Page 4 of The Sweetest Surrender

Chapter Two

“Selena, I would like to make it to the hospital in one piece, please!” Samiyah shouted.

Selena hit a corner hard, causing the car to skid, kicking up asphalt. The motion sent the car into a tilting rock as the vehicle adjusted to the sharp turn.

“Selena!” Eden yelled in the back seat with Samiyah.

“What do you want me to do? She’s going to have that baby in the back seat!” Selena hissed.

“She’s not going to have this baby at all if you don’t slow down,” Phoebe said with her hands clutched to the passenger-side door.

“That door isn’t going to save you if the car flips over,” Selena said, chuckling.

“That is so not funny,” Phoebe retorted.

Selena laughed harder, her guffaw going into a rambunctious howl. Tears crept from the corner of her espresso brown refined eyes, and Selena swiped her black shoulder-length hair off her shoulder just as she hit another corner. Phoebe gripped the door handle even tighter, her eyes bulging as she held on for dear life. In the backseat, Samiyah panted, inhaling and exhaling deep breaths. The pain in her abdomen was like a constant beat of drums the way it battered against her.

“How is this funny!?” Eden asked sharply. Eden turned to glance out the back window. “Jasmine is nowhere in sight. You’ve lost her and the others with your reckless driving. Do you even have a license?”

Selena’s laughter died down, but a smile still leered on her face. She tossed a glance in the rearview mirror at Eden.

“To answer your first question, this is so funny because your twin is up here scared shitless. The horror on her face is deathly comical. I could fall over laughing, but then we would really be in trouble.”

Eden snorted. “And now we’re not?”

“No, we aren’t. I’m a professional race car driver. I came in first place in three different competitions in high school. You should check my credentials.”

“Damn your credentials,” Phoebe shouted, causing Selena to howl even louder. Fresh tears populated in her eyes, and Selena tried with all her might to focus on the road. “High school hardly counts as professional anyway,” Phoebe added.

“Okay,” Selena said. She made a show of straightening in her seat and properly wheeling the vehicle. “We’ll be at the hospital in thirty seconds, how’s she doing back there?”

Eden glanced down at a panting Samiyah who was splayed across the back seat with her head in Eden’s lap and her legs cocked open as if the baby was on his or her way.

“How are you doing, Samiyah, talk to me,” Eden said.

“Woo, woo, woo,” Samiyah breathed, not bothering to speak for fear that she would mess up the meditation she currently had going on.

“I think she’s okay, she’s got it under control. Samiyah, blink once for yes and twice for no.”

Selena guffawed just as Samiyah screeched. “Aaaaaaah!” A searing pain ricocheted through her, and Samiyah’s eyes rolled as she felt delirious.

“It’s okay, we’ll be at the hospital in—”

“We’re here!” Phoebe yelled as Selena sailed into the emergency room’s underpass, right in front of the entrance.

Selena threw the car in park and hopped out, running around the vehicle into the hospital. The four-inch heels she wore didn’t slow her down as the double doors opened, allowing her inside. “We need help. There’s a pregnant woman outside, and she’s gone into labor!”

Everyone turned their attention to her, and the lady behind the registration desk grabbed her desk phone and dialed a number. An overhead intercom sounded, and the woman’s voice rang through.

“Code Rapid Response, emergency room entrance.”

The woman slammed the phone down and exited the safety of her office. She was an older Caucasian woman with light gray eyes and a head full of gray curly strands. Another set of double doors to Selena’s right flew open, and a full staff consisting of doctors, nurses, respiratory therapists, and lab techs jogged toward the entrance wheeling a patient bed.

“Where,” one of the doctors asked.

“This way!” Selena said, turning to jog back out to the car where Phoebe and Eden stood, coaxing and taking deep breaths with Samiyah as if they were helping her with her laboring.

“We’ll take it from here, ma’am,” the same doctor said.

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