Page 14 of Torn in Half

“What?” His mouth gaped as he stared at her in disbelief. How had he not known that? “Seriously?”

She chuckled. “Yes, seriously. Your father was such a basket case, they almost had to sedate him.”

“She’s making that up,” Chuck retorted, but the smile on his face belied his statement. “All right, maybe I was a little nuts, but that was because you, boy, weren’t easy on your mother. At least Devon, John, and Nick were much faster. Nick was the longest labor next to you, and he was out within six hours.”

“That’s because he weighed the most out of all of you and the fact I hadn’t been pregnant in years.” Nick had been a surprise pregnancy, nine years after John had been born, since their parents had thought they were done having children.

“Hey, Boss-man, I’ve got Ang on Skype.”

After giving his mother a swift kiss on the cheek, Ian hurried over and took the laptop and seat Brody offered him. In his rush, he fumbled the computer. Brody snatched it before it hit the floor and handed it back to him. “Chill and channel your inner Dom—she doesn’t need to see you freaking out.”

Knowing his friend was right—Ian had to be calm and strong for Angie—he took a few deep breaths. A pair of noise-cancelling headphones had been plugged into the laptop, and he put them on to drown out the jet’s white noise and the few conversations taking place. The video feed was bouncing around while he waited for Angie to come into view. Kristen’s voice filtered through. “Hang on a sec, Ian.”

Finally, his wife was there, looking more beautiful than ever but a bit upset. Her eyes were red, and her face had a sheen of perspiration. Her long, blonde hair was up in the ponytail he loved to tug on when they were scening. “Hey, Angel, can you hear me?”

“Ian, I’m sorry—”

Her sob and sudden tears almost ripped him to shreds. “Hush. There’s nothing to be sorry about. You can’t control Mother Nature—trust me, I’ve tried on many occasions.” Just not in terms of procreation. “If Little Bit decides to come into the world before I get there, then I’m going to stay with you on here for the entire time and watch and coach you as best I can, okay?”

The video tilted a little as she wiped her eyes with a tissue. “Okay.”

“So, give me a sit-rep. Is Monique there yet?” She better be.

Angie shook her head. “Not yet, but she’ll be here in a little while. The nurse told her I’ll be in labor for hours, so she’s getting some more sleep but said to call her if I start to progress. I’m only two centimeters dilated, and the baby’s heart rate is good. The contractions are still about fourteen minutes apart.”

“What do they feel like?” He wanted to know everything she was experiencing. The wonder of giving birth was the most special gift God had given women—men couldn’t handle it, of that Ian was certain after watching Angie’s body change and react over the past nine months as Little Bit grew inside her. Give Ian and his teams a mission, they had it covered. Make one of them push something the size of a peanut out their cocks, yeah, they’d be screaming and begging for morphine. Make it the size of an orange, and C-sections would’ve been performed for every delivery since ancient times. And, God forbid, they had to give birth to a baby the size of a watermelon, like Angie would be doing soon, because the human race would’ve been extinct not long after it’d been created.

“In terms you can relate to? Right now, it feels like my nipples were moved to my lower back and you just took off a set of clamps.” He chuckled at her analogy. “Trust me, I’ll let you know when the urge to castrate you hits. And I’m warning you now, do not even think of tallying up my curse words for future punishments or money for the swear jar, because I have a feeling I’m in for pain like I’ve never felt before.”

“I wish I could take the pain from you, Angel. Don’t worry about cursing—hell, you can curse me if you need to—you get a free pass for the next few days. I love you.”

“I love you too.” She paused. “Is your mom awake? Is she up to talking? I’d like to say hi before the next contraction.”

“Yeah, she just sat down next to me. Hang on.” Removing the headphones, he gave them to his mother and turned the laptop, so she could see Angie. “Talk normal—she’ll hear you.”

Once she had the headphones on, Marie waved at the laptop’s camera. “Hi, sweetie. How are you? I’m so sorry Ian’s not there, but thanks to technology, it’s almost like he’s there.”

He put his arm around his mother as the two women chatted for a moment. Having lost her own parents in her early twenties, Angie had developed a close bond with Chuck and Marie over the past few years, and they often talked on the phone. On more than one occasion, Angie had mentioned she’d gotten lucky in the in-law department and loved when his parents visited.

His mother tapped his leg. “Tell Nick, Jake, Devon, and your dad to come here a minute, please. Chuck and I have something we want to tell all of you.”

Ian’s eyes narrowed, but he did as he was told. Once the four men joined them, Marie looked back at the screen. She still had the headphones on. “We were going to announce this when we got home but might as well do it now. Dad and I are going to be semi-retiring over the next few months.” Ian’s eyebrows weren’t the only ones to shoot upward. “We’ve been talking about this for a year or so now and think it’s time. Chuck has a good executive board in place, and I’ll be continuing with my charity work only. I’ve already advised my partners that I’ll be leaving the practice. And . . . we’ll be moving to Tampa or Clearwater by the end of the year. Our whole family is in Florida, and at our age, that’s where we want to be—with our family. If that’s okay with all of you, of course.”

“Of course!” The sentiment was unanimous among her sons and son-in-law, and as far as Ian could tell, Angie had agreed as well.

Ian reached out and shook his father’s hand. “It’s about damn time, Dad. When are you getting the fishing boat you’ve been talking about forever?”

A wink preceded Chuck’s response. “It’s already in the works. And I already have one of my top agents looking for an apartment or townhouse for us. We don’t need a huge house anymore.”

“Whoops,” Marie declared, taking off the headphones. “Hang on, sweetie. I’m giving you back to Ian so you can curse the day he was born to him.”

“What do you mean the labor stalled?” Angie asked Monique at the same time Ian did via Skype. She’d been having contractions every thirteen or fourteen minutes for several hours, but now they were coming about twenty-five minutes apart and not as strong. The nurse had contacted her obstetrician, and she’d come to the hospital immediately. “What—is that bad for the baby?”

“No, it’s not. Here, let me take that from you for a minute.” Monique gently pulled the iPad from Angie’s shaky grasp and sat with one hip on the bed next to her, turning the device so Ian could see both of them. “A stalled labor is not uncommon, and there’s nothing to worry about. I believe the reason your contractions have slowed down is due to emotional stress, so I want you to try to relax a bit. Get comfy and take a nap if you can. There’s a full bathroom across the hallway where you can take a shower, if you want. I also recommend you walk the halls when you feel up to it. All these things can help get the labor progressing again. Ian, talk about memories you share, tell some jokes, or be your usual, sarcastic self, anything to make Angie smile and relax. Talk her into subspace if you can. As a last resort, Angie, I can give you a sedative that won’t harm the baby, or I can start you on Pitocin.”

“No! No Pitocin.” That was one of the things she’d learned about in an online chatroom for mothers and mothers-to-be. The drug was supposed to induce labor, but it could also result in needing a C-section. Also, if she had any chance of not giving birth until Ian arrived, induction would probably cancel that out.

Monique patted her hand. “I remember you telling me you didn’t want to go that route, if at all possible, but I’m just reminding you it’s an option. The baby is not in any distress. Do those things I suggested, and we’ll keep monitoring you and the baby. As long as you’re both okay, we’ll let nature take its course. When he or she is ready, it’ll happen, okay?”

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