Page 103 of There Are No Words

Brady

Allegra hated me? Hell, I hated me. Seeing her in this much pain was torture. It would’ve hurt less if someone dug my eye out with a plastic spoon.

Once we got to the hospital, things happened fairly quickly. They placed her in a wheelchair and brought us to a room. A semi-private room, since we hadn’t booked one. Not that it would’ve mattered since she was delivering early. And the on-call doctor (not Dr. Invasive) had been in to check on her twice already.

This time, she informed Allegra she was five centimeters dilated.

“Five centimeters!” she parroted the doctor, her voice taking on a raspy quality. Probably from all the groaning and shouting she’d done from the contractions. And, of course, yelling at me about. . . well, everything.

I nodded, touching Allegra’s arm. “That’s halfway. That’s good, right?” It was always good to point out the bright side, wasn’t it?

But Allegra’s eyes looked like they had fires burning in them, and if she was provoked anymore, she’d burn the whole damn place down.

So I guess I was wrong. So very wrong. Don’t point out the bright side to a woman in labor.

I grinned, trying to see if my calm would make her feel calm. If she knew how okay I thought everything would be, maybe that would make her feel better. That made logical sense. I knew it did.

But it didn’t work. In fact, it seemed to agitate her even more.

Allegra gripped the side of the bed railing and turned away from me, pleading with the doctor—“You have to help me. How can I dilate faster? I want this babyout!”

All right, maybe don’t yell at the doctor who has to help deliver our baby.

The doctor cleared her throat and clutched Allegra’s chart to her chest. “Once your water breaks, sometimes it can take eight hours for you to be fully dilated. It’s completely normal. You’re doing well, though. Right on track.”

Allegra heaved a sigh and tried blowing her hair away from her face, but it was caught in the sweat on her forehead, so I assisted, brushing it back and out of her face. “Fine,” Allegra said. “I get it. You’re not going to help me.” She rolled her eyes.

When the doctor finally left the room, her eyes flickered over to me. Could I be invisible? Now would be as good of a time as any to try, right?

I was telling you, my sweet Allegra was gone, and in her place was this. . . this. . . monster.

“I want a new doctor,” she told me, in such a put-together manner that it made me even more unnerved. “Get me a new one. Get me my doctor. I don’t like this one.”Oh, is that all?

I shook my head. “I don’t think that’s how that—”

“I’m in labor because ofyou.” She pinched her brows together. “You could’ve denied me sex that night, or better yet, learned how to use a condom.”

“I don’t think it had anything to do with—”

Her eyes widened.

Never mind. Don’t mind me, I was just going to be eating my words now. “I’ll go see what I can do.” About hiding from you.

They hadn’t mentioned anything about this kind of rage in that pregnancy book. Along with the foot eulogy should have been one for the man.

I raked a hand through my hair as I left the room and nearly collided with Dom, who came to a screeching halt to avoid bumping chests with me.

“Woah. Where are you going in such a hurry? Isn’t Allie in there?” he asked.

Is Allegra in there?No. She looked like Allegra, sounded like Allegra, but that woman in there was not Allegra.

That was what I’d wanted to say, but I decided not to broach the topic of my sincere fear of entering that room again. And without a new doctor, to boot. So instead, I sighed. “Yeah, man. She’s in there. I just need a minute. You got here fast.”

He shrugged as if it was nothing. “She’s like a sister to me. Besides, Isabella wants to be here to meet her cousin. How far along is she?” Dom asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms like he had all day.

Well, I wished I had all day, but at the rate I was going, Allegra was going to strangle me with her bare hands before the baby was born. Kidding.

I think.

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