Epilogue
Nolan raced through the hospital, getting turned around twice as he tried to find the maternity ward. He nearly knocked over three people as he rounded the corner.
“Daddy!” Heather yelled from her wheelchair. Her surgery had been a success but the recovery time would be close to a year, but the doctors were optimistic that this time she’d no longer need a brace.
“Where’s mommy?” He knelt in front of his daughter and ruffled her locks, giving her a kiss on the cheek. It had only been three months since Jessica had officially adopted Heather as her own. He thought it would take longer for Heather to call her mom, if ever, but she started before the adoption came through.
“She’s in a birthing room,” his father said. “Down the hall, second door. Karen is with her, but I’ll warn you, your wife—”
“Mommy’s swearing a lot.” Heather scrunched up her nose.
“Something about back labor.”
He had no idea what that was, and wasn’t sure he wanted to find out. “Guess I better go find my wife.”
He found the room, though as he walked down the hallway he heard all sorts of moaning and yelling, and none of it sounded pleasant.
“Jessica?” He pushed back the door to see his wife on all fours, his sister rubbing something across her back. A nurse looked at some paper coming out of a machine. He had half a mind to turn around and walk right out that door.
“This position is how we got ourselves in this fucking mess to begin with,” Jessica said…more like panted as she did the breathing they’d learn in the birthing classes.
“That’s my cue to leave.” His sister waved him over, showing him how to roll the object over Jessica’s back. “It’s been difficult from the moment her water broke, but the good news is she’s dilating quickly, so it shouldn’t be too long,” Karen whispered, before leaving the room.
Jessica groaned, pounding the hospital bed with her fist.
“Breathe, babe,” Nolan said, conjuring up everything he could remember from the classes. He leaned closer to her face, making eye contact and breathing with her.
“She isn’t getting any break between contractions,” the nurse said, pointing to her paper. “This here shows the peak, then you can see it never subsides. The doctor should be in any minute to check on things.”
Nolan focused on rubbing Jessica’s back, breathing with her, and not taking anything that came out of her mouth personally.
About ten minutes later, the doctor arrived. Nolan helped Jessica to her back. Tears burned the corner of his eyes. One broken condom and the woman he loved was in excruciating pain. He knew the end result would be another baby, but still, it broke his heart to see her like this. He took a cool cloth and brushed the perspiration away from her face, which at that moment was turning beat read.
“Doc, I think something is wrong.” Panic squeezed his heart as Jessica stared at him with wide eyes.
“Nothing’s wrong,” the doctor said calmly. “Jessica, keep pushing, the baby’s head is crowning.”
“What!?”
Jessica took in a deep breath, then held it, pulling her legs up.
Nolan honestly, for the first time in his life, had no idea what to do.
“That’s it Jessica. One big long push,” the doctor said. “Dad, if you want to see your baby born, I suggest you look down here.”
Nolan kissed Jessica’s forehead, holding her hand and chose to watch from her angle.
“Oh…my…god,” he whispered as the doctor rotated the baby’s head, shifting one shoulder out and then the other. His baby’s arms and legs twitched as it let out a blood curling whale.
“It’s a boy,” Jessica whispered as she raised her arms, waggling her fingers.
Nolan stepped back in awe as the doctor placed his baby on Jessica’s chest.
The next twenty minutes went by in a haze. Nolan cut the cord. A team of doctors and nurses checked the baby over and attended to his wife, while he sat in a chair next to Jessica, holding her hand, kissing her lips, and crying. Not sobbing, but tears burned down his cheeks.
One of the nurses handed Jessica their son, swaddled tight in a blanket with a little white cap over his head. “Nine pounds, eight ounces and twenty-three inches long.”
“That’s a big boy,” Nolan said with pride.
“Thanks for the reminder, honey.”
Nolan winced.
Jessica laughed. “As if you had any clue what that felt like.”
“I imagine I never really want to know.” He kissed his son’s pudgy cheek. “We need a name for this little guy.”
“Heather and I came up with Hunter Nolan Greer.”
“I like It.” Nolan pressed his lips against hers. Their tongues tangled together with the promise of the kind of love that lasts forever. “I love you,” Nolan whispered. “Thanks for daring to kiss me.”
THE END
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