Chapter Sixteen
West
Daisy sets her half-eaten pizza back on the plate and pushes it across the coffee table.
“Not hungry?” I ask.
She shakes her head and rubs her knuckles over her breastbone, the way she does when she gets heartburn. “No. I think the peppers were a little too much this time.”
“Want me to pick them off?”
“No. You can have it.”
Good. I’m fucking starving. So, like an asshole, I reach for it and then I remember myself and snap my hand back. “You want me to fix you something else?”
“No, I think—” Daisy’s eyes widen and she wriggles forward out of the nest of blankets she’s made of the couch. “Oh crap, I gotta go.”
I jump up and help her to her feet, and she practically bowls me over in her hurry to get to the bathroom. Like a chump, I stand there, not knowing what to do, and then I follow her because she might need me. The bathroom door is closed so I raise my hand and gently knock. “Dais, you okay?”
“I’ll be right ou—” her words are cut off by violent retching.
“I’m coming in.” I open the door and step inside the small bathroom.
Daisy is curled around the toilet seat, her hair loose and getting caught up in the fray.
I grab a hair tie off the counter and quickly pull it back into a messy bun.
She retches again, purging the contents of her stomach into the bowl. I rub small circles on her back.
She waves me away. “You don’t have to see this.”
“Dais, I was raised on a ranch. This doesn’t even come close to the worse things I’ve seen. You know I once caught Wade covering his face in steaming hot cow shit ’cause he wanted to be a rich woman at a day spa for Halloween.”
Her face twists, but she leans back against the tiled wall. “He didn’t.”
“’Fraid so.” I grab a washcloth from the shelf above the vanity and run it under the faucet.
I crouch down in front of her and dab the cool cloth across her brow.
“That wasn’t even the worst of it. Wyatt had run away once and I found him in the abandoned cabin in a compromising position with our neighbor’s kid.
Neither one of them was old enough to be wielding a bullwhip, but Wyatt had seen a dominatrix in an old movie once and wanted to be her.
We’re lucky neither of them died. Had fun trying to hide that one from mama and daddy.
Don’t even get me started on the number of times I’ve walked in on Lemon and Colt. ” I shudder.
Daisy holds her belly and groans through her laughter. “Oh my god, West. Stop.”
“Hey, I’m just saying. You puking up your guts is far from the worst things I’ve seen.”
“Well, it doesn’t help that you’re still making that face.”
I try to squash my grin, but I’m fighting an uphill battle while she’s giggling like that.
“Oh my god, I have to pee.”
I stand and help her to her feet. “Well now, that I won’t stay for.”
“Thanks,” she says sarcastically.
“You’re okay?”
“Yes, believe it or not, this is not the first time a pregnant woman has puked, and it definitely won’t be the last.”
“I’ll be just down the hall if you need me.”
She nods and I close the door, contemplating sitting in her bedroom so I’m close by, but I decide to give her some privacy and head back to the living room.
I clean up the pizza, grab her a glass of lemonade and a box of her favorite crackers, and set them down on the table.
It’s pretty late. I should take off and let her get some sleep.
Daisy waddles back from the bathroom, sweaty and breathless. Her brows are pinched together, and she doubles over in the hall, one hand braced against the wall, the other on her belly. “Dais, you don’t look so hot.”
Her eyes meet mine with a terrified expression, and then she turns white as a sheet. “West. I think there’s something wrong.”
I’m up off the couch before she can even get the words out, and I catch her as her legs go out underneath her.
“The baby,” she whispers. “I think he’s coming.”
“But it’s not—”
“Time yet?” she pants and doubles over. “Tell that to the watermelon trying to push its way out of my Bajingo!”
“Okay, do you have a hospital bag packed?”
Daisy shakes her head. “I thought I still had three weeks. He’s too early, West. What if his little lungs aren’t even fully developed yet?”
“It’ll be okay, Dais. We still have some time, right?”
“I thought they were just Braxton Hicks again, but I might’ve been in labor all day.”
“Let’s just get you to the hospital so we can be sure.”
She nods. I slide my arm around her waist and lead her toward the door, grabbing her phone from the coffee table as we go.
It takes only a few minutes to get her situated in my truck and on the road.
The nearest hospital is over an hour away but thirty minutes outside of Red River Canyon, Daisy’s screams curdle my blood and it’s clear this baby isn’t waiting for medical intervention.
I pull over to the shoulder and try to dial 911, but I’ve got zero bars.
I grab Daisy’s phone and check the bars.
Still nothing. I keep the car running so the heat stays on, climb out, and dash around to the passenger’s side, throwing her door open.
“Oh my god, he’s coming!”
“Dais,” I say rolling up my sleeves. “I need you to lie back on the bench seat, okay?”
“I can’t. I can’t. It hurts too much.” Another blood curdling scream rents the air and Daisy rocks against the seat.
“Come on, darlin’. You got this. Let me help.”
“No. I can’t. I can’t have a baby here, West. I can’t.”
The universe has other plans, because there’s an audible pop, and I’m hit with a gush of amniotic fluid.
“I don’t think your little one is giving us a whole lotta choice; your water just broke.”
“It hurts. It hurts so fucking much.” She cries and shifts back against the seat.
“I know, darlin’, but you are so strong.” I grab the waistband of her soaking tights and yank them off. Holy shit. The baby’s head is almost completely out. Daisy’s abdomen contracts again and she clenches her knees tightly together. “You gotta push, honey. Come on. Breathe, you can do this.”
I push her knees toward her chest. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to help deliver a baby.
Mama had Wade in the middle of the barn while she was mucking out the stalls and Daddy and the ranch hands were out on a cattle run.
There was just four-year-old me until Colt’s Mama showed up.
Working on the ranch my whole life, I’ve seen calves, foals, and kids born, and while animals may not be anatomically exactly the same, the premise is—get the baby out with as little stress to mama and babe as possible.
“I can’t do this, West. I can’t,” Daisy pants, her face pale and dripping sweat. “You need to just drive us to the—argh!”
“Darlin’, this baby is coming out right now whether we’re at the hospital or not. Now, dig deep and bring out that badass who’s been fighting her way through life since the day her mama left her in a box on the firehouse steps.”
Daisy raises her head, leaning up on shaky elbows, but there’s a newfound fire in her gaze. I don’t know if it’s my belief in her or what I said about her mama leaving her, but there’s a level of determination in her that I only remember seeing under those Friday night lights.
“There’s my girl,” I whisper, as I wrap an arm around her thigh and grin. “What do ya say we have a baby?”
Her next contraction hits fast and she pushes hard as she screams, the baby’s head pops out. Daisy collapses back on the seat and catches her breath. “I changed ... my mind. I ... I wanna wait ... for the hospital.”
“You’re doing so good, Dais. His head is already out. One more and you’ll be holding him.”
“I-it is? Oh god!” Her abdomen tenses again. Daisy cries but props herself up, looking between her legs as she pants and focuses on her breathing.
With her next push, the baby slides free into my waiting arms. The cord is wrapped around his neck, but long enough that I can easily pry it loose.
“He’s ... he’s not crying,” Daisy says.
“He’s okay,” I support his neck and tip him over, rubbing his back. Come on, little one. Breathe. A gurgled cry comes out of his little mouth. Daisy gasps. And I breathe a sigh of relief. “He’s got a good set of lungs, mama. Just needed a minute to learn how to use them.”
“Oh my god,” she cries, pulling herself up to get closer. Her wide eyes take in every inch of his tiny little body. “Baby. Oh, baby, you’re so beautiful.”
“Perfect. All ten fingers and toes. Here you go, Mama.” I lay him on her chest while I look for something to wrap him in.
Why the fuck didn’t I grab a blanket before we left?
When I realize there is nothing, I unfasten the buttons on my shirt and lay it over the two of them, tucking it in tight around the baby.
She’s trembling as she holds him close, and tears spill over her lashes. It’s likely the shock or adrenalin that has her shaking like a leaf, but I put my arms around her shoulders and rub vigorously in case she’s cold. “You did it, mama.”
“I did. I did it.”
“I never had any doubt.” I press a kiss to her sweaty temple and look down at the most precious sight I ever saw, her mewling little baby snuggling in against her breast.
“Thank you,” she says as she looks up at me, those warm eyes bright with joy and wonder. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
I lean down and kiss her lips. I don’t even think about it, because right now it’s the most natural thing in the world.
It’s a sweet, chaste kiss and not really romantic in the slightest. It’s the kiss a husband gives his wife after witnessing their baby being born.
Innocent. Tender. And my heart still trips all over itself because in this moment, I know without a doubt I love her.
I love him, and I’d lay my life down to keep them safe, always.
***