Epilogue
Dani
A year and a half later, or thereabouts
Sweat rolled down my back, and I gritted my teeth as a bolt of pain struck me. “Oh my God! This hurts!”
The friendly nurse, whose name I couldn’t recall to save my life, looked over from whatever she was doing at the small cart beside my hospital bed and gave me a sympathetic smile. “Labor usually does. Do you want me to have the anesthesiologist come in?”
Another contraction struck, and I gasped my way through it. When the pain passed, I answered, “I want Wade to get here first.”
At that moment, the door to my hospital room swung open. “Just in time,” the nurse said with a smile as Wade barreled through the door.
His hair was a mess, sticking up all over his head, and his eyes were wide as he approached the bed. “Are you okay?”
I almost started laughing at his ludicrous question, but another contraction hit me. I closed my eyes as the wave of pain tightened in my lower back and radiated around to my abdomen.
“I think that might’ve been a dumb question,” he said when he reached my side.
I managed to smile as the pain receded. My breath came in ragged heaves and another drop of sweat rolled down my back.
“I was just asking her if she wanted me to call for the anesthesiologist,” the nurse said.
Wade leaned his hip against the bed as he reached for my hand, engulfing it in his large, strong grip. “Do whatever you want.”
I took another breath, feeling a contraction coming. I was relieved when this one wasn’t that bad. “I thought this would be easier,” I gasped once I could speak again.
Wade lifted his free hand, brushing my damp curls away from my forehead. “I don’t think this is supposed to be easy, babe.”
“Fuck natural birth,” I muttered after the next contraction gripped me. Rolling my head to the side, I nodded at the nurse. “Anesthesiologist.”
I lost all sense of time as the hours passed during that night.
I’d gone into labor seven days early while Wade was out on a call.
He’d hemmed and hawed about even being on call that close to my due date, but I’d insisted he not do anything different with his schedule.
I’d been trying to manage my irrational anxiety about our baby’s pending arrival by hewing hard to acting as if everything were just the same.
The moment my water broke, I realized how stupid that was. I’d been utterly terrified when the contractions started, but Wade’s arrival eased my fear. I didn’t like to lean on anyone, but he made it easy.
During the long hours that followed, labor itself was so consuming, it was impossible to dwell on anything other than what I was doing.
“One more push,” Dr. Sue said from where she stood between my feet.
I gripped Wade’s hand tightly as I closed my eyes and bore down, an intense burning sensation radiating through my entire body followed by a loud cry filling the room.
“A baby boy. Time of birth, four twenty-two a.m. Do you want to cut the cord, Dad?” Dr. Sue’s voice was distant as I collapsed against the hospital bed.
I remembered only fragments of the next stretch of time after that. Wade releasing my hand as he stepped to the foot of my bed, the nurse laying our little baby boy on my chest and belly, and opening my eyes as I looked into my baby’s eyes—round and brown, just like his father’s.
He went still, little rapid breaths coming in and out of his mouth as we stared at each other. My heart felt as if it were literally going to burst when Wade rested his hand on my shoulder, lowering his head until it was level with mine.
“Well, hello there,” he said softly.
WADE
Dani was sound asleep, her dark lashes curled up against her cheeks.
Our little boy was also asleep, nestled in the crook of my arm as I dozed in and out of wakefulness sitting in a chair beside her bed.
A nurse kept checking in on us, and the distant sounds outside our room carried on in a strangely comforting rhythm.
I thought I had understood the concept of love. What I hadn’t quite comprehended was just how deep the vein of it ran for Dani. When I got the call on my cell that she had gone into labor early and realized I couldn’t get to her instantly, sheer panic had gripped me.
Although I had done plenty of reading and knew the odds that she was going to be fine were quite high, it had still been terrifying. But now, the sense of peace that fell over me was so complete, I didn’t even know how to measure it.
I heard a rustle and rolled my head to the side in my chair. Dani’s eyes flicked open. “Hey,” she croaked.
“Hey. Our little guy is doing just great. He’s a great sleeper.”
Dani’s smile was weary. “I bet he’s exhausted. It took me sixteen hours to get him out.”
With my free hand, I reached up and caught hers in mine. “Wanna hold him?”
“I don’t want to wake him up.”
Holding her gaze, I released her hand to brush her curls away from her eyes. “How are you feeling?”
“Tired and more sore than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” she said bluntly.
I grinned. “I bet.” After a quiet beat, I asked, “You ready for this? Because it just got real. Real fast.”
She held my gaze for a long moment before nodding slowly, another tired smile curling her lips. “I’m ready for anything with you.”
Thank you for reading Truly Madly Mine - I hope you loved Dani & Wade’s story!
Ethan & Zoe’s story is up next in this collection. Ethan is a flirt extraordinaire, and Zoe tests him to the limit. “The interplay between the two is sassy, sexy and hilarious, their chemistry is off the charts, and their tenderness and vulnerability is endearing.”
Turn the page for Out of Bounds!
Up next in the Swoon Series is Still Go Crazy. Boone is back in town & Grace wants *nothing* to do with him. He might be panty-melting hot, but she can stand the heat. All she has to do is remember how he dumped her.
Boone sets out to fix the biggest mistake of his life—breaking Grace’s heart. She isn’t about to make it easy for him even if her cat thinks he’s awesome.
Grace is strong & sassy, and Boone is all alpha and ready to fight to win her back.
Available now: Still Go Crazy