Page 65 of Brother to Brother

“Disney is like Shelly’s BFF, he and Aaron are supposed to be in the birthing suite, Aaron has camera duty and he told me a long time ago that he’salwaysbeen gay, as in he’s never even seen a vagina.”

I started laughing, “And his first encounter with one is going to be during the miracle of childbirth?”

“I know, right!?”

We both laughed hysterically over that for a minute, and I thought to myself, what I wouldn’t pay to see the looks on their faces at the same time that I prayed for Shelly that what happened to me with Noah would never happen to her. Although with the lot of these men and the ol’ ladies of the Sacred Hearts present, I didn’t think there was an icicle’s chance in hell.

“I’m so happy for her I think I could die,” I confessed.

“So am I, but I’mdyingto know if it’s a boy or girl.”

“Me too! I can’t believe she and Ghost literally waited to the last second.”

“Me either.”

We chatted about it all the way to the hospital, and when we parked, we got out to the sound of the far off thunder of rapidly approaching motorcycles. I got Noah out of his seat and he was twisting this way and that calling, “Daddy! Daddy! Momma I hear Daddy!” which made me smile. Everett and Mandy had Eden out of the car in equal time and we all headed inside.

We met Ashton, Hayden, and Shelly just inside the door. Shelly was sitting in a wheel chair panting, a light dew of sweat on her upper lip as she squeezed her eyes shut and groaned.

“Okay, here we go!” a nurse declared.

Hayden said, “I hope you have a waiting room big enough for all of us.”

“How many of you are there?” she asked.

“Alot!” Dragon called, striding through the sliding doors.

“Where’s my wife!?” Ghost called and Shelly started screaming for him.

“Ghost! Ghost, I’m right here, oh god it hurts!”

Ghost and Disney blew past us and took up post to either side of Shelly’s chair, holding her hands.

“Aaron’s on the way!” Dani called and Archer found me and Noah.

“Daddy! Auntie Shelly scared.” Our son reached for his father and Archer picked him up.

“She’s gonna be okay, buddy. You’ll see,” Archer said and Noah hugged him.

“Poor Auntie Shelly!” Noah declared to a round of laughter from all of us, brother and ol’ lady alike.

“Waiting room is this way, folks! Come on!” Another nurse had taken charge of the lot of us and we followed her down to a waiting room.

Noah and Eden ended up in a corner with the toys, sliding those wooden beads along the metal twisty and curvy wires. Those strange toys for infants and toddlers that just abouteverywaiting room ineveryhospital or doctor’s office had.

Nox was sitting with them and Archer and some of the guys had gone to raid the vending machines. We’d been sitting here a good long while. Like going on nine hours now and finally, Mandy broached the topic.

“So what happened when you gave birth to Noah that made it so awful?” she asked.

I sighed, “First off, I was alone. My parents had me take a taxi to the hospital. So as if that wasn’t bad enough, I couldn’t afford anything like birthing classes, so I had no idea what to expect. First, I was told by one of the nurses that I looked too young to be having a baby. She was theworst.I can’t even begin to describe how awful this woman was.

“I was in a lot of pain, because first time giving birth, and I kept asking her if that was normal and she basically told me to quit whining.”

“Oh my god!” Dani decried.

“Yeah, if I’d been there, I would have hoofed her right in her front butt and told her to quit whining and walk it off, see how she liked it.” Everett said darkly.

“Then, the doctor decided that he wanted to be home in time for dinner and that Noah wasn’t coming on his schedule, so that meant I needed a c-section, which Ididn’t want.”

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