Epilogue
Travis
Two months later
"Babe, want me to bring you breakfast in bed?
" I asked from the kitchen. I was working from home today.
I'd done that a lot lately, mostly because Bonnie had taken time off from work.
In her own words, she was too huge to move with any sort of efficiency in the practice, so she was taking it easy these last couple weeks.
I took advantage of the fact that I had her all day to pamper her.
"Travis?" She sounded eager. I immediately knew something was off.
I put down the pan I was about to use to cook her favorite breakfast—bacon. Instead, I hurried to the bedroom. Her eyes were wide.
"What happened?"
"My water broke."
"Jesus Christ!" I exclaimed. "I'm calling an ambulance."
"I don't think we're supposed to do that. You can just drive me yourself."
Really? I tried to remember what the prenatal classes taught us but drew a blank.
"What if the baby comes on the way?"
"It doesn't happen that fast, especially not for first-time moms. I don't know what to do. Dr. Taylor is on vacation. My due date's in two weeks, and she was supposed to be back next week. I know she’s got someone to cover her patients while she’s away, but it’s not my doctor."
"Fucking hell! Okay, let me do this. I'll call Sam."
My brother had surprised us all by telling us he was relocating back to Chicago. He'd already started his full-time job in one of the most renowned hospitals in Chicago.
I called him right away. As was typical of my brother, he didn't pick up. He rarely did during shifts. My fingers were trembling as I messaged him an SOS. He assured us that he'd always be in touch if we texted that. True to his word, he called me right back.
"What's wrong?" he asked, voice stern.
"Bonnie's water broke."
"Right. She's two weeks early, and I remember her telling me her doctor was on vacation." My brother's doctor voice always surprised me.
"You remember that?"
“Yeah, because I thought this exact scenario might come up.”
“Bonnie isn’t thrilled about calling whoever is covering for her doctor.”
“Okay, nothing to worry about. I'll guide you through the next steps. You'll bring her here, okay?"
"Sure."
The next hour went by in slow motion. At the same time, it felt as if everything was happening so fast that I could barely process it.
It turned out Bonnie had already packed three hospital bags.
She called it an extension of her nesting instinct.
I could tell my woman was worried, and I was doing my best to reassure her even though I was fucking losing my mind.
The baby was going to come early, and obviously the protocols Bonnie and Dr. Taylor had spoken about weren't going to happen.
But I was glad my brother was on shift at his hospital.
I trusted he would get Bonnie and our daughter the best care possible.
Sam waited for us at the entrance and helped me fill out all the forms as he instructed the staff to take Bonnie to the maternity ward. After dealing with the paperwork, he and I went up.
"They move fast," I said. Bonnie was already in a bed. She was in so much pain that I couldn’t bear it. I kept wanting to make it better, yet I knew I couldn't.
"Babe, I’m right here with you," I said, going next to her bed. "Just squeeze my hand."
She did just that, squeezing my fingers tightly. The nurses had already put an IV in her vein.
"This isn't my specialty, but I'm going to stick around, okay? I want to be the one to check the girl’s vitals after she's born," Sam said proudly.
Bonnie grimaced as her contraction ended, breathing in deeply. My woman was a champ.
"But the nurses said this might take a while."
"It doesn't matter," my brother said. "I'm going to be here for you."
"Thank you, Sam. This is very reassuring."
"Anything for the family. Now, I suggest you two make yourselves as comfortable as possible. Sometimes these things take time. Do you need anything to drink?"
"The nurses already asked,” Bonnie said. She didn't seem to want to let go of my hand, and I wasn't going anywhere. I was right here next to my wife.
My brother nodded at me. There was nothing to do but wait.
Rose Maxwell was born at one o'clock in the morning.
Bonnie was a champion. I was shaking. Watching the woman I loved birthing our daughter was an experience unlike any other.
I felt humbled and beyond grateful that I got to witness it.
I finally understood why they called it a miracle. It truly was.
As promised, Sam checked Rose's vitals, and Bonnie apprehensively looked toward him. Her hair was plastered all over her face. She was sweaty, and her cheeks were still red, but her smile was huge. She’d never been more beautiful to me.
"You did it, babe. I'm so proud of you," I said. "You are so brave." Honestly, brave didn't even begin to cover it. I had simply no idea how women went through it.
Sam brought Rose back to us. "She's perfectly healthy. Congratulations."
"Oh, thank you," Bonnie said. "I'll believe you because I'm biased as well. I think she's the cutest baby ever."
I helped her place Rose on her chest. I thought she might feed, but the baby simply fell asleep.
"She'll feed when she wants to," Sam said. "Don't worry."
After the staff left, Bonnie fell asleep immediately, and Rose was sleeping peacefully in the bassinet right next to the bed as well. I didn't want to let my two girls out of my sight, but I had too much adrenaline. I knew I'd wake them up if I stayed in the room, so I went out in the corridor.
Sam was there, taking a swig of water. He had another bottle and handed it to me as I sat down in the chair next to him. "You should drink. You were on your feet for hours, and you didn't hydrate."
I laughed. "You're such a doctor."
"Yeah, I am."
I uncapped the bottle and took a swig. Damn, he was right. I was thirsty.
"Thank you for everything you did today. It meant a lot to me."
"I'm glad I got to do it," Sam said. "See, maybe there was a reason for me to come back to Chicago after all, even if it's not the one I thought it would be."
He sounded bitter, but I couldn't fault him.
His mystery woman, as Bonnie called her, turned out to be a cheater.
She wasn't interested in anything but a long-distance relationship because she had another one going on right here in Chicago.
It was a tough pill to swallow for my brother, and frankly, I was afraid we might lose him to Doctors Without Borders again.
"So, what are you going to do now?" I asked. This was a fairly recent development. He'd only found out two weeks ago.
"I'm looking for a place to live. Which reminds me…" He opened the Facebook app on his phone. It had been so long since I used it that the interface wasn't even familiar to me anymore.
He went to a group page. Some faces in the cover picture were familiar. It was his high school crowd.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“That's the group for my high school. We kept it since we did a reunion. I found it and used it to keep in touch with everyone. I remember this guy posted about a loft a couple days ago. Let me just reply that I’m interested before I forget again. See, this is the benefit of still being online."
"For you," I said. "The bad definitely outweighs the good in my case."
“Well, I'll be damned."
"What?"
He showed me the phone. “Look who else replied to the comment. Avery."
"Your ex-girlfriend Avery?"
Sam nodded.
"You two are interested in the same apartment?”
"Seems like it. When did she even reply? Let me check. Yesterday. Says she needs someone to share it with.”
I snorted. "Wouldn't that be something? Living with your ex-girlfriend?"
"We were together a long time ago," Sam said. The doctor voice was waning, and he was back in brother mode. I approved.
"And besides," he continued, "no one said anything about living together. I could take it by myself. Although, to be honest, that loft is huge enough that I wouldn't mind having a roommate."
I eyed him suspiciously. "Avery? Bold move."
Sam shrugged. "Why not? I haven't caught up with Avery in years. She wasn’t at the high school reunion. I'm sure it would be interesting."
"Judging by that look on your face, I could think of another few ways to describe the situation, like insane, possibly dangerous, maybe hot.”
He laughed. “You're crazy. It’s been years. And it might not even come to that. Maybe she’s found something else in the meantime. I really like the loft because it’s close to the hospital." He ran a hand through his hair, blinking slowly. “I’m exhausted.”
“Do you want me to order you an Uber or something?"
"No, I'm just going to crash here at the hospital in one of the on-call rooms. You go back to your girls."
"I was going to do just that," I said. I was starting to feel the tiredness, and honestly, I didn't want to be away from them for too long.
Getting to my feet, I slipped into the room as quietly as possible. There was a night-light by the bed, and I could see them there sleeping peacefully.
I lay down on the couch, but despite my tiredness, I couldn’t sleep, unable to believe I was lucky enough to be this happy. I stayed up for hours, simply watching them, making myself a silent promise: I was going to cherish both my wife and my daughter for my whole life.