Chapter 24 Amelia
Amelia
Ihit save and the relief hits me like a bolt of lightning.
Four days it’s taken me to finish my essay and it’s finally done.
Stretching my arms above my head, a pain shoots across my lower stomach and I crunch over and hold onto the side of my belly.
I’m not due to give birth until next week and I still have an assignment to finish this weekend.
Standing from the desk chair, I push my stomach out and release the tension knotting in the bottom of my back. Turning the desk light off, I turn on the lamp on my nightstand.
It’s just before midnight and I wiggle out of my shorts and lean over to pull back the comforter. My thighs tingle with chills as wetness trickles down and I gasp.
No, no, no. This can’t be happening now. I mean, everything is ready for her but I’m not ready. I had wrapped my head around her coming next week.
I lean down to pick up my shorts and instantly regret it. Another pain blasts through my lower stomach and ripples out through my back and bump. I cry out and reach for my robe.
My dad is down in his office and shoots up out of his chair.
“You okay?” he asks.
“I’m pretty sure my waters just broke, and I’ve had a couple of pains I’ve not had before.”
His cheeks balloon with a heavy exhale and he moves into action. I’ve packed and repacked my hospital bag three times over the last week and we decided to leave it by the front door so it was easily accessible if we had to leave in a rush.
“Okay, we’ve got your hospital bag, your pillow… is there anything else we’re forgetting?”
“No,” I cry out as another contraction hits me.
“Okay, okay,” Dad frets climbing in behind the wheel and with one last glance at me, he drives away from the house and soothes me through till the pain ebbs away.
“You should call Darius,” he says.
I know I should. A small part of me wants to just get this over with and then let him know she’s here but he’s stuck to his word, and he’s been there every step of the way. I can’t take this away from him. It would be cruel.
“Call Darius,” I say into my phone.
It rings out and goes to voice mail, instead of leaving a message, I try again, and he answers.
“Amelia. Are you okay?”
“My waters have broken. My dad’s driving me to the hospital.”
“Dar, you want another beer?” I hear the feminine voice and I hang up.
My mind instantly tries to rationalise why there would be a woman with him at this time of night and it’s not like he was at Tariq’s because the music is always playing.
“Is he on his way?” dad asks.
“I’m sure he is.”
I can’t even think about him right now. Another contraction tries to kill me, and I grab onto the door handle so hard, my hand turns ghostly white.
“Try to breathe through it, sweetheart… we’re not far now.”
I know my dad is only trying to help, that it must be horrible to see your child in so much pain, but fuck me, if I don’t want to tell him to fuck off.
As the pain fades, so does my anger. Trying to catch my breath, the hospital comes into view, and I feel better knowing I’m going to be around doctors and nurses.
My dad helps me from the car and grabs my pillow and bag from the back seat. If I can walk in and get settled before another contraction comes, I’ll be okay. I let the nurse know who I am and that my waters have broken, and she brings out a wheelchair.
She pushes me to the private room my dad booked and helps me onto the bed.
“Exciting, isn’t it,” she beams, and I immediately like her. She’s a motherly figure and I smile.
“We’ll get you changed and settled and then I’ll conduct a quick exam to see how far along you are.”
“Thank you.”
Dad hovers awkwardly by the end of the bed. “I’ll give you your privacy and go and wait for Darius.”
My dad has warmed to Darius over the last few months.
He says he likes to think he’s a good judge of character and he believes Darius will make a good father.
I don’t believe he thinks deeply as to what Darius gets up to while he’s not around, but when he is, he sees that he’s been around when needed.
Once I’m changed and settled on the bed, the nurse begins her exam and I gasp when she checks to see how dilated I am.
“You’re halfway there,” she beams. “Five centimetres. In your notes it says you’d like an epidural. Is that still the case?”
“Yes.”
If the pain I’ve felt so far is only set to get worse, I can’t handle it as well as push out a tiny human.
“I’ll go and get the doctor. We won’t be long.”
I look around the room and it’s nice considering I’m in a hospital. A contraction comes and goes when the door opens slowly, and dad pops his head in.
“It’s safe.” I smile.
The door opens wider, and he walks in, followed by Darius. Every time I see him, he takes my breath away and I curse myself. Damn him and his tight jeans and capturing eyes.
“Hey, is everything okay? I mean, you’re a week early.”
“Everything’s fine. I’m five centimetres dilated. The nurse has gone to get the doctor so I can have the epidural,” I tell him and look to my dad.
“Did we pack the camera?”
His eyes widen. “I knew there was something. I’ll go back and get it. The roads will be empty, it won’t take me long.”
“Thank you.”
He nods to Darius and leaves.
I close my eyes, hoping Darius will get the hint I don’t want to talk. But to my dismay, he says, “You hung up on me because you heard Sasha, didn’t you?”
So she has a name.
“I hung up because I told you all I needed to.”
“Bullshit.”
“Look, can we not do this. Fighting with you is the last thing I want to do right now.”
“I don’t want to fight, I was going to tell you, it wasn’t what you thought.”
“It doesn’t matter what I thought, though, does it? What you do in your own time is up to you. Just like what I do is up to me.”
Narrowing his eyes, he moves to stand at the bottom of my bed, bracing his hands on the rail.
“She’s Tariq’s cousin, she’s staying at his until she finds somewhere of her own. She was only offering me a beer.”
Squeezing my eyes closed, I really don’t want to be having this conversation. It makes me feel like a child.
“Why do you feel the need to explain?”
“Because I don’t want you stressing while you’re in labor.”
“How considerate of you,” I smart. “Anyway, it really doesn’t matter. One day you will find someone as will I. It’s not like we…”
Crying out, a pain racks through me like never before and I block out Darius and his annoyingly handsome face.
I forget how to breathe through the pain and pray for it to end. Where the hell is the doctor?
“You’re good,” he soothes, his hand warm as he rubs my arm. “You’ve got this.”
Yanking my arm back, I snap, “Don’t touch me.”
His sigh sounds more like a growl, but I keep my wits about me and finally breathe through the last of the contraction.
Once it’s gone, I push my hair out of my face and notice the backpack he brought in with him.
“What’s in there?” I ask.
Shrugging, he looks like a boy who has been caught out.
“What it is?”
“I picked you up some bottles of water, some things you might need.”
“You did?”
“Of course. You’re about to have my kid. I know you’re going to be in pain and there’s nothing I can do to take it away, but I wanted you to know that I’m here in any way you need.”
A tear rolls down my cheek and I can only stare at him. Damn him for being so nice when he’s such an asshole.
“You’re the mother of my child, you’ll always be important to me. I’m here when you need anything. You can trust me to be there for you and our daughter.”
“Yeah, I see that.”
Another contraction takes over and this time I let him hold my hand and do the whole daddy-to-be thing. I admit, it’s nicer to know I’m not so alone.
I relax when the pain fades but then another is coming and this time it’s in my lower back, almost feeling like it’s in my ass.
“Something doesn’t feel right,” I choke out and Darius frowns.
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, this pain…” I sob and try to catch my breath. “It’s different to the others. I think she’s coming.”
“I’ll go find that fucking doctor.”
Clutching tighter onto his hand, I shake my head. “No, don’t leave me.”
He searches for something above my head and then hits a red button. Seconds later, the nurse rushes in.
“She says she thinks something is wrong.”
I explain to her how the pain is different and where it’s moved to, and she soothingly rubs my arm.
“Let me just check…”
She dons the plastic gloves again and I brace myself for her check.
“You’re about to be a mommy, she’s on her way out now.”
She becomes a blur of movement, slamming her hand on the button Darius had not long pushed, unwrapping instruments I pray won’t be used on me and updating the doctor when he comes in.
“Hello, Amelia. You ready to push?”
“I haven’t had my epidural yet.”
“It’s too late for that I’m afraid. Your daughter’s coming and she’s leaving you no option but to do this old fashioned way.”
“The what?” Darius barks out.
“All natural.”
His face pales and when he looks down at me, I can see the apology in his eyes.
“I…”
I have no idea what to say. My head falls back on the pillow and my back arches as another pain tries to snap me half. I was braced for it to hurt more than anything I could try to imagine but this is too much.
Darius clasps onto my hand but it does little to help me.
“When the next contraction comes, I want you to push hard, okay, Amelia?”
“Yeah.”
I dread the pain, but I tell myself that every push is closer to the end and meeting my daughter. And she’s who I focus on in my mind and every time the doctor urges me to push, I use all my might and follow his order.
“Come on, babe, you’ve got this,” Darius urges but I can barely hear him.
“That’s it, Amelia…” all voices fade as an almighty stinging between my legs takes my breath away.
“One last big push and you get to hold your daughter.”
I dig deep and give it everything I have left and collapse on the bed as he pulls the baby from me and lifts her for me to see. Her scratchy cries fill the room and I forget everything that’s come before her.
Covered in gunk and blood, she’s the most beautiful little thing I’ve ever seen.
She’s cleaned up and checked over before she’s passed to me.
It’s so weird to think she was nestled inside me and now she’s curled up on my chest. Pressing my lips to the top of her head, I promise that it’s the first of many.
Darius slides his arm around me and leans in so close, I can almost feel like we’re a real family.
“I don’t want to miss out on anything,” Darius murmurs once we’re alone.
“I don’t want you to.”
He presses his lips to mine and backs off when the door opens, and dad pops his head in.
Staying close, he leans in and whispers, “You did me real proud, she’s perfect, just like you.”
Dad places the huge bouquet of flowers he’s managed to find and the camera.
“I can’t believe she came this quick,” he beams, and I stare at the bundle in my arms. I don’t have the energy to sit up to pass her over and Darius catches on and takes her from me and passes her over to my dad.
“Amelia, she’s beautiful… she looks just like you did when you were born.”
He sways her gently in his arms while wearing the biggest grin I’ve seen on him.
“Can you take a picture of them, please?” I ask Darius.
He picks up the camera and I listen to the shutter clicking away as I close my eyes. I just need a little sleep.