Page 72 of Totally Shipped
“So great,” Rex says from his place by the fire—Keyara curled on his knee.
Something catches my eye; a commotion, and Gray comes barreling in.
“Hey, you’re all here? Thank fuck. Shit, you’ll never guess…what?”
He comes to a sudden halt. Then runs the last few steps to Daisy.
“Daisy?”
Her body has been flopped on mine, but now I feel it start to stiffen.
“Gray?” she whispers. Then she can’t speak any more, a low groan comes deep inside her throat.
“Breathe with me…”
"What's happening, Killian?"
I can’t concentrate on Gray, Daisy is clutching my shoulders, tears streaming down her face.
"She’s in labor…” says Leander, moving to Gray and putting an arm around his shoulder.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
“One, two, three, four…”
“Isn’t it too soon?” Gray is yelling in the background
“Five, six, seven…”
“Her due date has always been guesswork, maybe this is fine…”
“MAYBE?”
“Gray,” I hiss at him, “take it down a notch.”
Daisy’s body starts to slacken again.
“I can’t,” she whispers. “I’m too tired, I can’t keep going.”
“You’re nearly there. Someone start counting, when need to time her contractions.”
If we were at a hospital, someone would be checking to see how dilated her cervix is. Is that something we should do?
We’ll wait on that. Wait until the contractions are much closer. That’s when we need to ensure she doesn’t push until she’s fully dilated. How could we have done this to her?
Daisy’s eyes are closed again. Gray moves behind me. “Sorry,” he says quietly in my ear. “Can I help?”
“Get behind and hold me.”
Gray’s long arms circle around my chest, and my tired muscles appreciate the slight reprieve from holding Daisy up.
“Daisy, suck on this, get some energy.” Leander is feeding her tiny bits of warm coconut.
Warm coconut.
“Open up some fresh coconuts, the inside will be sterile. And I need all your clothes.”
Nobody questions me, just does what I ask.
