Page 7 of Spring UnVeiled
As she drove into the garage, Kylie waddled out, the overnight bag that Gen had demanded she prepare in one hand, the other rubbing her protruding stomach.
“I’m ready to go,” Kylie announced as she hefted her body into the passenger seat.“The contractions are four minutes apart.”
Holy shit.This was it.
Gen inhaled the cleansing breath and exhaled slowly.“Okay, then, let’s do this.”
As she backed out of the driveway, the car indicated an incoming call.“Dad” appeared on the dashboard screen.It was Kylie’s phone that was ringing through to the hands-free system.
Fucking great.
“Did you call him and tell him you were in labor?Is he getting on a plane to come out here?”Gen didn’t like the way her daughter rolled her lips into a flat line then lifted her shoulders in a slight shrug.
“Well?”She pressed.
The phone rang again.
“Are you going to answer that?”
She heard Kylie gulp before she pressed to answer the call.When her daughter said nothing, Gen decided to take control of the situation.
“Hey, Evan, Kylie and I are in the car on the way to the hospital.Since we don’t know how long this is going to take, you’re welcome to join us there.”She wasn’t going to keep him from meeting his first granddaughter or grandson.Kylie had insisted on not knowing the sex ahead of time so Gen couldn’t even tell him which to expect.
There was a long pause of silence.
“Evan?Did we lose you?”It sounded as though he was in a car.Maybe he was on the way to the airport.
“Won’t that be a bit awkward with the baby’s father there?”His reply baffled her.
“Kylie, did you tell your dad who was the baby’s father?”Gen was instantly hurt that her daughter wouldn’t tell her the father’s name, but she’d tell her father.But if he knew, they could contact the father and let him know.Maybe he’d want to be there.
Their daughter sniffed, then broke out in tears.“I didn’t tell him anything.”
“Okay, so your dad doesn’t know who the father is either?”Gen needed to clarify this point.
Kylie shook her head.“No.I mean I didn’t tell himanything.”She wiped her eyes with a paper napkin she found in the center console.Rubbing her belly, she confessed, “He doesn’t know.”
“Oh, Jesus.”Gen stopped behind the cars at the red light.“Are you telling me your dad doesn’t even know you’re pregnant?”
Kylie shook her head and pointed to the dashboard indicating the still-active call.“He does now.”
“Evan, I was just informed that you know nothing about the pending birth of your first grandchild.”
“What-the-fuck?”His voice exploded through every speaker in her car.“Kylie is…my little girl…is pregnant?”He seemed to spit out the last word.
Their daughter arched her back and burst into tears, screaming.“It hurts.”
“Ah-he, ah-who.Breathe through the contraction like they taught you in the class.Concentrate on your breathing, not the pain.”Gen tried to keep her words calm.
“What the hell is happening?Why is she screaming?”Evan’s urgent voice wasn’t helping.
“Kylie is in labor.That’s why we’re headed to the hospital.Contractions hurt.”Like a bitch.But Gen didn’t want to encourage anymore screaming.“That’s the part of our daughter’s birth that you missed.”She was being a bitch and knew it.They’d been out somewhere in the ocean learning to deep dive when she’d gone into labor.Kylie had already been born by the time he got back to shore.
“My baby is having a baby?”Incredulity laced his quiet voice.
“Yes.”Gen didn’t know who to be angrier with, her daughter or her ex-husband.She thought he and Kylie talked regularly, like every week or two.“Obviously, you haven’t kept up with her in months.”
But he’d seen her at Thanksgiving, although she hadn’t been very pregnant at the time and probably wasn’t showing much.She could have easily hidden it by wearing a long sweater, especially since Virginia would feel chilly compared to Southern California.Gen had noticed that her daughter had put on a little weight at Christmas time, but it wasn’t until Kylie announced she was not going back to college that she realized why.
