Promised to the Demon King

02. A Named Surprise

The sound of the baby’s cry filled the room, and what caught the doctor and nurses by surprise was the look of doom and anger on the new parents' faces. They looked distraught.

“A girl?” Carol shrieked in rage.

“You told us they would be a boy, not a girl. We asked several times.” John joined his upset wife’s questioning. He looked down at the fussing, freshly cleaned bundle of flesh rolled up in a soft pink blanket. His heart ached as though caught in the vicious clamp of a vice. He couldn’t believe it.

After years of struggling, they made a deal with a demon. The demon supplied everything he had promised. In the span of a short two years, John took over the shop he had initially worked at. The owner, also named John but who went by Johnny, took a sudden interest in John. He started assigning him bigger jobs and almost instantly took John under his wing. Johnny had no sons; he had a daughter, but she had no interest in the shop. Over the past year, Johnny grew ill, and as his time trickled down, he groomed the ever-humble John to take over the business.

John hated that this was how the deal was repaid. He didn’t want to carry the guilt of Johnny's illness on his conscience, but he had no choice. After Johnny died and the business was given to John, he quickly changed things and polished the shop's image.

He started to focus solely on the progress of improving the old shop. He let a few lazier shop hands go and brought in new, eager staff.

John was quickly recognized over the next six months, and the community recommended the shop. This growth in standard and reputation helped John expand the business, opening another shop on the other side of town.

While he focused solely on growing his business and burying his guilt about it, Carol announced that she was pregnant.

John couldn’t recall the last time they even had s*x, but he also refused to believe that Carol was running around on him. He was just too focused on work, exhausted when he returned each night.

Carol quit her job at the grocery store the week after the deal with the Demon King, Asmodeus, was made. Although John disagreed with that, she was not convinced to keep working.

“We will be rich in no time. Working is beneath me now, John.” Those were her very words. For months, they struggled harder with one less income, but Carol, as bitter by it as she was, was convinced she would become a wealthy wife soon enough. It was part of the deal, after all.

“I do apologize to you both. Throughout this pregnancy, the images have always shown that you were carrying a baby boy. I am not certain what changed, but this is an example of the unpredictability of science, I suppose.” the OBGYN tried to explain to the upset couple. Never had she seen anything like this before. The equipment had never produced false gender results throughout nine months of pregnancy. She, too, was surprised to witness a girl born. Every image and every test resulted in a boy.

The baby girl was among the most adorable babies the doctor and nurses had seen in a long while. Her snow-white skin made her rosy cheeks and lips more striking. These features gave the little girl a porcelain-like appearance unlike any other. Typically, babies have a stronger resemblance to their fathers when firstborn. However, this little girl didn’t look like either of her parents.

Both of her parents had blonde hair. Her father had hazel eyes, and her mother had blue. This little girl had a full head of curly, unnaturally crimson-red locks and uncommonly green eyes that almost appeared to be glowing when she smiled at the nurses and doctor.

Unlike the mother and father, the nurses in the room were already enamoured by the unique little beauty.

“Have you two decided on a name?” One of the nurses, who was cradling the baby, asked. Her eyes stayed on the little girl with a big smile and doe eyes.

“We thought we had a boy!” Carol snapped, turning to her husband. You name it. I don’t want that thing near me. Call our lawyer; I am suing!”

John sighed, and the doctor and nurse panicked.

“Mrs. Thompson, there is no reason to sue. I have all the records showing I did my due diligence. I was not wrong in interpreting the results; the court shall agree. Sometimes fate intervenes, and this little girl is a miracle. The hospital will support my actions in this matter.”

“Bullshit!” Carol snapped.

“Enough! We will not sue.” John finally spoke. He was exhausted by Carol and her temper. He wanted to hate this baby; she brought with her a doomed omen, but one look into her unusually green eyes showed that he was just as devoted as the nurses seemed to be. His heart swooned.

He was a father.

He didn’t think it was possible until now. He was always aware that his chances of conception were incredibly low. It angered him that his selfish wife promised his one chance of having a child away to a demon, but a deal was made, and he promised there and then, as he stared into his daughter's beautiful eyes, that he would love her unconditionally. He would find a way to get out of this deal. He wouldn’t allow her to be sacrificed.

John reached out and took his daughter in his shaking arms. The nurses quickly corrected how to hold her, and he noted what she was doing. He didn’t want to risk ever hurting his daughter.

“Hey, my little Nova.” John smiled. “It means the brightest star, my little miracle.” He breathed in her fresh baby scent and kissed his daughter's soft, rosy cheek.

He still couldn’t grasp his reality. He was a father. He felt blessed. He never felt it with the sudden wealth, lovely home, or worldly things cluttering his conscience. No, holding his little Nova was what blessed him.

“Honestly, Jonathon! Don’t get too attached. We are sending that thing away. You know what this means.” Carol yelled, causing the room of medical employees to frown at her jaded words. Nova started to cry, and John rocked her close to his body to calm her upset. It worked. She smiled and snuggled in. He felt his heart warm. He’d been hollowed since the night of the deal, but Nova filled it with potential and joy.

“No!” John didn’t take his eyes off Nova. “I want a divorce, Carol.”

The room fell silent.

Slowly, Nova closed her eyes as she started to fall asleep in her father's safe arms.

“Jonathon, you can’t--” Carol started.

“I am done! It’s your fault we are in this mess. You’ve become a different person. I am no longer in love with you, and I won’t give up my daughter, you heartless, vile woman. It’s not lost on me that she looks nothing like me, and I cannot father a child, but she is mine. You will be no part of her life.” John gently placed the sleeping Nova into the little hospital crib for newborns. He nodded to the nurse to take her to the newborn wing and turned to his still-stunned wife. “I am done, Carol!”

John stepped outside the delivery room and called his attorney friend. They’d discussed the possibility of divorce before. Still, seeing Nova and then hearing Carol's hardened heart's response to send Nova away, Jonathon quickly made the decision he'd been contemplating for nearly a year since the deal was struck.

“Crane speaking.” Attorney Winston Crane answered his office line as he looked through files for an ongoing case he was working on.

“Hey. It’s me, Crane.” John’s voice was sullen and unlike his usual tone.

“Now, this is a surprise.” Crane took off his glasses and tossed them on the paperwork to give his good friend his undivided attention. “Aren’t you delivering a baby today?”

“Her name is Nova, and she is the sweetest bundle of smiles you've ever seen. Wait until you meet her, Crane.” John gushed. Both men smiled.

“Wait, her? I thought you were expecting a boy?”

“We were, but it looks like science was wrong,” John answered, but he had a gnawing suspicion that the Demon King had a hand in this new development. It wasn’t lost on anyone that Carol would have tormented the pregnancy if they knew it was a baby girl. She would have incurred the Demon Kings' wrath by doing so, but Carol was incredibly high-strung on the idea of fulfilling their end. She never wanted children to begin with.

“Well, Congrats, my friend.”

“Thank you. She’s so beautiful, you’ll fall in love with her once you meet her. Everyone but Carol already has.”

“Of course. Nothing can chisel the ice around that heart.” It was no secret that Crane didn’t like or trust Carol. He saw through her plastic smile and false affection for others. She was selfish and full of greed. The way she spoke to people she considered beneath her or how she treated John was disgusting.

Crane and John had been friends since high school. They went on different paths, but that never ruined their friendship. He watched as his long-time friend struggled and worked hard while Carol was full of complaints and negative feedback.

He watched as his friend became a big success, seemingly out of nowhere. It almost seemed unbelievable, but he was happy for John.

Unlike Carol, John remained humble and unaffected by his sudden status change. Her viciousness only got worse.

“I am calling to let you know I wish to proceed with the divorce. I want full custody. She just announced in front of the doctor and all the nurses that she doesn’t want to be near Nova and plans to send her away permanently. We can use their statements when we file. I want to bury her; she gets nothing.”

“That may be tricky, but I think with the witness statements, custody should be fine enough. My concern is that there is no prenup, and you are a very wealthy man. You know she is going to fight for the money and may try to use Nova as a way to get alimony.”

“Then she can have the house and a minimal amount of wealth. I also want to schedule a meeting; I want nothing to go to her in my will. Everything is to go to Nova, and I need to find a guardian to assign over Nova should I die before she is eighteen. Can we do this?” John knew Carol would be relentless for the money, but he wanted Nova far away from her. He didn’t trust her one bit.

“You got it, buddy. Give me a couple of days to work some things out. Maybe we can figure out an angle. I will have someone assigned to watch Carol. Maybe we can find some dirt on her.”

“Thanks, man. I appreciate it.”

John ended the call and looked into the room through the window. His eyes went to Carol. She wasn’t sad by the divorce announcement—no, he knew that expression too well—she was angry and embarrassed. She didn’t care about the baby or her marriage. It was purely the image and wealth she’d lose with this divorce, and she was mad.

She yelled and snapped at the doctor and nurses, throwing them out and calling them all useless.

“I was hoping you would all give your statement to my lawyer in a few days when he comes by. I am requesting full custody of Nova.” John stated to the medical staff when they stepped out.

After taking their information to give to Crane, John left the wing. Before returning to stay with Nova, he needed to finalize a few things at work. He couldn’t wait to take her to the shop and introduce her to the guys. She was going to be the shop, Princess; he just knew it.

There was a smile on John’s face as he left the hospital. It was the first genuine smile he’d felt in a long time, and it was because he was a father. He had a renewed purpose: to be a better man.

He wouldn’t let her down.

©202MURPHY/T.MURPHY 2024