Page 168 of For Wrath and Redemption
Jonah huffs a small laugh and jerks out a nod in agreement.
“To see you now, to know what you went through...I’m so proud of you, Jonah. I’m so grateful for your strength and bravery. We’re here because of you. I wouldn’t want to do it with anyone else.”
“You’ve been strong and brave, too, Claire. Your recovery hasn’t been easy, either. Be proud of yourself. I am.”
I smile. “We’re earning it together, right?”
“Together. One day at a time.”
I wake from a pain in my lower back.
It happens all the time now. One of the joys of late-stage pregnancy. I stand and stretch, and it lessens the pain, but it doesn’t subside. Quietly, I walk from one side of the room to the other and breathe through the aches. At times like this, I find Jonah’s deep, undisturbed sleep almost annoying. I haven’t been able to sleep through the night for weeks, and here he is, slumbering away without a tiny human beating him up from the inside.
I put a hand on my stomach and exhale slowly as another pain tightens in my abdomen. Braxton-Hicks contractions are no joke. There’s been more than one time where I thought I might be in active labor, but nope. It was just “practice contractions.”
For practice, though, they really fucking suck.
When walking the room doesn’t work, I move quietly into the en suite to draw a bath. I turn on the tap, sprinkle in some bath salts, and then shrug out of my clothes. I’m dropping my shirt into the hamper when another cramp hits in my abdomen that’s so sharp, my body bows and I gasp.
“Ow, fuck,” I grumble. “Take it easy.”
I brace myself on the bathroom counter with one hand while the other rests on my lower stomach, and another sharp pain shoots through me. I hiss through my teeth and exhale slowly.
Fuck me.I’ll be glad when this is all over.
I stand back up and walk toward the tub, but halfway there, water trickles down my inner thigh. I stop walking and look down. When tightening my muscles doesn’t stop the trickle, my pulse starts to race, and I call for Jonah.
“Hey, babe?”
To his credit, I don’t have to call for him twice. I hear the blankets rustle and the bed shift, and almost immediately he appears in the bathroom doorway. He drags concerned eyes down my naked body, surveying me for harm.
“Is everything okay? What can I do?”
“Well,” I say with a forced smile. “I think my water broke.”
His brows shoot to his hairline. “Your water broke?”
“That or I peed myself, but I’m pretty sure I didn’t pee myself.”
“Your water broke.” He drops his eyes to the tile floor under my feet. “Your water broke.”
“Yes. It did.”
“She’s coming?” He looks back at me with wide, excited eyes and a smile blooming across his beautiful face. “Our daughter is coming?”
Love and adoration pour from him in waves. Anything else I might have felt, any fear or anxiety that was building inside me, is diluted enough that his love is all I can focus on. He’s been an amazing partner, but I think he’s going to be an even more amazing father. I am so lucky that I get to witness it play out in real time.
I nod and smile back.
“Yeah, Jonah. Our daughter is coming.”
43
JONAH
I’min awe of her.
Her ten little fingers and ten little toes. Her head full of dark curls. Her button nose and cherubic cheeks. As she sleeps snuggled up on Claire’s chest, I’ve never seen anything more perfect. I just sit beside the hospital bed rubbing my thumb back and forth over Claire’s forearm and staring.
