“Maybe you should be down here, and I should be up there,” he suggests.
“Nic, you're this baby’s daddy and if the ambulance crew don’t get here on time, you're the perfect person to deliver it. You’ve got this.” She reaches down with her other hand to take his, and he nods before releasing her and placing both his hands on my thighs to spread them.
“Jesus. She’s right, it’s really coming.”
“How about you stop talking about me like I’m not here?” I grip my stomach and tuck my chin into my chest so I can push through the contraction I’m having.
“Madalina, what will Dario do to Jonah?” I ignore Nic, telling me to breathe and look toward her.
“Lorna, don’t worry about that now, focus on this. I can see the head, and there's hair!” He looks up at me. “Do you hear that? Our baby’s gothair, focus on that.” I watch his panic turn into a smile as he strokes his hand over his mouth.
“What color is it?” Seeing him look so happy makes me smile too, but not for long, another contraction follows almost straight away.
“Dark, like mine,” he tells me as I squeeze Madalina’s hand and push so hard, that I shake. “That’s good, he’s coming.” The excitement in Nic’s voice builds. “Lorna, his whole head’s out!” His eyes keep glancing up at mine and between my legs.
“You need to check the airways are clear, and support that head, take it in your hand, and next time she pushes, guide it out.” A voice comes from behind me and when I look over my shoulder and see Dario, I nod gratefully.
“Dario, you’ve delivered one baby, you're hardly an expert,” Madalina tells him.
“That's one more than anyone else in this room,” he points out.
“Well, are you in or out? Because you're letting all the cold in and there's going to be a newborn baby in this room, any minute,” Madalina reminds him.
“It looks like Nic’s doing a good enough job, I’ll wait out here for the ambulance…. Keep at it, Lorna.” He offers me some encouragement and I manage to hold my thumb up over my head as I continue to try and push a baby into the world.
“You're incredible, I don’t know how the hell you’re doing this.” Nic looks up at me, while his hand cradles our baby’s head. “This is the one, baby. Push hard like you did before,” he tells me when my body goes stiff. I do as he says, pushing with all my strength, and screaming at the same time.
“Good girl, that's his shoulders and his…” Nic goes silent as I feel all the pressure inside me release at once. He’s staring down at his hands in shock and when I hear the tiny squawk, I breathe and know it’s all over.
“Nic?” I start to panic because he’s looking down at our baby as if it’s got two heads. “Nic, is he okay?”
“He’s not a he.” His eyes lift up to meet with mine as he shakes his head and smiles. “We’ve got a girl.”
“A what?” I lean forward to take a look.
“It’s a girl. A beautiful, little girl.” He takes another look at her like he can’t believe she’s real.
“Well, pass her to her mamma, then,” Madalina prompts him and he quickly shakes himself out of his trance and lifts her up, placing her on my chest and grabbing one of the towels to cover her tiny, pink back.
“The paramedics will cut her cord when they get here. I’m going to tell Dario.” My best friend kisses my cheek anddelicately slides a finger over her niece's head before she rushes out the door. Nic drags himself off the floor, taking her space beside me.
“Are you okay?” He places his huge hand over our little girl’s back, covering it almost completely, as his lips touch against my temple.
“I am now.” I don’t care that her head’s covered in yucky stuff. I kiss it, anyway, and hold my little girl tight.
“Lorna, all that shit Bianca said to you, it’s not why I asked you to marry me. I asked you to marry me because I’m in love with you. I think I might have been even before this happened.” He looks down at our daughter and smiles. “I don’t need a district to be happy. I know that, now. On the way here, when I thought–” I cut him off by pressing my finger against his lips.
“Let’s not think about that now. Now’s a happy time.” We both jump when we hear a crash come from the back of the house and Nic leans over us protectively when Wes bursts from the hall into the living room.
“Holy shit!” He drops the gun that was in his hands when he sees me sitting on the couch with whatever mess is going on between my legs.
“What the fuck happened here?” He stares at us both and when Dario stands up from the couch and immediately pins him to the wall, Wes holds his hands up in defense.
“What the fuck are you still doing with my gun?” Nic asks him.
“I came as backup. Cass called me from work, said there’d been some drama and she wanted to know that you weren’t here, upsetting Lorna.” Nic must believe what he says, because he drops him from his hold and picks up the gun, sliding something out the bottom of it and tucking it in the pocket of his tuxedo pants.
“It wasn’t me you needed to worry about.” He spins Wes around so his face is against the wall, sparing my decency. “And you arrived too late to play hero.” Nic drags him back down the hall to show him out the way he came and when he comes back into the living room, dusting off his hands, I smile at him.