Chapter 30
CHAPTER THIRTY
K ellen
Eleanor meets us at the kitchen door frantically flailing her hands in front of her as she tries to explain what’s happening. Her words come out so fast that neither Salem nor I can understand her, so I set my hands on her shoulders to try and calm her down.
“It’s okay. Just tell me slowly what’s wrong.”
She takes a deep breath in and lets it out in a rush as tears fill her eyes. “Ava wasn’t feeling well at dinner last night, so she said she was going to go to bed early. I stayed up because I wanted to make you more cookies to bring over to you tomorrow when I go to the store to shop for the week. I was just finishing the first batch when I heard a noise upstairs. I ran up to the bedroom and found her on the floor.”
Damn. That’s not good.
“Did she fall?” Salem asks.
Eleanor shakes her head. “I don’t think so. She said she tripped over the bedspread on her way to the bathroom, so I helped her get back into bed and came back down here to get started on the second batch of cookies. I finished those and was enjoying a cup of tea before bed since it was around ten o’clock and the chamomile tea always helps me drift off instead of tossing and turning all night.”
I love Eleanor like a mother and have all my life, but the woman is about to give me a throbbing headache with this story. Needing her to cut to the chase, I try to help her along to the end.
“Okay, but what happened with Ava?”
“It was about twelve-thirty or maybe closer to one, and I heard her cry out. I ran upstairs expecting to see her maybe tangled up in the comforter again, but she was in bed safe and sound. I asked her what was wrong and she said she was having terrible pains down near her hips. I think she’s gone into labor early. I called the ambulance, but they said they’re having a hard time getting anywhere because the roads are flooded from the storm. They’ve got a backlog of people needing help, so I don’t know when they can get here. That’s why I called you.”
I look over at Salem and hope she’s able to help like she claimed back at the house. “Do you really know anything about pregnant women and giving birth? Because I don’t know a thing other than boiling water and tearing strips of sheets, which I think is just nonsense they show in the movies to prove men are imbeciles when it comes to women giving birth.”
Thankfully, she nods. “I do.”
Turning to look at Eleanor, she says, “Do you know if her water broke yet?”
Jesus. I may not know much about women giving birth, but that I do know is a sign the baby’s coming soon if her water already broke. What a time for Matthias to be all about the job and travel to the London office. He’s so much calmer than I am about everything. More capable too. Eleanor wouldn’t be freaking out if he was here.
Eleanor shakes her head. “No, thank God. But I don’t think it’s going to be long. I think the baby is coming tonight. Oh, God! That baby isn’t due for two weeks.”
She begins to unravel again, so I say in as calm a voice as I can muster at this moment, “We’ve got this. With Salem’s knowledge of what to do and our helping, we got this. Let’s go upstairs and see what we need to do.”
I sound a hell of a lot surer than I feel, but Salem looks composed and relaxed, which makes me think what I just said wasn’t total bullshit. Even so, I wonder if the three of us can actually deliver this baby.
We all hurry up the stairs to the bedroom to find Ava sitting on the edge of the bed hunched over and breathing heavily. It’s even worse than I thought! I imagined we’d find her lying down or maybe sitting up watching TV as the contractions hit. So much for what you see in the movies.
“Ava! Are you in pain?” Eleanor asks as she rushes over to help her.
Shaking her head, she looks up at her as sweat pours down the sides of her face. “No, but I can’t stay in this bed anymore.”
“The ambulance can’t get here to take you to the hospital yet, but I’m sure it will be here soon,” I say, thinking that will comfort her.
It has the opposite effect, however.
“No!” she cries. “I don’t want to go to the hospital without Matthias. Where is he?”
Eleanor and Salem look at me like they want me to be the one to give the bad news. Reluctantly, I tell Ava, “He’s still in London. He won’t be back in time. I think it’s on us until the ambulance comes.”
“Let me call 9-1-1 again,” Eleanor says before hurrying out of the room.
I watch as Salem sits down next to Ava and asks, “How bad is the pain? Do you want to lie down?”
Ava gives her a smile. “I feel like I want to walk. Is that okay?”
“Ordinarily, I’d say you should lie down, but I get the feeling this baby is coming whether we’re all ready or not, so I figure you might as well be as comfortable as possible. Just hold my hand and take it slowly. No running marathons for you tonight.”
That makes Ava laugh. “I’m not really a marathon kind of girl.”
Salem looks over at me and smiles. “Well, how about no running at all for you tonight? I just want you to take it easy. We’ll walk back and forth across the room to give your back a little break since I bet it feels like someone’s jabbing you with a hot poker at the base of your spine.”
“It does! I thought all the pain would be in the front since that’s where the baby is, but oh my God, my back is killing me. That’s why I wanted to get out of bed for a few minutes. I just want a break from that pain.”
As they pace back and forth very slowly, Ava turns to me and asks, “Would you get Matthias on the phone? I want to see him to let him know what’s going on, okay?”
I nod and fish my extra cell out of my shorts pocket. Watching her and Salem slowly walk across the room toward me, I feel like I need to tell Ava how bad I feel about all that’s happened between us.
“I’m sorry about what I said. About everything.”
In typical Ava fashion, she smiles sweetly and shakes her head. “I know how hard it’s been for you. It’s okay, Kellen.”
A few seconds later, I get through to Matthias, who answers my call looking frazzled. “Kellen, what’s going on? I got five calls from Eleanor, but she didn’t leave any message. Are you at the house? What’s wrong?”
Aiming the phone so he can see Ava and Salem walking around the room, I say, “It looks like your firstborn is coming early. Salem knows what to do, and since the roads are flooded and the ambulance can’t get here any time soon, I think we’re going to have a baby right here tonight.”
The sound of my oldest brother groaning fills the room, and Ava stops in front of the phone to see him. “It’s okay. I’m fine, honey. Just get back here as soon as you can, okay?”
“I’m so sorry I left. I thought I had more than enough time. The baby’s not due for weeks. What happened?”
Ava shrugs and gives him a smile. “Babies come when they want to, Matthias. They don’t follow our schedules. We follow theirs. We need to decide on a name, though. I have mine. I just need to hear yours and then we can choose one for a girl and one for a boy.”
Just then, she doubles over in agony and lets out a sound I’ve never heard a human being make before in my life. It’s like a cross between a moan and a deep sob, and it hits me square in the chest like someone punching me.
“Ava!” Matthias screams. “What’s going on?”
Sure he doesn’t need to see her hunched over in pain, I turn the phone back to face me. “Just the miracle of birth. Dude, she needs names. What are yours so I can tell her?”
He shakes his head like he has no idea what the hell I’m talking about. “I don’t know! We were going to have this conversation in a few days. I thought I had more time.”
“Well, you don’t, so she wants something.”
His mouth opens and shuts a few times before he gives up. “I don’t know. Tell her I’m flying back tonight. I’ll leave as soon as I can. Promise me you’ll take care of her, Kellen. Take care of her until I can get there.”
“I will. I won’t let anything happen to her. I promise.”
Ava lets out another cry, this one sounding more bloodcurdling, and Matthias looks like he’s going to lose his mind. “Is she okay? What’s happening?”
Salem answers from across the room. “Just labor. She’s going great. No worries.”
Hoping to calm him down, I say, “Matthias, get on the plane and get back here as fast as you can. Keep in mind that the roads are swamped all around the area.”
“Then I’ll get a helicopter and land on the goddamned front lawn. Ava, I love you, honey. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”
“She knows. I’ll call again once we know something. For now, get the hell on that plane and get back here!”
“I will. Take care of her, Kellen.”
The call ends, and I stuff my phone back in my pocket. By the sound of Ava’s moans, things are moving fast toward the time when there will be a new member of the King family. My heart races at the thought that something might go wrong. Aren’t women supposed to have babies in hospitals?
Salem stops next to the bed and eases Ava down onto the mattress. “I think we need to make you comfortable and ready for the big moment.”
I look over at her and mouth, “Is it happening now?”
Nodding, she helps Ava into bed and says, “Now that your water broke, I think we’re close to showtime.”
Her water broke? Holy fuck! This is it!
I swallow hard and ask, “Is this when I’m supposed to boil that water?”
Salem smiles and rolls her eyes. “I have a feeling Eleanor is doing something about that. I need you to get me some ice. She’s going to need something to wet her lips.”
“Ice? Okay, I can do that.”
I hurry out of the room and take the steps by two down to the kitchen where Eleanor is actually boiling water. Surprised since I thought that was just a movie thing, I ask, “What is that for?”
“Babies come out needing to be cleaned,” she says as she hurries past me toward the laundry room. “I need to get some clean towels and sheets too.”
Running over to the freezer, I think to myself that maybe movies don’t get this whole birth thing wrong. I grab two ice trays and dump the cubes into a bowl, unsure how I’m going to get them to be the size needed for Ava.
Eleanor rushes behind me and says, “You need to break some of that up. She’ll choke on pieces that big.”
I grab the first thing that comes to mind—the rolling pin sitting in the dish drainer from her making cookies earlier—and start hammering away at that ice. In no time, I’ve got more chips than Ava will probably need, but it doesn’t matter.
The sound of her screaming in pain echoes through the house, and I stop dead in the hallway off the kitchen. Behind me, Eleanor yells, “I think it’s almost time!”
How is that possible? I thought babies took hours and hours to be born. Isn’t that what every woman I’ve ever heard tell the story of childbirth said?
She tears past me with a kettle full of hot water and sheets in her arms, and I run to keep up with her, the two of us tearing up the stairs like madmen. We reach the second floor and hear another scream that makes my chest contract.
Eleanor and I look at one another, and I see tears in her eyes. Not sure what we’re about to walk into, I touch her arm and try to smile.
“It’ll be okay. Ava’s tough. Everything will be okay.”
Not that I believe much of that, other than that Ava can handle herself. That I believe with my whole heart.
Nodding, Eleanor sniffles and takes a deep breath. “You’re right. Everything will be fine.”
She hurries down the hall toward the bedroom, but for a few seconds, I stand frozen to the spot in fear. Having a baby at home seems dangerous, and that scream that came out of Ava a few moments ago sounded like someone was tearing her bones from her body one by one without any fucking anesthesia.
She lets out another bloodcurdling scream, and I run to the bedroom unsure what to do or what I’ll see when I get there. I stop in the doorway with my bowl of ice chips, sure they’re the last thing anyone needs right now.
“Kellen, she needs your help!” Salem says in a panic as she crouches down in front of Ava.
My help? What the hell am I going to do?
When I don’t move, she looks over at me and barks, “Now! Get over here and stand by her.”
I quickly set the bowl of ice chips on the dresser and rush over to the side of the bed. Ava’s sitting up, her legs pulled toward her body, and she looks like she’s gone twelve rounds with some professional boxer. Her hair is drenched from sweat, and her face looks swollen, like someone beat her up.
She grabs onto my hand and squeezes it tightly as a contraction comes over her like a freight train. Screaming in agony, she pushes hard, sobbing in between cries of pain.
When it finally lets up, she turns her head and smiles at me. “I think I’m going to kill Matthias for doing this to me.”
“You’re doing great.”
I look down at Salem and see worry written all over her face. I want to ask if something’s wrong, but I don’t want to frighten Ava. Jesus, if there’s a problem, we can’t handle this. None of us is a nurse or doctor, and whatever Salem knows about helping a woman give birth likely doesn’t include anything if the baby’s in distress.
Oh, God. I promised my brother I’d take care of Ava. What if something terrible happens to her or the baby?
Eleanor and Salem talk in low voices at the foot of the bed, but I can’t hear what they’re saying. Damnit! Maybe we do need an ambulance.
Unable to hold back my curiosity, I ask, “What’s going on? Does she need to push again?”
The two women shake their heads but don’t answer either of my questions. Fuck! This isn’t good.
Ava senses something’s wrong too and begins to cry. “What? Tell me! What’s wrong?”
Eleanor forces herself to smile, but it’s obvious she’s scared to death about what she has to tell her. “The good news is the head is out, so you’re halfway there. We just have an issue with the cord around the baby’s neck.”
Just as Ava begins to cry harder, Salem says, “I think I can get it off. Just don’t push anymore, okay?”
I want to ask if that’ll work, but I know the question will only make things worse, so I keep my mouth shut. Tightening her hold on my hand, Ava looks up at me as tears roll down her face.
“This hurts so much. I want to push.”
Salem looks up at me and shakes her head, so I say to Ava, “No pushing. Promise me you won’t push, okay?”
She nods, but I can tell it’s all she wants to do to stop the pain of the contraction. Desperate to do anything to keep her mind off that, I crouch down next to the bed and rack my brain for something that will help.
All I can think of is that time Theo fell out of the tree at the back of the property. “Remember when Theo thought he could jump from one branch to the other in that big oak tree back near the fence? We weren’t supposed to be out there to begin with, but we never listened anyway, did we?”
Suddenly, Ava smiles at me. “No, we never listened. He was so stupid that day and ended up falling out of that tree from like fifteen feet up.”
“Remember how he tried to get up, but couldn’t even stand on his left foot?”
She nods and then takes a deep breath. “Oh, God! Another contraction is coming.”
“Keep thinking about Theo on the ground insisting he was going to walk back to the house! We all told him he broke his ankle, but he wouldn’t listen, would he?”
Ava squeezes my fingers so tightly I think she might break a few of them off my hand. “I remember! When your mother came all the way out to find us, she got so angry. I thought she was going to ground us all.”
“That day was crazy, but he got through it. You’ll get through this too, Ava. Everything’s going to be fine. Just breathe and let Eleanor and Salem handle things. My niece or nephew is giving you a hard time now, but it’s going to be okay in a couple minutes.”
She nods like she believes what I say. I just wish I did.
I’m afraid to look at Salem in case it’s bad news, so I keep my focus on Ava. “We had a lot of great times together when we were kids, didn’t we?”
“We did. I loved those times, Kellen. I’m so glad you aren’t angry at me anymore.”
Leaning over, I kiss her cheek wet from tears. “I should have never been angry at you. I’m sorry. I was just being stupid. I never meant to hurt you or Matthias.”
At the end of the bed, Salem screams, “Got it! Okay, Ava, whenever you feel the need to push, let it rip!”
I watch as everything seems to happen on fast forward. Not a minute later, I hear a sound I don’t recognize, and then a baby’s cry fills the room.
Eleanor begins to sob, “It’s a boy! He’s perfect and pink! Let me count the fingers and toes.”
A few moments later, she looks up at us with a huge smile. “Ten of each!”
Salem hurries into the bathroom with the baby, followed by Eleanor. The two women handle everything Ava and the baby need, and when I can see them again, the baby’s clean and perfect and Ava looks like someone’s lifted the world off her shoulders.
“Congratulations, Mom,” I say and joke, “I guess all that ice wasn’t necessary after all.”
Ava beams a smile and holds the baby next to her face. “Let me introduce you to your nephew, Theo Maximilian King.”
I can’t help but tear up at the name of my nephew. Theo. I smile and see he reminds me of that brother.
Quickly, I call Matthias again and hand the phone to Ava. Beaming happiness as tears roll down her cheeks, she angles the phone so he can see his son.
“Matthias, meet your son, Theo. Theo, this is your father. Just wait until you see him, honey. He’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen.”
Tears fill my brother’s eyes, and he wipes them away as he says, “Theo, I’m so glad you’re okay and you didn’t give your mother too much hassle. I’ll be home soon, buddy. Ava, I’m so proud of you, honey. He’s beautiful. Just like his mother. I’m sorry I wasn’t there with you.”
“It’s okay, but don’t get things confused. Little Theo here gave me a ton of hassle,” Ava says sweetly. “It turned out fine, though, because Kellen and Salem were here to help me and Eleanor bring this little guy into the world. Just wait until you see him in person, Matthias. He’s perfect.”
“So is his mother. I love you, Ava. I’ll see you soon.”
The call ends before Ava can tell my brother she loves him, and she hands the phone back to me. “Thank you. I don’t know what we would have done if you two didn’t get here when you did.”
I point at the bowl on the dresser and laugh. “All I did was get some ice. It was all Salem and Eleanor.”
“Don’t discount talking me through it. I wish little Theo wasn’t in such a hurry. I would have liked to have some of your wonderful ice, Kellen. Would you like to hold your nephew?”
Nodding, I take him when his mother sets him in my arms. Tinier than any human I’ve ever seen up close before, he seems to smile when he looks up at me.
“What’s up, buddy? When you’re older, I’ll tell you stories about the uncle you’re named after.”
“You have to make sure you tell him about when Theo convinced you and Ronan to let him make you two snowmen,” Ava says.
I look over at Salem and laugh. “That’s the kind of joker my brother Theo was. Ronan and I stood there while he built snowmen around us. We were only six and four, so we would have done anything he said to, and he actually made us snowmen. You should have seen how upset my mother was when she found us half an hour later covered in snow.”
“Did she yell at your brother?” Salem asks.
“Louder than either of us had ever heard her before that day. We had to sit wrapped in blankets for hours because she was afraid we might be frostbitten. We weren’t, though. We had fun.”
Ava giggles. “I told him he shouldn’t do that to you guys, especially Ronan. He was so small, and all that snow looked like it swallowed him up. All Theo kept saying was that you guys loved it.”
I smile at the newest King and say, “Just wait until you get a baby brother. Then you can do what he did to us.”
“Let’s not rush things,” Ava says. “I just gave birth to this little guy. We can leave talk of brothers and sisters until later.”
As I hand little Theo back to his mother, Eleanor comes back in and says, “I don’t think you two will be able to get back to your grandmother’s house tonight. I just heard all the roads are washed out. I’ve made up your old room, Kellen, and Ronan’s old room for Salem. If you’re not tired yet, I’ve also got your favorite cookies waiting for you.”
Looking over at Salem, I say, “Well, I don’t know about you, but I don’t think I could sleep now if I had to. I’m going to grab some butterscotch cookies and a big glass of milk. Want to join me?”
“That sounds great. I think Mom and baby need to rest, and those cookies sound delicious.”
We begin to file out of the room, but when I look back, I see Ava staring down at her new son in her arms and can’t imagine anything more beautiful. Matthias may not know it, but he’s the luckiest man in the world.