“I’ll go check on the other driver,” Cade said, disappearing into the dewy rain.
Caleb put his hand on my belly. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
He still looked pale, but I imagined his adrenaline had kicked in and was overriding his ankle pain.
I nodded because my mouth was dry. “Yeah, it was just a shock but I’m—”
I froze.
Startled.
I stayed very still and waited.
Then it happened again.
Motherfucker.
The pain that hit me was like nothing I’d ever felt. It tore into me, biting at my insides and overwhelming me. Goosebumps spread across my skin and my knees went weak.
I keeled over.
“Fuck, baby. What’s happening?” Caleb asked alarmed.
I bit down on my bottom lip.
That was a contraction.
“Braxton Hicks be damned,” I moaned. My hand chewed into his shirt as I looked up at him. “I’m in fucking labor.”
His eyes widened. “Are you sure?”
In response, I doubled over with pain. “You need to call an EMT. And you need to call them now!”
Cade came running over. “The other driver is fine, but I think he has whiplash and a broken wrist. I’ve told him to wait in the car. Whoa, what’s happening here?”
“She’s in labor,” Caleb replied.
I let out a long moan of pain as another contraction squeezed at my insides. “We need an ambulance now.”
While Cade tried to get a signal on his phone, Caleb tried mine.
But we were in the notorious black spot between the lake and Destiny where there was no cell coverage for a few miles.
“Fuuuuuck!” Caleb moved my phone around in front of himself like a water diviner to see if he could get a signal. He hobbled with his booted foot. “I’ve got no signal.”
Cade looked at his screen. “Me neither. Looks like we’re going to have to deal with this one ourselves.”
“What do you mean?” I asked, panicked.
“It means you’re in good hands,” Caleb said soothingly.
I was expecting the EMTs to arrive and I would give birth surrounded by all the medical equipment and comfort of an ambulance. But looking at Caleb’s ashen face, I knew my reality was going to be vastly different.
My face crumpled. “Are you telling me I’m going to have my baby on the side of the road?” When Cade and Caleb’s expressions confirmed it, my eyes widened. “Oh, no. No, this isn’t happening.”
Caleb gripped my hand so I’d look at him. “Listen to me, whatever happens, I’ve got you. Okay? I’m not going to let anything happen to you or our baby.”
His voice was calming, and the way he was looking at me made me believe him. I swallowed back my pain and nodded. Instead of freaking out, I focused on my breathing.
When a set of headlights approached us through the bad weather, relief spread through me. “Oh, thank God.”
A car pulled up and a window rolled down.
“Everyone okay?” The elderly driver asked.
“We have one injured in the pickup and a lady in labor,” Cade explained.
“We need to get Honey to a hospital,” Caleb added. “There’s no cell service so we can’t call for an ambulance.”
“This spot is notorious for no phone coverage. Climb in, I can take her and anyone else who needs to go. I should be able to make a call few miles down the road. Send some help.”
“You and Honey go with him, I’ll stay here with the other driver and this mess,” Cade said.
“No!” I cried out. Liquid trickled down my thighs. My water had broken. This baby was coming, and it wasn’t waiting around for an ambulance, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to wait until we got to the hospital. “We won’t make it to the hospital in time.”
“Take the other driver,” Caleb said. “And call for the ambulance as soon as you can.”
The elderly gentleman nodded. Cade helped the driver of the pickup into the car, and within minutes the car drove off.
“See, baby, helps is on the way,” Caleb said, stroking my cheek.
His face was calm, his blue eyes full of confidence and comfort. He sat me down on the back seat, but just as he did, my labor pains started all over again and I leaned forward and let out a loud groan.
“That one was the worst,” I moaned. But just as the pain began to wane, it suddenly flared up again and I cried out. I looked at Caleb. “Oh God, I need to push.”
His bright blue eyes glittered over my face and they were full of confidence. “I’ve got this. If I have to deliver our daughter on the side of the road—”
“Now!” I cried. This baby was coming. “Oh, God, she’s impatient.”
Caleb nodded and sucked in a deep breath.
“You okay to do this?” Cade asked him.
“No, not him,” I cried. “I’ve heard what happens when a man sees his woman’s hoo-ha giving birth.”
Both men looked at me like I was crazy.