Convalesce (Book 2 in the Wolfen Brethren Series)

Lay Down the Law

Jana begrudgingly sat by Simeon's bedside, she didn't particularly want to be here but she realised that it was her obligation as he was the father of  Zosia and her son.

Her beautiful little boy, Lucjan had been a miracle and though the pregnancy had been hard and at times impossible, there was never a moment where she wasn't grateful for him.

Her pregnancy had been a high risk from the moment she had found out she was pregnant. There had been no swollen breasts, no morning sickness and no skipped period for her to know. In fact it was the presence of blood that had made her aware of her situation.

Just the thought of what she had gone through alone, hurt her more than words could ever explain because Simeon should have been there. He should have been there for her when she was rushed to the infirmary because she had been bleeding and it was not her period because you didn't get cramps like that on a period. There had been soo much blood, it had been everywhere and the pain. The pain had been unfathomable and she had gone through that alone.

He hadn't been there to hold her hand and reassure her when she had received the heart wrenching news that she was pregnant but that the scarring along her womb was causing complications. He wasn't there when Manal had told her that the chance of this baby surviving full term was unlikely. He hadn't been there when she had cried so hard her heart had thudded so fast she had passed out. Nobel reprimanding her when she came to because the stress was putting a strain on her baby.

She had been forced to bed rest because the movement, any little thing could have caused her to loose that little ray of hope. When all that she had left and all that she knew was tumbling around her where was he?

She had no one because she couldn't trust Vanya or Neema's words at face value because they had known. Maybe they had never been given the confirmation but they had suspected and no one had mentioned it. Vanya, she had pardoned after a while but only because Vanya hadn't been there in the moment when Jana had met Simeon but Neema had and that had ruined what little of their relationship they had begun to build.

Jana had been alone, bedridden and isolated. Her only solace was that she was growing a life wishing the same womb that she had thought barren. Zosia, her persistent mother Felicity who knew firsthand her daughters struggles, and the extremely dry humour of Manal made her days easier. Manal had often brought her children, there curious eyes reminding Jana of all she could have if she just held on.

Manal and Felicity had been her rock until the pregnancy had taken control over her emotions and Neema and Vanya had been welcomed with wet cheeks as she tried not to cry in fear that she would harm her child. She spent weeks and weeks stuck in that bed, her belly growing bigger and bigger as the precarious life grew within her. Her body had quickly began to put on weight but it was never enough. Nobel kept telling her she was at risk and so Jana ate more. There wasn't a thing she didn't eat. Every concoction her mothers and aunties fed her she ate, anything to see her son have life and even then the inevitable couldn't be stopped.

She was four months in, four months and she had felt blood between her thighs even as she lay in the bed. Fear settled in her heart as she felt life ebbing from her body knowing that if she lost him then she too would follow because there would be no coming background from the loss.

Her water had broke, the fluid mixed with blood as her uterus had started dilating as the urge to push had consumed her. At four months pregnant they had put her under , extreme anaesthesia and chants had filled her head as consciousness had been snatched form her mind.

She had drifted for what felt like forever, a niggle at the back of her mind telling her to open her eyes every now and again but she couldn't. Even as she felt the sharp pain of gums biting at her nipples. Even as she heard the weak cry growing and growing stronger as the darkness faded and faded until the light had swallowed her whole and then she saw him.