Page 40 of Home for Nathan
“How’s Millie?” Devon asked, easing him into the most comfortable chair he’d sat in since he’d gotten so big.
“She’s doing great. She really held up like a trooper,” Raven said. He and Devon went on to discuss quite a bit of stuff, but to be perfectly honest, Nathan missed it. He was hurting pretty badly, and all he could do was look at Zion, the green flecks and the gold glint in those hazel eyes holding his attention.
He really hoped the baby didn’t look like her bio donor, and that maybe somehow or another, by some miracle, she had hazel eyes. He thought Zion’s were the most beautiful he’d ever seen.
“You’ve got this, babe,” Zion told him. “I’m right here. All you need to do is hold on to my hands, and Devon and Raven and I will do everything we can to make this easy.” That worried smile was so sweet.
“We absolutely will.” Devon had the best voice when it came to something like this. It wasn’t scary and medical, but it wasn’t strident and happy and super joy-joy. It was just calm and reassuring, and Nathan let it soothe him, especially when thecramps really took him. He was afraid that he was going to just explode.
“Are you feeling good where you are?” Devon asked. “Or do you want to go sit in the pool for a little while?”
“Will that help? I’m really having muscle contractions in the worst way, and I don’t know if I’m supposed to be ready to push anytime soon, or what.” Shouldn’t he know more at this point?
“Well, first, let me get you laid back on this chair so I can check how far along you are with your dilation. We’ll see what we see.”
“All right.” Yes, he could do that. The whole idea sounded like something he could handle. He liked to have data. He liked to have a plan. He was a weaver after all. Nathan made patterns, so that worked for him.
“Good deal. All right, Zion, I’m going to need you to move over here to the side, and then I’m just going to move the chair back and lay it out. We’ll put a sheet underneath you, Nathan, so that you feel perfectly comfortable with opening up wide and letting us clean you up a little bit while we look.”
They had washed him up after his water broke, but before he had cake. Still, he understood what they meant. He was a little gooey. There was a big goo factor to this whole business.
“Oh, you’re just progressing right along, aren’t you?” Devon hummed softly, and Nathan wasn’t sure exactly what that meant.
So he just was going to assume that meant things were good. Progressing was good, right?
“This progressing thing is good, right?” Zion asked, and he loved it, because he didn’t feel as if he was the stupid one.
Devon just chuckled. “Yes. You’re doing fine. Perfectly normal.”
Oh, that was a relief. “Do you think it’ll be soon?”
Contractions were not as fun as they were rumored to be.
“It’s hard to tell, but you’re moving along nicely, so I’m going to say, it’s what? Six o’clock? Let’s say that by tomorrow morning, there will be a baby.”
“Tomorrow morning?” Wow. “That’s okay.”
He’d be ready by then.
“So I think you should get settled. The pool is open. You can just soak. We could have the lights however makes you comfortable. There’s a television if you would like to watch TV, music. This is your birth day experience. We’re really just here to give you what you need.”
Give him what he needed. Like he knew. This was his first time.
They left, so he and Zion stared at each other, blinking and dazed.
“So…this is the last time we will ever not be dads,” he murmured. “It’s kind of exciting, isn’t it?”
Zion looked at him, so serious for a scary second, then he smiled. “Yeah.”
“Are you ready?”
That earned him a laugh and a shake of the head. “Nope. Not even a little bit.” Zion stroked his hair off his forehead. “No. But I’m excited. It’s better than any kind of trick that I did on my board, more important than winning any medal.”
Nathan honestly couldn’t think of anything more dear, or of anything he wanted to hear more. “Thank you, babe. I promise. I’ll make you happy.”
Zion laughed, kissing his forehead. “My love, you already do. Let’s have our baby, okay?”
Yeah, that sounded like a great idea.
