Chapter 45 - UNEXPECTED
My feet finally pulled to a stop, when I did, the violent thump inside my chest resounded to my ears. As I looked up, I became aware of the overwhelming rush of emotions that took me by surprise when my gaze was first glued to the woman who was steadily gazing at me with unveiled shock playing on her face.
The look of undeniable familiarity swept over me when my gaze met hers, for a fleeting moment my world suddenly turned upside down making me froze with shock. I stood staring straight at her—she unbelievably looked so much like me— that forty years from now I could imagine myself looking exactly like hers when I turned sixty.
A pair of enchanting rare eyes in surprisingly differing shade with the left a shade of hazel brown and the right a calming shade of green was now glued to me. It was as if I was staring at my own eyes except it was old and wrinkled from age.
Bafflement. Confusion. Anxiety. Excitement. Puzzlement. There's a bunch of emotions rolling inside me that I couldn't fathom which one to entertain first. My brain was producing an endless stream of questions to which I couldn't find an answer as if my brain finally stopped functioning and I finally ran out of wits.
The sight of her eyes spilling with tears was enough to make my heart ache with tenderness and yearning. I want to run and wrap her around my arms and yet I felt there was not an ounce of strength left in me to do the deed. Instead, I just stood there gaping, intently watching her the way she was keenly watching me.
In the midst of my painful reverie, I suddenly became aware of the tears smoothly falling down my cheeks when my fingers fled to my cheeks. I don't know why I was crying. When I tried to stop the tears, it just won't stop falling as if it turned to become a waterfall with endless sources.
When the woman saw that I refused to move, it was she who initiated to come and slowly cross the tiny distance between us with small but careful steps. The next few seconds seem to take forever as I waited for her to reach where I stood.
Her small lips were trembling, as she looked at me,?there was this sudden urge within me wanting to lift my fingers to those wet cheeks and dry the tears and yet I couldn't summon all the courage to do it since all I knew was she's a stranger I barely knew whom I met just for the first time.
But despite me denying so strongly that she was a mere stranger, I couldn't deny the sudden leap of my heart, and the warmth flowing from every inch of me screaming that she was someone I was bound with fate. It's as if the blood coursing through my body was her very own.
Blood is thicker than water, the saying goes, and now it proved to me it was true because right there at the moment I knew that the woman now standing in front of me was my grandmother.
"Beatrix...."?Clarissa Crawford spoke her thoughts aloud and I nearly closed my eyes by how soft and caressing her words as they directly touched my heart without her trying to lay a finger on me.
As if unable to contain her emotions anymore, her fingers reluctantly lifted to my face and when I made no protest, she enclosed my face into her palms. Her fingers were trembling with emotions as she held me.
"I thought I wouldn't live long enough to witness this meeting. I waited insanely long twenty-three years to finally hold you in my arms." She said weeping and I was silently crying, unable to speak a word.
The moment was so magical that I was afraid it would be ruined if I speak.
She wrapped me into her frail arms. Years of longing were overflowing from the tight hug she was giving me as if she never wanted to let go. I lost all reservations and my silent tears turned to sob as I finally lifted my arms to hug her back. My shoulders shook with uncontrolled sobs as I tightened my hold around her.
The hug lasted longer since we both don't want the magical moment to end. As I hug her blissful contentment sweep over me. It was like coming home after a long, endless journey. For once, I felt as if I finally found the place where I should be. It was not just peace I found but a missing part of me.
"Beatrix?"
A man's achingly familiar voice—my ears didn't recognize—but my heart did steal my attention. I gently untangled out of Clarissa's embrace and whirled in man's direction.
For the first time, I totally became aware of his towering presence that almost dominated the whole room. The tuxedo he was wearing boosts his intimidating aura and I lifted my gaze to his face. A pair of midnight black eyes held mine captive while it flickered with uncontrolled tears
I caught my heart into my throat when his tear-stricken eyes twisted in painful anguish that tormented his handsome face.
"You're alive! Thank god."?He has spoken the words with awe and shook his head repeatedly as if unable to digest the truth. Tears gleamed at the corner of his eyes as his soft gaze explored my face. Without warning, he crossed the distance between us and wrapped me into his warm embrace. He was crying as he held me and I found myself crying harder with an overwhelming rush of emotions at his fatherly approach.
If this was only a dream I wish not to wake up. This was a wholesome nightmare and I couldn't leave since it was impossibly beautiful.
"I thought I will never see you again Beatrix." Alexander Crawford spoke the words aloud. He wasn't embarrassed that hundreds of guests were watching in awe as a man like him, notorious for his cold, emotionless demeanor shed tears in a huge crowd. "Welcome home my daughter!" He added, held my shoulders, and landed a soft peck on my temples.
Things happened so damn fast that I became lost for words. I even thought I was under a trance or probably I fell asleep on the wooden bench at home and I was under a dream. Maybe all this would vanish in a thick mass of smoke after I wake up to the sound of Elisa's voice shaking me to get up.
I pinched my arms. I felt the stinging pain. This was not just a dream. This was real. This was too good to be true and yet it was real. Joy leaped through my heart upon the realization. My eager eyes landed on the eight pairs of eyes intensely staring at me in curious silence.
But my happiness was short-lived when fierce pain kicked my stomach. Before I could look closely at the men Alexander Crawford announced as his children, my brothers, intense pain seized me and I almost fell out of balance if it weren't for Alexander Crawford.
It began as a stinging pain at the base of my spine and gradually spreading down to my hips and stomach. The contractions were bearably normal and yet as the pain continues to assault me it intensified until it was almost ripping my sanity into two.
My womb began to tighten and then relax. Then the pain returns only to hit more painfully than the last. It felt like I was having extreme period pains except that I was having labor cramps.
Fierce panic gripped through my heart, the healthy color was drained from my face. I was not scheduled to give birth to my baby, it was supposed to be next month.?Why was I showing a sign of labor at this early stage?
"Are you okay?" I was so breathless to speak that I just shook my head in response.
I was so damn scared at the moment. If it weren't for the comforting hands that were hiding me still, I nearly fell into hysterics.
"Call an ambulance! Quick!" I heard Alexander Crawford's voice ordered with a harsh urgency at his son, the eldest scurried to his feet and dialed a number into his phone. The room remained intensely silent as they watched in anticipation of the unexpected turn of events.
I tried to control the pain by concentrating on my breathing. I took a deep breath and released it into sight. I repeated the process until I could handle the pain. Somehow it worked. The pain became bearable but it didn't help me ease the fear and anxiety which was keeping my fingers cold. I dreaded that this moment would come in the most untimely hour.
Water mingled with blood began flowing down my thighs and stopped at my feet. It just confirmed what I feared the most—I was having early labor. I was in danger, and so my baby.
Follow current novℯls on f(r)eewebnov𝒆l