Page 44 of Roping Reba

“Yeah, this is really it.”

He came up behind me and rubbed my back before reaching around to place his hands over my lower belly. “You doing okay, Mama?”

“I think so. But it’s time to call for some help.”

“Got it. Jax can head up to the big house. Athena and Mac can watch him.”

“I want to stay here. I need to meet my sister.”

“Come here, bud,” Johnny said, lifting him up onto the counter next to us. Still none the wiser that we were now both standing in a puddle of water. “Mama’s going to have a lot of hard work to do here. It’s going to be a long time before your sister is here but I promise you that I’ll call up to Miss Athena as soon as she’s here okay?”

Jax leaned into me. “You’ll be okay, right, Mama?”

“Yeah, buddy. Ladies have babies all the time, you know that.”

Another contraction gripped me and I tried my hardest not to let on how much pain I was in as Johnny lifted Jax back to the floor, suddenly realizing how far along I was.

“Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, bud. Head up to Athena’s alright? Let her know that Mama’s having the baby, okay?”

“Okay.”

He slowly made his way out of the house. “I feel bad making him leave.”

“Babe, all you need to do right now is focus on our baby girl. When did your water break?”

“Right before I sent Jax out to you. Oh fuck.” Another contraction hit me, just as the last had subsided. “I need to lie down. Can you call the midwife?”

Johnny reached for me, as I crouched down holding on to the counter for leverage. I moaned as the pain overtook me, losingfocus on everything but the weird, mismatched handle on the drawer in front of me. It had never bothered me before. In fact, I’d never even asked why it didn’t match the others but right now it made me insane.

“I want… this fixed… when the baby is here,” I panted out, nodding my head in the direction of the knob in question.

He laughed which made me want to punch him in the nuts but he agreed, “Of course, baby. Anything you want.”

“Help me up.”

Johnny reached his hands under my arms pulling me back to my feet.

“I want to get to our room before another one hits. I’m all wet and I don’t like it.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

I wobbled my way to our room, stopping once in the hallway when another contraction hit. By the time we made it there, I thought I’d run a marathon. Johnny ran into the bathroom to grab a towel for me to sit on and propped me up in bed before reaching for his phone to call the midwife.

“Hey, Ivy, yeah it’s time… close… real close. Her water broke a little bit ago. Okay. Thanks.”

I listened to his side of the conversation, grateful we had a midwife at the ranch right now. She was dating one of the guys and we’d hit it off as soon as she found out I was pregnant. I had still been in my first trimester, puking my brains out behind the barn when she’d found me. With the hospital being an hour away without traffic I loved the idea of never leaving the comfort of home.

“Okay, she’s on her way. You doing okay?”

I nodded and tried to rearrange myself so that I was on my side and was failing miserably.

“Reba, let me help you.”

“I can do it myself.” My voice was a little more forceful than I wanted it to be and karma chose that moment to pay me back for being a bitch by slugging me with one of the worst contractions yet. I gripped Johnny’s hand as he rubbed my back and I cried out in pain.

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