Page 64 of Meant to Be

I stand back and let the midwife work. She puts a sheet underneath Shelby’s backside between her legs, and suddenly water gushes over the bed.

“There you go.” She looks at me grinning. “Right then Shelby, as soon as you get the urge to push then you go for it, darling.” Shelby nods as she sucks on the gas and air.

“Dad, you might want to be here for this.”

“Shelby, the pain is going to get worse so suck on the gas as you have a contraction and as soon as you get the feeling then push down.”

Within minutes Shelby holds my hand and squeezes until I can’t feel it anymore, but I don’t care because she does so well. I get the damp cloth from the side and wipe her forehead with it, cooling her down.

“Jax,” she gasps, taking the pipe from her lips, “It hurts so much.”

“You’re doing it Shelb, not long now.” She pushes down again as she has another contraction. The midwife stands at the bottom of the bed.

“Okay guys, I can see the head. On the next one Shelby, I need you to push as hard as you can.”

Shelby does as she’s told and pushes. I keep one eye on Shelby and switch to keep one at the bottom of the bed where the midwife is.

“The head is out. Well done Shelby. Okay, one more big push and we’ll have him out. Shelby nods as I kiss her head, and with all she’s got left in her, she pushes until we hear a high-pitched wail.

Shelby gasps for breath, tears roll down her face, but she’s never looked more beautiful than she does right now. Wiping them away, I kiss her telling her how amazing she is.

The midwife brings him over to us a few minutes later wrapped up in a sheet, placing our baby on his mummy’s chest.

“Congratulations to you both, you have a perfect little boy.

Samuel Jack Cartwright came into the world at eight seventeen pm.

I wrap my arms around them both, not wanting to ever let them go.

My family. My world.

Epilogue

Shelby

A Year Later

Lying here, I watch Jax with his son. They’re so happy, and Samuel is so much like Jax. He has a lot of his expressions and little ways.

The last year hasn’t been easy in any sense of the word. Jax and I had to deal with being apart at night until his sentence had finally finished. It was hard watching him leave us.

We’d bathe Samuel together, and then Jax would put him down for the night. We always made sure we had an hour to ourselves before he’d have to leave us again, though.

Most nights there were tears, insecurities - thinking he wouldn’t come back to us.

To top off everything else, I didn’t see him much in the day as he started working too. The parole officer managed to set up a job for him at a car garage; then the insecurities really set in. I was sure he’d find someone else with no commitments, even though he tried to convince me that it was all in my head and I was the only person he’d ever want. He’d tell me he loved me every single day without fail.

Once Jax’s sentence was finished completely, Dad offered to have him move in with us. He hated to see me upset all the time and Jax would need somewhere to live, and this was the best option for everyone. Jax didn’t mind the rules and regulations my dad made, after all, he’d been used to them from prison and then the halfway house. The easiest part was being together at night - being able to cuddle up together was the best part of the day.

I never did pass my exams, but I’m re-sitting my core exams at college and starting at foundation level. I still want to work with children, that hasn’t changed - even more so now. The college has a crèche, so the days that Anna is working I can put Samuel in there.

After having him, a social worker visited me and told me that I’d have to go to college as it’s part of the system now. They wanted me to have the best possible start and not lose out on the facilities that were offered to young mothers, so she helped me get into college. I don’t mind, it was always in my plans anyway, but this way I get extra help.

If you’d asked me how I saw myself in eighteen months, I would never have said it would be with a baby, but hey, life happens, and things change. Even the best plans go wrong, and I wouldn’t change anything in my life for anything now.

I’ve grown up so much since meeting Jax and becoming pregnant, my priorities changed a lot. When I look back, I can see why my mother pushed me so hard, but not the way she went about it. I know she probably hates me, but I have to live with that. She once told us that we didn’t know what love was; we proved her wrong.

We’ve overcome a lot of issues that most adults struggle with. I know we’re still young, and we have a long road ahead of us, but I know as long as I have Jax and my son, then my life is complete. We can handle whatever life throws at us.

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