Page 56 of Dom 5: The Finale
I giggled. “I absolutely love that for you, but don’t get caught up too soon. When are you officially going home?”
“Shit, hopefully soon. It’s been damn near two months. I can’t take this shit much longer.”
“Yeah, well maybe they need to keep you there so you can stay out of trouble.” I sassed half joking and half telling the truth.
“Aye, if I get in trouble, I know who to call though. The best muhfuckin’ criminal defense attorney in the south. They ain’t fuckin’ with’chu Mrs. Royal. Rugged niggas like me in these streets need you. Matter-fact I think I got one more case.”
I laughed. “Bye Kilo, I’ll check on you in a few days.”
He stretched his eyes. “Wait, I’m serious though, you just gon’ hang up on me?”
“Bye!”
I ended the call still giggling to myself. I then left the nursery before my emotions could get stupid and go back to Dom. Next, I changed into some black leggings and one of Dom’s old t-shirts. I pulled my hair up, slid into slippers, and started moving through the house with the kind of restless energy pregnant women got when sitting down felt impossible. I changed the bedeven though the maids would’ve done it if I asked. I opened every curtain in the master suite. I straightened the bathroom drawers and reorganized my makeup for no damn reason. I sorted through stacks of baby gifts again, folded little blankets that were already folded, and carried two decorative baskets from one room to another just because I decided I didn’t like where they were sitting. The maids tried more than once to take over, and every time I waved them off.
“I got it,” I told one when she reached for the sheets in my hand.
“Mrs. Royal, you should sit down,” she said, in a gentle but nervous tone because everybody in that house tiptoed around my pregnancy like I was made of crystal and they knew Dom wouldn’t want me touching anything at all. He wanted everyone waiting on me hands and foot.
“I’m fine.” I wasn’t fine, but I wasn’t about to explain all that. Fine was easier, and fine kept people from fussing.
By the time I made it downstairs, my body was warm from moving around so much, and the kitchen suddenly felt like the only place I wanted to be. It smelled like lemons and whatever one of the cooks had been prepping earlier to eat for later, but I dismissed most of the staff from in there too because I didn’t want anybody hovering me. I wanted to do something simple that had nothing to do with encrypted phones, attorneys, news stations, police, Colombia, or women named Victoria. So, I decided to cook myself as well.
I tied an apron around my waist and started from scratch cutting an onion, a garlic and then grabbing seasoning s, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, basil, parsley, and ground beef. I had a pot of water heating on the other burner and placed some rolls in the oven. I moved around the kitchen more on instinct than thought, and little by little the room started smelling like garlic, butter, tomato sauce, and warm bread. It smelled like a husbandcoming back through the doors late and hungry and ready to tear this food down. I stirred the sauce the sauce and tasted it before adding more seasoning. I then wiped the counter and turned the oven down a little. It almost felt peaceful, or at least I thought.
Then the first cramp hit. At first, it was just enough to make me pause, it wasn’t sharp or dramatic. It was just a tightening feeling low in my stomach that made me stop in the middle of stirring the sauce and brace one hand on the edge of the stove. I stood there waiting for it to pass, with my other hand moving up and down over my belly. The baby had been moving a lot lately, and I had already had enough weird little sensations these past few weeks that I tried not to let every single one send me into a panic. So, I waited and just breathed.
“Okay,” I whispered to myself. “Okay.”
The cramp eased off and I picked the spoon back up and kept stirring. Maybe two minutes later, it came again even harder. That one made me suck in a breath through my teeth and grab the edge of the counter instead. The sauce bubbled low on the burner, with the smell of garlic still in the air, and my music still playing through the kitchen speakers, and all of it sudden I felt too far away from what was happening in my body. I stayed still until that one passed too, but my breathing had changed by then and was even shorter and higher in my chest. I looked down at my stomach and rubbed it again.
“Don’t do this,” I whispered.
One of the maids who had been putting something away on the far side of the kitchen looked up. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” I said fast. “I’m okay.”
But I wasn’t though. The next cramp came quicker than I wanted it to. That one made me bend forward a little over the island, while I closed my eyes. It wasn’t the kind of pain that made you scream. It was deep, low, and insistent. My mouthstarted to get dry, and I stood there breathing through it until it finally eased off enough for me to straighten up.
I slowly sat down on one of the stools at the island, with one hand on my stomach, and the other reaching for my phone. I called Dom first and the first ring went upstairs. That was what made my stomach drop. One of his regular phones was still in the bedroom because he had left all of those there before he took the private jet out. I could almost hear it in my head, buzzing somewhere up on the nightstand while I sat in the kitchen trying not to panic. I ended the call fast and pulled up one of his encrypted numbers instead and it went straight to voicemail. I tried the other one and nothing. I tried again, and my fingers already starting to shake. “Come on, come on.” I mumbled and still no answer.
“He’s in the air,” I told myself out loud because hearing it in my own voice made it feel like it might be true enough to calm me down. “He’s probably in the air.”
Then another cramp hit, and this one made tears come to my eyes before I could stop them. I stood up too fast from the stool and hurried toward the downstairs bathroom with my phone still in one hand, and still holding my belly. The maid had started coming toward me now, and I could hear her saying my name behind me, but her voice sounded far away just like everything else did. The only thing I could hear clearly was my own breathing.
I got into the bathroom, locked the door, and yanked my leggings down only to see some blood and it wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to make every part of my body go cold. For a second I just stared at it and felt like I couldn’t breathe or think. I couldn’t make my hands move. I just stood there looking at that blood like if I stared long enough, it would disappear and I could pretend I had imagined it.
“Oh my God.” I gasped.
The words came barely a whisper and then panic hit me all at once. I jerked my leggings back up with clumsy, shaking hands and unlocked the door so fast I almost dropped the phone. The maid was standing right there, and the second she saw my face, hers changed too.
“What happened?”
“I’m bleeding.”
Her hand flew to her chest. “Oh my God.”
I was already calling my doctor before she even finished reacting. The nurse answered and I gave my name and she immediately transferred me, and by the time the doctor got on the phone, I was crying so hard my words were tripping over each other.
