Page 18 of His Best Friend's Baby

Now, she bit into the ice, crunching it with her teeth. As she swallowed, she managed another smile. ‘That’s just what I needed, thanks, Seth.’

‘There’s plenty more.’

She nodded, but then her smile faded. ‘Oh, God, I’m sorry.’

‘Why should you be sorry?’

‘About this. Giving you this worry and spoiling your weekend.’

‘Don’t even try to apologise, Polly. It’s not as if you had a choice.’

‘It never occurred to me that this might happen, but maybe I should have known.’

He shook his head. ‘MaybeIshould never have lured you out here. But it’s too late for either of us to worry about maybes. We’ll only drive ourselves crazy.’

Polly didn’t have time to argue with this before she was distracted by another contraction.

‘You’re doing a great job with that breathing,’ Seth told her, when it finally finished.

*

Polly managed awan smile. She wasn’t sure if she could cope with too many more of these ghastly, clenching, gripping pains. What she needed was the paramedics. Here. By her side. Actually, anyone with medical training would do, as long as they were telling her that her baby was okay. And offering her painkillers. Or better still, racing her to hospital and a nice epidural.

She reached into the cup for another ice cube, grateful that she at least had Seth, keeping close, ready to help any way he could. But now, as the ice chips slipped down her throat, she felt a brand-new sensation—as if the bottom half of her was being wrenched away with massive force.

‘Oh!’ she moaned. ‘Oh, no!’

‘What is it?’

‘That time it was really different. I—I felt like I needed to push.’ Helplessly, she stared at Seth. ‘I think the baby’s coming.’

‘Already?’

Polly nodded and Seth looked almost as horrified as she was.

‘Poor Summer,’ she whispered. ‘What can we do?’ But the question was barely out before she was overtaken by an incredible force that urged every cell in her body to give in to it. She was pretty sure she was supposed to pant to stop herself from pushing, but the urge was too overwhelming to resist. And poor Seth couldn’t help her. He was on his feet pacing, talking on the phone again, no doubt speaking with the paramedics, pleading for advice.

A whimper broke from Polly. She couldn’t have the baby here.

Seth was back, kneeling beside her. ‘It’s okay,’ he soothed, stroking her hair. ‘You’re doing just fine, Pollz.’

‘I’m not. I have no idea how to do this and neither do you.’

‘Yes, we do,’ he said and he had the cheek to smile at her, damn him. ‘We’ve both seen the movies. You push and I catch.’

For a moment there, Polly almost smiled too, but once again she was overtaken by an incredible compulsion to push and push.

Andpu-u-ush.

‘I’m sorry.’ Her face was wet with tears.

‘It’s okay, Pollz. You’re doing great.’ Seth was reaching for extra pillows. ‘Might help if you were propped up a bit?’

‘I—I don’t know. Actually, yes, thanks, thatdoeshelp.’ As he set the pillows behind her, she said, ‘I’d stop this if I could. I’d try to hold on. But—but I can’t!’ And then she was grunting and pushing again.

The pattern continued and Polly lost count of the number of times she pushed. In between, she would flop back on the pillows, exhausted. And Seth was always there, murmuring encouragement, telling her how great she was.

‘Can you see the baby’s head?’ she asked him.

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