She was four days overdue, but no matter how much she begged and pleaded, her doctor didn’t want to induce her. Everything was fine, and she hadn’t dilated. So it was a waiting game. The baby was comfortable in there, apparently, and not ready to make his or her debut yet.
Ian still slumbered peacefully beside her, and she had the thought that she should kick him. If she had to be awake, then he had to be awake. It was only fair.
But no, fair or not, she’d rather kiss him than kick him. Gathering her strength to attempt a rollover, she noticed an uncomfortable ache low in her back. Huh. That was new. Not that her back didn’t hurt often, this just felt…different.
Maybe this was labor.
Ha! If only she could be so lucky. She’d been to the doctor two days ago. Not even one freaking centimeter dilated. Nothing worked—not walking, not sex, not the million and one different ways she’d tried to get things rolling. She was going to be pregnant for the rest of her life.
The ache eased somewhat, and she shoved her weight over, wincing with the effort. This was fucking ridiculous. Her massive belly ensured that it took damn near all her might to even turn onto her other side.
Whatever she’d expected, it hadn’t been this. The indignity of it all. It was one thing Kelsey hadn’t crowed about until Gabby mentioned it one day; then she’d said, “Oh yeah! Just wait until you deliver. By the time that’s over, so many people will have seen your vagina that you’ll automatically spread your legs whenever you hear the door to your room open.”
Bitch. Everything else she’d warned about had been true. Horrifically true.
Forcing her eyes closed, Gabby tried her best to get back to sleep. She almost got there. Except that dull ache in her back…
And she had to pee. Of course.
Flinging back her covers with a curse—she emitted them so often these days—she sat up with more great heaving effort…
Oh dammit. This was the final straw. Everything else she could handle, kind of, but incontinence on top of everything else…that was a deal breaker. This baby had to come out, or she was going to stage a sit-in at her OB/GYN’s office. A couple of hours of listening to her bitch, and they’d gladly give her an epidural if only to shut her up. And she’d take it.
So now she had to wake Ian up after all and tell him she needed to change the sheets she’d just peed all over.
Except…that was quite a lot of…
“Ian!” she shrieked. He popped up next to her, then sprang out of bed to grab for his clothes. She almost laughed. Was he even awake yet? Obviously, he’d been training for this. “I need some peppermint patties. Like now.”
He stopped, jeans in hand, hair rumpled up, and stared uncomprehendingly at her. “Huh?”
“Now. Keep getting dressed. Go get me some.”
“Gabby.”
“Ah! Seriously, you believe that? Oh my God. My water just broke.”
Plopping his cute bare ass back on the mattress, he shoved both feet into his jeans. “You ask me seriously when you’re joking at a time like this?”
“I’m sorry, I’m just ecstatic. Not two minutes ago, I was contemplating reaching into my uterus and pulling this baby out with my bare hands.”
“That’s gross, Gab.”
“You ain’t seen gross yet, baby.” After pushing herself up from the bed, she pressed both hands into the small of her back, stretched and grimaced as a vise seemed to clamp all the way around her nonexistent waist. “Yeah, that hurts. Okay. This is the real deal. Oh God.”
Now that the time was here, really, truly here…she wanted to crawl back under the covers. All those traumatizing childbirth videos flashed through her head. This was happening. To her body. Soon.
“Are you okay?” Ian asked, coming around their bed to stand beside her, fully dressed now. She needed to get changed out of her sopping-wet jammies.
“I will be. Ugh. So much to do.” Gabby waddled stiff-legged to the clothes she’d already laid out for this very occasion. Ian helped her along as if he were afraid she might collapse and start pushing at any second. “I’m fine,” she assured him, taking a moment to look up into his beloved face and give him a smile. “Let me get cleaned up while you grab our stuff and take it to the car. And can you call the hospital and tell them we’re coming in?”
“Sure.” He drew her into his arms, and she went happily, needing that comfort and safety to face the thought of the long hours ahead…even if she couldn’t get as close to him as she used to, thanks to her ginormous stomach. Please, please let her labor be smooth. Preferably short, but she’d settle for slow and uncomplicated. No problems, no worries. Just happiness. They deserved that, didn’t they?
Despite all her moaning and whining and complaining, she couldn’t wait to meet their baby. Count the little toes. Kiss the little hands. She certainly had felt them thrashing around her insides enough. It would be interesting to see what had been causing all the trouble. When she thought of how Ian loved to lay his head on her belly at night, the way his face would light up whenever he felt the baby move, a pang went through her. He wouldn’t be able to do that anymore; that time was over. She would miss that much, at least. But he’d have the baby here to love on, which would be a far better thing…and they would have more opportunities.
Once in the car and on the way to the hospital—sitting on a garbage bag she’d put down to protect her seat—Gabby called Kelsey’s cell while Ian drove. Now it was almost four, but when Kelsey answered her phone, she sounded like she could’ve been up all night chugging coffee. “Are you in labor?” she trilled.
“That’s how we answer the phone?”
“At ten till four in the morning? You’d better believe it. Evan!” Gabby heard a grunt from her obviously still-sleeping brother. “Gabby’s in labor! You are in labor, right? Or are you messing with me?”
“My water broke almost an hour ago. We’re on our way to the hospital.”
Kelsey sucked in a breath. “Don’t you dare have that baby until we get there!”
“I’ll cross my legs as tight as I can, Kels, but I don’t think it’ll matter much.” Beside her, Ian laughed.
“Are you in pain?”
She shifted around uncomfortably even as Kelsey asked the question. “There’s pain, yeah. It’s not too bad yet. Do not tell me how bad it will get.”
“I wouldn’t do that to you now. I don’t want to scare you.”
Oh, now she didn’t want to scare her? “You scare me by saying that. You are an evil, evil woman. I’ll get you back someday, I vow it.”
“You love me, admit it. Okay, we’re getting up, and we’re headed your way. Keep us updated. Or tell Ian to, if you’re in too much agony to speak.”
“I hate you.”
“I love you! Bye!”
Okay, so Kelsey had been Superwoman. She’d done the whole thing naturally. Good for her. Gabriella didn’t like pain, and she was all about some modern medicine. She wanted drugs. Lots and lots of drugs. Since she’d known this about herself from the beginning, she could rest easy in the idea that it wouldn’t be too bad. There wouldn’t be any agony, nope, not for her.
If Ian had been standing anywhere near Gabriella when she let out the first real wail he’d heard from her, he would’ve immediately moved his genitals out of her reach. Thankfully, though, he’d just walked into the room from getting her some ice chips and was still a safe distance away.
All the Ross women in her hospital room—her mother, Kelsey and Candace—rushed toward her bedside to offer support, but her eyes found his through the crowd of her family.