Chapter 36
It’s time – what you say when the waiting’s over
Several months later
Jett
I stand in front of Aurora. “It’s time to go.”
“Not yet.”
“Baby, you’ve been in labor for hours.”
She glares at me. “I am not going to the hospital too early and having Dr. Edwards yell at me again.”
“She won’t yell at you. I already phoned her and let her know we’re on our way.”
Her glare intensifies. “You did what?”
“You’ve been having contractions since this morning. I’m done waiting.”
“You’re done waiting?”
I blow out a breath and try to be patient. My girl is feisty. I need to tread carefully.
“I’m not delivering this baby in our house. I’m not prepared.”
She snorts. “As if I don’t know you have an industrial sized first aid kit. You drove three towns over to buy it.”
“Nonetheless. I plan for Axl to be born in a hospital. Not on the kitchen table.”
“We are not naming our baby girl Axl and I’m not having the baby on the kitchen table.”
“I can deliver your baby,” Feather shouts through the window.
I march to it. “Stop eavesdropping.”
She shrugs. “I can’t help it if I happen to pass by and hear you, can I?”
“You’re literally standing in our yard a foot from the window. You weren’t passing by. You’ve been standing there all morning sending the gossip gals updates with your walkie talkie.”
She hides the walkie talkie behind her back as if I can’t hear it squawking.
Aurora groans and I rush to her. She’s hunched over in her chair. Her knuckles are white with how hard she’s fisting the arms of the chair.
I rub her back. “Breathe, baby. Breathe.”
She lifts her head to snarl at me. “I am breathing,” she gasps out.
“How far apart are the contractions?” Feather asks from beside me.
I don’t bother asking her how she got into the house. She probably had a key made.
I wait until the contraction wanes before checking my phone. “The contraction lasted 50 seconds and it’s been five minutes since the previous one.”
I hold out my hand to Aurora. “It’s time to go, baby.”
“Contractions should be three to four minutes apart. Not five.”
Thanks to the scare in the hospital, Aurora has read up on everything pregnancy related. I even caught her and Dylan exchanging notes at some point. Considering Dylan believes himself a self-taught pregnancy guru, I pulled them apart and made sure they weren’t alone together again.
“You’ve been having contractions every five minutes for three hours, we’re going to the hospital,” I insist.
I don’t wait for her to take my hand. My feisty girl is the most stubborn person I know. She’d rather have the baby at home than suffer through the embarrassment of another false alarm. But I’m not letting her have this baby at home. I want her in the hospital in case anything goes wrong.
“Fine,” she mutters as she swipes her phone from her desk.
I snatch it from her. “I think the world can survive without you answering your phone for a few hours.”
“Don’t you dare steal my phone from me, Jett Peterson. I control all the money.”
I kiss her nose. “I don’t care about money. I care about you and Jagger.”
She groans. “I’m not naming this baby Jagger.”
“You’re not naming this baby? I thought we would name our baby.”
“As soon as you push a watermelon through your penis, we’ll talk about who’s in charge of naming the baby.”
“What name do you prefer?” Feather asks as she follows us to the door where the go bag is ready and waiting.
Aurora huffs. “I’m not giving you any clues so you can win the bet.”
Feather bats her eyelashes. “What bet?”
“I’m pregnant. Not stupid. I know the whole town has a bet going about the name of our baby.”
“Really?”
Aurora rolls her eyes. “The twenty baby naming books that magically appeared on our doorstep kind of gave it away.”
I help her put on a pair of clogs before grabbing the go bag and leading her outside. She moans when she sees the car waiting on the street.
“I can’t believe you bought this car.”
“What’s wrong with it?” I ask to distract her. I already know all of her issues with the car.
“It’s way too expensive. We don’t need a Mercedes.”
I nod to next door. “Fender bought a Hummer.”
“There’s no—” She moans as another contraction hits her.
I dig out my phone to time her but she bats my phone away. “Stop timing me. I’m not a racehorse.”
I pick my phone up from the ground but I don’t respond since I can’t win this argument.
Once Aurora’s contraction has passed, I help her into the SUV. I kiss her nose. “It’s time to meet Morrisey.”
“What did you do? Buy a baby book with rocker names?”
I wink. “You’ll never know.”
I make sure she’s buckled in and shut the door. Feather opens the back door but I stop her before she can climb in.
“No. You can ride with your gossip gals.” I point to the car idling in the road behind us.
“But they won’t give me any hints about the baby’s name.”
“Exactly.”
I wait until she walks away to rush around to the driver’s door and jump in. I switch on the car and peel away from the curb.
Aurora clutches the oh shit handle. “This isn’t a drag race.”
I grin. “But if it were, I’d win.”
“Please be careful.”
I sober. “With you and little Mercury in the car, I’m always careful.”
Being careful doesn’t mean I have to drive the speed limit. I race toward the hospital. I’m done with watching the woman I love be in pain. I make it to the hospital in record time and skid to a halt in front of the emergency room.
“You are not teaching our daughter how to drive,” Aurora mutters as I help her out of the car.
I escort her inside and get her settled in a wheelchair. Before we can reach the reception desk, Dr. Edwards greets us with a smile. “I’m surprised it took you this long to make it here.”
“No. False. Alarm,” Aurora pants out.
The doctor’s smile disappears. “How far apart are the contractions? How long are they? How long has she been in labor?”
I answer her questions as we make our way upstairs to a delivery room.
“It shouldn’t be long before your baby is here,” the doctor says after her initial examination.
“I can’t wait to meet little Nirvana.”
Aurora bats a hand at me. “No.”
I smirk. “I have a ton of rocker names picked out. You’re bound to agree with one of them.”
“Um, doctor?” A nurse sticks her head in the room. “There are bunch of people wondering where Ms. Sharpe is. Can I tell them?”
“There’s no need to tell us anything, young lady. We’re here,” Sage says as she pushes her way into the room.
“Out!” Aurora screams. “Out!”
I rush to Sage before my feisty girl screams the hospital down thereby alerting the press in three states of the impending arrival of a Sinner baby.
I herd Sage to the waiting area. When I open the door, the gossip gals cheer.
“I knew you wouldn’t get away with it,” Feather says.
“Everything going okay?” Cash asks.
“Yeah,” I tell him and my other bandmates – except Dylan and Virginia who are at home with their baby. “Presley is ready to enter the world.”
Leia snickers. “Aurora is going to get you back for all those rocker names someday.”
I smirk. “I can’t wait.”
“Where is he?” Aurora shouts from down the hall.
“Duty calls.” I rush out of the room and back to Aurora. I hold her hand. “How are you doing?”
“How am I doing? How am I doing?” she screeches. “How do you think I’m doing?”
I kiss her forehead. “I think you’re doing awesome because you are wonderful.”
Dr. Edwards giggles. “I love it when the baby daddies backpedal like their lives depend on it.”
“I—”
My words are cut off when Aurora screams.
“There you go,” Dr. Edwards coaxes. “We’re nearly there.”
Her definition of nearly there is clearly not the same as mine since it’s another hour before she demands ‘one last push’ and our baby finally arrives.
“Congratulations, Mommy and Daddy. It’s a girl.”
I push the matted hair off of Aurora’s face. “You did it, baby.” I kiss her forehead. “I love you, my feisty girl.”
Her green eyes light with love and happiness. “And I love you, drummer boy.”
“Here she is,” the nurse says as she places our baby into Aurora’s arms.
Aurora kisses her nose. “She’s perfect.”
“Of course, she is. We made her.”
“Hello, little one,” she whispers to her. “I’m your mommy and I will always love and protect you. Welcome to the world, little Star.”
“Star? You already picked out her name?”
She glances up at me. “It’s the perfect name.”
I grin. “Named after one of the best drummers to ever live.”
“Since I fell in love with a drummer, I thought it was fitting.”
“Thank you for loving me. Thank you for giving me this precious gift.”
“I will always love you.” She glances down at our baby. “And I will always love you, Star.”