It was impossible to sleep when Sapphire was tossing and turning all night. Left to right then right to left, she moved back and forth, unable to get comfortable because her stomach was so large. The baby had been kicking a lot lately, keeping her up all night and in pain during the day. There was nothing I could do to help except stay quiet and not complain about my lack of sleep.

That would be an asshole thing to do.

When she turned again and sighed, I knew she was losing her mind.

“Muse.” I turned toward her and placed my hand over her distended stomach. “Everything alright?”

Sweat sprinkled her forehead, and she took a deep breath. “I just want this baby out…”

I rubbed her stomach and then placed a kiss to her shoulder. “It’s coming, Muse. Any day now.”

“But I want it out now…” She gritted her teeth and breathed through the pain. “Don’t get me wrong, I love our baby. But I would love our baby a lot more if it was in my arms, not my uterus.”

I pulled up her shirt to reveal her bare belly. My hand glided along the mound, feeling the life under my palm. “The baby doesn’t want to leave because you’ve made such a nice home for them. They love you already.”

She relaxed slightly at my words. “I love them too…a part of me will miss being pregnant. But right now, I’m tired of being pregnant.”

“I wish I could help you, Muse.”

“You are…” She rested her hand on mine. “You’re helping me right now.”

I leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” she whispered.

When I pulled away, I saw the sweat mark in the valley between her tits. They’d gotten bigger with her pregnancy, preparing to feed my son or daughter. But right now, they were still mine to enjoy. “You know, there are a few things that help initiate labor…” I’d been trying to get laid for the last week, but she’d been so self-conscious and uncomfortable that she wasn’t in the mood.

“We’re about to have our baby, and all you can think about is sex.”

“Remember how you got pregnant in the first place.” I moved to my knees then pulled her panties down her legs. I was relieved when she didn’t object and try to cover her stomach. No matter how many times I told her how much her belly turned me on, she didn’t believe me. If only she knew how sexy she was, pregnant because I’d knocked her up. I put a pillow underneath her back then slid myself inside.

Damn, it felt good.

This might be one of the last times I would be able to get sex from her until the baby was here. She would need at least a month to heal if the birth was natural. Now that I was in between her legs, I didn’t want to leave. Sex was so good, whether she was nine months pregnant or back to her petite size. That was because I loved her, loved her more than anything else.

I kept her legs apart with my arms and held myself on top of her, my stomach grazing against her enlarged belly. I thrust into her hard, unable to control myself before it felt so good. Fucking my pregnant wife was one of my biggest fantasies, even if she wasn’t in my lingerie. I was the one who got her pregnant in the first place, and I was oddly proud of that.

She got into it minutes later, her nails clawing at me. She moaned with my thrusts, her enormous tits shaking with my movements. The headboard tapped against the wall, but my parents were an entire floor above us, so the noise didn’t matter.

I was going to give my wife an orgasm before she gave birth to my baby. It was the least I could do, knowing the extensive trauma she was about to experience. I wanted to come right in the beginning, to fill her with more come, but I held on, knowing I had to do this right.

Thankfully, she came. She managed to find her release despite how uncomfortable she was. She dragged her nails down my back as she screamed, her beautiful face tinting red with arousal. “Conway…”

I came seconds later, ready to release now that I’d finished my job. I pumped deep inside her, filling her with my seed with a satisfying moan. I’d been wanting this pleasure for over a week. Now that I finally had it, I enjoyed every second. “Fuck…I’m gonna miss you being pregnant.”

“Then you’ll have to get me pregnant again.”

I leaned down and kissed her. “I will.” I slowly pulled out of her then leaned down to kiss her stomach, to love my woman and the baby we made together. I had no idea if I was about to have a daughter or a son, but as long as they were healthy, I was happy. I kissed her belly button and everywhere the baby might be, and when I felt a large kick, I pulled away. “They’re ready to come out, baby.” That was when I felt the moisture soak into the sheets directly under my knees. It took me a second to understand what happened because I’d never experienced anything like it.

“What?” Sapphire asked, noticing my hesitation.

“Your water just broke.”

“It did?” She jolted upright and felt the sheets underneath her, which were damp from the pool she’d just released. “Oh my god…”

“It’s alright, Muse. It’s time to get you to the hospital.” I hopped out of bed, pulled on the clothes I kept laid out for the occasion, and then got her outfit out of the dresser.

She continued to lie there as she gripped her stomach. “Oh my god…I’m having a baby. Jesus, I’m having a baby…” She started to breathe hard, gasping for breath as she began to panic. “I’ve gotta go to the hospital… I’ve gotta push a football out of my vagina…”

I grabbed the bag with supplies and set it on the bed. “Alright, let’s get you dressed.”

She stayed still. “Conway, I can’t do it. I just can’t…”

I grabbed both of her wrists and pulled her up. I kneeled on the floor at her feet so we could be eye level. “Muse, I know this is scary, but you can do this. If anyone can do this, it’s you.”

“It just won’t fit.” Her breathing increased as her panic became worse. “The first time we had sex, you barely fit—”

“Muse, just breathe.” I grabbed both of her wrists and squeezed them. “This is natural. Women do it every day. I’ll be there the whole time. You aren’t doing this alone.”

“You aren’t pushing anything out of your—”

“Don’t think about the process. Think about what we’re getting at the end. Our little boy or little girl will be here. We’re starting our family, Muse. That is the most beautiful thing in the world. You grew this little person inside you. Do you understand how amazing that is? Now it’s time to meet them.”

She slowly nodded, her breathing slowing down.

“You’re the strongest woman I know. You can do this.”

She nodded again. “Okay.”

“Now, let’s get you dressed and get going.” I gently pulled her to her feet and helped her change out of her pajamas into the new clothes. I stripped the sheets off the bed and left them on the floor so they wouldn’t soak into the mattress. “Just sit here for a second, and I’ll get my parents.”

“Alright.” She lowered herself into the chair and breathed, her hands on her stomach.

I ran up the stairs to the third floor and knocked on my parents’ bedroom door. I hadn’t done this since I was still living in the house as a teen.

“Coming.” My father’s deep voice sounded completely awake even though it was the middle of the night. He was always prepared for anything. He opened the door, shirtless in just his sweatpants. “Is it time?”

“Her water just broke.”

He grinned, fully awake at three a.m. “That’s great. Your mother and I will get dressed and meet you downstairs.” He started to shut the door.

“Wait.”

“What?” He opened the door wider and looked at me, his chiseled physique still tight and strong for a man in his late fifties. His muscular arms led to a powerful chest, and the veins bulged across the surface.

“I just… I’m gonna be a father.”

He grinned slowly. “It’s not as scary as you think it’s gonna be.”

“I don’t know anything about being a father.”

“I didn’t know anything either. You and Vanessa grew up just fine.”

I ran my hand through my hair, still nervous. “My whole life, it’s just been me. Now, I’ve got a wife and a kid… This isn’t where I thought I would be a year ago.”

“Life is crazy in its unpredictability. But that’s what makes it wonderful. I promise you, being a parent is the most rewarding thing you’ll ever do in your life, even more rewarding than starting your own company. Trust me on that.”

Muse had her breakdown when her water broke, and now that she wasn’t around, I was having mine.

My father continued to grin while he watched me. “I have no doubt you’ll be a great father.”

“How so?”

“Because you’re a great husband.”

“I haven’t been married long…”

“Doesn’t matter. You took care of her right from the beginning. You’ll do the same with your kid.”

I stared at him, feeling a little better.

“Your mother and I need to get dressed, son. And you should be down there with your wife.”

“You’re right…absolutely right. I just needed—”

“A little pep talk. I understand. I wish my father had been there to give me one when I had you.” He wrapped his arms around me and gave me a hug. He patted me hard on the back. “You’ll do great, Conway. I really believe that. Now go have your baby.”

Muse was in labor for ten hours before anything happened.

I held her hand and let her squeeze mine through every contraction. As the hours passed, the pain increased, and so did the bruising to my hand. Even though I needed my hands for work, I let my wife do whatever she wanted.

She was giving birth to my baby, after all.

Covered in sweat and exhausted, Muse struggled the entire time. It was the most gruesome day she’d ever experienced, and the baby hadn’t even started to descend to her opening.

I wished I could do this for her.

I ran my fingers through her hair and kissed her forehead. “They’ll be here any moment, Muse. It’ll be over soon. When we get home, I’ll take care of the baby so you can rest as much as you want. And you can eat whatever you want.”

“Can I get that in writing?”

I chuckled and kissed her again.

When another contraction hit, it was the worst one she’d ever felt. She screamed so loud that the nurse ran into the room to check on her. After lifting the sheet and examining her dilated entrance, the nurse told us it was time to start pushing. “I’ll grab the doctor. That baby is coming now.”

“Thank god,” Muse said. “Finally…”

“You’ve just got to do some pushing and the baby will be here, Muse. Now push hard. It’ll be over sooner.”

“Alright.” She squeezed my hand and got ready.

The doctor came in, pulled on his gloves, and then it began.

I watched Muse do something impossible, push a living person out of her body. She pushed her body to the limit, screaming, crying, and giving all her energy to the effort. Dripping with sweat and exhausted, she had times when she wanted to stop, but she didn’t. She kept going, determined to get our baby out.

“The baby’s crowning,” the doctor said. “Just a few more pushes.”

When Muse knew she was almost done, she pushed even harder. She gave it her all and pushed until our baby was finally out.

When I heard the baby cry, I finally felt relief. High-pitched and loud, the cries echoed off the walls of the hospital room, but it was also the most beautiful noise I’d ever heard in my life. Muse sat up to see the baby for the first time, to see the life she grew with her body.

The doctor held up the baby, using both hands to hold the small person wiggling around in his arms. “Congratulations. You have a son.”

“Oh my god…” Muse covered her cheeks with her palms as the tears emerged. “We have a boy.”

I stared at the little person in the doctor’s arms, the boy who was screaming at the top of his lungs because he’d been ripped from the warmth of his mother into the cold world. All I wanted to do was protect him, to wrap him in my arms and give him the comfort he craved. I was shocked to see my son for the first time, to realize I would be a father to a son. My father raised me to be a man, and now I would do the same for him.

The nurse cleaned off our son and wrapped him in a warm blanket before she approached us. More than anything, I wanted to take that baby from her arms and cradle him against my chest, the same thing I did to Muse when she was scared. But I knew Muse deserved to be the first one to hold our son, after everything she’d just been through to bring him into this world.

The nurse slipped him into her arms, and immediately, he stopped crying.

I couldn’t believe it.

Muse looked into our son’s face, crying even harder as she saw him up close. “He stopped crying…”

“Because he knows who you are.” I placed my hand underneath her arm, helping her support our boy. He hadn’t opened his eyes yet, taking his time as he got used to this new world he’d just been pushed into. With his little fingers and little toes, it was hard to believe he would grow into a man my size someday. I imagined my parents experiencing this same moment with me, holding me in their arms, not knowing I would grow to over six feet tall.

Muse kissed his forehead, her tears leaving her chin and landing on his face.

That’s when he opened his eyes. His green eyes.

He looked right at me, staring at me like he wasn’t sure what he was seeing.

“He has your eyes…” Muse continued to cry, entranced by our son the way I was.

I looked into those eyes, seeing my own genes staring back at me. I inherited my eyes from my father, as did Vanessa. That tradition seemed to keep going with my son. He possessed the Barsetti green eyes.

That was when this all felt real.

This was my son. And I was his father.