Page 11 of Blake Marshall Says He Needs Me

I patted Missy’s hand and subtly shook my head. I knew Shelby didn’t mean any offense; she was obviously just in freak-out mode.

“Yeah, we need to go to the hospital.”

Missy pointed to me. “I’m pretty sure I couldn’t be in better hands right now since Shannon has been staring at my hoo-ha the past months and is going to catch the baby when I shoot it out.”

Shelby looked from Missy to me and then back to Missy. “I’m an idiot,” she whispered.

Missy nodded. “Yeah, girl. You’re kind of losing your marbles right now. Leave the freaking out to me, okay? I’m the one about to push a ten-pound baby out.”

“She’s not ten pounds,” I laughed. “She’s more like eight and a half pounds.”

Missy tipped her head to the side and glared at me. “Is that supposed to make me feel better? I want you to push an eight-and-a-half-pound baby out right now.”

“You’re going to be fine, Missy. You’re going to join the ranks of millions of amazing women who wear the title mama.” I patted her leg. “And you could just be having Braxton hicks right now. The next few minutes will help me figure out what we’re dealing with.”

“Just watch TV,” Shelby called. She motioned to the TV. “Just focus.”

Missy rolled her eyes but turned to the TV.

It had been almost six minutes since her last contraction. The longer she went between contractions, the longer she had before pushing.

Two minutes later, Missy moaned, “Oh god,” and panted, “It’s starting to hurt. "

I grabbed her hand with both of my hands. “Breath through it, and squeeze my hand, sweetie.”

“Oh god,” Shelby cried.

“Shelby, I need you to call Charlie and tell him to meet us at the hospital,” I ordered.

“What hospital?” Missy panted. “I wanted to do it at your hospital, but will we be able to make it there?”

This was the one drawback of Missy living an hour away from the clinic and hospital where I normally delivered, but being me, I had thought of every scenario. “Uh, I’m sure you could make it, but we’re not going to risk it. We’re heading to the local hospital. I have privileges there.”

“What does that mean?” Shelby asked.

“It means I talked to the hospital a couple of months ago and let them know I might be coming in with a patient. They’re cool with it. Call Charlie and tell him to meet us at Adams General,” I ordered again.

Shelby nodded rapidly and pulled her phone out.

“This is why I love you, Shannon,” Missy breathed out. “You thought of everything.”

“It’s kind of my job, sweetie,” I laughed. “Now, just focus on your breathing. Is this contraction the same, worse, or not as bad as the last one?”

“Same,” Missy wheezed. She looked up at me, her eyes filled with fear. “Am I about to have a baby?” she asked.

“Well, I can’t say for certain, but I would assume you’re going to meet your little girl within the next day or so. Your water hasn’t broken yet, so you’ve got some time.”

She nodded and dropped her chin to her chest. “Okay, okay,” she whispered. “I can do this. I can do this as long as you’re with me.”

“And Charlie,” I laughed. “I think you need Charlie there, too.”

“He did this to me,” Missy cried. “He’s the reason why I’m about to have a baby ripped from my loins.”

“Ripped from your loins?” Shelby mimicked. “Are you sure– Charlie!” she shouted into the phone.

“Are we sure we should have put Shelby in charge of telling Charlie I’m in labor?” Missy asked.

“We didn’t really have much choice,” I laughed.

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