Page 69 of Doctor Daddy

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BROOKE

My water broke in the most epic cinematic fashion while we were setting up for an obstetrics conference. One minute I was fine, the next I was in full force labor. The hotel had to be crawling with baby doctors by now, so why did Jason have to come back with Mark of all the people?

Pain clamped down on my entire body. I groaned through the pain.

“Push,” Mark told me again.

Like that’s not what my body was naturally doing. I was too exhausted to snap back at them. I was fighting just to get through the pain. My teeth clenched together, and it was a very real struggle to breathe.

I didn’t know if I could also focus on pushing too. Everything hurt. I didn’t know I had muscles in my toes that could cramp up that hard.

“Push, you’ve got this,” Mark coached from between my knees.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” I managed to pant out.

I resented the fact that I had gone into labor in the middle of my shift. I resented that I was being a spectacle, surrounded by confused hotel staff who were doing their best but weren’t labor and delivery nurses. I resented the fact that I was going to have my twins born on the floor of this ballroom and their father was going to deliver them and he didn’t even know they were his.

I screamed and curled up, grabbing my knees as I had been told. Jason was doing his best to be a good labor coach, but he was out of his depth. He was just a part-time employee while he worked his way through his undergraduate degree. I squeezed his hand hard. I probably broke several bones in his hand doing so.

“God Brooke, this is amazing. You are doing really well,” he said but he looked scared.

While Mark looked like he knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he did. He was a baby doctor.

“Okay, Brooke, we’re getting close. On this next one, I need you to push with all your might. While you do that, I’m going to twist the baby, so the shoulders come out. Okay. It’s gonna happen fast. I need you to–”

I couldn’t hear him anymore as the contraction took over my body. I did as he told me, pushing with everything I had. I growled out a scream and suddenly with a rush, I could tell the baby was out. I stared at Mark whose focus was all on the small, messy new-born in his hands.

And then I heard the most amazing sound. My baby cried. Mark held the baby in his hands, just looking at it for the longest time.

He shifted his gaze to me. “She looks like you.”

He handed her to me, laying her on my chest. There was a brief moment between us, and I thought he knew, thought he had figured it out that this was his daughter. The moment ended as swiftly as it had begun. He turned his attention away from me and began barking orders at the other people who were still not sure what to do or where to go.

“Is that ambulance here yet? Let them know the baby’s been delivered,” he said.

She was perfect. I don’t know if she looked like me, but her face held a serious expression that looked like Mark's.

“She looks like her father,” I said before I started to moan as my contractions continued.

“The second one is coming,” I managed to say.

Mark looked back at me with a combination of surprise and confusion on his face. “What do you mean?”

“That’s only the first one. Twins,” I managed to pant out.

“I need some clean pillowcases!” he yelled. “What’s taking so long? Where is that emergency crew?”

I still needed to push. It was hard to cradle the baby in my arms while I was overcome with so much pain.

“I need you to stop pushing right now. Do you hear me, Brooke? Don’t push, let the contractions get the baby into position.”

“No, no. I need to push,” I whined.

Mark put his hand on my stomach. “Stop pushing. Look at me, breathe with me. Breathe with me.”

He lifted his hand across his chest as he inhaled.

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