Page 72 of Under His Embrace

“Scratch that,” Chloe said as Nina groaned from further inside. “The baby is coming right now!”

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CHLOE

“Itold you I don’t know what I’m doing!” Nina wailed.

I wasn’t alarmed by her hysterical status. I recalled freaking the hell out when my water broke, mostly because Caleb was late. He didn’t want to be born until after my due date. Like any other expecting mother, I put so much emphasis on that day, like it would bethebig day. When it came and passed, my sense of urgency oddly faded.

The night my water broke, I was crazy. Nervous. Anxious. Worried about doing it alone. Not to mention, going to a freaking vet clinic after hours wasn’t the most comforting idea. As my friends and the doula put it, Thank God I didn’t need to have a C-section.

“No one does,” I confided in her. “With every baby that’s born, we’re all clueless.”

Tessa rushed up. The same with Dante and Romeo. They ran toward us, concerned.

“But it’s happening. The baby is coming,” Nina told me. “It’s seriously happening. Right now!”

She’d stood to put her water glass in the sink and as soon as she was upright, her water broke. I didn’t recall it beingthatmuch liquid, but I supposed the perspective made a difference.

I nodded. “I think it’s fair to say?—”

She cringed, curling over as she rode out another contraction. Her hand slapped onto my arm and she didn’t let go.

“Okay.” I winced through her tight grip. “Yeah, these contractions are coming faster.”

“Where the hell is Danicia?” Romeo asked.

Dante was at Nina’s other side, helping her breathe through the contraction. She gripped his arm too as Tessa ran out of the room, announcing she was grabbing Nina’s packed hospital bag to bring.

“Danicia’s on vacation,” Franco said as he ran inside with Caleb.

Caleb dragged his wide-eyed stare at the puddle on the floor to Nina growling at the pain. “Mom. She made you bleed.”

I looked down, pausing in stroking Nina’s hair back from her face. Blood seeped out a bit from beneath her nails. She clutched my forearm so hard that her nails cut into my skin.

“It’s okay.” I shrugged. “It happens.”But oh, my God.Ow, that hurts.

Dante frowned, trying to talk to her calmly and coach her to breathe through the contraction. When he attempted to move her hand from holding my arm to his, she shook her head.

“No.” She shook her head faster. “I want Chloe here. She’s helping me.”

“Okay. Okay.” Dante glanced at me as Franco continued to talk on the phone behind us, arranging transportation to the hospital. “She’s here.”

I really was. Next to her for support through her baby coming early. One among this closeknit group who welcomed me in their home. And maybe, pending Franco’s conversation with Caleb outside, maybe as an actual relative as a Constella Mafia wife soon.

It hit me then. This wasn’t a fickle, temporary stay here. This wasn’t a vacation or an excuse for protecting me and Caleb.

I was here tostay, and I regretted that it’d taken me so long to get here, to learn all that I had and toughen up on my own out there to know that I belonged where my heart was, with Franco.

“I’m not going anywhere,” I told her.

“Come with me. Please. Please come with me to the hospital.”

I nodded as Dante tried to rub her back and comfort her while Franco spoke with the guards and drivers.

“I will. I’m right here.”

“Just breathe?—”

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