Thalia’s Pov
I continued pacing the room while Brandon kept ranting and raising his blood pressure. Two hours passed since the surgery began. Nestor was busy updating us, on our angel and Josh. We were unable to see our baby one last time before the surgery because Josh threatened to withdraw the donation if we entered or were anywhere near the Theater or ICU. I couldn’t deny that it hurt, but our baby needed that liver, and any delay would mean her death.
Josh was never going to change, Brandon was correct, and that animal cherished the opportunity to see me cry. But I wasn’t going to feed into his anguish; I’d taken his punch with thick skin, and I wasn’t going to play his silly game after the operation.
I could hear Brandon’s respiration from where I was pacing because he was so enraged. He was so used to having the upper hand not being told what to do. He wanted to burst into the theater but I had stopped him, our daughter deserved a peaceful surgery and quietness. I was also hurt but the doctor was right. One of us needed to be the mature one. Josh was going to be lucky if I was going to grant him a more than two hours visitation.
I breathed in hard, panicking was not going to work, the transplant was going to be over twelve hours or more. I walked to the bed and took a seat but kept biting my nails.
“She was supposed to hear our voices before she got on that operating table or our beautiful faces but instead she was subjected to that ugly thing’s voice and face,” Brandon broke the silence.
“I know sweetheart,” I replied.
He stopped breathing erratically and smiled at me, “Did you just call me Sweetheart?”
“Yeah, ain’t we dating?”
He smiled, “it’s too safe, I want something naughty as my pet name.”
I closed my eyes and breathed in hard, “Sweetheart you will complain about your pet name after the surgery okay?” I said to him as I placed my hands on him. He nodded, the timing was so wrong for our petty fights. My phone beeped, he moved anxiously and inquired whether it was Nestor.
I looked at it and it was Dr. Wilson, the results were out. The mutated cells were replicating at a faster rate than normal. I quickly turned it off, I was not going to add more bad news on bad news. I had suspected the cells were probably trying to outrun the filtration.
“Who was it then?” he asked.
“Just the Secretary, she was just reminding me of the papers I have not yet signed,” I lied.
“Is she s*upid? Fire her, you just had a baby, how does she expect you to keep track of the company?” he asked.
“Brandon, I did not tell her about the delivery,” I replied.
“Just fire her.”
The door opened and a very tired-looking Nestor walked in, the man looked so overused. He had not slept for days.
“Nestor oooh my G o d when did you last sleep?” I asked.
“I will sleep when that baby is safe in your arms,” he replied.
“You my friend just got promoted to my chief security,” Brandon replied.
I turned and gave him a cold glare, Nestor was not trained for that, he was our pilot but we were abusing him. He took a seat and nodded, “No thanks boss, I am comfortable as the pilot. The theater is secure, and the surgeon said we have a lot of hours to go,” he replied.
“The hours are killing me,” I cried out.
“Just have faith, she is going to survive, you guys have not named her yet?” he asked.
I stared in Brandon’s direction, “We will name her as soon as she gets out of that operating room.” He replied. I smiled and held his hand. “Guess what?” Brandon asked.
“What?”
“Thalia and I are finally a couple, she is my first girlfriend, my first love,” he added. His statement made me tear up, I moved over and kissed him on his lips. Just like that, we changed from being p*ssed to smiling.
When I turned I found Nestor staring at us shocked with his eyes wide open. I was expecting him to be happy and congratulate us but he was looking at us like he had no idea we liked each other.
“Why are you looking at us like that?” Brandon asked?
“I thought you were going to die without confessing your love for her,” he replied.
“Are you s*upid!”
“To be fair Brandon, you have always been an arrogant d*ck that did not have the balls,” he added.
“What the..,” Brandon replied, trying to get up but I reminded him that he was h*oked to the machine. “Take that back or I will fire you!”
“Calm down,” I got in with a hint of laughter in my voice. I always liked it when Nestor called him by his first name. Usually, it was when he was saying something Brandon did not want to hear.
“Thalia, are you laughing?”
“No sweet Tiger, how does sweet Tiger sound to you?” I quickly changed the subject.
“I do not like it, and you Nestor are just Jealous,” he replied. Nestor chuckled.
A knock came at the door and Maggie walked in with what seemed to be packs of food, my tummy made a rumbling noise, I could smell the food from where I was seated.
“Good morning, I brought food, I’m very sure you guys have had nothing to eat for days,” she said.
“Good morning Maggie,” I replied with a smile.
“How is the little angel?” she asked.
“She is still in surgery.”
“Thank G o d, I said a little prayer for her. I am very glad her biological father agreed to donate,” she added and I only nodded.
She looked in Brandon’s direction and emphasized the need to put the baby’s interest first above our ego. Brandon only showed her fake teeth and grabbed the food. We thanked Maggie for the food while she moved to her son and began whispering something to him. Brandon pinched me and tilted my head. “What’s going on?” he asked.
“Nothing, can we all just go back to eating?” Nestor replied.
Maggie looked away disappointed, it looked like she wanted to say something but opted out on her son’s orders.
“Something is definitely on, Nestor shut up and let your mother speak,” Brandon ordered.
“Sir never mind, I do not want to bother you with my nonsense,” she replied.
“First of all, I’m disappointed that you used the term Nonsense, Magie you and that ugly son of yours are not nonsense to me, you are…?”
He hesitated a bit like he was looking for a heavy word to say. “Family,” he finally said. A wave of emotions filled me as I turned, we all looked at him, it was the first time he was using the term family. He always made it clear that the two of them only stuck around because of his money.
“You are my family, Thalia and baby are our latest addition to the family,” he added with a firm voice.
I could not hold my emotions, “Finally,” I said and I moved up grabbing him for a kiss. Maggie cleared her throat, surprised, we had not yet told her about our relationship status.
“Ooh my G o d, are you guys finally dating?” she asked. I let go and nodded in excitement, “He finally proposed,” I replied.
“Ooh my G o d Finally, I knew from the first day I set my eyes on you, you were meant for him,” she added and hugged me.
Nestor cleared his throat, “I think we need an apology,” he requested.
“Do not push it,” Brandon replied, sending us all into laughter.
“Now what was that whispering all about?” I asked and noted how uncomfortable Maggie turned.
“Maggie, please speak,”
“I came with Wilfred, he is outside,” she replied like a teenager afraid of how we would respond. We both stared at her with raised eyebrows. “I told him about the baby and he wanted to visit and I just thought it was time you all met him.”
“Mom no one is in the mood to meet your boyfriend, can’t you see the boss is h*oked to the machine, the last thing we want is him spreading false news,” Nestor yelled. He had a point, Brandon loved his privacy and wouldn’t want a stranger watching him h*oked to the machine.
“It’s okay, just tell the man to wait in the area, I’m just remaining with some minutes,” Brandon replied.
“Boss it’s not necessarily,” Nestor replied.
“Calm down little bro, I just want to meet daddy,” Brandon joked.
Maggie ran to the other side of the bed and hugged him in excitement, “thank you so much sir, I will go and inform him,” she said so excitedly. I had never seen her so excited before, she was so in love and I had no idea why Nestor was not happy for his mother.
She waved us goodbye and walked out of the room, eager to inform her lover about the good news. Nestor was boiling up, his veins were practically popping up. He put away his food and pretended to be on his phone.
I walked to where he was seated; “Come on, she seems so happy,” I said to him.
“He is younger than her,” he replied irritatedly.
I looked back at Brandon who had a grin on his face. He was right, and it explained why Nestor was pissed.
“How young?” I asked. “Is he younger than you!”
“No he is not, he is those forty-something dudes that do not age and are into old women,” he replied.
“I’m so sorry,” Brandon teased.
I looked back at him again and warned him, he just could not help taking a jab at Nestor. Even though they did not know it, the two had that sibling rivalry and it was very cute most of the time.
“Ok Nestor, maybe Magie is just going through a moment and they will break up soon,” I tried to comfort him.
“Exactly, the good part is that she is over menopause and will not get pregnant,” Brandon joked. I could not help it, I burst out laughing. Nestor gave me a serious look and I held my mouth, apologizing.
“Maybe she wants something with a lot of energy,” Brandon added.
“Brandon!” I yelled at him.
Nestor quickly got up and walked out of the room pissed. The last thing he wanted was to hear about the young man sleeping with his mother.
“Brandon seriously,”
“We needed a laugh, at least he will go home and shower,” he replied, surprising me. He had noticed Nestor was tired but did not dismiss him. The man really liked pulling Nestor’s strings. He looked at his watch eager for the filtration to be over so that he could meet Maggie’s young boyfriend. The destruction was good while we waited for the surgery to be over.
“You can go and take a bath or do you want us to take our bath together?” he replied in a naughty voice.
I threw the pillow at him and got out of the room. We were not having our first bath in a hospital while our daughter was fighting for her life downstairs.
I went back to my room and for my usual doctor’s round before taking my bath. I looked at my watch and Brandon’s session was up. He had gotten acquainted with the machine and was able to turn it off. Doctor Wilson’s results kept ringing even though I was putting up smiles.
Brandon knew that the machine was not working as we expected it to but the good part was he was in full acceptance. I could only guess that was why he proposed. He was living in the moment and appreciating every minute he got from the machine. He had probably bathed, and I planned to go and get him but when I turned I found him standing behind me.
“Brandon! You scared me.”
“What are you thinking about? Our Princess is going to be fine,” he said. I could only assume he had been in the room for a long time and had been watching me. I only nodded and led the way, “The lab results are out,” I finally said. He stopped and held my mouth, “Let us forget about me for the days we are in here,”
“But Brandon?”
“No Thalia, I know it’s not going as planned so what’s the point, let’s go and meet Maggie’s toyboy,” he said.
“Brandon please do not cause…”
“Do not worry, I will behave,” he said.
We arrived in the waiting room, and as soon as Maggie saw us she got up. I could see the man she was standing with, he was in Jeans, very casual, he wasn’t that young-looking but one could tell he was younger than Maggie.
