Chapter 21 #2
He closed his eyes for a second, took a deep breath, then found a smile. “How about you get up and walk a little bit and try to decide?”
“Yeah, okay, let’s walk around.”
He nodded. “We can look outside and see the snow. Your abue says that it snowed today at our house, too.”
She let him help her up off the bed, grimacing, hand on her belly once she was standing. “Really? You know how much I love the snow? The horses always get out and run around and play.”
“Yeah, she sent me a picture of Shiloh.” Shiloh was one of her barrel horses, a gelding who would get out and kick his heels up and frolic in the snow all day long.
“Show me?” She hooked an arm through his and leaned on him, but that left his other hand free to use his phone.
Sure enough, that damn horse was out there, kicking and throwing his head around and being a dipshit. There were about four different pictures of him being silly.
Hillary chuckled, “Oh, I miss him. Do you think he’ll like the baby?”
“I think he’ll be jealous. I think you’ll have to be careful for a while, but I think everyone else will love the baby. If they don’t, I’m going to give them a stern talking to.”
“I bet you do, Papa. Vella’s going to be her best friend.” She stopped all of the sudden, breathing hard, gripping his arm enough it was going leave bruises.
“That was a good one, huh?” He asked once it had passed.
She swallowed hard. “It was big. Let’s keep going.”
They walked past the waiting room where Bobby was sitting.
She smiled at him. “Hey.”
“Hey, how you doing, sweetheart?” Bobby stood and smiled.
“I’m dilated to eight. Go team!”
“We’re just gonna have this baby, aren’t we?”
“Bueno, right? I expect that it’s gonna happen, you—" She stopped, her eyes rolling up, and then her eyes went wide and she gasped. “Papa! Something’s wrong!”
Bloody discharge coated her legs, and Bobby immediately scooped her up in his arms. “Which room?”
Bobby ran to the room he rattled off, and he scrambled to the nurse’s station, slamming his hands on the counter. “Something’s wrong!”
They all swooped in, made them all leave, and Evan stared at him, confused. “What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know. She just said something was wrong—”
A nurse popped her head out. “Hillary’s Dad?”
“That’s me.”
“You better get in here. Let’s get you washed up. That baby’s coming.”
“I thought she wasn’t—”
“Well, she is now. Get yourself in here if you’re going to help.”
He waved to Evan and the Biyaliks and went to wash up and get his paper dress on.
“Papa, are you gonna come? You here?”
“I’m right here, mi’ja, right here. Just getting my… They’re gonna put me in a little lunch lady hat and scrubs so that I look official and stuff.”
“Make sure you take a picture. I need you now, though.”
“It’s all right, mi’ja. I got you. It’s gonna be great. It’s all good.”
She sniffled. “Promise me.”
“I promise, I swear. You just listen to the doctors and do what they say, and I’m right here, and we’re gonna have this beautiful little baby.”
He looked to the nurse, who nodded and smiled, “That’s right, we’re going to have a baby in a very little while. You’ll be able to hold her.”
“It doesn’t seem real.” She tensed up again, and he manfully resisted the urge to ask if it didn’t feel real now. The other thing he manfully resisted was the urge to point out that maybe she shouldn’t ever have sex again, because she might kill him, and he might deserve it.
It didn’t stop the thought though, because he was a dad, and dads didn’t want their little girls to have to go through shit like this. Especially not as a teenager.
Sam took a deep breath and then moved over to sit next to her and hold her hand. “What can I do? Do you want me to rub your back or just sit here and talk to you? What do you want baby girl?”
“I want to know what happened. What was all the bloody stuff?”
The nurse gave them both a placating smile. “You are not in any danger Hillary. It is all perfectly normal. It just means that you are moving into the next phase and this is going to happen pretty quick now.”
Sam wasn’t sure he believed that. It had been at least a year of days the last few hours. Even if this only lasted another thirty minutes, it was going to scar him for life. Speaking of scarring…
“You should have seen Evan’s face, baby girl. Bobby picked you up and carried you in here like a champ, no problem at all. Evan? I thought he was gonna pass out dead.”
She giggled madly but then stopped, gasping when her belly rippled. “Yeah, he’s not used to having girl parts hanging around, is he?”
The nurse snorted while she was putting out linens, and Sam had to nod and grin. “He is a little freaked out.”
“He’s such a good guy though, Papa. He’s been here this whole time helping.”
“He’s ready to be a vovo.”
“He is. I’m ready for that too.” She doubled up, grunting this sound that came out like it did in the movies but ended in something more high-pitched and pained.
Sam kept his voice calm, but he looked at the nurse. “Is there going to be a doctor at some point?”
“You bet. The OB is on her way.”
Oh, good. That meant he didn’t have to kill anything.