Page 56 of Cowboy Triplets Next Door

Billie

I stomped out of the carriage house, furious about what I was seeing. Betsy was being led out of the old barn by two of my husbands and behind her, Brutus was being carried out in front of Owen like he was rabid. I held my massive stomach and moved as fast as I could.

“What the hell are you doing?” I was way too pregnant to be stomping around and the babies were doing their best to let me know it. The pain radiating through my body was almost unbearable. Almost. I could always shout at my husbands, in pain or not. “Put them back! Now!”

Owen bared his teeth at me. “Go back inside, woman! This rodent bit me multiple times and I’m not feeling too friendly about him right now.”

I swallowed down another stabbing pain and felt sweat break out across my upper lip. “What…what did you do to him?”

“We’re giving them their own little barn, Billie Hellstone. Now, get back in the house. You’re not supposed to be stomping around. You’re going to drop one of the babies if you’re not careful.” Keaton shook his head at me and patted Betsy’s ass. “Go on, girl.”

Gray studied me with his most assessing eyes and his jaw clenched. “Call Jamison to finish this up.”

“How the fuck do you think I’m going to hand this little bastard off? He’s—” Owen froze. “It’s time, isn’t it?”

They were all watching me as I grimaced and bent forward slightly in an attempt to ease the pain. Forcefully shaking my head, I growled. “It’s not time! It’s not!”

It was totally time. I swore I could feel one of the triplets' heads wedged against my vagina suddenly and I screamed as an even bigger wave of pain struck. “It’s happening!”

Betsy and Brutus were forgotten as Gray, Keaton, and Owen ran over to me. Owen scooped me off my feet and ran towards the truck. “Call Eve and tell her we’re coming!”

Eve’s neighbors were paramedics and had been part of our emergency birth plan since the moment we’d found out we were pregnant with triplets. I wanted a natural water birth but with three giant Hellstone babies coming out of me, it just wasn’t going to happen. If the triplets would’ve waited until their due date, they would’ve been born in a hospital, like we’d planned. Between me ignoring the pain and them being in a rush to meet their parents, the hospital wasn’t happening.

“Goddammit, Billie. How long have you been hurting?” Owen barked at me, but I could tell it was panic making him shout at me. He nearly tripped over Turtle and shouted even more. “Get the crazy dog, somebody!”

“Let him come!” I realized later that I was being crazy, that bringing a dog to my birth was not the right call, but in the moment, I wanted my Turtle there.

Keaton, on the phone with Eve, fumbled to get Turtle in the house. His shouting rang out over the ranch. “They’re coming! We’re coming!”

Gray slid into the backseat of the truck and pulled me in so I was stretched out across the seat, braced against his chest. With what was happening, I began to kick off my pants, much to his horror. “What are you doing? No, B! Leave your pants on. They can’t come yet!”

Owen stood in the open door, staring at my crotch with fear etched into his face. He took a kick to the chest as I struggled before grabbing my pants and yanking them off. He looked up at my face before grabbing my wet panties and snatching them off. “When did your water break?”

I moaned from an especially painful contraction and looked between my thighs to see what was somehow both the most beautiful and disgusting thing imaginable. The first baby was coming. “He’s coming!”

Keaton stood behind Owen, eyes wide, phone still pressed to his ear. He swayed and went down hard.

I screamed and pushed down hard while reaching between my thighs to catch the first baby’s head. Owen glanced back at Keaton and then rushed to the front of the truck to grab a bottle of disinfectant from the glove box. He slapped it all over his hands and arms and shook his arms off before positioning himself between my thighs again. His jaw was set and his eyes were sure.

“One more push, baby. You can do it. He’s almost out.”

Gray’s arms locked around me and he helped me brace. “You’ve got this. Kick the little shit out, baby.”

I would’ve laughed if the little shit in question wasn’t making my vagina feel like it was being ripped wide open. I screamed and pushed one more time and then he was out. Owen held our tiny son in his hands and blinked rapidly for a few seconds before jumping into action. Grabbing for our go-bag, he found a suction to clear our son’s throat and nose and then a shrill scream pierced the air and it wasn’t mine.

I sank into Gray’s chest as relief washed over me. Our first son was okay. I knew we had only a tiny slice of time before I had to do the whole thing over again but that moment was so magical that I wanted to hold onto it forever.

Owen looked up at me with tears in his eyes as he held our tiny son in his big hands. “Owen Junior.”

“I’m not naming our son OJ—” I lost my voice and breath as another contraction hit. It was time for the next baby already.

Our next two sons came just as fast and they were all already screaming in the backseat of the truck by the time Eve and her neighbors pulled up.

“When you didn’t show up right away, I was afraid something bad hap—” Eve peeked into the backseat and gasped. “Oh, my god.”

I nodded at her and smiled through happy tears. “They came early.”

“No shit, they came early! Oh, my god. You did it! Billie!” She reached in to grip my knee and wiped her own tears away. “Can the guys check them out? I called Dr. Wallace on the way and he’s coming as fast as he can but it’ll still be around half an hour.”

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