The reminder of how close I came to losing her and the baby makes me sick to my stomach. “Don’t even talk about it.”
“It’s true, though. And if you hadn’t been there for me, not only helping me to heal but making sure I was taken care of, I wouldn’t have discovered the truth about you.”
“Truth?”
“That you’re that guy.”
The corner of my mouth twitches. “That guy?”
She stares straight into my eyes, licks her lips, places a hand on my cheek, and proceeds to wreck me in the best possible way. “The guy everyone else is jealous isn’t theirs.”
I don’t think she knows how much those words mean to me. No more hesitating, for lack of a better term, it’s time. “What do ya say, Ashley? Will you marry me?”
“Tomorrow works for me,” she responds with the best words she could have.
“That a yes?”
She shakes her head but smiles so wide I don’t think I’ve ever seen her smile so big. “That’s a heck yes.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Nikolas
“Honey. Wake up.”
“What? What? Is it time?” I jump out of bed and spring into action.
“It’s either time or I just peed the bed.”
“God, I’ve never wanted to not have someone pee the bed so badly in my life. For more than one reason, obviously.”
“Obviously,” Ashley mocks me. “We need to go, I think.”
“Yeah. Let me…” I point to our bathroom and slam the door shut behind me. “Don’t go anywhere!” I holler.
“Not planning on it,” she says as if I’m ridiculous. I know I am, but that’s beside the point. She’s about to give birth to my baby boy and I’ve never been more ready for something to shake up my entire life than I am in this moment.
When I get done in the bathroom, I wash my hands and open the door to see her squatting like a frog.
“What the fuck?”
“I’m trying to keep it moving along. If I sit down, isn’t it just going to push everything back inside? He’s been in there a week longer than he was supposed to be anyway. I’d say it’s time to keep this moving along.”
“Is that really what you’re supposed to be doing?” I ask, seeing her bounce up and down with her legs bent and spread wide. Her balance, given the extra weight in her stomach, is actually really impressive.
“How the heck am I supposed to know? But doesn’t it seem logical?”
“I’m afraid all logic flies out the window when you’re trying to push a baby out of your vagina for the first time, babe.”
She keeps bouncing but a strained look crosses her face. “Babe? I might need help. I can’t stop bouncing,” she says, out of breath, “or I might fall down, but if I fall down, I’ll never get up. And I don’t want to sit on the floor because my ass is still wet from my water breaking.”
“You…” I’m not even going to go there because I have a feeling I’m dangerously close to meeting volatile Ashley, someone I haven’t had the displeasure of being introduced to yet. I extend both hands down to her and help pull her up.
“Thanks. I’m not sure but I think it probably helped.”
I bark out a laugh. “You think bouncing like a frog helped?”
“Had to. I feel like he’s lower now. I’m ready.”
“Don’t you want to change out of your wet clothes first?”
She shakes her head and marches toward the door. “No time.”
I chase her down and turn her around by the shoulders, guiding her to our bathroom. “We’ve got time. Trust me. Go change your clothes and whatever else will make you feel good about leaving for the hospital and I’ll make sure the bag is in the car. Want me to call your parents?”
“Yeah, that’d be good. And Josie. But tell them not to tell my sisters yet. I’m not ready for everyone.”
She stands beside me looking at her stomach. “You okay?” I ask her.
“This has gone by so fast,” she whimpers. “And everything happened in the last year. I’m exhausted.”
“It’s been a hell of a year for sure, but we have a few more steps to go before we can take a nice long nap, okay? Like maybe eighteen years before the nice long nap happens.”
She begins to cry. Oh shit. “I’m so tired!”
I kind of laugh and pull her to me. “I know, Ash. I know. We’ve been through a lot in nine months but I promise that it will all be worth it soon.”
“Yeah,” she agrees in a whisper. “Okay. Yeah,” she rallies and throws her shoulders back, walking toward the door. “I’m ready now. Let’s do this.”
Once again, I guide her to the bathroom. “Change first. We’ve got plenty of time.”
“Oh! Right. Duh. Yeah, we’ve got plenty of time.”
We were wrong.
We didn’t have plenty of time.
Not even enough time to drive the fifteen minutes it takes to get to the hospital because her labor is progressing too fast. I have no idea how things changed so quickly but she went from walking to the bathroom to full-blown contractions in five minutes time. I was on the phone with her parents, letting them know it would be a while when I heard her yell my name.
“Holy shit!” she groans. “That frog thing really works, huh?”
“Are you actually having him? Right now?” I shout, panic setting in.
“Uh, yeah! What the hell do you think is happening?”
“Well, I thought we had time!”
“We clearly don’t! I’m freaking out so you’re not allowed to, okay? Only one of us is allowed to be dumb right now.”
I try to get her to the car but the labor pains have increased ten-fold. She screams out my name and I wish with all my might that I could somehow take the pain away from her.
Each new contraction doesn’t give her a moment to breathe before the next one hits her just as hard. She might be handling it like a champ, doing her breathing exercises while I cradle her from behind. But when the contractions begin to hit her less than a minute apart, I decide enough’s enough. I call for an ambulance because I’m not equipped to drive her to the hospital while she’s this far along in active labor.
“I’m going to suggest something that neither of us want to do but this is where we’re at in life right now. I’m not looking forward to it, either, but I think you have to get into the bathtub.”
“Why would I do a thing like that?” she asks through a low voice.
“Because there’s a very good chance that you’re about to give birth in our house and I would prefer that to happen in the tub rather than on our floor.”
“I am not giving birth at home. I need drugs. And doctors. And nurses. And a lot of sanitization! This isn’t happening. No. I’m willing it to go away,” she says, determined. She pushes against me, trying to stand up but there’s no point.
“Come on. Let’s go! No time to waste!”