Page 93 of Tuck & Roll

“No. We haven’t seen Taylor in a few months and haven’t talked to her in several weeks,” Carol explained. Her eyes filled with tears as she turned to Martin. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

Taylor’s dad cleared his throat. “How far along is she?”

“She’s due in about three weeks.”

Carol’s head jerked like he’d slapped her. “I don’t understand. Why wouldn’t Taylor tell us she was pregnant? And she said you’re the father but you don’t think the baby is yours?” Martin’s hand settled over hers, giving it a gentle squeeze.

Tuck rubbed a hand down his face, hating that he was delivering blow after blow to two of the nicest people he’d ever known.

“The date she’s giving me fits into the time we were together, but to be honest, we weren’t really sleeping together toward the end before I broke things off for good. The only reason I let her move in was on the off chance it was mine, I couldn’t not help her out. And then, she told me you guys didn’t want anything to do with her. As for why she didn’t tell you she was in town and pregnant, I have no idea. Normally, I might say it was Taylor being Taylor, but that really doesn’t excuse her behavior.”

“It’s our fault.” Martin hung his head in shame. “We spoiled her rotten, giving her everything her heart desired. We never told her no about anything.”

It was true, Taylor’s parents did play a part in how Taylor turned out, but he couldn’t hold it against them. Ultimately, Taylor was responsible for her own actions.

“I’m sorry I had to be the one to break the news to you. I’ve been meaning to reach out to you for several weeks, but things kept taking my attention and time. I’m sorry it’s taken this long.”

Martin shook his head. “It’s not your fault or your responsibility to tell us what’s going on in Taylor’s life. I’m sorry she dragged you into yet another mess she’s gotten herself into. I’d like to come by your house and talk with her after we’ve had time to process all this.”

“I don’t know if I can talk to her right now, Martin.” Carol pulled herself from his side and wiped tears from her cheeks. “I’m so mad at her right now, I need some time to come to terms with all of this. I don’t want to see her until we’ve come up with some sort of game plan on how to deal with her. She needs a Come to Jesus moment and I need to think on how we’re going to give it to her.” Her eyes turned to Tuck. “I know it’s asking a lot, but can she stay with you just a little bit longer? We need to get some things set in motion before we can deal with her.”

It was the last thing he wanted to do. He wanted to rid himself of Taylor as quickly as possible so he could move on with his life with Kylie. Unable to deny Carol the time she needed to wrap her head around all this, he replied, “Yeah. That would be fine. If anything changes before then, I’ll call you.”

So, like he promised he’d do if something changed, he was calling her parents to get them to the hospital, hopefully to meet their new grandson. A nurse showed up in the doorway to the waiting room as he was finishing his call and told him it was okay for him to follow her to Taylor’s room. When he entered the room, she was in a hospital gown and propped up in bed with an I.V. hooked to the back of her hand. There were also a couple of different monitors next to her bed making little beeping noises. The nurse smiled at him and told them she would be back in to check on her in a little bit. She was going to notify her doctor that she was here.

“How are you doing?” He went to stand on the opposite side of the bed from all the equipment being used to monitor her progress. He settled his hands on the railing and wondered what exactly the monitors kept track of.

“Okay, I think. They’re getting closer. Uhhhh. Here comes another one.” She reached out and grabbed his hand, squeezing a lot harder than he thought she was capable of. After the contraction passed, she released the tight grip she’d had on his hand and leaned her head back on her pillow. He reached behind him and pulled the only chair in the room closer to the bed.

“Are you excited about being a mom?” He hadn’t thought to ask her that question until now and he was genuinely curious about her answer.

Her hair was up in a messy bun on top of her head and her face free of makeup. She had a pregnancy glow about her that made her beautiful. She might not have liked everything about her pregnancy, but she pulled it off well.

The smile she turned his way was full of happiness and excitement. “Yes. I was scared to death at the thought of being a mom when I first found out, but the longer I was pregnant and could feel the baby moving, the more excited I got. I’d spend a lot of time trying to picture what the little guy would look like.” She turned her head on the pillow so that she was looking at the ceiling, a dreamy sort of look on her face. “I can’t believe he’s finally going to be here. That I’m going to be holding him anytime now.”

The beeping on her monitor started to pick up, signaling another contraction coming. “God, these contractions suck.” She gripped her belly and rode it out.

One of the nurses knocked on the door, before pushing it open. “I’m just going to take a quick look to see how far along you’re getting.” Taylor bent her knees while the nurse stood to the side of the bed, pulling up the blanket and checking underneath. “Looking good. Won’t be long now.” She pulled the blanket back down, snapped her gloves off and disposed of them at the door.

“Am I close?” Taylor asked.

“You have a little farther to go, but you’re getting there.” Before she exited the room, she told her the doctor would be in soon to see her and someone would be down to set her up with the epidural she’d requested.

“Can you hand me some ice chips?” Taylor requested. “They won’t let me eat or drink anything.”

“Sure.” Tuck got up to retrieve her cup with ice chips, handing it to her.

“Are you nervous about being a dad?”

Was he nervous about being a dad to her child? No. Was he nervous about being a dad to Kylie’s child? Again, his answer would be no. Being a parent with Kylie at his side was going to make things a hell of a lot easier. “No. I’m not nervous.”

Another contraction was building, sooner than the last one. From the sound of the monitor, it was also growing in intensity. “Ahhhh. God. It hurts. When will they get here to give me my epidural?”

Tuck didn’t know, but he wished the man with the drugs would hurry up. Her contractions were still mostly every fifteen minutes, but occasionally another would come a minute or two sooner and they seemed to be lasting longer. The longer it took to get the epidural, the more tired she was starting to look. She had sweat beading along her hairline and all the breathing exercises she was doing didn’t seem to be helping. He might not be in love with the woman, but damn, what she was going through looked painful. He’d once heard childbirth for a man would be equal to passing a kidney stone. And thank God the hole in their dick didn’t expand ten times its normal size to pass it. He shivered and hoped like hell he never got one.

Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door. Dr. Peters came in, a broad smile on his face. “Hello! I see you’re ready to have a baby. Let’s take a look and see how things are progressing.” He pulled some gloves out of a holder mounted on the wall. Stepping to the bed, he pulled the blanket up and took a look.

The door opened again, this time a man in light blue scrubs and a white lab coat entered, carrying something that resembled a tackle box. He placed it on the bed, introduced himself and told them he would be giving Taylor her epidural.

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