Page 58 of The Homewrecker's Fate

“Sounds like she’s showing off how big she is.”

“I got the picture, baby-J. You can ease off any time now.” My stomach turned into a hard ball as my back ache intensified and then it eased, and I could breathe easy for a minute. “There. She’s such a good girl, she listened to her mom.”

Brax squeezed my hand and then pulled into the restaurant. Once he parked, he helped me from the Jeep, and we made a slow progression toward the front door before I had to stop and try to catch my breath.

“Holy crap. That felt like lightning whipping around my back,” I groused.

“Maybe we should just go back,” Brax muttered as I took another step toward the door. We were two feet away, and the host was set to greet us when it felt as though something popped inside me and, in a whoosh, water fell from between my legs and splattered all over the stoop of the steakhouse we had been about to enter.

“Holy shit!” The young man who was acting as host called out.

“Let’s get you back to the car. Pretty sure it’s time to go to the hospital,” Brax informed me like I hadn’t figured that out for myself.

“I’m soaked,” I cried out.

“It’ll be okay. You have leather seats, it’ll wash.”

“It’ll wash?” I questioned before another whipping pain traveled from the middle of my back around both of my hips and down lower. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” I cried out as tears formed in my eyes. “Brax, I think we better hurry.”

“Avi, have you been feeling bad for a while?”

“Just a stupid back ache,” I admitted.

“Uh-huh. Do you by chance know how long that’s been going on?”

“A few hours,” I said before I cottoned on to what he was getting at. “You think I’ve been in labor all that time?”

“Seems plausible,” he said as he buckled me in. “Pretty sure your mom knew that you were in labor, and that you wouldn’t listen to her, if she told you.”

“The bag…” I started to say, but my stomach turned into a hard ball as pain zipped through my midsection again. “Oh, this sucks!”

“The good news is that the restaurant is way closer to the hospital than the house was. We’ll be there in about five minutes, okay?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t get dinner,” I cried.

“Sweetheart, no offense, but I don’t think you’re in any shape to eat right now anyway.”

“I could probably nibble on… OH GOD! WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL IS HAPPENING?” I yelled as a crippling contraction ripped through me. The next one stole my breath completely, so I didn’t even have the air to yell. “Hurry,” I pleaded as we pulled into the hospital parking lot.

“Emergency is around the other side!” I yelled at Braxton. He tossed my bag over his shoulder and threw my purse inside before getting me out. Then he helped me waddle until another contraction hit. As soon as we hit the front door, a woman from the front desk came running with a wheelchair.

“I need to get her information.”

“We pre-registered last week. Aviva Acker, she’s 39-weeks, and Dr. Martinez has been looking after her,” Brax rattled off as he guided us toward the bank of elevators. Another contraction hit and after it eased, I realized they were coming really quickly.

“We need to hurry,” I panted.

The elevator took us up to the third floor where a nurse waited to greet us. “Aviva, Sheila called up from downstairs. Is this dad?” She asked while looking at Brax.

“Yes?” I said, though it sounded more like a question.

“Hell yeah, our baby girl is about to make her entrance,” Braxton crowed enthusiastically.

“That’s what we like to see up here,” the nurse chirped in an overly excited voice. I’d bet money she was once a cheerleader. “We’ll get you set up in a delivery suite and then the doctor should be in to check Avi before we even get the monitors on her. I’m Melinda Matheson. I will be your nurse for the night. Hopefully, I get to be here for delivery.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I assured her.

“That’s what all the moms say, sadly many of them wait until morning, after shift change to bring their little bundles into the world.”

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