Life As We Know It; Final Episode

Once they returned to San Francisco they resumed work immediately. Jules was already back in school, and now in her final class. She would come around on weekends to be with them and spend time with Sarah.

The remaining months passed by quickly and it was soon Christmas. Jules had decided to spend Christmas at San Francisco then go home for New Year. Sarah, Jules, Brad and Helen all had fun.

Dylan was in San Francisco at the moment and met up with the others; him and Helen gradually seemed to start liking each other and started spending time together.

Jules missed Randy a lot and couldn’t wait to be back home in Los Angeles.

They had dinner at the Ritz Carlton on Christmas day and visited other fun places during the duration of Jules stay. Jules left two days before New Year.

Sarah said she wanted to witness the New Year’s event at New York again that year so they flew out to New York. Tara was so happy to see them and their stay was fun as always. They left a day after the New Year flying straight to Los Angeles to see Sarah’s parents.

They spent a few days there too before going home to San Francisco. The year kicked off fast and Sarah was showing well now at six months.

She had started going for her antenatal classes and Brad came as often as he could. She even took up yoga as it helped her straighten out the cramps that constantly affected her legs and hips.

They had heard the babies’ heartbeat at the hospital and even seen them; they had scans of their babies. Yes, babies. They were having twins though they didn’t know their sex yet; they wanted to be surprised.

She could tell Brad would be a wonderful father, the way his face always lit up when they were at the hospital and he heard a heartbeat or even when they were in the house and he feels them move in her tummy.

She didn’t know she could love more than she already did, but the love she had for her unborn kids was so strong she knew she would kill for them. Brad had insisted she stop working until after the babies arrive so most of the time she didn’t have much doing which was mostly why she had taken up yoga.

January seemed to fly by and it was soon February. She was seven months by now and getting heavier by the day. She looked radiant, pregnancy seemed to agree with her and she was really happy and couldn’t wait to have her babies.

On Valentine’s Day, Brad took her out on a romantic dinner and she couldn’t have felt more loved. After the dinner, he took her to the beach and they walked around a bit savouring the feel of fresh air on their skin. Then he took her home, bathed her even as he had his own bath then tucked her into bed and loved her till she was sated. She slept off in his arms.

By March, Jules was about to write her bar exam and had already applied to some firms in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Her exam went well and she passed getting ready for her final exams.

Sarah was eight months gone now and she was counting down the days. By mid March, Jules and Helen threw her a baby shower. The shower was held at her house and all the family, friends and even some colleagues showed up. She received numerous cute baby gifts and she kept shedding tears, blaming it on the hormones. She was very happy and felt loved and she was happy knowing her kids would be loved.

It was soon April and her contractions were expected to start around the 10th. She had already packed her bags wanting to be ready whenever it starts. She and Brad had decided that Helen and Brad’s uncle would be the godparents to one of the twins then Randy and her aunt Teri whom they always visit in Europe the godparents of the second twin.

Her contractions started on the 12th of April in the morning hours. Brad was already at work but she called him and he rushed back home. By the time he got home, the contractions were already two minutes apart and he carried her to the car. They got to the hospital and as they pulled up a wheelchair to wheel her into the hospital her water broke. He had already paid initially and made reservations so she was rushed to her private ward. He was asked to change into scrubs so he could stay with her.

As he did so he managed to call his mum and her parents that she had gone into labour. Tara said she would fly in the next day and Candace said she would be there in two hours. He scrubbed in and went in to stay with her. The first baby was eager to be born as she came out crying with her first few pushes.

She was beautiful and had her mother’s eye and he fell in love again as he gazed into those eyes. The doctor handed her to him and he nuzzled her a bit, kissed her and gave her to Sarah who kissed her too.

The contractions soon started again and the baby was safely put in the crib. The second contractions seemed to go on and on but soon it was almost seconds apart. The time it had taken was longer than normal and she was losing blood fast. She started pushing, but the baby wasn’t budging. She pushed and pushed to no avail. She had lost a lot of blood now and was almost turning pale. Brad got scared automatically.

“What’s wrong?” he asked the doctor.

“Nothing that doesn’t happen, sometimes the second twin is more difficult being born. Calm down Mr Lane she will be fine”.

He wasn’t convinced that she was okay; he could see the strength slowly seep out of her even as she pushed and the nurses urged her to keep pushing unless she will lose the baby.

“I don’t want the baby” he heard himself say. “Just save her please”. They could have other babies, but he wouldn’t risk losing her.

“No” she said and asked him to leave the ward.

He refused but the nurses told him that he had to. He was in the waiting area when Jules and their mum found him.

“What are you doing outside here?” Candace asked. He explained everything to them.  

They waited in silence and after some minutes the doctor emerged and walked towards them.

“Congratulations, your babies are in good condition. The last baby was a boy”. Candace and Jules happily thanked him.

“What about my wife?” Brad asked.

“She lost a lot of blood and the more we infused her with blood it seemed to get worse and we couldn’t stabilize her after she had the baby, I’m sorry”.

“What exactly are you saying?” Brad asked feeling numb.

“We lost her; I’m sorry” the doctor said.

He felt his world crashing down on him, how could he live without her? What would become of him? Why was the world so cruel? He slipped to the ground and cried like a child over his loss. At that moment he didn’t see anybody else, he only saw himself alone in the world, without Sarah.      

“Life As We Know It” was inspired by the fact that nothing good seems to last in this world. It is rare that we find our soul mates; it is rare that as soul mates we are attracted to each other. Love like theirs is so rare and yet even when it happens, the cold hand of nature and death sweeps in and deprives us of our loved ones. This story was inspired by a real life event though I made some changes. In reality, it was actually ‘Randy nd Sarah’ but that was too predictable. Also his wife had only a son and though the boy is almost six years now, he had never remarried because he would never love anyone even a fraction of how he loved her. The world as we know it is cruel and most people are scared to love because they dread the pain. Losing love they say is like organ damage, it’s like dying; the only difference is death ends but this could go on forever. But I still believe that those brave enough to love and be loved live very happily and have a lot to tell no matter how short-lived the love story was. I really wish I could change the ending but I had to pass across the message.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Thanks.