacht and went ashore, the guests
realized how bad the storm was. The gusts nearly knocked them off their feet, as they
fought the wind walking to the vans. Crew members on the dock helped to steady them.
Most of them were very drunk, except for Patrick and Eugenia, who made sure that
everyone got into the vans. Geoff tried to climb into the one Gloria got into and she
stopped him with a firm hand and a smile.
“You can’t go home with me, remember? It’s bad luck, you have to go to the house
with your parents. You can’t see me again until the wedding.” She said it gently but loud
enough for him to hear her in the strong wind.
“Bloody hell,” Geoff responded angrily, “who knows if there’ll be a fucking
wedding with a hurricane about? We might as well enjoy a good fuck tonight,” he said
as he stomped off to the next van, already soaked to the skin. She had heard what he
said, but it didn’t change her mind. She needed all the luck available if she was going to
marry him. Her brother heard what Geoff said too. Stef didn’t look pleased and didn’t
comment, but he and Liz exchanged a glance. Eloise had also heard. Brad and Sofia
were in the van with them. The crew member who was driving took off for their rented
house then. He wanted to get them home quickly and get back to the yacht to help.
Patrick was already working with the crew to tie things down as fast as they could, and
the sails had been bound tightly to the masts. But a gale like that could break one or
several of the masts and kill people.
Phillip and Daphne had left a little earlier in their own car. She was exhausted and
worried about Tucker being frightened in the storm. She wanted to get home to him
quickly.
Eugenia was in a van with the Crawfords, Umberto, and his date, to drop them off at
the Maidstone Inn for Umberto, and the Crawfords at their Airbnb. Geoff jumped in
with them before they took off, still in a drunken rage that Gloria wouldn’t let him go
home with her.
“My bitch of a future wife wouldn’t let me go home with her,” he said by way of
explanation, forgetting that his future mother-in-law was in the van with them, but he
didn’t care. “Does anyone have a bottle of Scotch?” he asked loudly, and no one
answered, while the deckhand driving was trying to avoid growing rivers of water
covering the road. The other two vans had taken some of the guests back to their hotels.
It was a challenging drive getting to the inn, trying to avoid small floods that were
starting, and it took them half an hour to get there. It was midnight by then, and the
deckhand was anxious to get back to the boat.
Umberto and his date hurried into the inn and they proceeded to the Crawfords’
Airbnb. Eugenia helped them get out, and Prudence was looking nervous and pale. “I
don’t like storms like this,” she said to Eugenia. “My sister was killed in a typhoon
when we were children.” Geoff made no effort to help his parents and staggered into the
house. Eugenia and the deckhand watched them fight the wind to get inside and once
they were in, they took off to navigate the rivers flowing around them to get Eugenia
home. She wasn’t afraid, but she was worried about Daphne and the others. And if
Daphne went into labor, she might not be able to get to the hospital, and certainly not to
the city. Eugenia was glad that Geoff wasn’t staying with them in the condition he was
in. His parents could deal with him tonight.
The crew member got Eugenia home as quickly as he could, with the water swirling
around them on the road. She ran into the house in the white satin evening pajamas she
had worn, and they were soaked through by the time she got into the house and found the
others in the kitchen, talking and lighting candles. The compound had just lost power
and they were all in the main house looking for candles and flashlights.
“This was a little more excitement than we were expecting,” Brad said, handing out
flashlights to all of them. “We have tornados in Tennessee.” Stefano opened a bottle of
wine, and handed a glass to those who wanted it.
“Well, it was a fun party,” Stef said, and everyone laughed. They walked into the
spacious living room, and sat watching the storm through the picture window. It looked
like a hurricane now. Brad reminded them to stand well away from the picture windows
in case one broke, so they wouldn’t get hurt by flying glass.
Gloria left the living room to call Geoff on her cell phone, to apologize for not
letting him come home with her. He answered quickly and shouted at her, “If you don’t
want to get laid tonight, I do, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do, and there are
plenty of women at the bar at the inn who would be happy to fuck me, so fuck you,
Gloria,” and hung up on her. She was sheet white when she walked into the living room
and even in the light from the flashlights, her mother could see it.
“Everything okay?” she asked gently.
“Actually, no,” Gloria said with an intent expression and left the room again. She
had seen slickers and boots in the storeroom behind the kitchen, and went and put them
on with the lace pants and top she had worn to the rehearsal dinner. The slicker had a
hood and she put it over her head and, picking up a set of the keys to one of the rented
SUVs they had, slipped out the back door with her cell phone in her pocket. And a
minute later the others heard the wheels of the car spin on the gravel and then take off,
and they looked out the window to see who was arriving, and all they could see were
the red taillights of the SUV disappearing down the drive. Someone was leaving and it
took them a minute to figure out who.
“Where’s Gloria?” Eloise was the first to ask. She had seen the look on her face and
could guess where she went and why. She had gone to comfort Geoff and calm him
down. She headed to the Maidstone Inn, where he said he was going to pick up women.
“I’ll go after her,” Brad volunteered and got up to go, and Eugenia stopped him.
“You can’t go. If anything happens, we might need a doctor, and if you leave in the
only other car, we’ll all be trapped here if we have to evacuate or need help.” She was
thinking of Daphne a few miles away, if she went into labor and couldn’t get to the
hospital. This was becoming serious and they all knew it, and Brad stopped.
“Gloria’s a good driver and the car is solid. She knows where she’s going and she’ll
be okay,” Eloise said, and could guess easily that she was going to see Geoff. She was
sure they had had some kind of an argument after the way he left her.
Stef lit a fire in the fireplace, and they all sat around talking quietly. Eloise got the
latest news reports on her phone. The hurricane had unleashed its full fury on Long
Island, and had made landfall only a few miles away, and there were floods building all
around them. Eugenia didn’t like the idea that Gloria was driving. But their Airbnb
wasn’t far away and she didn’t have far to go. The Maidstone Inn was close too, but no
one knew she had gone there to intercept Geoff and calm him down before he hurt
himself, injured someone else, got arrested for being drunk and disorderly, or started a
bar fight. He could be an aggressive drunk.
—
It was scary driving in the storm, and Gloria was as careful as she could be. She had
been to the Hamptons often and knew the roads well, and the roads in town were full of
water, but it wasn’t as deep as it had been getting there, and the SUV was high and
avoided some of it. It had four-wheel drive, and she pulled up in front of the inn fifteen
minutes after she had left the house. She was sure he would be there.
She walked up the steps of the hotel in her slicker and boots and lace pants that were
soaked from the knee down from the muddy water she had walked through. Her face
was as white as her lace blouse. The bar was bulging with activity, and someone was
playing the piano. People were singing and drunk, safe from the storm in the hotel,
which sat considerably higher than the street. And they hadn’t lost power. All the lights
were on. She looked for Geoff in the bar, didn’t see him, and decided to walk upstairs
to make sure he wasn’t staggering around the halls. There was no one at the desk to stop
her and she ran quietly up the stairs, just in time to see him kiss an equally drunk woman
and slip into a room with her. Gloria’s heart was pounding as she walked to the end of
the hall and knocked on the door. There was no answer and she pounded on it. The
woman she had seen opened it, already stripped down to her bra and a black lace thong.
Geoff already had his jeans off and was standing behind her unbuttoning his shirt. He
was furious when he saw Gloria. The woman looked confused and very drunk.
“I told you what I was going to do, and I’m doing it,” he said viciously, “you bitch.
You should have let me come home with you.” There was no remorse, no apology, no
explanation. He was too drunk to care, and she realized now that what her mother had
told her was probably true. He had probably cheated on her before, and this was the
night before their wedding.
“I’m not as dumb as you think,” she said, keeping a level gaze on him, as the girl he
had picked up walked away and lay down on the bed and left them to their argument.
She was too drunk to care and passed out while Geoff shouted at Gloria. She had seen
enough and turned to leave, while Geoff called after her. “See you in church,” he said,
and laughed uproariously.
“The wedding’s off,” she said in a clear voice. “Don’t come back to the house. I’ll
have your suitcase dropped off at your parents’. And don’t come back to my apartment
in London. I’ll send you your shit.”
“Oh, big fucking deal. You think I care? That girl I picked up is probably a better
fuck than you are. You’re so fucking uptight, you’re just like your mother and sisters.
You’d be a real pain in the ass to be married to, without a little jolly time on the side,”
he said, as she pulled off the small antique ring that he had given her as an engagement
ring, because his parents had sold everything else to fix the roof. She threw it in his
direction, and it landed somewhere near him on the floor. “I don’t give a fuck what you
do,” he shouted after her as she left the room and hurried down the hall, “and you write
like shit,” he added, as her eyes filled with tears, but she had her back to him so he
didn’t see them, and she didn’t stop or turn back. “I was just going to marry you for the
money,” he added insult to injury, shouting down the hall. “You don’t deserve to be a
countess.” He was still shouting as she ran down the stairs, and he didn’t follow her. He
was raging drunk, but there was a ring of truth to what he said and how he said it, about
marrying her for the money. And even if he had apologized or crawled to her, she knew
what he was now. She hadn’t wanted to see it, even if everyone else had.
She ran to the car in the driving rain and wind, got in, and drove back to the house,
sobbing all the way. It took her an hour to get there on the way back. The water on the
roads was higher, and she had to drive around pools of water. The power was still off
when she got to the house. She walked into the little room behind the kitchen and took
off the boots and slicker. She was soaked in spite of them and the white lace pants were
covered in mud. She walked into the living room, less than two hours after she had left,
and they were all still there, talking in subdued voices, watching the storm by
candlelight. It was two in the morning, and they were drinking wine by the fire. They all
looked up when she came in, and no one said a word. Gloria’s hair was matted to her
head from the rain and wind, she looked ravaged, but she was fully sober.
“I just got a text from the Shinnecock Hills Golf Club. Several of the columns were
blown down and fell into the kitchen and catering area. The wedding is canceled,”
Eugenia said, seriously.
“Yes, it is,” Gloria said, looking at her. “You were right. Geoff was about to screw
some woman he picked up at the bar at the Maidstone. He’s drunk off his ass, but he
said enough. I told him the wedding is off. Maybe if the club is damaged, you can get
your deposit back,” she said. “I’m sorry, Mom, for everything.” She left the room and
walked upstairs to one of the bedrooms she knew was empty and lay down on the bed.
She didn’t want to talk to anyone, or sit with them. What she had seen at the inn had
been traumatic, and she needed time to absorb it, and who he was. She had only begun
to realize in the last hour how cruel she had been to her mother, and why the others were
so angry at her. She needed time to understand it, and her part in it. He had egged her on,
but she had been willing to do it, to participate. Not only did she now know who Geoff
was, she didn’t know who she was anymore, and she needed time to figure it out. That
was all she was sure of now.
In the firelit living room downstairs, Eugenia looked at Eloise. “Do you think I
should go up to her?”
“No, I don’t,” Eloise said quietly. “She needs time to think, and to grow up, and
maybe you do too. You can’t fix everything for us all the time. She screwed it up, with
you, and all of us, and she has to fix it. You can’t do it for her.” Eugenia sat thinking
about what she said, as Stefano spoke up.
“She’s right, Mom. She made a pretty big mess for herself, with everyone. She needs
to think about it, or she’ll never learn the lesson. It’s a big lesson to learn. Thank God
she didn’t make the mistake and marry the guy. She’ll be okay, when she figures it out.”
Eugenia listened to him, and nodded. She knew he was right, and maybe she needed
to grow up too. She couldn’t protect them anymore. They didn’t belong to her anymore.
They belonged to themselves.
She sat quietly, thinking about all of it, as the storm seemed to get worse outside.
They were just starting to get up to go to bed. It was after three, and the hurricane
showed no sign of abating. According to the news on their phones, the flooding had
gotten worse, roads were blocked, highways were closed. The highway patrol was
telling people to stay in their homes unless they were dangerously flooded or were in
areas being evacuated, which they weren’t yet. But a map shown on the screen indicated
that the evacuation area was coming closer to them. They were all slowly shuffling up
to bed when the front door opened and Phillip and Daphne walked in. He was carrying
Tucker, sound asleep. They looked like refugees, bundled up in slickers, Wellingtons,
and rainwear. Everyone came alive again when they saw them.
“Our house is flooding,” Daphne said. “Sheriff’s deputies told us to evacuate.
Angelica went home to her parents. I’m sorry to barge in.” Phillip looked at her
pointedly, and she bit her lip, fighting tears. “My water broke an hour ago. The road to
the hospital is completely flooded. The patients got evacuated two hours ago and
airlifted out. And the highway to the city is closed. I think I might be in labor, and I
don’t know what to do.” She burst into tears, and Sofia stepped forward instantly to
comfort her.
“You’re going to be fine,” she said calmly, and Brad called 911 on his cellphone. He
spoke in codes that were familiar to him and Sofia but not the others. Eugenia had
called Pam and asked her to send emails to all the guests to tell them the wedding was
canceled due to the storm. They didn’t need to know the rest yet.
“What about an airlift out?” Brad asked the dispatcher he was talking to. “We’ve got
a big flat area where they can land. Right. Got that.” He gave them the address. “Put us
first on that list. We may be good for another hour, but we need out, fast. That’s right,
twins.” He ended the call and summed it up for the others. “They can’t airlift you out
right now, Daphne, the winds are too high, the helicopter would flip, they’re all
grounded. They’ll get here as soon as they can take off again. And the flooded areas are
rising. They think they can come to you in a police boat, but that depends how far you
are in the delivery. You don’t want to deliver in a police boat in a flood. For now, let’s
sit tight, and see where your labor goes, if you’re really in labor. You may just be
feeling Braxton-Hicks contractions. Tonight has been pretty stressful. I’m here, and your
sister is the best midwife in Tennessee. You’re in good hands. Why don’t you go
upstairs and let Sofia check you? The first responders are going to stay in close touch.
I’m not worried about you,” Brad said, and Daphne wanted to believe him. Phillip
looked somewhat reassured but not completely. His wife was about to have twins in a
flood with no way to get to a hospital. And they were only a week early, which was
considered full-term. They both knew that in a house far from a hospital there was going
to be no pain relief for her, and one or both of the twins could be at risk. It wasn’t a
good situation, and Phillip hugged Daphne as she went upstairs with her sister, and
Eugenia followed. The others waited downstairs.
Sofia seemed strikingly calm as she led the way to their mother’s bedroom. She
spoke in low, soothing tones, and reassured Daphne that everything was going to be
great. Tucker was still sound asleep on the couch downstairs.
“Why do I have to be in labor now, with everything going wrong?” Daphne said,
with tears in her eyes, as Sofia moved toward the door to get the medical bag she
always traveled with. She had everything she needed in it to do a delivery, and so did
Brad.
“Nothing is going wrong,” Sofia corrected her. “You’re healthy, the babies are
healthy, they’re term. They’re a good size, and I deliver babies every day in worse
conditions. My patients would be thrilled to deliver in a house like this. We have
everything we need, like our very own hospital, with a doctor and a nurse practitioner.
First class all the way.” She smiled, disappeared for less than five minutes, and was
back with the medical bag that she had brought in her suitcase.
She slipped off Daphne’s jeans and underwear, covered her with a towel, asked
their mother to bring some sheets and towels, and went to wash her hands. When she
came back, she checked Daphne, still smiling and chatting softly, as though nothing
untoward was happening. If she was concerned or worried, it didn’t show for a second.
Everything was cheerful and happy around them, as Sofia smiled at her sister.
“Great news, everything is moving just as we want it to. If you hang around and
don’t go into labor for a long time after your water breaks, you can get a nasty infection.
That’s not where we are, Daph. Things are progressing nicely. Your cervix is soft and
dilated, you’re at six centimeters, which is great. Things may start to move fast in a little
while, but we’re not there yet. You’re at six without even knowing for sure you were in
labor. I think this is going to be a piece of cake.” She made it sound like it was exactly
what she hoped to find, which wasn’t the case. Daphne was far enough along in labor
that there was no turning back, and no way to slow it down.
Daphne had a contraction right after Sofia examined her. Daphne had forgotten how
bad labor could be, and was starting to remember.
“I don’t want to have them now, like this. Can’t we do anything to stop it?” she
asked, and Sofia shook her head.
“These guys are ready, and you know how kids are, they do whatever they want.”
Sofia checked the fetal hearts with her stethoscope and said they both sounded strong.
“I’m going to check you again in a minute, I want to see how fast we’re making
progress, how fast things are moving.” But she could see that Daphne had moved into
transition from the look on her face when she had a contraction. She was concentrated,
focused, and oblivious to everything around her but the pain. She couldn’t be distracted.
Sofia waited a minute after the next contraction and checked again. It was going fast,
Daphne was at eight. It was going too fast. Daphne was going to deliver long before
help could reach them. Sofia had delivered babies in much worse circumstances than
this, but the hurricane and the flood made it impossible for help to get to them if they
had any kind of crisis. They were on their own, without even electricity.
“Do you want to sit up?” she asked Daphne. “Or lie on your side? What’s your body
telling you?”
“That I can’t move, they’re so heavy, they pin me down, and it’s hard to breathe.”
Sofia had a portable canister of oxygen, put a mask on her sister’s face, and turned it on.
“Do you have anything for the pain?” Daphne asked, starting to look panicked as the
pain got worse rapidly. Eugenia had gone to be with Tucker, and Phillip walked into the
room to be with Daphne. Sofia filled him in, in an upbeat, calm, reassuring way, but he
understood what the risks were, and how rough the delivery was going to be for
Daphne. She could get no pain relief at all, and would have to do it twice. He felt
terrible for her, and spoke soothingly to her. Daphne was crying, as much from fear as
from the pain. She held tightly to Phillip’s hand as another contraction hit and was so
brutal it took her breath away.
The contractions started coming harder, faster and closer together, as Sofia timed
them, and after ten more minutes she checked her again. Daphne was letting out a
scream now when she had a contraction. Sofia looked at her and spoke in a stronger
voice. “Daph, look at me, I want you to focus. You’re at ten, we can do this together. On
the next contraction, I want you to push as hard as you can.” She told her how to do it,
and as she did, Brad walked into the room and Sofia told him where they were in the
process. She wanted him there to check the babies, if they had a problem when they
came out. He stood on Daphne’s other side and held her leg wide, and told Phillip to do
the same, to help give the babies a wide berth. Brad’s fear was that they could be too
big to deliver vaginally. They looked like it to him, but Sofia was the better judge of
that. And he couldn’t ask her in front of Daphne. He guessed that she agreed with him,
and suspected what she was thinking, and that she hoped they were both wrong. There
was no way they could do a Caesarean here to get them out, and mother and both babies
could die.
Daphne pushed for an hour and they made progress but not enough. The contractions
were fierce and she was trying not to scream, but most of the time she couldn’t stop it.
Sofia moved her close to the edge of the bed, and Phillip supported her shoulders. She
was sitting and pushing with all her might, and all of a sudden there was a gush of blood
and water, and the first twin made a big move down the birth canal. “One more really
big push, and your baby’s head is going to be born. Come on, Daph, you can do this,”
Sofia said, concentrating on the first twin.
“I can’t,” Daphne said, sobbing.
“You can,” Sofia said. “Push as hard as you can,” she told her, as the next
contraction hit, and Brad saw her unwrap a scalpel and make a small incision for an
episiotomy. She kept telling Daphne to push, and all of a sudden there was a face
looking at them, and a loud wail, as the baby slipped into Sofia’s hands. “You did it!”
Sofia said jubilantly. She cut the cord, wrapped the baby in a towel, and handed her to
Brad. It was Daphne and Phillip’s daughter. Their son would be next. Sofia spoke
soothingly to Daphne while they waited, and Daphne and Phillip were both crying, as
they gazed at their baby girl. Sofia let Daphne hold her for a minute, and then Brad took
her again, and declared her perfect. She was beautiful and looked like Daphne.
And then the contractions started again with a vengeance. They were worse than the
first ones and Daphne didn’t stop screaming between the contractions. Sofia had to
extend the episiotomy and their son was born ten minutes later, after six unbearably
painful pushes, but it was over. They were born, and healthy. “I am guessing seven
pounds on your daughter and eight or nine pounds on your son,” Sofia told her sister,
who was lying down holding one in each arm.
She delivered both placentas, and gave Daphne a shot of the morphine she was
carrying but hadn’t wanted to give her during the birth. She could take no risks with no
hospital nearby. Daphne was dozing and groggy when Sofia sewed up the episiotomy,
which had served Daphne well. Given the size of the babies, it could have taken many
more hours and the babies could have gone into fetal distress. Brad complimented Sofia
on what a good job she’d done, and Daphne and Phillip echoed his words.
“You were amazing!” Daphne said to her, and they held hands for a minute, and then
Phillip went to get the rest of the family. Eugenia kissed Daphne and told her she was
the bravest woman she knew, and Eloise looked totally rattled and was crying, and said
the babies were beautiful. Stef watched his sister from the doorway, as she held both
her babies and looked like a Madonna. She looked peaceful and happy, and Liz came
closer to take a peek and said they were gorgeous. Eugenia went to get a scale they’d
seen in the kitchen, and brought it up to the bedroom. Sofia weighed both of them. The
baby girl weighed seven pounds, fourteen ounces, and the baby boy nine pounds, two
ounces. Her guess had been close.
“You’ve been carrying around seventeen pounds of babies. No wonder you looked
like that,” Sofia said, impressed.
“And felt like it.” Daphne smiled.
Eugenia gave up her room to Phillip and Daphne that night, and she slept with
Eloise. Sofia checked Daphne every hour for hemorrhaging and any complications, and
gave her enough pain meds to get her through the night after a rough delivery. The first
responders called Brad at seven, and told him they could land on the property then, to
take Daphne to the hospital in Southampton. “Do I have to go?” she asked Brad and
Sofia. “I want to stay here.”
“Phillip and the babies will go with you,” Sofia explained. “They won’t keep you
for more than a day or so, to make sure you didn’t pick up an infection from delivering
in a non-sterile environment, and then they’ll send you home. Your babies don’t need to
be in an incubator. They’re fine, and so are you.” Her sister smiled at her, relieved that
it had gone well.
“Thanks to you.” Daphne gave Sofia full credit for getting her through it. Brad gave
the helicopter clearance to land and went outside to wave them in. The hurricane had
moved on, the winds had died down, and the rain had stopped. There were still floods
in the area, but the worst was over. Daphne and the babies had come through it without
a hitch. Tucker stayed with his grandmother and aunts after looking at his new brother
and sister. When the helicopter landed, Gloria came out of her room squinting,
awakened by all the noise.
“What happened? Are we being invaded by aliens?” She looked around at everyone.
“No, by paramedics,” Phillip said, smiling. “Your sister had the twins last night.
Sofia delivered them.” He was beaming, and Gloria looked shocked.
“Oh God, I took a sleeping pill,” and then she remembered everything that had
happened, Geoff and the girl he was going to have sex with and the things he said. She
knew nothing would ever erase the words or the memory.
The paramedics took Daphne out on a stretcher, with her babies in her arms. They
strapped her securely into the helicopter and Phillip jumped in next to her, and they each
held one of the babies. The doors closed and the helicopter went straight up, circled
once, and took off toward the hospital in Southampton.
Geoff called Gloria half a dozen times on her cell that morning, and she didn’t
answer, and Prudence Crawford called Eugenia, sounding outraged.
“What happened to the wedding?” she demanded to know.
“My daughter canceled it,” Eugenia said coolly. “Didn’t your son tell you? The club
was damaged anyway and they had to cancel. There isn’t going to be a wedding.”
“He said something about a misunderstanding,” Prudence said, confused.
“There was no misunderstanding,” Eugenia said in a hard voice. “She found him on
his way to bed with another woman at the hotel. And I believe that’s not the first time he
cheated on her. It’s over, Prudence. The wedding is canceled. The club was too
damaged by the storm anyway. It would have been canceled in any case. Have a safe
trip back to England, and give my regards to Henry,” and with that, she hung up, and
hoped never to hear from them again, or their son. Eloise had been listening to her and
cheered when she hung up. Gloria had heard it too, and spoke sadly.
“Thank you,” was all she said, and went upstairs to pack. She had a lot of thinking to
do about how she could have been so wrong about Geoff. She was sad and angry all at
the same time, and in great part at herself, and she apologized to Brad when she saw
him on the stairs. “I’m sorry. I’d like to say I was kidnapped by aliens who ate my
brain. But I wasn’t. I don’t know what happened. I’m just sorry. I hope I can make up to
you for how rude we were.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” Brad smiled at her. “We have plenty of time to get to
know each other and be friends.”
“Thank you,” she said again. She was deeply ashamed of everything Geoff had said
and that she had let him say, and the way they had behaved. She hugged Sofia when she
saw her, who understood and had a forgiving nature. And living in the South, that kind
of blind prejudice was not new to her, or to Brad.
Patrick called Eugenia at noon, from his captain’s cell phone. His had fallen
overboard while they were tying things down in the storm. “That was amazing last night,
wasn’t it?”
“It certainly was,” she said and laughed. “Gloria canceled the wedding because
Geoff was about to cheat on her last night and she caught him. Daphne had the twins and
they’re gorgeous. They just airlifted all of them to the hospital a few minutes ago, and
they’re fine. We’re all packing up and going home. And I have an extra day to work on
my show.”
“Wow, and I thought I was busy last night. Can I drive you home in one of our vans?”
he offered. “They just opened the highway. I was going to drive home anyway.”
“I have a mountain of stuff to take back, including the party favors and the wedding
dress.”
“I’ve got plenty of room.”
“And a column fell on the catering department at the club last night, so they canceled
before we did, and I don’t lose my deposits.”
“Sounds like a win-win all around,” Patrick said, laughing. “You can tell me all
about it on the drive back.”
Eugenia’s children all left an hour later. Gloria and Eloise took Tucker home to the
city to stay with them and their mother. Stef drove Liz back. And Patrick picked Eugenia
up as soon as they left and helped her load the van. The cleaning staff were already at
work disposing of the sheets and towels used during the delivery.
“You certainly live an interesting life,” Patrick said to her.
“Is that an insult or a compliment?” she asked him.
“Definitely a compliment. My life seems very dull by comparison, and you take it all
in stride.”
“I have more children than you do,” she said with a sigh. “I’m sorry for Gloria, but
I’m so relieved she didn’t marry him.”
“Me too. He wasn’t a good guy.”
“I know.”
“I’m happy to see you.” He leaned over to kiss her, and she was happy to see him.
“Where shall I take you in the city?”
“To my office. Where else?”
“I could think of some other places, like my house.”
“As soon as I finish the show,” she promised, and he smiled, content with whatever
time he could get with her.
