Chapter Twenty-Three
Lucas
A few hours later, I woke to the sound of stomping. Harrison’s cabin wasn’t the best, acoustic-wise, so every footstep could be heard across the house.
“Harrison? You okay?” My voice cracked, groggy and jet-lagged as I was.
A few steps more, and he stuck his head into the doorway. His cheeks were flushed, and his hands were on his back. “‘Back hurts a little this morning. Not anything major, just a dull ache that comes and goes. I’ll be okay. Go back to sleep. It’s only seven.”
I lay back down, but instead of falling asleep, I turned over and reached for one of the baby books I’d been devouring in the last month or so.
Flipping through to the last chapter, my suspicions were confirmed.
“Harrison, about how long has your back been hurting?”
He passed the doorway, this time with a glass of orange juice in one hand. “Started right after we knotted. It woke me up.”
I glanced back at the book. Sex could cause a person to go into labor. It was time.
“About how long are the intervals between pain?” I didn’t want to alarm him, but at the same time, I needed to know how fast to get my ass in gear.
He passed again, shrugging. “I don’t know. What do you want me to do, time it?”
That was when the redness from his cheeks drained out like a sink. He cleared his throat before answering himself. “Oh...yeah. I should be timing this.” He bent forward slightly and I jumped from the bed to support him. His breaths were steady, in through his nose and out through his mouth.
“Just hold me a minute,” my mate whispered into my ear as he rested against my shoulder.
I rubbed his lower back, watching the time on the clock above the kitchen sink. “There it is again.”
Two minutes. Two freaking minutes.
“Okay, sweetheart. I need you to sit down while I get your bags and the baby’s bag. Then we will head for the car.” I helped him to the nearest chair.
As I gathered our stuff and put on the first thing I saw, I heard Harrison chant to the baby to stay in until we could get to the hospital, and couldn’t help but chuckle.
No home births for us.
In a whirlwind of movement, I put the bags into the trunk along with the car seat, and started the engine.
“Ready?” I gently grabbed Harrison’s hands and helped him to stand. He groaned softly, but nothing like I’d seen on TV. He wasn’t screaming or trying to tear my hair out.
He held tight around my waist as we walked to the car. Just as I shut the passenger door, Jaxon showed up, ready to work.
“It’s baby day, Jax—your day off.”
His eyes bulged. “Okay. I’ll let everyone know.”
I went around the car to get into the driver’s side. When I got in, Harrison huffed and puffed.
“You’re going to be okay.” Tears ran down his face. “Is the pain bad?” I asked as I started the engine and turned around to drive down the road. I’d timed it. It took exactly twelve minutes to get to the hospital if I gunned it and since I’d seen the tears, I’d decided gunning it was the best option.
Harrison’s voice cracked when he tried to speak.
I took his hand in mine and kissed his palm. “I’m getting there as fast as I can.”
“I had something planned for us today,” he croaked out.
“There’s nothing more important today than having our baby. Nothing.” He nodded and swiped some tears away. Whatever my omega had planned must’ve been important. It wasn’t often I saw him get so upset about missed plans.
I pushed the phone button in the car and called the hospital to let them know we were on the way. We’d toured the labor and delivery unit, and with this being a small town, they knew who we were when I called.
When we pulled up to the hospital, a nurse was already in the doorway with a wheelchair at the ready.
I wanted to go with Harrison, leave the car right there running, but there was someone behind me so I parked it in the red zone, not even caring if it got towed or wrecked. The only thing on my mind was getting my omega safely into the delivery room and seeing our baby.
“I’m here. Let’s go.” Bags in hand, we fast-walked to the labor and delivery unit. They settled us into a room and put monitors on Harrison while I rifled through the bags, looking for the pre-registration paperwork.
“It’s in the other bag, Lucas.” I sighed and smiled as Harrison directed me to the right place. And he was right-the papers were exactly where he said they were.
One nurse left and Harrison reached out for me. I rushed to his bedside and took his hand. He squeezed the hell out of it.
“Do you want pain medication? What are they saying? Why aren’t they here?”
“Speak of the devil and here I am.” Joaquim, Brent’s husband came in, stopping to wash his hands. “Now, let’s see where we are. Vivian’s gonna be so jealous that I was in here and she wasn’t. I’m filling in today. Apparently, there’s a lot of birthdays. I’ll be with you two for the duration.”
Harrison took a deep breath, obviously comforted as I was about having someone we knew in the delivery room.
Joaquim went about his checks on Harrison, using a soothing tone and staying calm while he answered. He did a quick scan of the contractions Harrison was having, and nodded once.
There was something about that nod that made my stomach fall to the floor. It was time. Our baby was ready.
“Looks like she’s having some stress. Her heartbeat is all over the place. I’d rather be safe than sorry. Baby girl needs to come out now. I’m going to get the doctor and call into surgery. Take a deep breath, gentlemen. You’re about to be fathers.”