Page 123 of Samuel

And then, she sat straight up and curled around her belly.

“Holy… these… I think these are contractions, Sam.”

He’d known it was coming. He’d given up on rubbing her feet, switching so his hand could lay against her belly. For the better part of an hour Sam had been feeling her muscles tighten off and on, trying to make a mental note of the timing without worrying her. Still, his heart went into overdrive when he heard her say the words. Sam set the remote down on the table in front of him and stood, wiping his sweaty hands on his pants.

“Okay. Okay. How do you want to play it? Head into the hospital now? Stick around and see if there are any more?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know what to do.” The panic in her eyes hit him square in the chest, and he knew he needed to take charge. If her body was getting ready to have the baby, she didn’t need to be trying to make decisions too.

“I’ll decide then.”

“You’re just going to say we need to go into the hospital.”

“Damn straight I’m going to say that. It’s going to take at least thirty minutes to get there once we get in my truck. Let’s go.”

“We can’t just go. I’ve got to have the car seat, and the bag from the bedroom closet. If this is really it, then we can’t forget we’ll be bringing her… home…oh god. I think I’m having another one.”

“Breathe, baby.” Sam placed his hand on her belly, watching in utter amazement as it morphed from her normally soft belly into a hard, round ball. “Are they bad?”

“Um, I don’t know. They aren’t so horrible that I don’t think I can handle them, but they hurt. Grace said the practice ones aren’t supposed to hurt.”

“Okay.”

“I’m scared,” she whispered. “It’s still early. St. Clare’s doesn’t have a NICU. If she’s born and has to be transported without me…”

“She won’t. Babies can be okay at thirty-six weeks. And Grayson was perfectly fine at thirty seven weeks. If Jackson and Grace could deal with their baby being early, we can too.”

“Oh my god! How could we have slacked after what happened to them? I thought we had more time. I-I…”

“Whoa. We’re okay. This is okay. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We don’t know that she is coming for sure right now. Why don’t you go throw on a comfy shirt and find your slippers, and I’ll make sure everything else is taken care of? Who knows, maybe we’ll be laughing on the way home in a few hours after they tell us this is all just a false alarm.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She stood rooted in place, her eyes searching for something. Maybe encouragement. He could give that to her.

“Okay, sweetheart. Let’s go.”

“I need to go to the bathroom first. Will you grab what we need and I’ll be out in a second?”

“Yeah, I’ve got it. You don’t have to worry about anything.”

Sam rushed around to gather everything and ran down to the truck to shove it all in before heading back up to grab Evie.

Now, he sat at the small dining table, waiting for her to finish up in the bathroom. The door creaked as she came out. One look at her had his stomach in knots.

“Hey, what’s wrong?” Sam stood up so fast, the chair he’d been sitting in tipped over. But that didn’t matter. Evie walked out deathly pale, her hands clenched to her belly as tears spilled from her eyes.

“Sam,” her voice shook. “I’m bleeding.”

In an instant, his arm was around her as he guided her towards the front door. Fuck. Why did they have to live so far outside of town?

“It’s going to be okay. It’s probably nothing to worry about. We’ll get you to the hospital and they can check youout.” Sam placed his hand on her back, pouring support into her. “I’ve got you, Evie. I’ve got you and Jellybean. Nothing bad is going to happen to either of you. I promise.”

Stretchy bands wrapped around Evie’s belly, the sound of the baby’s heartbeat thumping loudly through her hospital room. Sam ran his thumb over the back of her hand, helping her focus on something other than the overwhelming fear trying to swallow her up.

“Thelma?” he asked, a devilish smile turning up the corners of his mouth.

“No. What is she? An outlaw?”

“Cricket?”

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