Page 11 of The Sweetest Surrender

Chapter Four

The gang sat in the hospital waiting room, anticipating news from Nurse Staples who’d come out every now and again to give an update on Samiyah’s labor. Selena paced while the others spoke quietly.

“We didn’t even get a chance to have the gender reveal party,” Phoebe said. She’d come out of the wedding dress, paid for it, and trashed it all at the same time. Now she sat in a pair of dark denim jeans and a thick black wool sweater with a huge loose collar that covered her neck in a toasty blanket.

“Well, we’ll know for sure now, won’t we?” Eden said.

“Yeah,” Phoebe responded. She glanced over at Selena.

“Are you nervous?” Phoebe asked her.

Selena cut her eyes to Phoebe as she nibbled on her fingernail.

“Does it usually take this long to have a baby?” Selena asked.

It was eight p.m., and Samiyah had been in labor all day.

“Some women go two or three days in labor before giving birth,” Claudia added.

Claudia had been at the hospital in a continuous pace since the girls were taken off to jail. There had been a few times when Claudia wanted to storm the labor and delivery room, but she knew it wasn’t her place, and she understood.

Imagining being in labor for seventy-two hours made Selena nauseated. “Jesus, that’s a long time to be in pain,” she said.

“The doctors give you medicine to rid your pain,” Claudia said. “It’s not so bad.”

“How would you know? Have you been pregnant before?” Selena asked.

All eyes turned to Claudia, including her husband Jaden. Claudia stammered. “No—um, of course not, I’m just saying, they give you the good drugs to keep you sane.”

“Hmm,” Selena murmured.

“I’m sure you would make a great mother.”

The dark voice came from Jordan as he strolled up behind Selena. Closing in, Jordan took the palm of his hand down her shoulder in a grazing stroke, causing a stinging flare of heat to wash over her. She opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. Jordan tipped her chin with an innate tap of his hand. Selena blushed and leaned into him, giving Jordan the opportunity to place a warm kiss against her forehead, on the bridge of her nose, then finally her lips.

A languorous sigh released from Selena as she was taken once again by Jordan’s masterful kiss. Since they’d been dating, Jordan had done a lot of holding and kissing her, but they had yet to seal the deal with sexual foreplay although Selena dreamed of it more times than not. She was enjoying their time together, and their friendship grew daily, so she wouldn’t force it. The last thing she wanted was to seem too attached. For once in her life, she’d love to be loved wholeheartedly by someone she could spend the rest of her life with. But just as the thought trekked through her mind, the pending divorce of her parents captured Selena’s thoughts.

It made her grimace, and Jordan felt her grow cold as her lips stilled. Slowly, he pulled their mouths apart but continued to hover just over her sienna skin.

With a penetrating stare, he questioned, “What are you thinking?”

His voice was so soothing that Selena wished she could curl in it. She gulped thickly.

“Um… nothing, I’m fine.”

Jordan’s gaze grew more intense. She was lying to him, and he couldn’t imagine why. Knowing their relationship was fairly new, Jordan didn’t push the subject, but he couldn’t help but wish Selena would open up to him.

Give her time…

He would. After all he didn’t have much of a choice, and even though Jordan knew that, he still wanted to tug it out of her.

“You don’t trust me enough to tell me when you’re hurting, but I can see it on your face and feel it in your touch.”

Selena wanted to deny his claims. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him per se, but she didn’t want to sound like a crybaby. She was grown after all. How many adults acted or felt like children when their parents were threatening to divorce? Maybe if she was sixteen but thirty-four?

Selena’s hesitance gave Jordan the impression that he was right, which he usually was. In his profession, Jordan could almost tell anytime someone was being untruthful or even gauge their reaction to certain happenings, like he did with Selena just then.

Sadness slipped over him but disappeared just as quickly. The doors to the labor ward opened, and Nurse Staples strolled out with a huge smile.

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