Page 118 of Rebel Heart
Jules pulled her head back to look up at me. “Are you suggesting that you wouldn’t be too far away from me for too long if you did that?”
My lips twitched. “You’re right. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
We took a few more minutes to cuddle with one another, but eventually, we got up and made our way downstairs.
“No ideas of what you’d like to do yet?” I asked after we sat down to eat.
Jules picked up a piece of her toast and bit into it. “I’d like to deliver a baby.”
“I know. But in case that’s not going to happen until later today, we could do something else.”
“Well, it’s too cold outside.”
“Okay. We can do something indoors. How about we go to a movie? It’ll kill a few hours, you won’t have to be on your feet, and you can get some snacks.”
She considered it. “Hmmm. That’s not a bad idea, husband.”
I grinned at her. “Eat up, and we’ll see what’s playing today.”
It didn’t take Jules long to get through her meal, because it seemed she was unable to finish most of them these days with less and less room inside her body. Once we were done, I grabbed my laptop and brought it over to her.
“Here, you check out the movie listings while I get everything cleaned up.”
“Okay.”
A few minutes passed, and Jules called, “Beau?”
“Yeah? Did you find something?”
“I don’t think we’re going to be able to go to the movies today.”
“What? Why not?”
She stood from the table and stared at me with wide eyes. “It seems your efforts paid off this morning, because my water just broke.”
I blinked. “It’s… It’s happening?”
Jules nodded, her face breaking out into the biggest, happiest grin. “We’re going to meet our baby soon.”
My heart hammered. “Okay. Okay. Should we get to the car?”
“I think we can clean up the kitchen and get ourselves dressed first.”
Right.
Smart move.
I immediately got back to cleaning thekitchen, rushing through the tasks, so I could focus entirely on whatever Jules needed me to do. Thirty minutes later, it happened. We were just about to walk out the door when she had to stop and hold on to the counter. “Hang on. I think I’m having a contraction.”
“You’ve been having those for a while now, though. A couple of weeks.”
She squeezed her eyes and shook her head. “Nope. Not like this. Oh, this is intense.”
Jules made it through her contraction and was able to make it to the car. But on the way to the hospital, she’d had several more contractions that took her breath away. And they weren’t sporadic like the ones she’d been having for a few weeks now. I got a feeling our baby was much closer than we thought.
We made it to the hospital, and everything passed in a whirlwind. Nurses and doctors were in and out, setting Jules up with IVs and monitors, and getting everything ready for our baby’s arrival. Surprisingly, Jules was just about halfway through the labor process at nearly five centimeters dilated by the time we’d arrived. That’s when we knew it was time to call the family.
My stomach was a mess of nerves and excitement. It felt like we’d waited an eternity for this day, and I was beyond ready to meet this little boy or girl.
