Quinn sat down in the hard chair, her feet swollen, and her body radiating pain from just about every cell.
“Are you okay?” Diana, her client, asked.
Diana looked at Quinn with a worried expression, shaking her head. “You’re not okay,” she gasped.
Quinn shook her head. “I’m fine,” she said, stopping the woman from saying anything. “This is the last step and then you’re free,” she told Diana.
Diana looked over at the defendant’s table, saw the malevolent look that her almost-ex-husband sent her way, and relaxed back against the chair. “Fine. But promise me that this will go fast.”
Quinn smiled. Or tried to smile. She really was in a great deal of pain, the cramps shooting across her stomach in waves that were hard to ignore. But the judge walked in at that moment and Quinn had to focus all of her energy on standing up out of respect.
The judge sat down and Quinn glanced behind her at the chair, almost groaning as she realized she’d have to sit back down.
“No need, Ms. Steele,” the judge called out and Quinn almost cried with relief, but then another streak of pain shot across her belly and it took everything in her not to double over with the shock of it. “I’ve reviewed the facts of this case.” The judge shifted some papers on her desk. “Both defendants rise,” she called out. Quinn released a gust of breath as the cramp slowly eased up, relieved because it was entirely possible that she wouldn’t have been able to sit down again. Being nine months pregnant was not for sissies.
“Are you okay, Ms. Steele?” the judge called out.
Quinn lifted her hand, indicating that she was fine. But she was unaware of her pale features as she braced herself for another wave of pain. “I’m fine, Your Honor,” she finally squeaked out. “I have several affidavits here that…”
“I’ve read them, Ms. Steele,” the judge stated, lifting her hand to stop Quinn’s argument. “I’ve read the affidavits, I’ve seen the hospital pictures, and I’ve spoken to the children involved.” The judge sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I’m granting full custody of the children in this situation to Ms. Diana Ferguson.” The judge ignored the outburst from the opposing table and continued. “Furthermore, I decree this marriage to be dissolved, and I am imposing a restraining order on Mr. Ferguson.” With what could only be described as an evil eye, the judged looked over to the man. “If you go within five hundred feet of your wife or children, their school or their work place, you will be arrested, Mr. Ferguson. Your violence toward your wife and your children is well documented and abhorrent! I am requiring anger management classes to be taken before I will even consider any type of visitation for you.”
“Bitch!”
The entire courtroom gasped, then froze in horror at that one word spoken in a hiss. A split second later, the whole courtroom looked over at the now-ex-husband, then toward the judge to see what her reaction would be. “Bailiff, please arrest Mr. Fergusson for contempt of court. You will be remanded to the county jail until you have apologized to this courtroom.”
Quinn was impressed. The judge didn’t even blink an eye when the man was hauled out of her courtroom.
There were several bangs of the judge’s gavel as she pulled attention back to her and regained order in the courtroom.
Once it was quiet again, the judge turned to Diana. “Ms. Ferguson, if that man ever bothers you again, please ensure that I am notified. I will do whatever I can to incarcerate him. I only wish there was more that I could do to help you in this matter.” With that, she banged her gavel once more. People started to move around and Diana turned to hug Quinn. Unfortunately, the judge wasn’t finished. “Bailiff!” she called out, and another officer of the court stepped up, already waiting for the judge’s next order. “Please call an ambulance for Ms. Steele. She’s about to give birth, and I would rather not have it happen in my courtroom!”
The laughter that broke out over that statement was loud, but Quinn couldn’t appreciate the humor as yet another wave of pain hit her. The bailiff rushed over and helped Quinn sit down, even as he pulled his cell phone out of his pocket.
“I don’t need an ambu…” She couldn’t finish the statement since she was screaming in agony as a contraction took over her body.
Five minutes later, she was lifted into an ambulance, the doors slammed shut, and she was screaming louder than the sirens as they all raced to the hospital. “Call my husband!” she demanded, handing one of the paramedics her phone. “Call him now or he’ll be really angry with me!”
The paramedic laughed, shaking her head but she took Quinn’s phone. She pressed in the number, then waited.
“Hi honey. How did court go this morning?” Bryce asked, smiling as he halted the conversation around him.
“Mr. Steele, this is Nancy. I’m a paramedic and…”
“What’s wrong with my wife?” he demanded, already hurrying down the hallway. He was running by the time he got to the elevator. “Where is she?”
The paramedic smiled, pressing a finger to her ear. “Nothing is wrong, Mr. Steele. Your wife is just having a baby. The contractions are progressing normally, about two minutes apart. But I’d suggest you hurry to the hospital because this little guy is going to arrive pretty soon.”
Bryce hung up the phone and dialed for his driver. “I need to get to the hospital,” he told Daryl.
“I’m already downstairs, sir,” Daryl replied. “The bailiff at the courthouse called me and I’m ready when…”
Bryce burst out of the lobby, running to the street and dove into the back of his limousine.
Daryl slammed the door and ran around to the front, tires squealing as he peeled away from the curb, breaking all the speed limits as he worked his way through the mid-morning traffic toward the hospital.
Bryce already had the doors to the vehicle open when Daryl skidded to a halt outside of the emergency room doors.
An orderly was standing by, obviously on the lookout for him. As soon as he stepped out, she called over to him. “This way, Mr. Steele,” she said, waving him toward an already open elevator.
Two minutes later, he walked into the delivery room and took Quinn’s hand. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were this close?” he demanded.
Her only reply was a painful squeezing of his hand as another contraction hit her hard. When the crest slowed, she took in oxygen as fast as she could, knowing that another was on the way. “I didn’t know. I promise I didn’t know.”
He shook his head. “I should have known,” he grumbled. “You didn’t finish your breakfast this morning and you looked pale. Not to mention, you didn’t sleep well last night.”
One of the nurses chuckled, obviously an old hand at this type of scene. “You can say goodbye to those nice, long nights of sleep,” she told the two of them. “Those are definitely a thing of the past!”
Even the doctor laughed, but Bryce focused on Quinn, trying to help her get through this ordeal. “Honey, talk to me. What happened in court today?” He was trying to distract her but he wasn’t sure he was helping at all.
“Bryce! I’m not discussing a courtroom drama with you at the moment!”
He almost laughed, but smothered his amusement. Laughing at this moment would be bad. Really bad. It wasn’t Quinn’s fault that she looked adorable even if she might be going through the worst pain of her life.
“Right,” he finally replied.
The doctor finished her initial examination. “Quinn, you’re going to need to push.”
Quinn stared at the doctor who was doing something, things she didn’t really want to know about. When she looked up at Bryce, she tried to hide her fear, but she just wasn’t that good of an actress.
“You can do it, honey. I know you can.”
Quinn wanted to bop him on the head. It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it. It was that she didn’t want to do it. Unfortunately, her body wasn’t giving in to her desires or fears at the moment. Letting out a scream, she pushed even as her body seemed to be ripping apart at the same time. Bearing down, she used every ounce of her energy to push. When she couldn’t push any longer, she fell back against the hospital bed, exhausted and ready to give in.
“Another contraction is coming,” the nurse said.
The doctor nodded, again doing strange things and looking very alert. Quinn shook her head, her hair hanging down in sweaty, stringy clumps around her face and she wanted to just stop. Her body told her she wasn’t finished. Gritting her teeth, she pushed and pushed, trying so hard to deliver this baby, but no luck.
“You’re almost there,” the doctor announced. “I can see the head. Your baby has dark hair, just like his daddy.”
What felt like hours later, Quinn was still pushing, but her energy reserves were almost depleted. “I can’t do it again,” she said, leaning back, trying to get out of this. “I can’t. You’re just going to have to do it yourself.”
The doctor shook her head. “This little guy is stubborn. We can…”
Quinn didn’t have a chance to hear whatever the doctor suggested because her body cramped up, another contraction taking over, and she pushed, but she couldn’t push very hard. There wasn’t enough left. She just wanted this ordeal over with. She wanted to stop. Every part of her body, other than her toenails, hurt with exhaustion and pain. But such was not to be.
“Good!” the doctor called out. “Just like that! The baby is coming, Quinn!”
With that bit of encouragement, Quinn pushed harder, putting everything she had left into the effort.
“Keep going! The head is coming. I have the head!”
Quinn continued to push but she was losing strength. Then she felt Bryce’s hand tighten on hers, his other hand smoothing her hair back. “You can do this, Quinn. You’re one of the strongest, most capable, brilliant women I’ve ever met. You can do it.” With those words and his gentle touch, she struggled, pushing with everything left inside of her. A moment later, the doctor and nurses were bustling about and she heard those magical words, “It’s a boy!”
Quinn leaned back against the hospital bed, unable to celebrate the news that she’d just given birth to a boy. Then the doctor lifted her new son up into the air, the umbilical cord was cut and a nurse wrapped the tiny infant up in a cotton blanket.
Every pain, every ache simply disappeared as that sweet little man was placed in her arms. She could barely hold him, but Bryce wrapped his arms underneath hers and, together, they held their infant son for the first time. Staring down into his tiny features, Quinn was unaware of the tears streaming down her cheeks. She was too awed by her baby. Her son!
“He’s a troll,” she whispered, but she thought he was the most beautiful troll she’d ever seen.
Bryce laughed softly and kissed her head, then his son’s head. “Yeah, but he’s our troll.”
She laughed through her tears and held her son close. She couldn’t even look away from him as she asked, “Are we agreed on the name?”
Bryce kissed her again, unable to stop touching her. He was so proud of her and still amazed that he was now a father. A father! That just seemed…incredible! But looking down at his son, he could barely express his awe. So instead, he just held both of them closely, needing to wrap them up in his arms for some reason.
The rest of the world faded away. Neither of them noticed the nurses bustling about or the doctor finishing up. It was just the three of them. No one else could intrude on this precious moment.
“Zeke,” Quinn whispered. “Welcome to the world!”