The Other Grey Girl - part 5

 I bend down and kneel next to Ava, I see a little bit of blood on her forehead. “Elliot, call your mom. She needs to check this out.” I yell worried. I take her in my arms. I see Elliot running to the bedside table and grabs the phone. After a few second I hear him talking. “Mom, I need you, please can you

come?….. No it’s Ava….. She fell with and hit her head against the bedpost…. There is blood.” Elliot hangs up the phone and walks back me. I lift Ava and wrap my arms around her. She is crying so hard, it breaks my heart. Slowly I rock her from left to right. Elliot runs in to the bathroom and comes back with a wet cloth. Slowly and softly he wipes away the blood on Ava’s forehead. I brush with my thumb over her chubby cheeks, wiping away the tears. ”ssssssssshhhhhhhhhh,” I try to calm her down. Her sobs are getting heavier; it looks like that with every draw of breath is painful for her.

Downstairs I hear the doorbell. Elliot jumps up, “I’ll be right back.” And I see him walking out of the room. I bend my head and my hair falls over Ava’s face. It calms her down. I hear footsteps on the hallway, and Grace walks in. “Oh my sweet little baby. What happened?” She asks worried. “She was running around the bedroom and somehow she fell. Elliot and I we were in the bathroom and suddenly she cried and we ran back in the bedroom, and we saw that she hit her head against the bedpost.” I blurt everything out, without taking a pause or a breath, my baby is in pain, and it breaks my heart. The tears roll over my cheeks again. “Come, let’s lay Ava down on the bed, and I’ll have a look. Ava is too heavy for me to hold on to while I try to get up. “Elliot, will you please take her, I can’t.” I look at him; to be honest I don’t want to let my baby girl go. But I need to. He squads down and take Ava in his arms. “No, mommy.” Ava cries. “Hush, baby girl, daddy is going to lay you down on the bed so Grandma can take a look at you.” I say heartbroken. It breaks my heart yet again to see her like that. Once Elliot has lifted her, I try to stand up to. But I try to stand up a little too fast because I feel a little bit light headed. Gracefully I sit down again, hoping no one saw it. I take a deep breath and then another and I try it again. This time I succeed and I walk to my side of the bed and crawl next to Ava. I grab her hand and brush my thumb over the palm of her little chubby hand.

Grace rummages in her bag and pulls out a stethoscope, she listens to Ava heartbeat and nods, “yes, well her heartbeat is steady, so that’s good news.” She puts her stethoscope back in her bag and she sits down on the bed. “Grammy, Grammy, Ava got boo-boo.” Ava says. It makes us all laugh. I push myself off the bed because in the corner I see Elliot. He looks guilty. I walk over to him and wrap him in my arms. “What’s the matter? You know you couldn’t do anything to prevent this” I whisper in his ear. I feel the guilt radiate in his entire body. “Oh baby. Don’t feel like this. It’s okay.”

Grace stands up and walks our way. “Everything is fine, nothing to worry about. Nothing a cold, wet cloth won’t cure.” She says reassuring. I let go of Elliot and walk to my baby girl. I take a seat on the bed and look at Ava. She has a smile on her face. She starts yawning. A sudden pang of worry goes through me. I look at Grace, she is hugging Elliot. Reassuring him that everything is okay. “Grace, is this normal?” Grace walks over and lays her hand on my shoulder. “Kate, she has been crying. Crying takes a lot of energy. She must be tired of all the crying. Keep a close watch on her.” She pats my shoulder.

I pull a blanket over her tiny body, and I switch on the lamp on the side table. I kiss her on her forehead and I walk to the door. I leave it ajar, walk with Grace and Elliot down the stairs and to the living room.  When I turn the corner I see Carrick sitting in the corner of the couch. I walk over to him and he stands and opens his arms and I welcome them more then willingly. He kisses me in my hair. “Don’t worry, Ava will be fine.” He smiles. “Why didn’t you come upstairs with Grace?” I ask. “We all know what happens if Ava sees me. She loves me.” He brags. I let go of him and look at him in the eyes. His eyes are bright with pride. But also something different. I think its joy, and I smile at him. “She sure does.” I answer.

I think a seat next to Elliot. “Coffee anyone?” I ask. “You stay, I’ll make coffee.” Grace offers. And she stands up and walks to the kitchen.

The days that follow are quiet. It seems everything is back to normal. Ava is fine, she’s got a big bump on the forehead. Ana and Christian are on the Bahamas with Teddy and Phoebe.

But still there is the unanswered question that looms his head every now and then. I still haven’t talked to Grace or Carrick, but the previous phone calls we had over the last few days, were different. And I could sense something was wrong.

 It was almost a week after I was in the hospital and it’s time to see Dr. Greene again for the extra check-up appointment. I drop Ava at of at Grace and Carrick and drive off to the Hospital. Once I am sitting and waiting, Dr. Greene’s assistant informs me that she is running a little late and that she’ll be with me shortly. I sit back and relax until I feel it. I felt him before I saw him, Elliot is walking into the waiting room and walks u to me. “Hi baby,” he says. “What are you doing here?” I ask surprised. “Well, my wife is pregnant and she is getting an ultrasound to see how our little one is doing.” He says, nonchalant. I wrap my arms around him, “You’re the best,” I smirk. “Are you smirking at me, Mrs.  Grey?” He smiles. I shake my head. “I am sure you just did.” He smirks back.

“Katherine Grey?” Dr. Greene’s assistant calls us, we stand up and Elliot takes my hand together we walk to Dr. Greene’s office. I take a seat and Elliot takes the one next to me. “Mr. Grey, how nice to see you too.” Dr. Greene greets Elliot. “Kate, shall we look at the baby?” She cuts right to case. I can see she’s busy.

I lay down on the table and Dr. Greene squirts some cold gel on my tummy and a few seconds later she turns around the monitor and I can see my baby on the on the screen. “Oh my, my, my.” Dr. Greene says. Immediately I am worried. “What’s wrong?” I ask. “Well, it seems that you need to buy everything twice. Congratulations, you are pregnant with twins.”

I stare at the monitor. I can’t believe it. When I look at Elliot, I see him crying. I have never seen him crying before, except on our wedding day and when Ava was born. I feel so good, so happy and relieved that everything is fine.

 Once we’re back in Dr. Greene’s office she makes another appointment. “You need regular check-ups. Maybe more than usual. And make sure you take a lot rest. So far, all looks well. Make sure you keep taking your prenatal vitamins.”Dr. Greene orders. “I sure will.” I say. Still a bit surprised I walk out of the office.

Once we are in the car, none of us is talking. When I look at Elliot I see this huge smile on his face.

We arrive at the Heathman where we made reservations for lunch with Grace. We talk and tell her the news. “No, are you serious?” She says happily. She stands up and wraps me in her arms. Because Carrick couldn’t join us Grace invites us to come home with her and stay for dinner, so we could share the news with Carrick as well.

When dinner is served, Grace stands up and says, “I’ll take the wine, Kate, what would you like to drink?” “Just water, please.” I say. “I’ll help you.” And before anyone can object I rise and follow Grace towards the kitchen.

Now is my chance, my chance to ask about the allegations. Maybe I can get some information from Grace. Because that question still looms in my head. As we stand in the kitchen,

I grab my chance and begin to ask the hidden question. “Grace, is there something wrong, I mean I can see it in you eyes. Please talk to me.” Grace looks at me with a glance, “Oh Kate, it’s nothing to worry about, please don’t worry, Carrick and I are dealing with it.” She says while she turns around and she looks me in the eye. There is that look again. “So you mean, the allegations are true. Grace, a reporter came to me, when I was discharged from the Hospital and asked me this.” I am shattered and full of questions, but I can see in Grace’s eyes that it’s too hard for her to talk about. And I am not even sure if she heard what I just told her. And for the sakes of my unborn twin I really try to give this a rest. But when Grace looks me in the eye again, I know I can’t give it a rest.

“Oh Kate, I don’t want you to worry about this, Carrick and I are on it, please, don’t worry.” She says again, but I see in her entire posture it’s so much more than that, like a mother’s heart that’s broken in to pieces. “Grace, mom, when I left the Hospital, a reporter talked to me. He asked me what I think of allegations against Christian. Look I know Christian is with Ana in the Bahamas and they won’t hear anything from me, but I need to know? Please Grace.” I look her deep in the eye after I repeated my question I see her mood changing. It’s almost like she is in pain.