Chapter 2

            The second eldest son of the Hudson clan, Trevor Hudson, had just finished ravishing Ava Bartholomew in her bed at her penthouse. She was a trust fund baby and the youngest child of Lester Bartholomew. Trevor was thirty-one. Ava was twenty-four; just ten years younger than her father’s current wife.

            Trevor had been seeing Ava casually for almost a year. Of course, he dated and slept with other women, but Ava was his favorite among the socialites and middle class ladies in his list of girls. She was fun and gorgeous. With her thick brown shoulder length hair, height, and perfect skin tone and button nose, she had modeled for Vogue and a few fashion shows.  Of course, she didn’t have to work, but she liked doing things that put her in the limelight. Trevor didn’t mind her vanity. She had every reason to be vain as far as he was concerned.

            Ava giggled as she ran her hand through his loose brown curls. Trevor rolled over on his back with her in his arms. She sat up on her knees, giving him a nice view of C-cup breasts. Her nipples were a lovely dark gray. Ava placed her hands on his chest and she started rubbing it. Trevor didn’t have raging muscles like his youngest brother, but he had strong muscle definition if he said so himself. And many women had complimented him on his ass through the years.

            “Mmmm,” Ava purred. “You were magnificent as always.”

            Trevor chuckled. “I aim to please, madam.”

            She smiled as she continued to massage his chest. “I have so much fun with you. And I love talking to you. It’s like you’re the only person in the world who understands me – and yet don’t judge me.”

            He smiled. Ava was a little too spoiled even for a trust fund baby. Top that off with her vanity and lack of knowledge about everything except herself, most people wouldn’t be able to stand her longer than thirty minutes at a time. But, Ava made up for it by being loyal to those who are loyal to her, volunteering at a community center with inner-city kids, and being a devoted daughter to both her parents despite them being divorced. “You are a lot of fun, too. I look forward to our dates and . . . get togethers in the afternoons.”

            She bent down and gave him a quick kiss on the lips and sat up again. “So what –” She was interrupted by his cell that was vibrating on the nightstand.

            “Ugh,” Trevor groaned with disgust. “Can a man enjoy an afternoon delight without being called constantly?”

            “That’s the fourth time it’s rung since you’ve been here. Maybe you should answer it. It could be an emergency,” she suggested softly.

            Trevor exhaled heavily. He knew she was right, but he wished she wasn’t. By the time he reached for the phone it had stopped vibrating. The caller ID said it was Christopher, his eldest brother, who had called him once. Then, the he saw that his youngest sibling had called him three times. “Hmm,” he said as he thought.  “My brothers are trying to reach me.”

Ava continued to sit on his crotch as he tried calling Christopher back.  He didn’t pick up.

“Damn,” he said and rolled his eyes.

“What?” she asked innocently.

“Christopher isn’t answering. I have to call the other one,” he said dryly. He exhaled and prepared for the barrage of bullshit he was going to hear from his youngest brother as he called him.

He answered on the second ring. “Where the hell are you? I swear every time something happens you don’t answer your fucking phone!” Bruce yelled.

“That’s why I don’t answer,” Trevor quipped and twisted his lips.

“Hardy, har, har. While you’re cracking tasteless jokes, Selena is in labor,” he said sharply.

“What? Already?” Trevor asked an octave above his normal voice.

“She’s giving birth at the estate as we speak,” Bruce revealed.

“At the estate?” Trevor repeated as he sat up slightly. He braced himself on one elbow. “The staff couldn’t get her to the hospital on time?”

“From what I could understand from Christopher’s frantic yelling and William’s breathless heaving, Selena’s water broke out of nowhere. Then, she went into labor so fast it made everyone’s heads spin. William called an ambulance, but it’s caught in wall to wall traffic from a ten car accident. They won’t make it in time. And there wasn’t enough time to drive her to the hospital. So, Winifred grabbed the upstairs maid to deliver the baby.”

“The upstairs maid!” Trevor shouted. “My god she’s as fragile and nervous as a newborn colt!”

“I know, but William spurted that the girl had a background in nursery midwifing or home delivering or something like that,” Bruce said impatiently. “Anyway, Christopher was on his way home when he called me at the office. He’s taking the back road. It’ll take ten minutes longer, but that’s the only way we got to get home. I’m driving now. God, Trevor, I could actually hear shouting and screaming in the background. I’m pretty sure it was Selena.”

“Okay, I’m on my way,” Trevor said and clicked off. “I’m sorry, darling, I have to go.”

“What happened?” Ava asked as she climbed off of him.

Trevor whipped the white satin sheet off and stood. “Selena went into labor right at the mansion.”

Ava’s eyes bulged. “I thought you said she wasn’t due for another two or three weeks.”

“That’s what we all thought - including her doctor,” Trevor said as he grabbed his boxers off the floor. “Apparently, it happened so fast that there was no time to drive her to the hospital and the ambulance got stuck in traffic from a ten car pile-up.” He put his boxers on and grabbed his pants off the vanity bench.

“So . . . she’s giving birth at home?”

“It looks like,” Trevor said as he put his beige slacks on. “One of our maids have experience in . . . deliveries.”

“I hope she knows what she’s doing,” Ava said with concern.

“Yeah, me, too,” Trevor said with worry as he zipped his pants.

****

            Trevor pulled his red Bugatti behind Bruce’s Mercedes. Bruce was parked behind Christopher’s Lexus. There were no signs of an ambulance. Trevor cut the car off and raced up the stone steps to the front door. He walked in and didn’t hear or see anyone.

            He took a few steps towards the dining room. He heard muffled voices. The talking became clearer the closer he got.

            “I still don’t understand why she had to give birth in here!” Bruce barked.

            Trevor approached the dining room threshold to see William, Alex, Winifred, and the upstairs maid lined up along the far wall. The staff looked like they had been through the ringer.  William’s dark hairline was damp from sweat and he was pale as a ghost. Winifred’s and the upstairs maid’s hair were falling sloppily out of their buns and they both had blood stains on their white aprons. Alex was sweating like a pig and his eyes were crossed. It looked like he was about to have a nervous break down.

            “Time was of the essence, Mr. Hudson,” Winifred said evenly. “She was in so much pain and . . . there was no way we could have gotten her upstairs in time.”

            “Holy hell,” Trevor enunciated with a deep frown as he entered the room. He surveyed the dining room table which was a wreck. It looked like a war-time surgery had taken place. Two stainless steel pans filled with bloody water, a pair of kitchen scissors, dirty and wet towels and wash clothes, a turkey baster, a bottle of alcohol, fluid, and pillows were on his mother’s wooden, custom-made twenty seat dining table. Three chairs had been pulled away to the middle of the floor. One of them had a big wet spot in the creamed cushion. There was also blood droppings and what Trevor assumed was water on the carpet. Silverware, and what looked like a half a sandwich, and broken china was on the floor. “Shit,” he stretched out as he took it all in.

            “Yes!” Bruce shouted.  “She gave birth in here. Where we eat for the love of God!”

            “Ew,” Trevor said as his body shuddered. He knew giving birth was a part of life, but he had never wanted to know all the dirty details that went on behind the scenes.

Damn, she did it on my side of the table. Ugh.

“This can be cleaned, right?” Trevor asked.

            Bruce and Trevor looked at the staff.

            “Yes, sir,” Winifred answered quickly.  “Some disinfectant and industrial carpet cleaner should do the trick.”

            “A lot of disinfectant,” Bruce corrected harshly. He started pacing in front of the staff. “And just throw the . . . kitchen items away. Just order whatever new things you need, Alex.”

            “Yes, sir,” Alex said.

            “Sounds like everyone lent a helping hand except for William,” Bruce said and stopped in front of the butler.

            “Sir? I . . I . . .” the butler stuttered.

            “You what?” Bruce asked, his voice sounding like steel. “I know you didn’t assist with getting any items. Winifred and Alex did that. You didn’t deliver the child. Our young staff member did that. You didn’t assist with the delivery, judging by the blood on Winifred’s apron, she did that. And you didn’t help the mistress of the house to brace herself during such a traumatic ordeal. Alex did that.”

            “I managed the phones, sir,” William stammered. “I called Mr. Christopher and answered when you called. I also called the ambulance, which should be here soon.”

            Hell, we don’t need them now.

            “How brave of you, Ma Bell” Bruce sneered at the butler. He turned from him and walked to the mousey maid with the blonde hair. She was looking down as usual. “So, you . . . delivered the next generation of Hudsons.”

            She mumbled something, but Trevor didn’t catch what she had said. She always talked low whether Bruce was addressing her or not.

            Bruce nodded. “It looked like you went through hell and from what I’ve seen you did a good job. Mother and baby are resting comfortably upstairs.”

            The blonde maid said something inaudible. Trevor assumed she said thank you.

            “Got to your quarters, clean-up, and take the rest of the day off,” Bruce said. “You earned it.”

            The maid nodded without looking at him.

            “But, get your rest. Mrs. Hudson has requested that you attend to her personally during her six week recovery. You have obviously gained her trust.

            Bruce looked at the rest. “Winifred, after you clean up this mess, you can return to your quarters and take the rest of the day off as well.”

            “Yes, sir,” she mumbled.

            “Alex, don’t worry about cooking dinner tonight,” Trevor said with his nose turned up. He couldn’t imagine eating in the dining room so soon after this. He needed a few days to get the imagery out of his mind.  “We’ll eat out or order a pizza . . . or something.”

            “And I want you two to help Winifred to clean this shit up,” Bruce ordered as he pointed at the men.

            “Yes, sir,” Alex said.

            William remained quiet.

            “You, too, William,” Bruce said sternly.

            William looked at the table. Then his eyes rolled to the back of his head as he fell on the floor.

            “Oh, for fuck sake!” Bruce exclaimed with disgust as they all stared at the passed out butler on the floor.

Ten minutes later, Trevor had finally made it upstairs to Christopher’s and Selena’s suite in the east wing of the mansion. He tapped on the door.

“Come in,” Christopher said.

Trevor opened the door to see Selena fresh as a daisy holding her new born child. She was wearing a white night gown. Her longer than long dark hair was pulled behind her. The baby was swaddled in a blue blanket.

“Hey,” Christopher greeted as he came into view. “Come in and look at my handsome son.”

Trevor grinned as he entered the room. He approached the bed and looked over at the new family member.  His eyes were closed. It appeared he was asleep.  He was wearing a little white cap. His face was full of color. Considering what Trevor had seen downstairs, he wasn’t expecting for mother and child to look so clean, happy, and rested. “He is a cute little fellow.”

“Yes, but he’s more than that,” Christopher said as he carefully took the bundle of joy from Selena. “In about twenty-five . . . thirty years, he’ll inherit an empire. The greatest real estate and construction conglomerate in the world. Yes, you will,” he cooed to the sleeping babe. “Yes, you will. But, before that we need to get you ready. Mommy and Daddy have already selected the best pre-school in the city for you. And you weren’t waitlisted. By the time you get to high school, you’ll be the smartest and most handsome boy there. You’ll have to beat the girls off with a stick.”

Trevor looked at his brother as he talked in a baby like voice. He had never seen his brother like this. Matter of fact, he had never seen any thirty-seven year old man act like this with a child. Trevor turned to look at his sister-in-law.

Selena was smirking from ear-to-ear as Christopher continued to gently rock and talk to the little one.

“And you know what your name is going to be?” Christopher asked the sleeping babe.

“Christopher Wallingford Hudson the fourth,” Trevor answered for the baby.

“What your uncle Trevor said. Yeah, he said it,” Christopher happily said to the baby.

Selena and Trevor chuckled.

“Hey, you want to hold him?” Christopher asked.

“Maybe later,” Trevor said with a wry smile. “The EMTs finally arrived. I’m sure they’ll be up here shortly to check the little guy out.”

“We heard sirens five minutes ago, but the only person who had come up after we heard them was you,” Selena said innocently.

Trevor exhaled. “Yeah, they’re attending to William right now. He fainted a few minutes before they arrived. The way he looks you’d think he was the one who gave birth.”

“Fainted? William?” Christopher said with disbelief.

“I know, but the old man was shaken. His nerves weren’t put at ease by Bruce talking to him like the drill sergeant he is,” Trevor said.

“You can’t blame it all on Bruce. I did through a plate at the man,” Selena admitted.

“You threw a plate at an employee who has worked here since I was born?” Trevor asked with shock.

“It was the labor pains,” she said quickly.

“I bet,” Trevor said as he raised his eyebrow.