Page 40 of Dirty Empire

Chapter Fifteen: Babies

Maverick

Seven Months Later

“I want to show you something,” I say to Hazel. She sits across from me at the dining room table, working on her business. As soon as life slows down a little bit, we’ll turn one of the guest rooms into an office for her.

“Huh?” she says, looking up from her laptop.

I chuckle and stand up from the table. “Come on.”

She takes my hand, using it to help her stand up. Her belly is huge, but I’ll never tell her that. She had started to waddle as she walked, and I never missed an opportunity to run my hand over her stomach and feel our baby kick. She still isn’t due for another month, but I can’t imagine her stomach growing anymore.

“I have a lot of work to do,” she complains as we walk up the stairs.

“It will only take a minute.”

She rolls her eyes. I stop at the guest bedroom next to ours and open the door. Raising an eyebrow at me, she steps inside. She slams a hand over her mouth, and her eyes fill with tears as she looks around. She’s been buying all the things needed for the baby, but since she’s so busy with getting her business together, she hasn’t had time to set everything up.

The walls in the nursery are yellow. I had Isabella help me set up the zoo-themed room. Stuffed animals are placed throughout. Since we decided to wait to find out the gender, I couldn’t decorate it in pink or blue.

“This is amazing. I’ve been trying to get everything set up. It's just…”

I nod. “I know.”

I place my hands in my pockets as she walks around the nursery, picking things up and admiring the decorations.

“Isabella helped a lot,” I say. Once I told her my idea, she’d pretty much taken it from there, only asking for my help to put some things together.

She smiles. “How did you do all this without me knowing?”

“It wasn’t that hard. When you’re not working, you're either sleeping or eating.”

She laughs but stops abruptly and bends over in pain. I watch her clutch her stomach. I rush to her side.

“What’s happening, honey?”

“I...I think I’m having contractions.”

“Are you sure it's not one of those fake contractions you’ve been having?” I ask.

She shakes her head and grips her stomach again. “Nope, this is real. Oh my god! I think my water just broke! Why is it breaking now? It’s too early. Please, no!”

I grab my cell phone and call Mike.

“I need you to bring the car around. We’re having a baby.”

***

“It’s a boy,” I gasp.

Pride swells in my chest. Our baby is here. A new little life brought into the world. He has a nice set of lungs on him as well. He’s a screamer.

I kiss the top of Hazel’s head. Drenched in sweat, she hands the baby to a nurse who quickly attends to him. Hazel has just delivered a bundle of love into the world. I attempt to nurture her by combing my fingers through her hair. She glances at me with a mother’s glow of happiness and joy.

“We have a boy,” she gushes.

“That’s all you, Pumpkin. You did amazing.”

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