After Josh pulled up to the emergency room doors, I hopped out of the backseat and attempted to help Jessie out of the truck. Her contractions were not getting any closer together, and I was thanking God because I was almost a hundred percent sure I’d broken my ankle. Josh ran inside, and the next thing I knew, there were two wheelchairs.
The nurse walking up to us giggled. “Well, we haven’t seen this in a while.”
“Seen what?” Jessie asked as I helped her sit down in the wheelchair.
“The pregnant wife with the husband who broke something while frantically trying to get the wife to the hospital.” The nurse winked at me.
She started to push Jessie in as Josh pushed me in while he was laughing. Just the nurse referring to Jessie as my wife caused my heart to beat faster.
“I wasn’t frantic. I was jumping over a stupid lounge chair, and Ari’s damn dog ran in front of me,” I said, folding my arms. I was pretty sure if I could see myself, my face would be pouting.
Josh stopped at the nurses’ station and slapped me on the back. “Dude, I’ve got to park your truck. Jessie, I’ll bring your suitcase in.” He looked at me and shook his head. Then, he turned and walked off, still laughing.
Bastard. I’m sure he panicked even more when Heather went into labor.
The nurse mentioned something to Jessie about how we had preregistered, so we had to sign only a few things. Then, she turned to me and asked for my insurance card.
“What?” I asked, confused. “Don’t worry about me. My fiancée is in labor!”
The nurse smiled sweetly. “Mr. Reynolds, we need to get you down to X-ray, so we can see if your ankle is broken. Then, we will take care of it from there.”
I went to stand up and felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw my father standing there.
“Scott, just let them do this, so you can get it done and get back to Jessie. Your mother and I are here.”
“Who called you?” I asked, confused as hell.
“Garrett. Now, go on. Just let them get you fixed up, son. I promise, you won’t miss anything.”
I turned and looked at Jessie, who was holding my mother’s hand. I smiled when I looked at the two most important women in my life. They had both grown to love each other so much, and I loved that Jessie called her mom. She was the mother that Jessie had never had, and my mother adored Jessie so much. I felt tears building in my eyes as I looked up at my mother. She nodded her head, and I knew they were right.
I reached out my hand for Jessie’s. “I’m so, so sorry I did this.”
She let out a giggle. “I love you, Scott. I’ll hold the baby off for as long as I can.”
As the nurse began taking me down to get an X-ray, I turned around and saw Jessie staring at me. She lifted her hand and waved, and I blew her a kiss. I watched as the smile spread across her beautiful face.
I turned back around and cursed all lounge chairs and dogs.
We are never getting a pool. Ever!
I was impressed that the doctor in the emergency room had worked so fast to get me fixed up. The X-ray had shown a small fracture, so the doctor put a cast on and gave me crutches. He told me to follow-up in a few days with my doctor.
I swore Jeff was having a grand ole time, pushing me in the wheelchair as fast as he could, as I held on to my crutches while telling him to hurry the hell up.
By the time we got up to the labor and delivery area, my heart was pounding so hard that I was beginning to have a hard time breathing. I saw our family and friends in the waiting room and smiled. I have the best group of friends ever.
“Where are all the kids?” I asked, looking at Heather, Ari, Ellie, Gunner, and Josh all sitting around, drinking coffee.
Ari laughed. “That’s the best part of having the grandparents over for a party. If we all need to leave, we’ve got built-in babysitters!”
“Ellie, you left Colt?” I asked, knowing Ellie had yet to leave Colt with anyone.
She smiled and nodded her head. “Well, I figured five grandparents could take care of him and Alex.”
“Mr. Reynolds? Your fiancée is getting closer,” the nurse said.
I jumped up and out of the wheelchair with my crutches. “Shit! Shit, this it!”
Everyone let out a laugh. Jeff, Josh, and Gunner walked me to the door.
Before I went in, I turned and looked at them. “I don’t know what to say, but thank you. Thank you for being more than just a friend. Y’all are like my brothers, and I…I…”
Gunner put his hand on my shoulder and smiled. “We know what you’re saying, dude. Go welcome your baby into the world, and don’t forget to tell Jessie what a great job she did.”
“And tell her she looks beautiful,” Jeff said with a wink.
I looked at Josh, and he smiled. “Oh man, dude…take it all in because it will be one of the most amazing moments in your life. Just make sure she knows how happy you are, Scott.”
I nodded as I looked at all three of them. I opened the door and heard Jessie cry out in pain. I quickly shut it and turned back around to them.
“Holy fuck, I can’t do it.” I started to hobble away.
Gunner grabbed me and opened the door. He turned me around and gently guided me into the room.
The moment her eyes caught mine, I didn’t need any help. I needed to get to her. She looked down at my ankle in a cast, and she started crying.
“No…no, baby, don’t cry.” I tried my best to make my way to her side.
My mother was standing on the other side of Jessie, and she smiled at me when I finally made it to Jessie’s side.
“Honey, I’m going to step outside now that Scott is here,” my mother said.
Jessie reached for her. “No! Mom, please stay with us. Please,” she said as her voice cracked.
My mother smiled and pushed Jessie’s sweat-dampened hair away from her eyes. I saw tears building in my mother’s eyes as she nodded her head.
“Of course I will stay with y’all, baby girl,” my mother said.
My heart felt like it was going to burst. I was so happy.
My mother looked at me. “You have one very strong and brave young woman here. She is doing this with no drugs.”
I instantly felt like shit, remembering how I had just begged the ER doctor to give me something strong to take away the pain. Some cowboy I am.
“Looks like you made it right on time, Scott. I think a few more pushes, Jessie, and we will get to meet this baby of yours,” Pete said.
The next few minutes felt like a lifetime, yet it all happened so fast. Jessie pushed about five more times, and she never once complained about the pain. She cried out in pain each time, but I could tell she was trying to be so strong. I leaned down after each push and told her how proud of her I was and how much I loved her.
Then, it happened. Jessie let out a long and loud scream with the last push.
Pete looked up at us and smiled. “You have a beautiful and healthy baby girl.”
I busted out in tears and looked at our baby girl as Pete held her up.
“Oh my god! She’s the most breathtaking thing I’ve ever seen,” Jessie said.
Pete handed the baby to the nurse, who moved our girl to a table. I watched the nurse do all kinds of weird-ass shit to the poor little thing. She was crying away, and my heart had never felt like this before. I thought loving Jessie was amazing, but this…this was beyond amazing, just like Josh had said.
I glanced down at Jessie as she cried and tried to see what the nurse was doing to the baby.
I leaned down, placed my finger under her chin, and moved her face over to look at me. “I love you more than anything. I never in my life thought that I could feel so much love in my heart, and you just proved me wrong…again. You amaze me. I’m in awe of you right now, and you…you’ve made me the happiest man on Earth. Thank you for loving me.”
I gently kissed her, and she moved her hand to the back of my neck, pulling me in for a deeper kiss.
When we parted our lips, she smiled and looked me in the eyes as she said, “I love you to the moon and back.”
She began crying again, and I wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“And I just want you to know…I’m never doing that again,” she said.
My mother busted out laughing. I smiled and nodded my head as I looked up at my mother, who winked at me.
“Are you ready to meet baby girl Reynolds?” the nurse asked.
She walked up to me and gently put my daughter in my arms. The moment I held her, she immediately stopped crying.
“Hey…look at that. Already a Daddy’s girl,” Pete said.
He walked over to the sink and did a few things with the nurses, and then they slowly sat Jessie back up.
Looking down at this beautiful miracle in my arms, I couldn’t help but smile. When she yawned, my knees about gave out.
“I promise to always love and protect you and your mommy. You two are my whole life now, baby girl.”
I turned to see Jessie watching me. The smile on her face was like nothing I’d ever seen before in my life. I carefully took our baby and placed her into the arms of the woman I’d loved since before I could remember.
I would lay my life down for this woman and for our daughter.
I watched as Jessie brought our baby girl up to her lips, and she began kissing our daughter all over her little face. One peek at my mother, and I saw she was crying like mad. I smiled and wiped a tear away.
“I’m so, so happy to finally meet you. I’ve waited so long to hold you, and I thought for sure with how much you kicked and punched me, baby girl, that you were going to be a boy!”
We all laughed.
My mother lightly brushed her hand across the baby’s head. “Do we have a name?” she asked as she looked at Jessie and then at me.
I looked down, and we both nodded.
“Lauren Ashley. Her name is Lauren Ashley Reynolds,” Jessie said with a smile.
“It’s perfect. She’s perfect. Let me give y’all a few minutes. Before I go, Scott, would you like to go tell your friends it’s a girl?”
I quickly looked up at my mother. “Oh yeah! Let me go real quick, Mom…on my crutches and all.”
I made my way out of the room and down the hall. Everyone stood up at once. I knew the moment I opened my mouth, I was going to start crying again, and Jeff would probably call me a pussy. I looked at each of them standing there with smiles on their faces. These were my six friends who had stood by me through everything. I knew there wasn’t a damn thing we wouldn’t do for each other. My life would be empty without them in it. I knew this wouldn’t be the last time we were all going to be waiting to hear the news of another new baby. Our lives were just starting. So many more happy memories were waiting for all of us.
“Well?” Ari said. “Are you going to tell us, dickwad? Or make us all stand here and guess?”
I let out a laugh. Only Ari could make me laugh when all I wanted to do was cry.
“It’s a girl—Lauren Ashley,” I barely said.
They all made their way over to me. With every handshake and hug, my heart grew bigger and bigger, and my love for my friends grew tenfold.
“Congratulations, dude,” Gunner said as he took me in for a hug.
Each of the girls took turns giving me a kiss and wiping away my tears.
Josh smiled as he gave me a hug. “I told you, didn’t I?”
I nodded my head. “Yeah. You weren’t kidding either.”
When Jeff walked up to me, I braced myself for what I was sure was going to be an onslaught of snarky comments.
“Welcome to fatherhood, dude. It’s one of the coolest things ever. I’m glad you had a girl because if you had a boy, I would have to worry about him going after my Grace. If your son were anything like you…”
I started laughing and shook my head. “Thanks, Jeff.”
He smiled, and to my surprise, he brought me in for a quick hug and slap on the back. “I’m really happy for you and Jessie.”
As everyone stepped back, I saw my father walking down the hall with Starbucks coffees, and Bryce was following behind him with more coffees.
Dad stopped and smiled as he looked at me.
“A girl—Lauren Ashley,” I said.
He handed Josh the coffees, walked up to me, and pulled me in for a hug. “Son of a bitch. Well done, son. Well done. I’m so damn proud of you and Jessie.”
I smiled, and Bryce reached out and shook my hand. Things hadn’t been the same with us ever since the whole Chelsea incident, but we were trying to work on it.
“So, I’m an uncle. Pretty damn cool.”
“Dad, would you like to see her?” I asked.
“Do horses shit?”
I laughed and shook my head. I turned and made my way back into the room as I listened to my father talk about all the things he was going to teach Lauren.
I never want this feeling to end.