“Aww, Easton is going to love this. It’s adorable.” English shed a few tears when she first saw it. “Oh, my.” She fanned her face. “I’m a little hormonal.”
“It’s fine, babe. I love it too.”
“It reminds me of my room when I was growing up. I loved that room.” She let out a huge sigh.
“And our daughter is going to adore this one. I’ll put up that pink tent with all the lights and she’ll be in heaven.”
“She will. She’s so excited about her baby brother or sister, but I don’t want her to feel pushed aside.”
“I’ll make sure she won’t. Don’t worry.”
The contractor cleared his throat. We’d forgotten what we were here to do.
“Sorry. We got a bit carried away. This room is perfect,” my wife said.
All in all, the walkthrough was painless, compared to what I had heard from other people. This builder had done an excellent job and I told him.
After a brief chuckle, he said, “You might want to thank your mother too. She had a big hand in this.”
“You might want to hire her,” I said.
“You know, that might not be a bad idea.”
We completed the paperwork and told him we’d see him the following day at closing.
As we drove home, which took all of five minutes, English was sighing.
“You okay over there?”
“I am so in love with the house. It’s perfect and came out better than I ever hoped. And little Bucker is going to love his doggy door and fenced-in area. That was the best idea. Thank you.”
“Thank you for agreeing to it. It’s going to be a lovely place to live. And Easton will be so excited to have her pup with her all the time.”
A month later, we were settled in, at least mostly, and Easton was enjoying her new tent in her rainbow and oonicorn room. One night, I slept in the tent on the floor with her. Well, sort of. My legs didn’t exactly fit so they shot out one of the openings. English took several photos of us, inside, with the tent lights on. It was pretty damn cute.
In the middle of the night, she came in and kicked my leg. I went to sit up, but my head hit the top of the tent and I remembered where I was. Crawling out of the pink palace, I asked, “What’s up?”
“My water broke. Mom is on the way over to watch Easton. I’m jumping in the shower and I thought you’d want one too before we went.”
I jumped up and ran to the bathroom, shoving her out of the way. Then it hit me what I’d done and I turned to see her laughing at me.
“You dork, just go.”
My hands tore through my hair. I didn’t know what to do. Normally, I was the calmest person around. What the hell was happening to me?
I ran to the bathroom and turned on both shower heads, waiting for the water to warm up. Then I went to search for my wife, who was pulling off the bedsheets.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting the sheets off the bed.”
“Stop and get in the shower. The baby’s coming.”
“Not yet. I’m not having contractions yet. And these need to come off.” I watched in horror as she finished pulling them off. I was having none of that so picked her up and carried her to the shower. Then I pushed her inside.
“Tristian, it would’ve been better if you had taken off my clothes first.”
“Are you crazy? We can’t have sex now. You’re about to have a baby.”
She rolled her eyes at me. “I meant take my clothes off so I could take a shower. Look at me.”
“Oh.” God, what was wrong with me? I helped her strip off the pajamas that were now stuck to her body. “I’m such a dumbass.”
“It’s fine.” When she was naked, she started washing her body and, God help me, I wanted her.
“Uh, I’ll be back.”
“Where are you going?”
I didn’t answer her. I just ran out and back upstairs to another bathroom and relieved myself. When I returned, she was toweling off her body and hair. It was my turn to quickly shower.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“Fine. I’m fine.” I dressed and handed her some clothes.
“Yeah, thanks, but I grew out of those months ago.” She reached for a pair of the stretchy yoga pants she’d been wearing lately, along with a long top. Then she stuffed a few more things into a bag she had previously packed. We went to the kitchen and I asked her if she was hungry.
“Not at three in the morning.”
The front door opened as the alarm dinged. Sheridan was here. I went to greet her. “Thanks for coming.”
All she did was grin and hug me. “Call me when the event happens.”
“We will.”
I took English’s bag and we went out through the garage entrance. My inclination was to drive like a maniac, but I was hauling precious cargo so I stayed under the speed limit. Then I heard a giggle. I glanced over at my wife, only she was looking out the passenger door window.
We got to the hospital and I went to the emergency room entrance.
“Where are you going?”
“To the emergency room.”
“Honey, we need to check in at the regular entrance. This isn’t an emergency.”
I kept on driving until we got to the front of the hospital.
“Tristian, I’m capable of walking. Go find a parking spot.”
I wasn’t too comfortable with that, but I wasn’t going to argue with her either.
We made it inside and checked in. A nurse came to take her to her room and settled her in. I was helpless and it was awful. This was my fault. I’d put her in this position. Wait, why was I thinking this? She was as excited about another baby as me.
“Tristian, can you rub my feet?’
I flew out of my chair and tripped over the leg of that tray next to her bed. I went sprawling across the floor.
“Oh, my God. Are you okay?”
I leaped to my feet. “I’m good. See?” I held out my arms.
“Um, your elbow is bleeding.”
I looked down to see I had cut the damn thing. “Shit.” I rinsed it off in the sink, and that was when the nurse came in.
“What happened?”
I explained about my graceful moves.
“Let me look at that.” The nurse did and announced I should have it sutured up.
“Why?”
“The elbow has thin skin and you’ll be bending it and tearing that wound open. It will heal faster. Go on.”
“Go on where?”
“Down to the ER. They’ll sew you up.”
“I can’t leave my wife!” My hands plowed through my hair as blood ran down my arm.
“Tristian, it’s fine. I have plenty of time.” English nodded at me. “You can’t stand there and keep bleeding like that.”
Funny thing, I hadn’t noticed. “I’ll go, but if they can’t do it quickly, I’m coming right back.”
The nurse was kind enough to call down and give them a heads up I was coming. It didn’t take long at all. I was pretty sure they felt sorry for me.
When I walked back into the room, the doctor was with English. When I’d left things had been fine, but now there were lines on her forehead and her expression was pinched. Something was up.