The Kings - The beginning of the end

A Chapter by LacyJae

A prequel to Suburban Kings

Legacy ~ Excerpt 1

He could barely keep his eyes open; they were sore, red & bloodshot. Seventy two hours ago they were happily celebrating their 10^th wedding anniversary when her waters broke. Her 10 year old boy, Malcolm Jason King was asleep in a cot bed next to her. Both of them waiting, waiting for her to wake up or make some sort of sign to show them that everything would be alright. A nurse came in, studied the monitors at her bedside, made an adjustment to the drip in her arm & left the room. He couldn’t bring himself to look up; he didn’t want to see the inevitable fate of his wife in the reflection of the nurses’ eyes.

It had been a long complicated labour; triplets, the girl she had always wanted & two more boys. She’d had the names picked out long before their birth: Mitchell Junior, Maverick Jacob & Callista Jordan.

Dreaming of her, he drifted into a light sleep.

Mitch walked into the waiting room and noticed immediately that the aircon wasn’t working. He glanced around for Caitlyn & immediately thought how positively radiant she looked in her long summer dress trying desperately to keep cool at a nearby bay window. Casually waving a magazine past her face in the waiting room, it was a hot summer heat that was almost unbearable. She sensed his gaze & looked up, her blue eyes sparkling at him.

“I feel like a fat heifer” she said.

“But you’re a gorgeous ‘fat heifer’!” he replied & then asked “Are you all done here?” Knowing he had gained scowls from all the women sitting nearby in earshot & thought nothing a quick flash of his charming smile wouldn’t fix. He helped her to her feet noticing the red flush to their cheeks as he scanned the room chuckling to himself. Caitlyn knew Mitchell all too well & gave him a light playful slap on the arm.

As they walked to the car she stopped in front of him & looked into his intense brown eyes.

“You know I love you Mitch” she stated.

“Yes honey, let’s get you to the car & into the aircon” he replied

“If anything happened to me, you would take real good care of them wouldn’t you Mitch? I mean Mal is almost old enough to look after himself but...”

He hid a flinch & silenced her with a deep kiss. This wasn’t the first time she had spoken these words. He quiet often caught a frown on her face these days as she was deep in thought. But she was the light of his life. She had saved him when he didn’t think he could be saved. She understood him. He couldn’t bring himself to inflict any pain to those beautiful blue eyes, so he lied.

“Yes my love, whatever it takes”. He knew how selfish he was being when what he really thought was that life wouldn’t be worth living if anything were to happen to her.

He woke suddenly to a loud beeping noise sounding more like an alarm. He rushed to her bed, quickly had her cold hand in his & even though he knew she had already gone, he desperately let the words slip from his lips.

“Don’t you leave me Caitlyn!” he cried as the nurses rushed her bed from the room.