CHAPTER 21
brIDGER
I’m at the end of my rope and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it. Avery is three days over her due date and I’m on pins and needles because of it. There have been many times in my life when I’ve been waiting for the other shoe to drop, but it was never like this.
Even though I cleared all of last week and the next six off my schedule, the consultation I’m finishing up right now was the one thing that couldn’t be moved.
The plan was that if Avery went into labor before today then someone else would do the consultation for me.
Since my little heart is still cooking, Avery insisted I keep the appointment.
My back goes ramrod straight when my phone rings. I don’t even bother with saying anything to my client and grab it.
“Avery?” I answer, my voice going up an octave. “Are you okay?”
“Um,” she pauses and blows out a breath, “Bridger, my water just broke.”
My eyes slide closed, and I grunt, “I knew I shouldn’t have kept this appointment.”
“I’m fine,” she assures me. “My contractions are 15 minutes apart. There’s time,” her voice is calm and even like she’s reassuring me.
I stand up quickly and my stool goes rolling across my space which catches everyone’s attention. I shout, “Contractions? What do you mean contractions?”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I’m not sure how to answer that, Bridger,” she sasses. “Yes, I’m having contractions,” she confirms, “and my water has broken.”
“I’m on my way,” I try to not sound hysterical but considering the way everyone stops what they’re doing and stands up slowly, I do a shitty job at keeping myself under control.
“Okay, I’m going to change and will meet you at the door with our bag,” she speaks slowly.
“Don’t you dare pick up that bag, Avery,” I order, “you’re in labor.”
“Yes,” her breath hitches and it makes me wonder if it’s another contraction, “I am.”
Before I realize what is happening, Wyatt is next to me and snatching my phone out of my hand. My fists ball at my sides and I have to really put effort into not punching my boss and friend.
“How are you doing, Avery?” Hearing how calm Wyatt is shows me just how close to the edge I sounded. He keeps his eyes on me as he nods. “Right, okay. We’re on the way. We’ll make sure Bridger gets to you safely and you both get to the hospital.”
Wyatt hangs up and I don’t even try to hide my disappointment because he didn’t hand it back to me to let me hear her voice again. It’s my phone, damn it. And she’s my woman.
Am I pouting? Maybe.
“We need to move.” I wince because that does not sound like my voice at all. When did my voice get all high and thready?
Wyatt’s hands land on my shoulders. Then another set. Then a set lands on my upper arms. And a set on my biceps. And my forearms.
When I look around, I realize my family is surrounding me. They’re all looking at me with concern and I narrow my eyes.
“Don’t look at me like that,” I snap, “I’m not the one in labor. My woman is.”
“Bridger,” Wyatt pulls my attention toward him again and I want to punch him at the smile he’s trying to hide, “I need you to take a deep breath. We have time. I’m going to drive you home and then I’m going to drive you and Avery to the hospital.
Tenley and the rest of our family is going to meet us there. ”
Panic hits me right in the middle of my chest. This is it. She’s in labor.
And I’m not fucking there.
I drop my chin down to my chest and glumly whisper, “I knew I shouldn’t have kept this consultation appointment.”
“Hey man,” my client stands behind Wyatt with an apologetic look on his face. I meet his gaze over Wyatt’s shoulder. “I’m sorry you were with me and not your woman when she went into labor. But you’re good to go now. You let me know when you’re ready, and we’ll make another appointment.”
“No,” I choke out, “I got the info I need. I’ll draw something up and send it your way.”
My client chuckles and shakes his head. “You got it.”
Then he heads out the door with a wave over his shoulder.
“He seems nice,” Monroe muses.
When I look over at her, she’s watching the guy walk out. I think he’s a photographer or something, everything is kind of muddled in my brain at the moment now that I know Avery is in labor.
I jolt and shout, “Avery’s in labor. We gotta go.”
“Breathe,” Wyatt barks and gives me a shake.
It’s only after I listen that everyone lets go of me and takes a step back. I eye them and mutter, “That was weird, lets not do it again, okay?”
Travis holds up his hands, his eyes filled with mischief. “No promises.”
Wyatt smirks and shrugs one shoulder like they weren’t just holding me up and holding me together just moments ago. “We’re family and that’s what family does.”
“Here, here,” Knox shouts and fist pumps the air.
I roll my eyes and look at my station, thankful as fuck it was just a consultation. I’d rather burn the entire building down than clean right now.
Wyatt gives me a light shove and snorts a laugh when I stumble a little because I wasn’t at all prepared for it. “Come on. Let’s go get your woman so we can finally meet the newest member of our family.”
I rub the back of my neck. “It might take a while,” I remind him.
Ellis waves his hand, “It doesn’t matter how long it takes, Bridger, we’ll be right behind you.”
I give him a chin lift, thankful for his quiet steadiness. And then I’m rushing out the door and hoping Wyatt is right behind me because I’m not waiting any longer.
When we pull up in front of the house, I try to jump out, but my seatbelt pulls me back and I groan. Unfortunately, Wyatt is already chuckling when I glance his way. I flip him off, undo my seatbelt, and leap from the vehicle.
I don’t even get all the way to the front door before it opens to reveal Avery standing there holding the hospital bag.
While closing the distance between us, I growl, “I told you not to pick up the bag, Sweetheart.”
She huffs out a breath and rolls her eyes like I’m being ridiculous, even though we both know I’m not.
Well, maybe I am a little bit, but this is huge.
After gently taking the bag from her grip, Avery’s hand shoots out and grips my arm, her nails digging in and making me wince. She breathes through the pain slightly bent over while using me to keep her upright.
“Contraction?” I grunt the question, unable to manage more than one word right now.
I hate seeing her in pain. How the fuck am I going to do this?
Not only is the pain going to get worse, but we’ve talked about her birth plan and she’s adamant about skipping the epidural and doing this as naturally as possible.
I tried to talk her out of it because she has nothing to prove, but she wouldn’t hear it.
She hits a button on her phone as she takes a few long, deep breaths. “Still 15 minutes,” she lets me know.
Not wanting to wait a moment more and unwilling to allow her to walk to the car, I scoop her up into my arms. As if she was expecting it, which she probably was, Avery simply wraps her arms around my shoulders and nuzzles into the crook of my neck.
“I’m okay,” she whispers, “I promise.”
“I should have been here,” I grit the words out through my teeth, still pissed at myself for not trusting my gut.
I knew this appointment was the wrong move, but he was tight for time and Avery encouraged me to keep it since it was just a consultation. As I eye her out of the corner of my eye, I make a mental note to spank her later for her insistence.
“You’re here now,” she tries to sooth me, her fingers playing with the short hairs on the back of my neck, “and that’s what matters. It’s not like I’m crowning in the middle of the living room or anything.
My steps falter and I glare down at her. “That’s not funny, Avery,” my voice is stern.
“Oops,” she giggles, “too soon I guess.”
She shrugs, not at all affected by the way I’m looking at her. I revise my earlier thought; she’s earned more than one spanking.
“That’s two,” I grunt.
My woman, my sweet woman who has been a fucking champion while growing our daughter, doesn’t even bat an eye. She simply giggles.
I shake my head and put her in the backseat of Wyatt’s SUV along with her bag before I slide in next to her. There’s no way in hell I’ll be able to sit up front, not now.
She’s lucky I want her to be safe or else she’d be sitting on my lap right. That’s how much I need her close to me.
“Okay,” Wyatt’s voice is far too cheery, “this won’t be some dramatic ‘I need a police escort’ kind of drive, but I will get you to the hospital as quickly as I can.
” When he meets my eyes in the rearview mirror, I glare at him, imagining all the ways I can kill him.
Tenley will understand. The man just chuckles and adds, “And, of course, safely.”
“Thank you, Wyatt,” my woman thanks him sweetly.
I reach over and rub my hand over my woman’s baby bump because it’s the only thing I can think of to keep me grounded.
Soon. We’ll be meeting our daughter soon.
Getting checked in is a breeze since we did all the preregistration paperwork when we came for a tour a while ago, but I’m barely paying attention to anything. The only thing I can focus on is Avery and every contraction she has.
I’ve always known my woman is strong, but the feeling of her squeezing my hand through the pain of her contractions bring a whole new meaning to her strength for me. As we settle into the room and she’s been checked and told she has more dilating to go, it feels like I can relax. To a point.
We keep the conversation light between us, not talking about names anymore since we already have a short list and have decided that meeting our daughter will help us make the decision.
Honestly, it’s all up to my woman. She’s grown our daughter and kept her safe for more than 40 weeks.
She can name her whatever the hell she wants.