"Get him down here, now," he growled.
"Des, is everything okay?"
He looked at Emilia and tried to smile. He didn't want to lie to her or scare her. "We need to contact your doctor; by the look of it, you might be spending the night."
"Is it serious?" she asked. "Are the babies alright?"
"The twins are fine, but they are just putting a lot of strain on your body. I’ll make sure things don’t get worse," he reassured her.
"Someone called for an OB?" a handsome doctor Des had never seen before entered the room.
"Yeah, that would be me," Des responded, explaining who he was and Emilia's symptoms.
"Let me take a look," Doctor Stephen said, and Des stepped aside.
Des held Emilia's hand and watched Stephen work. It also didn't take him long for him to confirm Des's diagnosis.
"You're right." He looked at Emilia and explained everything that her placenta was pulling away from her uterine wall, that was putting a strain on not only her but the babies as well. "The good thing is it's minor. Both you and the babies are stable. With Doctor Ellington's quick thinking, he slowed your contractionsdown. However, I wouldn't advise sending you home. We will need to monitor you for the rest of your pregnancy. The other option is we induce you, and you give birth tonight."
"I'd rather you take the babies out now," Emilia said, not taking the time to think about it. "I'm ready to meet my babies."
Stephen gave her a calm smile that could melt ice. "Very well. Although the abruption is minor, and most doctors would rather go with a vaginal birth, I'd rather err on the side of caution and recommend a Cesarean."
"Okay," Emilia sighed, relaxing for the first time since Des brought her in.
"It will be a couple of hours before we get you into surgery." He glanced at Des. "As the father..."
"I'm not the father," Des said as Emilia spoke. "He's not the father."
"Oh." Stephen chuckled.
"I'm a family friend. The baby's father should be here soon," he said, remembering everyone was outside waiting, probably about to jump out of their skin. “I'll inform the family of what's happening. I'm sure they are anxious.”
Just as he was about to leave, Emilia grabbed his hand. "Can you be in the operating room with me?"
"What about Iago?"
"Right now, he's not my main concern," she snapped.
"I—" He was about to tell her no, but her anxious expression returned, stopping him. "Okay."
"One more thing. Don't tell the family about the twins," she smiled. "Iago and I wanted to surprise them, so each time we gave them a photo of the ultrasound, it was of one baby at a time so they wouldn’t know."
"You got it." He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I'll be right back."
"How are Emilia and the baby?" Maria asked the instant he walked into the waiting room, her anxiety seeping off her in waves.
"They are doing fine. But the doctor is going to induce her, and she'll be giving birth sometime tonight." He explained the complications, which was why the doctor wanted to perform a Cesarean. As he spoke, his eyes searched for Othello and Alessandro, wondering where the two men had gone off to. "Where's Othello and your husband?"
Maria's face changed from worry to anger. "They’re talking with Iago."
Once more, Des wanted to know what the fuck was going on but knew he had to put things aside. "The doctor will be out to speak with you all in a few minutes."
"Tell me something, Mister Ellington," Maria said.
"Des or Desmond, please," he said gently. "People will think you're talking to my father."
"Des," she smiled. "Will Maria and the baby be okay?"
