Chapter 25 #3
“Oh, hi, Liz.” I offer her a wave as Hayden and Tanner help Vi into the wheelchair. She moans softly with another contraction. “I’m so glad it’s you working OB today. I think she’s going to go quickly. Take good care of these guys. They’re…important.”
Liz gives me a jolly thumbs up and begins pushing the wheelchair inside. Hayden freezes beside Tanner and me, a look of sheer terror on his face.
“You’ve got this, Hayden,” I state, grabbing his arm in encouragement. “You love her. She loves you. That’s all you need to do this.”
He swallows hard and nods. Before running in after her, he turns and falls into Tanner and me with an awkward, strangled hug.
“Thanks, guys,” he croaks and then he’s off to start his family.
I stare across the sterile tile floor over at Booker’s boots that have bits of the pitch wedged between the studs. He’s still in his kit, his keeper gloves off and moving them from one hand to the other as we sit in the waiting room of the hospital.
Beside him sits Dad, still in his official Bethnal Green polo.
Next to Dad is Gareth, just having arrived five minutes ago by train.
Camden and Indie are seated next to Belle and me.
And perpendicular to us is Hayden’s family, the Clarkes.
They consist of his mum, his dad, his younger sister, and his older brother whose wife and one-year-old child are fast asleep in a chair beside him.
We first met the Clarkes at Vi and Hayden’s engagement party.
It was the same night Vi found out she was pregnant.
She ended up telling all of us—Cam, Gareth, Booker, and me—in her bathroom.
We might have forced it out of her a bit, but she was having a meltdown and needed to be talked off the ledge.
I know Vi and Hayden weren’t planning on this baby at this time in their lives, but watching them embrace this adventure together and become stronger for it has been inspiring. Family goals.
All of us are unified again, filling a large waiting room, silent and anxious to hear any shred of news.
Booker scoffs, “Christ, you’d think Hayden would have texted by now. Something!” Frustration radiates off his shoulders as he looks toward the double doors that lead to the delivery rooms.
Camden’s voice pipes up next. “What could be happening in there, Indie? It’s after eleven and it’s been hours.”
Indie and Belle look nervously at each other, and I can feel the Clarkes all staring at them expectantly.
“What aren’t you girls saying?” Dad’s voice booms with authority.
“Dad, calm down,” I snap, not liking the tone he’s taking with Belle and Indie.
“I will not calm down!” He stands up and begins pacing the floor. “Christ, how has Hayden not texted someone something? Anything. This is ridiculous.” He cuts his eyes to Belle. “You said she was close when she arrived almost five hours ago. I’m going to get answers.”
Gareth stands up, stopping him in his tracks. “I’ll go, Dad.”
Just as he moves to make his way to the nurses station, the double doors open and Hayden comes striding out, completely swathed in blue scrubs and a surgical cap.
We all stand, our breaths held high in our shoulders as he pulls the mask off his face. Breathlessly, he confirms, “Everyone is okay. Vi and the baby are wonderful. They’re—” His voice cracks, his eyes dumping unexpected tears down his face. “They’re so beautiful.”
Gareth’s closest to Hayden, so he places a firm hand on his back and pulls him into a hug. Hayden all but loses it. He was obviously holding on by a thread before. Now that he’s had time to think, it’s all hitting him at once.
Hayden’s brother, Theo, pushes past everybody to stand beside him. When he claps his back, Hayden lets go of Gareth and clears his throat loudly, nodding to his brother that he’s okay. We wait as he chokes back his emotions and regains control of himself.
“The baby’s heart rate kept dipping every time Vi started to push, so they did an ultrasound and discovered that somehow she had turned around in there and was breech.”
I turn when I hear Belle intake a sharp breath.
“They rushed her in for an emergency C-section. It all happened crazy fast. Then, when they pulled the baby out, her colour was off. It was terrifying, but there were doctors right there and they rushed her off to the NICU straight away. I wanted to stay with Vi, but she screamed at me to go with the baby, so I did.” Hayden’s face crumples with more tears, and Belle begins trembling beside me.
I take her hand and clutch it firmly against my chest.
“They got the baby’s oxygen levels up rather quickly and said she was looking really good.
That the NICU was only a precaution and she could go meet her mummy.
But then—” He clears his scratchy throat.
“Then a nurse came in and told me there was a tear in Vi’s uterine wall and she was losing too much blood.
They had to put her under in order to repair it. But she’s okay now.”
Hayden’s mum releases a quiet sob as Hayden covers his face with his hand, his entire body racked with cries. “I’m sorry. Everyone’s all right. Everyone’s fine now. Vi’s awake and has just properly met the baby for the first time. They’re moving them both to a patient room now.”
Hayden finally looks up, his eyes wide and tearful. He looks at his brother and adds, “I can’t believe how close I was to losing them both in one fell swoop.”
Dad steps in front of all of us and grabs Hayden by the shoulders. “You didn’t lose them. They’re okay, son.”
Hayden wipes his face and sniffs. “But to think that Vi was bleeding like that and I left her. She had to have been so frightened.”
“You took care of my granddaughter. You did what a good father should. You did what Vi wanted. Everyone is okay now.” Dad’s voice is choked with just as much emotion, but his words seem to help.
Hayden nods woodenly and pulls the scrub cap off his head. “They put us up in a big room, but I’ll have to take you back in shifts.”
Hayden’s mum speaks up, looking straight at Dad. “You all go first. Go see your daughter.”