Chapter 3 #2
Evan chuckled. “About four hours. That’s why I was calling Kylie. I wanted to tell her the good news. I’m the new commanding officer of Group One. I’m here to stay for at least the next three years. Hopefully more.”
And the hits just keep on coming. “What happened to Captain Desmond?” Not that Gen, or anyone she knew, would miss the man. He was a dreadful person and a terrible commanding officer, in her opinion.
“We can talk about that later.”
That was his code for either her situation or his was not operationally secure. She had a plain old cell phone through a national carrier. He probably had an encrypted phone that shot directly to a protected military satellite before it bounced down to earth.
“I’ll meet you at the hospital. I need to cancel my plans with Vice Admiral Maddox.” He hung up without saying goodbye. Typical Evan.
Gen pulled up to the emergency entrance and put the car in park. She scooted around the hood in time to help Kylie out of the seat. Thank goodness she’d just finished a contraction. They slowly walked arm in arm through the automatic doors.
Someone from the outside stuck their head in and yelled. “You can’t leave this car here. This entrance is for ambulances. Pregnancies are supposed to go to the South doors.”
“I’ll move in just a minute.” Gen needed to get her daughter checked in and up to the OB/GYN floor.
When the doors opened again, it was as though everyone in the emergency waiting room sucked in a breath at the same time. The air around them seemed to spark with awareness. Gen knew without a doubt that Evan had arrived.
“Captain, are you hurt?” The woman at the triage window looked beyond them, ready to deal with one of the most senior officers in the area.
Gen let out a sigh. It wasn’t Evan, after all. He was a commander, not a captain. She didn’t have to face him just yet.
An arm snaked around Kylie. Four gold stripes were inches from Gen’s face. “Ky, sweetheart.” His gaze fixed on her huge stomach then he glared at the woman behind the glass. “My daughter needs a wheelchair.”
“Yes, sir.” The woman couldn’t move fast enough.
“Sir, I’m just going to wait over here. If you need anything...” The gold braid on the lieutenant commander’s shoulder indicated he was Evan’s aide.
“We have ambulances coming in. Get these civilian cars out of the way.” The man yelled again.
Evan looked to his aide. “Has the driver moved the car?”
Shit. “I need to move my car,” Gen announced.
“Where’s your keys?” Evan asked with composure and compassion.
Gen looked around for her purse and suddenly realized that she must’ve left it in the car. So, where the hell were her keys? She looked down at her hand. Well, at least she had some functioning brain cells.
Evan grabbed the keys and tossed them to the lieutenant commander. “What are you driving?”
“No, I need my purse. My military ID card is in there.”
His aide was already heading out the door, clicking the door lock.
“I’ve got you covered.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his shiny ID card. His small smile was one of her favorites. “First time I’ve had to use it. Every time I pull it out from now on, I’ll think of this moment.” His smile broadened as his gaze moved from his daughter to Gen.
Rank had its privileges and Kylie was rolled immediately to labor and delivery.
“Well, who do we have here?” The cheerful nurse stood from behind the counter. “Have you pre-registered?”
Gen had no idea. Kylie hadn’t let her go to any of the doctor appointments. She’d insisted on doing everything herself.
“Yes, ma’am.” Out of her shoulder bag appeared a sheaf of papers that she handed to the nurse.
“Okay. Let’s get you settled in, and we’ll check your progress.” The Navy lieutenant smiled at the two of them. “Are either of you her birthing coach?”
“I am, but we never finished the classes,” Gen confessed. “I’m her mom.”
Hesitantly, the nurse looked at Evan. “Are you the father?”
“Yes, I’m her father,” He snapped, insulted.
The nurse looked a bit sheepish as she asked the question a different way. “Will the father of the baby be joining her?”
“No.” Her gaze swept to Evan. “Did she ever tell you who the father is?”
He cocked that sardonic eyebrow. “Really?”
“Will you be joining her for the delivery?” The nurse then asked him.
Gen held back her laugh. Her ex-husband looked like a deer in headlights. Feeling sorry for him, she explained, “He didn’t make it there for her birth and has no idea what to expect, so I’m not sure he wants to stay.”
Obviously, the woman had answered this question before.
“We’ll ask you to stand up near her head to protect your daughter’s modesty.
You can hold her hand, encourage her, help her breathe through the contractions.
” She then gave him a knowing smile. “Or, you can join the other families in our waiting room. I’m sure Mom will come out on a regular basis and give you updates.
Since this is her first baby, this might take a while. ” Then she added, “Hours.”
He glanced around at the nearly full waiting room. “I think everybody would be more comfortable with me waiting in the room with my daughter. I’m sure you can find me a chair off in the corner where I’ll be out of the way but close enough if she needs me.”
The nurse glanced at the waiting room filled with junior officers and enlisted families. “I think that’s an excellent decision. If you’d like to wait in our galley until we have her situated in the room, there are sodas in the refrigerator and the coffee is decent.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant Sanders. We’d appreciate that.” Evan put his hand in the small of Gen’s back like he’d done a million times when they were married. It felt like coming home. Comfortable. She’d missed a man’s touch.
When the Navy nurse left, he headed straight for the coffee. “Shall I make you a cup?”
“Thank you. That would be nice. I take?—”
“One sugar and a splash of cream.” He glanced up at her. “Or has that changed?”
“No,” she whispered. He remembered. She wondered what else he remembered about her.
She remembered everything about him. The way he walked, holding his shoulders square, the determination in every step yet barely making a sound. He had a calm presence about him. Commanding, yes, and you immediately knew the quieter he was, the more dangerous he could be.
She sipped her coffee. “Perfect.”
“If you’ll follow me, please, sir, ma’am, your daughter is requesting your presence.” The woman in nursing scrubs turned before Gen could see either her name or rank. Once again, Evan’s hand was on the small of her back. They followed the woman past several closed doors.
One woman’s screams echoed down the hall. When Evan lengthened his steps and started to push her along, Gen grabbed his bicep. “That’s not Kylie.”
The nurse shook her head. “That one’s been screaming since she got here and hasn’t even reached transition. She didn’t take any of the classes, and she’s refusing an epidural.”
“She’s going to regret that decision,” Gen said as a co-conspirator.
The nurse gave her a wry smile. “Not as much as we are.”
Evan looked down at her with huge eyes. She knew what he was thinking. They’d been connected in that way only a couple who’d been together for over a decade understood.
“Kylie took some of the classes.” She grimaced. “But not all of them. She was doing well with the breathing in the car on the way over here. Our little girl is pretty tough. She’ll do fine.” Gen gave him what she hoped was a reassuring smile.
When they entered the room, Kylie was hooked up to several monitors, including one for the baby’s heartbeat. The rapid swoosh, swoosh, swoosh, and the changing digital count made Gen smile.
Lieutenant Sanders greeted them with one of her huge smiles. “Captain Hubbard, we’ve prepared a seat for you over there. Mom, if?—”
“Genevieve, or Gen, if you will please.” She didn’t want to be called Mom for the next several hours. She was proud to be Kylie’s mother, but first-name basis would be better since they might be there for hours.
“Genevieve, then, if you’ll stand up here facing your daughter so you can coach her through.”
Taking her place, she gingerly picked up Kylie’s hand. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine.” She gave her a halfhearted smile. “Did you hear that lady screaming down the hall?”
“Everyone can hear her screaming,” said the woman who followed them into the room. “I’m Seaman Conley, the nursing assistant who will be helping you through the birth of…” She hesitated. “Do you know the sex of your child?”
“No.” Kylie said the word as though she didn’t care.
The seaman and the lieutenant exchanged a glance before the younger woman walked over and grabbed the chart. They conferred a few minutes before the lieutenant approached Kylie on the other side of the bed.
“According to your paperwork, you are considering giving up the baby for adoption.” It was a statement, not a question.
Evan stood. “You’re what?” At Evan’s raised voice, everyone in the room stopped. His gaze went to the nurse and corpsman. “Is it necessary for you to be in this room right now?”
“No, sir.” Lieutenant Sanders answered for both of them. “Her contractions are four minutes apart and she knows how to breathe through them. We’ll be down at the nurses’ station.”
As soon as the door closed, Kylie held her hand up.
“Just because I didn’t tell you what I was thinking, and allow you to influence my decisions, doesn’t mean that I wasn’t making them.
I am mature enough to understand that this baby needs a life and a good future so carrying it to term was never a question. ”
Gen closed her eyes and thanked the Lord for helping Kylie make that decision.
“I’ve had nine months to think about this and I’ve decided that the best thing for this baby, and for me, is to give him, or her, up for adoption to parents who would love it and give this baby the life it deserves.
” Kylie’s voice cracked with emotion. “This baby deserves two loving parents just like I had.” She held out her free hand to Evan.
“Even though you weren’t together these last few years, I know that you both loved me and that you both wanted the best for me.
You did the best that you could even though you were separated these last nine years. ”
She swallowed hard before she continued.
“You both did what you could to help me, but neither of you hovered. Mom, you taught me to face up to my responsibilities. And Dad, you taught me to do the right thing even though it may not be what my heart wants. You taught me to do what was necessary for the best outcome and the best future.”
She drew in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “That’s why I decided that giving this baby up to a loving couple, hopefully, somebody who couldn’t have children together, was the best thing that I could do. It’s a hard thing, but it’s the right thing for my baby…and for me.”
Kylie squeezed both their hands.
“Don’t you think the father should have a say in this decision?” Evan asked gently.
“No.” The word was adamant and succinct. “When he broke up with me, he made it quite clear that he didn’t want anything else to do with me.”
When Evan blinked, Gen could see his body relax a fraction. No one else would have noticed it, but after years of being married, she knew and understood. He knew their daughter had not been raped.
Kylie held her father’s stare. “I didn’t find out I was pregnant until several months after we broke up. And before you ask, no, I didn’t tell him. As far as I’m concerned, this is my baby and I’ll do what I think is best for him or her.”
“I understand,” he said in that almost hypnotic voice. “As your father, as a man, would you please wait twenty-four hours after the baby is born before you make any final decisions? Your mother was extremely emotional while pregnant with you.”
When he gave her that private smile, filled with memories, Gen was embarrassed as she remembered the mood swings and how wonderful he’d been to her back then.
She’d go from screaming in anger to ripping his clothes off ready for makeup sex in thirty seconds flat.
She bawled her eyes out at puppy food commercials because she was pregnant, and they hadn’t been able to get a puppy.
Evan’s voice broke through her trip down memory lane.
“Ky, you know we love you and will support any decision you make. Now that I’m here, I can help.
If you want to go back to college, we’ll hire a nanny.
” His small wince made her wonder what he was thinking.
He forced a smile. “Maybe we’ll get one from the exclusive school in London where they train the nannies for Prince William and Kate Middleton’s children. ”
“Dad.” The single word was three syllables long. “Be realistic.”
“I am,” he quipped. “You’ll have to go back to a school where you can commute, but I’ll be glad to come over and play with my grandson or granddaughter while you study.”
His voice changed to serious. “I just want you to know that your mother and I will be here to help you raise your child.” His gaze fell to her distended belly. “This baby is part of us, too, and we owe it to you to be here to support both of you. We love you.”
Evan looked up into Gen’s eyes, begging for agreement.
“Yes, we love you. And we’re here to support you. We just want you to make the right decision…for you.” Tears streamed down Gen’s face.
Kylie squeezed her hand and choked out, “Contraction.”