Page 87 of There Are No Words

Then he looked back at the guy. “Now go so she can sit down.”

The guy mumbled something under his breath but listened to Brady and moved out.

We walked to our seats in silence. When we were finally seated, though, I whispered, “Thank you for standing up for me like that.”

Brady gave me a bewildered look, his brows raising and his eyes narrowing. “I told you, you and this baby are mine, and I take care of what’s mine. It’s as simple as that. That douchebag had no right to say what he did.”

I licked my lips. “Still. I appreciate it.”

“Has no one ever done that for you before?” Clarifying, he said, “Stand up for you.”

I shook my head and tried to look everywhere but at him. It felt too vulnerable being honest about the fact that no one had ever cared about me enough to possibly get into a fight with a complete stranger on my behalf.

Clearly, I’d dated all winners in the past, right? Yeah, go ahead, roll your eyes; I was rolling mine.

His finger brushed my chin before urging me to look at him. He tipped my chin, so we were eye to eye. “Then it’s a good thing you’re with a real man now.”

* * *

Brady

“Ohhh!”

Trying to keep my attention on the road, I looked at Allegra out of the corner of my eye. She was on her phone, watching some video from the sound of it.

“Ohhh! Ahhh!”

What the video was about beat the hell out of me.

“Gahhh!!!”

The last sound was so loud, and it sounded so excruciating, I flashed my eyes to her abruptly.

“Mother of—”

All right, that did it. What exactly was she watching? Finally, I asked, “What’s with the tortured-filled noises coming from your phone?”

Allegra’s eyes didn’t leave the screen. She was totally captivated by this heinous video. Seriously, I had no visualwhatsoever, andIwas going to have nightmares. “It’s a water birth,” she explained.

I blinked twice, making sure I heard her correctly. “You’re watching a video of a woman giving birth?”

She nodded, not even flinching. Was that normal? Was that something women did for fun? To prepare for their own delivery? Please tell me soon-to-be dads didn’t, because—judge me all you wanted—but I only wanted to watch Allegra give birth (and even “wanted” was a stretch). That was it, though. I drew the line there.

When we were at a stoplight, Allegra said, “See,” turning the phone to me. I got a lovely (read: disgusting) view of a woman sitting in a blowup tub filled with water. She was wearing a top, thankfully, but her legs were spread completely, and she was pushing, her face as red as a goddamn tomato.

I shoved the phone away. “I’m good, thanks.”

She blew bubbles, pausing the video and putting her phone down. Did you hear that? Me neither. It was nothing. Silence. And, thankfully, no more of the horrid sounds of a woman giving birth to a baby when it sounded like she was delivering a fucking whale. Seriously, there were some things that scarred a man, you know?

The light turned green, and I kept driving as Allegra said, “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about it, and it makes sense to have a home birth.”

A home birth? Oh no! No damn way was Allegra risking her life delivering a baby in a tub. “No.” I was putting my foot down on this one.

“No?” Allegra’s voice grew intense. “It’s my body.”

I clenched my jaw. “It’s dangerous, Allegra. You need to be in a sterile environment, around plenty of experienced medical professionals.”

“I won’t be doing it alone, obviously.”

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