The restless shifting in the bed woke me. Maya was still mostly asleep, but I had no doubt I’d gotten more rest than she had. Rolling onto my side, I reached out and placed a hand on her lower back. As I started to stroke, she sighed and settled down more deeply into the mattress.

After a few minutes, I stopped and shifted more comfortably into my pillow.

I drifted off again.

But a few minutes later, I was wide awake.

So was Maya, rolling onto her side and pushing up.

“Need some help?”

She shot me a dirty look. “I can get up to go pee by myself.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “I know you can. I was just offering some assistance.”

“Just because I look like a beached whale doesn’t mean I am.”

“Hey…” I rolled out of bed and came to stand in front of her just as she managed to sit up. “You don’t look like a beached whale. You look beautiful.”

She rolled her eyes, but a smile appeared on her lips, and she let me take her hands to pull her out of bed. I bent down to kiss her, then I bent lower to kiss her belly. “Hello, beautiful,” I said to the baby. “And hello, beautiful wife, beautiful mother.”

Now she laughed. “You're too much,” she said, shaking her head. “I need to go pee.”

I stepped away, then sat down to watch as she hurried into the bathroom. Once the door shut, I fell back onto the bed and closed my eyes.

If I could get another hour’s sleep…

“Glenn!”

Her panicked voice had me leaping off the bed.

I shoved open the bathroom door without thinking twice. She was standing by the sink, her nightgown pulled halfway up her thighs. There was a puddle of something wet on the floor.

But then she said, “My water just broke.”

My brain went blank.

“Huh?”

She frowned. “My water broke.”

“What’s that mean?” Panic reached up and choked me. “Is…do I need to call the doctor? Is the baby okay?” Striding toward her, I grabbed her arms. “Are you okay?”

She looked bewildered as she studied me, then she sighed, shaking her head. “I guess this is another one of those time gap things. You don’t know much of anything about this, do you?” She didn’t wait another second. “It happens. Not all the time and not with every pregnancy, but often enough. I’m pregnant, remember? Now I have to go to the hospital.”

* * *

“Sir, this is highly irregular!”

The nurse in her starched-up uniform glared at me as I settled myself at Maya’s side.

Four other nurses had also told me something along those lines too.

I’d been told I could stay with her as long as I wanted—until it was time for her to deliver. I’d told the doctors and the nurses I’d leave when Maya was ready for me to leave. She’d grabbed my hand and said, If you leave, I’m going, too.

That was reason enough for me to stay.

She’d insisted she didn’t want any of the medication they often gave moms, and I had to stay to make sure it didn’t happen. I didn't trust the doctor on call to not dismiss everything Maya said simply because she was a woman. I'd also stay because she wanted me there, and I wouldn't do anything she didn't want of me.

Maya had taken this pregnancy thing by the horns. She’d hunted down a doctor, a woman doctor who'd recently set up practice in Philadelphia, specializing in obstetrics. When I’d voiced concerns about a female doctor, I learned quickly that had been a mistake. Maya had given me a pointed look and asked who I thought knew a woman's body better, a man who went to school and studied it, or a woman who already had the body and went to school to study it.

There was no arguing with that logic.

She’d dragged me to almost every doctor’s appointment, something that had apparently delighted the doctor and befuddled her staff. I’d coasted through most of it in a hot, uncomfortable haze where I’d blocked a lot of stuff out. Probably things like her water breaking.

But I hadn’t blocked out crucial details like I want Glenn in there with me. Can you make that happen?

Dr. Bernadette O’Neill had assured us both that the delivery room was her domain, and she’d make whatever she wanted to happen, happen.

Right now, we were waiting for her to show up.

The obstetrician who was on duty at the hospital had assured us he could handle everything, but Maya had given him the sort of glare that had made better men back off. The good news was that I’d notified Dr. O’Neill before leaving home. Her staff had assured us she’d be there shortly. She had a partner who would cover her patients at the office.

Now we were just left to figure out how long shortly was.

“Dr. Slaughter, this is not acceptable,” the nurse who’d fussed at me said in a low voice.

Maya groaned, covering her eyes with her forearm.

“Dr. Slaughter,” she mumbled. “I cannot have a baby delivered by a man who calls himself Dr. Slaughter. I mean, that’s like…like…having a baby delivered by a Dr. Demento or Dr. Hitler or something!”

She half-wailed the last part, and I covered my mouth to keep from laughing as the doctor lifted his head to stare at us.

I shrugged, giving him a what can you do look.

After a few seconds, he went back to speaking with the nurse.

Maya lowered her arm. “It hurts,” she said. Arching her back, she sucked in a breath, then blew out it. A minute later, she drew another breath in.

“Just keep breathing,” I said, rubbing her knee. “That’s it…”

“I’ve got something for the pain here—”

“No!” Both Maya and I shouted it.

Dr. Slaughter looked from me to her then back to me. “It’s simply some pain medication to make it easier.”

“I don’t need it,” Maya said, her voice hitching.

“She doesn’t use pain medicine. She can’t tolerate it,” I added.

His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth, no doubt to ask who I thought I was, questioning him...but before he could, the doors burst open.

“Hello, hello, my fine young friends,” Dr. O’Neill called out. “Are we ready to bring a beautiful baby into the world?”

* * *

“She’s beautiful.” I slumped in a chair that was more uncomfortable than anything I’d ever experienced in my life. But I was completely satisfied. If I stayed here the rest of my life, I wouldn’t complain. “Isn’t she beautiful?”

Maya didn’t answer and I looked up, only to find her sleeping, half-curled on her side and facing me.

There was a smile on her face and her lips were parted, her breaths coming in a slow, steady rhythm.

“Mama’s asleep,” I said to the tiny girl in my arms. “I think you wore her out.”

Our daughter yawned.

“I guess you wore yourself out, too.”

Her big eyes seemed to focus on my face and she blinked. A few seconds later, she blinked again and her lashes lingered down longer this time. “You go ahead and sleep, angel.”

Nobody was going anywhere.