Epilogue Marina
The Sheriff smirks at both of us and I grin at him even though I’m sweating so much that I look like I’ve run three miles in ninety degree heat.
“I’m telling you. She’s in labor. That’s the only reason I’m speeding.”
“Uh-huh. Well, you can slow down now because I’m gonna give you a police escort to the hospital.”
My husband mutters under his breath, his big, scarred hands shaking on the steering wheel.
But he slows down and we follow the sirens and lights all the way there.
My head is swimming and the tightness in my belly is worse than ever.
“Ugh,” I groan. “I feel like I need to push.”
“Don’t you dare push until we get you in that building, woman!” he hollers.
But I can’t move. I’m gasping for air and my whole body is locked tight, the pain moving down and down until it’s ratcheting in my back and my belly.
I grit my teeth. “I need to push.”
He jumps out of the truck, yelling at the top of his lungs. People come streaming at us but before they get there the Sheriff ducks inside. “Let me look at you, sweetheart.”
I nod my head, the pain so intense I think I’d let anybody look as long as they took away the agony shredding my insides.
He flips up my skirt and groans. “We need a nurse or a doctor here right now! I can see the head.”
And my big, burly, hot as hell husband who could kill you three different ways with a pinky takes a look at me and then falls sideways into the truck, his face white as a sheet.
His friend eyes him with disgust. “I can’t believe this fucker.” But he pushes me back on the seat carefully and comes around to bolster my back as a doctor shoots out the door and into the open car door. “I saw the head. We can’t move her yet.”
He nods and hollers for a stretcher and a nurse to bring a portable incubator and a bunch of other shit. And my husband’s friend smiles at me. “You ready to bring this little one into the world?”
I nod my head and grit my teeth. And when the doctor says push, I bear down and give it everything I’ve got.
Ten minutes later, I’m struggling and crying, the pain so intense I just want to roll over and sleep.
But Sheriff Adams grips my hand tighter. “Just one more good push, darlin’.”
I nod my head and fight to bring my baby into the world. And there’s a rush of loosening in my belly and a wailing cry that gets louder and angrier.
And the doctor grins. “It’s a boy!”
And the man who gave me his name and a baby boy smiles from where he’s sitting in a wheelchair, still pale and shaky after he hit the dirt.
“I love you, baby. He’s beautiful. And so are you?”
I snort and the guy behind me chuckles as they fix me up to go inside. I glance back at him. “What’s your name, Sheriff?”
He grins. “Dax.”
“Dax.” I smile. “I think that’s a fine name for a baby boy.”
Jeremiah growls but he doesn’t say anything. They take us inside and pretty soon I’m alone with my hubby and our little boy and he’s eating like the little champ he is. I caress his cheek and his little mouth sucks harder.
“He is beautiful,” I say, love warming my insides. This boy is the culmination of the life we should always have had.
Jeremiah grins at me and slips behind me to hold both of us steady while his son eats. His big body holds me safe and warm.
And I’m finally, finally where I’ve always been meant to be. With the love of my life and our little boy, living the dream we’ve always shared.
The future will work itself out. As long as I have my family.
Jeremiah smiles at me and holds me tight as our son slips into sleep, his little pudgy fingers gripping the fabric of the gown, his mouth suckling at my breast.
Dax and Jeremiah. My two boys.
My past, present and future. Forever.