So could she.
At the next pause between her contractions, she clumsily bent down and slipped off her pregnancy panties. Thank goodness she was wearing a voluminous sundress. She didn’t think she could have gotten off a pair of pants. She considered her surroundings but realized she had nowhere to go. The truck lacked a back seat and she wasn’t going to give birth on the side of a highway.
Besides, she didn’t have time to move.
The next contraction was stronger than all the others that had gone before it. Sunshine gave up trying to hold back.
She began to push.
“I don’t know where she is,” Cole bellowed. “Somewhere between the restaurant and home. On the side of the road. And she’s hurt!”
“Keep calm,” Cab said. “I’m on my way. So are the paramedics. We’ll find her. Don’t get into an accident.”
Cole tossed away his phone and stepped on the gas. He’d been out in the chicken house when Sunshine’s call had come, which was why he hadn’t heard it at first. Surrounded by free-range hens, he’d been fixing a feed trough, but when he’d answered the phone and heard Sunshine scream, he’d dropped everything and raced for his truck. Nausea crawled up his throat at the thought of Sunshine hurt. And if they lost the baby—
He drove faster, nearly veering off the road as he came around a curve.
He fought for control of the car, got it back and slowed down just a notch. Cab was right. No sense crashing now—he wouldn’t be a help to anyone then. He heard sirens in the distance and stepped up his speed again. Where was Sunshine?
When he spotted her truck pulled diagonally off the road, Cole’s heart lurched into his throat. He screeched to a stop, jammed the truck into park and barely remembered to shut it off before he raced across the road.
“Where is she?”
Cab caught his arm and stopped him from tackling the nearest first responder. “She’s fine. She’s pushing right now. Get around there and help—but first settle down.”
Cole pushed Cab away, rushed around the truck and elbowed past a paramedic who was leaning in the passenger side. Sunshine clung to the back of the driver’s seat, on her knees. The paramedics had draped the cab with as much protective pads as they could and the truck looked like a miniature hospital room, but Cole didn’t care about any of that. “Sunshine? Are you okay?”
“She’s doing great.” The paramedic, a no-nonsense blonde with her hair scraped into a bun, pushed into the truck beside him. “Remember to breathe, honey.”
“You’re almost there. Another push,” someone else said. He looked past Sunshine to see another paramedic behind her, leaning in through the driver’s side door.
“What do you mean, almost there?” he growled “Why aren’t you taking her to the hospital?” What was wrong with these people? “Sunshine, honey—”
She sucked in a breath, clutched the back of the seat and bore down, emitting an animal-like groan Cole had never heard before.
“That’s it. Keep going. Keep going—” the paramedic said.
The groan ended in a wail that stood the hairs on the back of Cole’s neck on end. “Sunshine!”
Almost immediately she bore down again and it was all he could do to stand there while the paramedic behind Sunshine shouted out encouragement.
The truth finally hit him. Sunshine was giving birth—right now.
They weren’t going to the hospital.
“Come on, Dad. Tell her to breathe. You know what to do,” the paramedic coached him.
All the classes they’d taken together clicked into place. She was past early labor, past the transition. This was the real deal. Cole bent down and leaned into the truck so she could see him. “Come on, honey. You’ve got this. Focus on me.”
Sunshine bore down again, emitting an animal keening that seemed to go on and on.
“All right. Nearly there. Nearly—”
There was a shout. “That’s it, Sunshine. The head’s out. One more push,” the paramedic cried.
She pushed again, half groaning, half shrieking. Cole had never felt so helpless in his life. “You can do it,” he chanted. “Come on, baby. You can do it.”
“There you go,” the paramedic said. There was a flurry of activity and a new sound.
Cole’s heart stopped.
The tiny cry piped up again and slid into a wail.
Cole stared at Sunshine. She stared back.
“That’s our baby,” he told her. “Did you hear that? It’s our baby.”
Tears gathered in Sunshine’s eyes. Cole surged forward and kissed her, ignoring the protests of the paramedic he pushed aside. Sunshine clung to him and he supported her weight as she bore down one last time.
“We’ve got the afterbirth. Get a gurney. Prepare an IV!” Cole lost track of the shouted commands around him.
He didn’t care. Sunshine was alive. So was their child. Only when the paramedics lifted Sunshine from his arms, and Cab reached in to haul him out of the truck was he able to think about anything else. He staggered around the vehicle to find Sunshine lying on a gurney, covered by a blanket, their baby in her arms.
“Let’s get mom and baby to the hospital,” the paramedic said. “You can ride in the back if you like.”
“You better believe I will.”
Cole wasn’t letting either of his girls out of his sight again.
“After traveling the whole world, who would have thought I’d find my favorite vista right here at home?” Sunshine said to the other women who had joined her on the small back deck, their babies on their laps. Sienna suckled at Sunshine’s breast. Autumn’s son, Alexander, waved his arms as she held him. Morgan’s son, Andrew, was fast asleep. Fila’s son, Holtan, played in her lap, while Bella’s daughter, Maria, gazed into her eyes.
After a month, the nightmares that had plagued Sunshine the first days after her birth experience were finally dwindling away, but she was recovering more slowly than she had planned and her restaurant would remain closed for another month. She was glad Emma was doing well with the bakery. Meanwhile, Cole already had more orders for his eggs than he could keep up with, so he was expanding his business again. He and Evan were still making plans for wind turbines, but they hadn’t figured out the logistics yet. She was on the mend, but she wasn’t ready to work yet. It was nice to know she didn’t have to rush.
Something had shifted with Sienna’s birth. Her goals hadn’t changed, but her way of thinking about time had. Right now it was time to relax with her baby. Soon enough it would be time to reopen her restaurant, put out her cookbook and pursue fame.
“Did the doctors say anything at your last visit?” Mia asked her. She, too, held a baby—Veronica, her second daughter. Unlike Pam, Veronica sported a thatch of blond hair like her father.
“She said everything’s fine. She said the fast delivery paired with the circumstances has just worn me out. As long as I rest, everything will be fine. There’s no reason at all I can’t have more children.”
“That’s good,” Morgan said.
“I’m kind of glad for an excuse to take it slow,” Sunshine admitted. “I didn’t realize how hard I’ve pushed myself these past years. Sienna and I are going to relax for a while.” She shifted in her seat and Sienna lost her breast. Her tiny face screwed up and she let out an angry wail.