Chapter 36
GARRETT
With Jasmine’s due date coming up fast, Chris was understandably uneasy about leaving her alone while he went out on the road. Even more so when their plans fell through to have someone with her during his five-game road trip in mid-February.
“Her mom was supposed to come up this week and stay until after the baby comes,” he told me, “but she’s got Covid.” He grimaced. “Is there any chance you can stay at the townhouse while I’m on the road? Just until her mom can come up?”
“Of course. I have to work during the day, but—”
“That’s fine. The other wives and girlfriends from the team are around, and they’ve been spending a lot of time with her. I’m just worried about her alone at night, you know?” He scowled. “Does that make me sound crazy? Or overprotective? She’s an adult, and she can—”
“Chris. Chris.” I put up my hands. “Take it easy, okay? Every dad would feel nervous leaving his pregnant fiancée alone. You’re completely normal, here. Trust me.”
He studied me uncertainly, but slowly, he relaxed. “I am?”
“Absolutely. I was a mess just going to work every day. Going away for eight days right before her due date? Yeah, I would’ve been just as freaked out as you are.
” I squeezed his arm. “I’ll stay with her.
Don’t sweat it. You focus on hockey, and after this trip is over, you can focus on becoming a dad. ”
His smile was a mix of joy, fear, and every imaginable emotion in between. “Holy shit. I’m gonna be a dad.” He eyed me. “When does that start to feel real?”
“About the time they hand you a newborn, send you home, and wish you the best of luck.”
The smile fell and his eyes went huge.
I chuckled. “Don’t worry. You’ve got a ton of support. Including some of us who’ve been down this road a few times.” I shrugged. “And not to brag, but I did manage to keep four newborns alive, so…”
“Okay, true.” He rolled his shoulders and exhaled. “Thanks again for staying with her.”
“Of course. How’s she doing, anyway?”
“The doctors say she and the baby are doing great. The baby’s dropped, so she can breathe a lot better.” He paused. “She’s been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions all week, though.” He made a face. “She’s so miserable.”
“Yeah, the last few weeks are pretty rough. On the bright side, it means she’s getting close to the end.”
“Let’s hope. I think she’s ready for it to be over.”
“That’s on-brand. Your mom was ready to evict you the day after she found out she was pregnant.”
“What?” he scoffed, though he was laughing. “She was not!”
“Ask her yourself.” I clapped his arm. “Trust me—you’re lucky you showed up ten days early.”
He just chuckled. “Was I really early? Or was the math just off?”
“Probably a bit of both. And you’ve been making up for it ever since.”
“Hey! I’m not always late! I picked you up on time from the airport!”
“Uh-huh. And that makes up for all the times—”
“Yeah, yeah. Whatever.”
I couldn’t lie—it was good to be back in this groove of good-natured father-son banter. It was one of the millions of things I’d missed while we’d been in bad shape.
I wasn’t too late, I told myself for the millionth time.
By some goddamned miracle, I wasn’t too late.
“Do you want to watch the game tonight?” Jasmine gingerly eased herself down in an armchair. “They’re playing Denver.”
“Sure. Is Denver any good?”
She wobbled her hand in the air. “They’re one of those teams that either stomps the other team, or they get stomped themselves. There’s like no middle ground.”
I laughed. “So it’ll be an interesting game either way.”
“Pretty much.”
“Sounds like fun. Do you want me to make something to eat?”
She pursed her lips. “Eh, maybe later? My stomach’s been a little…” She made a face.
I frowned. “You okay?”
“Yeah, yeah. Just lots of heartburn and kind of feeling like shit.” She absently rubbed her belly. “My mom said that’s pretty normal at this stage. Which… it seems like after the second trimester, everything that sucks or hurts is normal.”
“Kind of seems that way, doesn’t it?”
She grunted in agreement. “Don’t let me keep you from eating, though. The smells don’t bother me like they did early on.”
“All right. Just let me know if you want anything.”
“Unless it’s a way to teleport to and from the bathroom…”
I just laughed, and I kept my dinner simple. Just a bowl of cereal and a soda. Though smells weren’t bothering her these days, I remembered how easily and suddenly that could change, so I didn’t want to push it.
The game wasn’t on for a while, so we threw on a sitcom she and Chris had watched a thousand times over. It was kind of stupid, but it passed the time.
After an episode finished, I realized the pregame show would be coming on in an hour or so.
I turned to Jasmine, ready to ask if she wanted to watch it or just wait for the game to start, but I did a double take.
She had her hand on her belly and her eyes squeezed shut, her mouth pulled into a tight line. I thought she was holding her breath.
“Hey,” I said gently. “You okay?”
Still grimacing, she nodded. After a moment, she slowly released her breath and relaxed against the cushion. “If these are Braxton Hicks, the real thing is going to suck.”
I didn’t gainsay her; I had no firsthand experience, but I’d watched my ex-wife go through it all four times. “Do you want another pillow for your back?” I started to get up.
“No.” She shifted uncomfortably. “I think this one’s making it worse.” She pulled it out from behind her back and tossed it aside. “It’s not making it any better, that’s for sure.”
I chewed my lip. “How bad is it?”
“It was kind of achy for a while, but the last hour or so…” She made a face and once again shifted around. With a soft laugh, she added, “Good thing I didn’t try eating pizza or something earlier. This plus heartburn…” She stuck out her tongue.
I studied her. “It keeps happening? The pain?”
Jasmine nodded. “Yeah. Like it really hurts for a minute, and then it backs off. A little while later, though…” She straightened, some panic creeping into her eyes. “You don’t… You don’t think it’s the real deal, do you?”
“Uh, well…” I swallowed, trying to figure out how to answer that without making her freak out. “Do you want to go the hospital? Worst-case, they’ll tell you you’re not in labor and send you home.”
She gulped. “Or they’ll tell me I’m in labor. But it’s not time yet! I’m only thirty-eight weeks! They say first babies usually come late and—”
“It’s okay, it’s okay.” I sat up a little. “Thirty-eight weeks is fine. That’s about when Chris was born.”
Her eyes locked on mine. “Yeah?”
“Mmhmm. And he was totally fine. So was his mom.” I inclined my head. “Do you want to wait and see a bit? Or do you want to get checked out?”
She took some slow, deep breaths. “Let’s wait and see? I don’t think it’s—I mean, it’s not that bad yet.” Her eyebrows knitted together, her expression begging me to tell her what to do.
I had a flash of my younger self panicking as Taylor and I had tried to figure out if she was in labor this time or if they were going to send us home again. What if it was another false alarm? What if it wasn’t and we waited too long? What were we supposed to do?
And of course, I hadn’t realized in the moment how much my panic had freaked out my wife in a time when she’d needed that the least. It had taken two babies for me to figure that out; at least I’d been a better support for her with the third and fourth, but I still had some serious regrets in that department.
In the present, keeping my voice as calm as I could, I said, “We can wait. Even when it’s obvious it’s the real thing, there’s still time to get to the hospital. It’s only fifteen minutes away.”
Jasmine took another couple of breaths. “But what about Chris? I know he wants to be here, and—” Tears welled up, and her voice shook. “What if he misses out?”
“We’ll do everything we can to get him here, okay?” I smiled. “We’ll put him on FaceTime if we have to. But the most important thing right now is taking care of you and the baby. He’ll understand if things happen too fast while he’s gone.”
Her expression crumpled a little, and I got it. She was a scared first-time mom, and her partner wasn’t here.
“I don’t think it’ll happen that fast,” I said gently. “There’s time. We can go to the hospital just to be sure, and if it looks like this is the real deal, we’ll call him.”
Please, please let that be enough time.
She chewed her lip, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s go.” She gestured at the entryway. “The suitcase is in the hall closet.”
Smart. They’d prepacked and kept it near the door. She and my son were already more on top of things than my clueless ass had been when my oldest was born.
I collected the suitcase, grabbed both of our phone chargers, and loaded the car.
We’d barely pulled out of the parking lot when the pain seemed to ratchet up a notch. She wasn’t screaming and writhing, but if my memory was correct from my ex’s pregnancies, Jasmine was definitely getting out of Braxton Hicks territory.
As I pulled onto the freeway, she pleaded, “Call Chris. Please. Tell the team to send him home.”
“I will. We’ll be at the hospital in ten minutes. As soon as we’re out of the car, I promise, I’ll call him.”
She took another few breaths. “I can call him while you drive.”
“Are you sure?” I glanced at her. “It’s only a few more minutes.”
“I need him to know.”
“I know you do. And I’ll call him as soon as we’re in the door. I promise.”
She had her phone in her hand, but then her breath caught. Another contraction, if I had to guess, and an intense one.
Yeah, I had a feeling this wasn’t a false alarm.
As she recovered, she said, “You’ll call him?”
“I promise.”