Chapter Seventeen
Hunter
As Christmases went, this was about the best one I’d ever had. It was great to be seated around a table full of people who had come to be my friends, but even better than that, I had Abby by my side. I couldn’t have thought of a better way to spend the day if I’d tried.
It was perfect.
Everyone chatted animatedly as music from the jukebox filled the room and platters of the most incredible looking food kept arriving at the table. Happiness filled the air.
“If you eat any more, you’re going to be sick,” Mason told his son.
Cody ignored him and reached for the mashed potatoes, putting a big heaped spoonful onto his plate then plopping an equal amount onto Charlie’s.
Faith groaned, but Coop just chuckled.
I reached beside me and took hold of Abby’s hand. She’d been watching the boys too and giggled at their antics. It was the best sound in the world. Everyone was smiling except for Libby. She didn’t look too good. In fact, she was flushed and there was a fine sheen of sweat on her brow. Even from across the table I could tell that she was in pain though she was clearly trying to hide it from everyone else.
I caught her eye and mouthed. “You okay?”
She nodded, her mouth terse.
A moment later, she gripped her stomach and winced, sucking in breath through her teeth.
“Libby, what’s wrong?” Mason asked.
She shook her head. “I don’t feel so good. I’ve been having some phantom pains all day, but they’re getting worse.”
Mason went white. “What do you mean phantom pains? What sort of pain?”
“Oh, it’s just… Oh!” She practically bent over double, clutching her stomach and groaning. “Oh, no. I think, um I think my waters just broke.”
She glanced at the floor by her feet.
Cody stuck his head under the table to see what had happened and Mason jumped out of the chair so quickly it overturned.
He looked like he was about to have heart failure.
“What’s wrong with your mom?” Charlie asked.
Cody winced. “I think she just peed herself.”
“Urgh, gross.”
Cody nodded sagely then shoveled a forkful of potato into his mouth.
“We’ve got to get you to the hospital!” Mason said in a panicked voice.
Libby patted him on the arm. “It’s okay, we’ve got plenty of time.” She winced. “I think.”
If it was possible, Mason’s face went whiter still.
“I’m going with you,” Faith said.
Andrea got up from her seat. “Me too.”
“You’re not going without me,” Violet declared.
Luke chuckled. “Looks like we’re all going to the hospital.”
“You okay to go?” I whispered to Abby. “If not I can take you home and we can—“
“No, I want to go,” she said. “I never did anything like this with my girlfriends. I was sick at the time and…”
I squeezed her hand in a show of support.
Coop and I caught one another’s gaze.
“Looks like we’re all going to the hospital,” he repeated with a chuckle.
We all managed to fit into three cars. Abby and I rode with Violet and Luke. Mason, Libby, and Cody rode in the police cruiser with Andrea and Ethan so that they could use the siren on Ethan’s cruiser if they encountered traffic and Coop, Faith and Charlie went in Coop’s truck.
It was quite the adventure and as Libby hadn’t wanted to know the baby’s sex, we all speculated on the ride to the hospital if she would give birth to a boy or a girl.
When we got to the hospital, it was all systems go. Libby was ushered off to a room while we all waited in the corridor for news. Mason told Cody to stay with his uncle Coop and aunt Faith for a while so that he could look after Mom, but Cody seemed happy enough to be left playing with Charlie. It looked like they were already firm friends, just as Mason and Coop had been at their age.
“Who wants coffee?” I asked the room at large.
Everyone lifted their hands in the air.
“You mind helping me?” I asked Abby.
“Of course not.”
We strode off down the corridor in search of the machine that one of the nurses had directed us to.
“You doing okay?” I asked her when we were away from the others.
She smiled back at me. “Yeah, I’m good. This is actually really exciting.”
I nodded. “Yeah, it is.”
“Cody and Charlie are a hoot.”
I threw my head back and laughed. “Yeah, they are. They’re going to be handfuls when they’re older, I’m sure of it.”
“You said that you wanted kids,” Abby remarked.
I nodded. “Yeah, I’d love some, one day.”
“And it doesn’t bother you that you’d have to adopt?”
I shook my head. “No, not at all. In fact, even if I hadn’t had the accident, I still would have wanted to. I was adopted myself, you know.”
Abby’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know that. How old were you?”
“Two. My mother was a crack and heroin addict. She overdosed one day and if it hadn’t been for the fact that she had owed her pimp money and he came looking for it, I would have starved to death.”
Tears filled Abby’s eyes. “Hunter, I’m so sorry.”
I shrugged. “It is what it is. Things worked out for the best in the end because I got adopted by two of the most incredible people you could wish to meet.
“I thank God every day that not only did they give me a home, but they gave me love. I’ll never be able to thank them enough.”
“They sound like wonderful people.”
“They are.”
“Where are they now?”
I smiled fondly. “They’re on a three month around-the-world cruise.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, well, they worked hard all their lives. They deserve it.”
“I’d like to meet them one day.”
“You will. What are your parents like?”
“Normal parents, I guess. They fuss over me and whenever I see them, they still treat me like I’m a little girl.”
I chuckled. “That’s because you their little girl.”
“I guess.”
“Were they supportive when you were going through your treatment?”
When Abby averted her gaze and shrugged. I could tell she was trying to avoid my question.
“Abby?”
She sighed. “I never told them about the cancer.”
I stared at her, mouth agape. “What do you mean? Why not?”
“My dad had a heart attack a few years ago and I know that my mom worries about him. I didn’t want to add any stress to their lives.
“I figured I could handle it on my own so I never told them. I guess, well, I guess I just didn’t want them to worry about me.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “But you had to go through all that on your own? With no support network? Was anyone there for you?”
She pulled her bottom lip into her mouth. “My boss was really good about everything. My friends tried to be there, but they had their own lives…”
“That’s bullshit,” I spat. “If one of my friends got sick, I’d do anything I could to ensure he had all the help he needed.”
“I was okay,” she said quietly. “I pulled through.”
I stared at her. “You know, you amaze me more and more every day. I think you’re the strongest person I know.”
“I didn’t always feel it when I was sick,” she said. “Some days I struggled to get out of bed.”
“But you did,” I told her. “You kept getting up and getting on and fighting and it’s because of the fight in you that you’re here today.”
“I’m glad I’m here,” she said, almost shyly.
I leaned in and placed a soft kiss on her lips. “I’m glad too.”
We took the coffees back and distributed them to everyone then there was really nothing to do but sit and wait.
Four hours later, the door to Libby’s room opened and Mason came out, tears streaming down his face and holding a bundle of blankets in his arms.
“It’s a girl!” he declared.
Everyone cheered and clapped and whistled.
“Cody,” Mason said. “Come and meet your baby sister.”
He got down on one knee and when Cody went running to his side he tilted the little bundle forward for Cody to get a look.
“Wow, she’s tiny,” Cody said in an awed voice. “When can we take her home?”
“In a little while,” Mason said. “Mommy needs to rest for a while.”
The baby started crying and Cody got a horrified look on his face. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She’s probably hungry,” Mason said.
I grinned.
Cody had better get used to it because there’d be a lot more of that to come.
Everyone took their turn to look at the baby and we all made the appropriate oohs and aahs. There was something about babies that brought out the emotional side to everyone. Coop pulled Faith into his arms and Ethan cradled Andrea. Violet and Luke were looking pretty loved up to.
Seeing so many mushy couples would have set my teeth on edge several months ago, but not anymore. I pulled Abby close to my side and planted a kiss on her forehead.
“Thanks for being here with me,” I whispered into her ear.
“Always,” she whispered back.
“What have you named her?” Andrea asked.
Mason’s smile was huge. “She’s called…Hope.”
The End