By the time we get inside Saint Mary’s, I’ve had three more contractions, and I can physically feel my cervix expanding. I don’t know if that’s even true, but it sure as hell feels like something is trying to pop out of me.
“Bring the drugs,” I tell my nurse when I’m finally in the bed and hooked up to the monitors. Brogan feeds me ice chips, Cece paces, Jasper calls people who are at the meeting with Tuck, and Darden sits next to my bed and holds my hand. He keeps talking about financial stuff, the stock market, the current political climate, the latest honey badger show he watched—all of it to distract me. Valentina sits calmly in a club chair near the window, casually scrolling on her phone while Gianna keeps doing nervous hair flicks as she gives me terrified looks.
The pain relievers hit my system, but by the time the next contraction arrives, it’s as if they gave me absolutely nothing. I scream out and shake my head on the pillow. “That’s it. I’m done. I’m not doing this. Cece, pack up. Jasper, give me a hand. Let’s go take a baby from the nursery and call it a day.”
There’s a tense silence, and I rise up and yell, “Jeez. I was kidding!”
Dr.Lovell sweeps in the room, all calm and serene, and I beg her to give me more drugs. She pats my hand and reminds me that I didn’t want the epidural, and I groan.
“How much longer?” I ask her.
She checks me, then looks at me, her eyes big. “Everyone out but ...”
“I’m here!” Tuck yells as he sprints into the room. He runs his eyes over the group, taking in our family. He rushes over to me and presses his forehead against mine. “Darling. Sweetheart. I forgot my phone ... I’m so sorry. Are you all right?”
I give him a steely look. “No, Tuck, I am not all right. This is all your fault. You got me into this, and then you weren’t there when my plug came out ...”
He chuckles, the lines around his eyes crinkling. He kisses the five-carat emerald on my ring finger. He asked me to marry him half a dozen times, but I kept telling him no. I wanted him to be certain that it wasn’t because of the baby.
You are my soul,he said.The light that guides me home. So why does it matter if it was sooner than we might have anticipated?
I gave in last month on my birthday. I walked in my apartment, and he was on his knees. He’d asked Darden for my hand. And Cece and Brogan and my cousins. He bought me a gallery, with which I could do whatever I wanted. He even said he’d get another tattoo—which made me laugh.
“Maybe you can tell me about that plug later? Let’s have a baby,” he murmurs as he kisses my nose.
He takes my hand when I stiffen at the new contraction.
For some reason, no one leaves, and Dr.Lovell doesn’t seem particularly concerned. Maybe because she keeps barking orders at me, like “Push now” and “Stop pushing” and then “Again” until I’m so tired.
“Here she comes!” Brogan yells, and I don’t even care that he’s watching.
“Stitch me up, and make it pretty afterwards,” I mutter as pressure fills my abdomen, and I push, straining, my hands clenching around Tuck’s.
The world turns on its axis as life enters. There’s a shift in my heart. Hope, family, and so much love.
Sounds come and go as my body relaxes. “Is she okay?” I mumble as my muscles tremble.
“Welcome to the world, baby boy,” Tuck breathes down at the bundle in his arms. There’s awe and amazement on his face as he places him on my breast.
I push out a laugh. He has a widow’s peak and Tuck’s lips.
A tear runs down Tuck’s face, and I smile up at him, my own eyes wet.
“He’s beautiful,” I say.
“You both are.”
I gaze around, realizing the room has emptied of our friends and family. Thank God.
“Our little bundle of fate. Franco?” Tuck murmurs.
I laugh. “We barely thought of boy names.”
Tuck gazes into my eyes. “I love you, and I love this journey.”
I repeat the words back, our little mantra we say to each other.
“Franco Tucker Avery,” I say and grab his hand.