Page 73 of Redemption's Inferno

He reached out to put a hand on her stomach. “Did she hurt you?”

Emilie rolled her eyes. “As if! If I wasn’t pregnant, I’d have put a real hurting on her! Unfortunately, the stomach got in the way…but I handled her. Backstabbing bitch.”

He chuckled. “My feisty love.”

“I had weapons.”

He smiled. “You remembered. Although I’m not sure WD-40 was what I had in mind when we talked about that.”

She gave him a look. “You said to be flexible and improvise—that’s what was available.”

“I’m proud of you, love.”

“Rest, okay? I’m going to clean you up…” She paused as the nurse brought her the items she’d requested.

“You should go home.”

“After I’ve cleaned you up and spoken to the doctor. If they admit you, I’m not leaving until Joe gets here.”

“Yeah, okay.” His eyes closed as she wiped dried blood and dirt from his face and neck. She rinsed the cloth and moved to his hands and forearms, wishing she could immerse him in water to get off the crud that was caked on his skin, under his nails and in his hair.

“Remember when I washed you?” he murmured sleepily.

“Best shower of my life.”

His eyes opened and squinted. “I can’t say this is the best shower of my life, but by far the best bed bath.”

She laughed lightly. “Rest, darling. I’ll be right here. Always.”

* * *

The first pain hit in the middle of the night and it was so strong Emilie sat straight up in the chair next to Chains’ bed, her heart pounding as she clutched her stomach. Shit! She’d been unable to keep her eyes open when Viggo and Jamie had stopped by to say good night, so she’d turned off the TV and gone to sleep. Now she was wide awake and it felt like the baby would be showing up sooner rather than later! With a sigh, she struggled to her feet and went to the bathroom. If the pains weren’t too close together, she wanted to spend as much time as she could without telling anyone what was going on.

She’d just gotten out her phone when another contraction washed over her and she had to hold on to the railing of the bed as she tried to breathe through it. She didn’t remember it hurting so much with Simone. In fact, she’d slept through most of her labor and by the time she realized it was time to go, she’d been 10 centimeters dilated and ready to push. She’d pushed for 30 minutes and her sweet baby had come out with no issues. Whatever was going on tonight was for the birds. This nonsense was already hard and painful. The contractions were coming every 10 minutes or so, which meant she wasn’t ready to push but it hurt like she should be.

Taking a few deep breaths, she straightened up and decided to walk. She put her phone in her pocket and made her way out to the hallway as quietly as she could. She began doing laps around the floor, watching the time on her phone to monitor the contractions. The next one came nine minutes after the last and she had to hold on to the back of the nearest chair to ride it out. When it was over, she stood up straight and began walking again. She was getting a little winded and forced herself to breathe evenly and take smaller steps; the last thing she needed was to attract the attention of one of the nurses.

The next contraction came on hard and fast and she gasped. The pain was unlike anything she’d ever felt before and Emilie doubled over, falling to her knees when she couldn’t keep her balance.

“Em!” Jamie appeared out of nowhere and slid down beside her, his hand on her back. “Honey, what is it? Are you in labor?”

“Shit…” she gasped out the word. “…fucking hurts like hell…”

“Viggo!” Jamie held her against him with one arm while rubbing her stomach with the other. “Viggo, wake up!”

“What are you doing here?” she panted as she leaned against him.

“We couldn’t sleep and Viggo was afraid those pains you’d been complaining about were labor.” He met her eyes. “We weren’t going to let you down again.”

Viggo knelt beside them, shaking his head. “How long between contractions?” he asked in Swedish, knowing it would be easier for her to revert to her native tongue when she was in so much pain.

“Maybe eight—oh!” She cried out as the next one crashed over the last in a never-ending wave of pain.

“That was like two minutes!” Jamie gasped.

“Go get someone to help us!” Viggo said to Jamie. “And have them call her ob-gyn!”

Jamie ran down the hall and Viggo lifted Emilie in his arms. “Did you think you needed this one to be as dramatic as possible since I missed everything when Simone was born?”

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