Chapter 55

Jake walked down the hall to Kimberly's room after picking up the iPad that his brother had in trusted him with.  His only tasks were to deliver the iPad, keep her from destroying it, and getting it safely back to his brother.  When he walked into the room, he was immediately berrated.  "I want to see my daughters", Kimberly demanded.

Jake looked at her like she'd lost her mind.  "You want what?"

"You fucking heard me, Jacob.  I want to see my daughters."

"First of all, Ms. Goodman.  Here, you address me as Dr. Draiman.  I'm not Jake, I'm not Jacob.  Second, even if I wanted to bring those babies in here for you to see them, you stupid fucking bimbo, I have a court order from the Family Court Judge of El Paso County barring me from allowing you contact with those children or my brother.  If you don't fucking like it, TOUGH TITTY!  I really don't care.  Now, I have a message from James.  No, you cannot hold the iPad because if you destroy it in one of your fits of pissiness I have to replace it.  That's the deal I made with James.  Now, I'm going to read the letter to you.  Again, don't like it, tough titty."

"I know your mother didn't raise you to be such a DICK, Dr. Draiman."

"No, you're right.  My mother didn't raise me to be a dick.  She did, however, raise me to speak my mind and not to hold my tongue.  If you don't like my bedside manner, then you won't be here very much longer.  You're going directly into custody from here once I sign off on your release.  Another stipulation of the court orders.  I'm doing this as a favor to the father of those beautiful little girls you delivered earlier.  And yes, they're beautiful.  They look a lot like my wonderful mother.  So, if you don't mind, I'm going to read this note to you, then return the iPad to my brother and hold one or both of my new nieces."  He woke the device up and pulled up the letter that his brother had just written and read it to her.  When he finished reading the letter, he looked at the young woman in the hospital bed and watched her cry.  He felt nothing.  She had abused his brother and his nephew.  She was less than a person in his eyes.  She was less than human.  He felt his eyes grow cold as he looked at her, then walked out of the room.  As he made his way back down the hall to the elevator to go to the room he'd set up for his brother, he couldn't help but smile to himself.  He felt a small twinge of pleasure at the pain of the young woman whose room he just left.  So this is what it really feels like to be a sadist, he thught to himself as he stepped onto the elevator to go down to the room his brother, nephew, nieces and parents were sitting in.  This is what it feels like to take pleasure in someone else's pain.  Dumb bitch should have thought twice before getting with my brother.  We're too tight knit in the Draiman family to allow some dumb bimbo come between us.  Now she knows better; and she lost everything messing with us.  Sucks to be her, that's for sure.

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"Where are Mom and Dad?" Maddie asked when she came in.  "They were going to babysit Asher so that Colton and I could get a date night."

"I'll watch Asher", Marc said.  "I've got nothing better to do tonight."

"Thanks, Marc, but that doesn't answer my question."

"They're at the hospital with James and Hunter.  Kim had the babies today.  They're up there to help James get the hange of carring for twins."

"So, we have two new nieces now?"

"Yep."

"What did Jay name the girls?"

"Hannah Nicole and Josephine Michelle."

"What does Mom think about the 'Hannah' thing?"

"She's found a compromise.  She's going to do like Graddad Cartwright did to her when she was a little girl.  She's going to call Hannah 'Nikki'."

Maddie laughed.  "Nice.  Does James mind us calling little Josephine 'Josie'?  Josephine is quite a mouth full."

"No, he actually said that her nickname was going to be Josie."

"Cool beaners."

"If my girlfriend heard you say that she wouldn't know whether to laugh or be insulted."

"Whoa, hold on.  Girlfriend?"

"Yeah.  Her name is Mercedes.  She's super sweet.  I'm bringing her home for dinner soon.  Mom and Dad have already met her and Mom loves her."

"And she Mexican?"

"Yes."

"Mercedes what?"

"Juarez."

"Name sounds familar."

"Her father is a big name is the film industry.  Some big movie director.  The Spielberg of the modern age."

"JJ Juarez is her father?"

"Yep.  She's his baby girl."

"Look at you!  I think you're the only one of us to land someone in the entertainment industry."

Marc shrugged.  "I was trying to get a job working with him on one of his next big projects as his A/V tech.  I met her when I went to the house.  I got the job and the girl."

"Way to GO!  So, you'll watch Asher for me, Marc?"

"Didn't I say I would?"

"Ok, just checking.  We'll be back in a few hours."

"Asher and I will either be here or in my room, Mads.  Have fun."

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The crying started again.  James was up in no time to tend to whichever of the girls it was.  He was getting the hange of the whole Daddy thing.  It was coming to him a little more naturally than he thought it would.  He picked up the crying newborn and held her close.  "What's the matter, Miss Hannah?" he asked as he felt her diaper.  She was dry.  He tried to give her a bottle and she didn't want it.

He looked toward the rocking chairs in the room where his parents sat to see his father awake.  "Just sit and hold her, Jay.  She wants to be held."

"I don't think she wants Daddy, though.  She wants something that I can't give her and that's Mommy."

David reached over and woke his wife.  "We need a mother's touch, baby."

Brie came to with a yawn and stretched, then held her arms out to take the little girl.  "Lemme see little Nikki."  James handed the little girl to his mother and she tucked the baby close to her chest.  "Hey, sweet girl.  I know I'm not Mommy, but I'm the best you're going to get."  The little girl just calmed down immediately.  "You'll get used to not having Mommy around, baby girl.  Daddy will take good care of you.  And you have Aunties and Uncles that will love you to death.  Your big brother even loves you.  You will have so much love around you that you won't even know what to do with it all."  She sat and rocked the baby girl in her arms and put her right back to sleep.  As she rocked with the little girl in her arms, she hummed the Celtic lullaby she hummed to all of her children and grandchildren.  She'd long since forgotten the words, but the tune was always there.

David thought it was too cute and had to take a picture.  He pulled his phone out of his pocket and snapped a phone.  After getting James' attention, they posted the photo online.  After little Hannah was asleep again, she was put back in the bassinet and Brie stretched back out in the rocker and went back to sleep without another word.  She'd get her husband for the picture later.  That was a promise.

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The silence was deafening.  The young woman walked slowly through the streets of the ancient city and had no idea what was going on.  She looked and saw black and white images of the family she left at home to do what she was doing.  But, they weren't there.  She saw two little girls, strangers to her at the moment, and knew not their names.  The little girls she saw were so pretty and looked like her mother.  It was uncanny how much they looked like the family.  She knew immediately who the little girls belonged to.


Then, time seemed to move in fast forward a little bit, a few months, then stop at the image of a little boy who was the best of her older brother and his wife.  "All these babies.  Will I be there to see them?" she thought to herself.


She knew she was starting to feel homesick and should call to check on everything.  She wanted to be sure that she was at home before her father retired.  She had to be there to watch the final show.  She couldn't miss it.  Not for all the history and education she would get if she stayed where she was.


When she dream closed, she drifted back to the waking world and back to sleep again with a smile on her face.