Chapter Thirteen
Mia
“Please let me go in.”
Adrian lightly grasps me by the shoulders and hauls me back away from the door. “Stop trying. Stop making me say no to you. You know it’s not my call.”
Another loud, tortured groan can be heard on the other side of the wall.
“This is ridiculous,” I tell him, wide eyed. “I don’t even know if he’s being nice to her in there.”
He shakes his head, lightly irritated. Flicking an almost accusing gaze down the hall, he asks, “Where is Rafe? He’s supposed to be watching you.”
I settle a hand on my hip and glare at him. “Okay, Mateo.”
He gives me a dirty look, but then realizes he was being a little condescending and scrubs his hand down his face. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. You’re obviously not a child.”
“Glad someone noticed,” I mutter, annoyed.
“We’ve all noticed.”
I shake my head, then I duck past him and shove open the door before he can stop me.
He follows, but he wasn’t expecting me to pull a fast one on him, so he doesn’t catch me before Mateo catches sight of me.
Adrian grabs my arm and goes to pull me back out of the door, but I glare hard at Mateo until he puts a hand up to call off Adrian.
“Oh, thank God,” Meg says, her head lolling back. Her hair is pulled up on top of her head, drenched with sweat. Her skin is flushed. I’m unprepared for her to literally whine, “I can’t do this. I need something. He won’t give me anything. I want an epidural!”
Mateo is quite prepared for my accusing gape. He answers calmly, “She can’t have an epidural. She’s at home and it’s too late anyway.”
“You guys suck,” I mutter, approaching Meg’s bedside and offering my hand. She squeezes it way too tight and I wince.
“Mia, I’m dying. This is how he’s gonna kill me,” she states.
Still calm as ever, Mateo informs Meg, “If you’re going to cause trouble, I’ll have Adrian escort her out and she won’t come back.”
“What can I do?” I ask her. “Do you have a hot water bottle? I could send Adrian for a hot water bottle to put behind your back, maybe?”
“It’s not enough. The pain is everywhere. It’s not just my back; this little demon child is trying to break my whole body apart so it can get out.”
The doctor and his assistant stand at the foot of the bed. Now the stodgy old man tells her, “This will go much easier for you if you relax.”
Her blue eyes widen and she looks like she could spit fire. “That’s easy for you to say, asshole!”
I glance back at Adrian. “What about ice chips? I read that women get ice chips when they’re in labor. It’s not an epidural, but maybe it’s worth a shot?”
Meg lets out another horrible noise of torment, like the demons of hell are ripping her apart. She tries to crush my hand and I grimace sympathetically, trying hard not to think about the fact that I have to do this in a few months, too.
My visible stress gets Mateo out of his chair. He comes around the bed to stand behind me, placing a strong hand on each shoulder, and leans in to murmur, “It won’t be like this for you.”
“Because my baby will be nicer?”
He drops a kiss at my nape, then peppers the rest of my neck with kisses, trying to distract me. “Because you’ll be well taken care of.”
I’ve never thought Meg had a filter, but now that she’s in severe physical pain, she’s somehow less restrained.
“You are so fucking mean,” she says, glaring at Mateo.
If she expected this to wound him, she must be incredibly disappointed when he smiles. “I know.” Then, to be an even bigger asshole, he firmly grasps my chin and turns my face so he can give me a little kiss.
I narrow my eyes at him to let him know I’m not at all impressed, but he’s not even paying attention to me, he’s watching Meg, looking for new ways to be a dick, probably.
Meg whines, throwing her head back into the pillow. “I hate everyone. I hate everything. I hate the whole world! Feel my vengeance, world! Get this baby out of me!”
The contraction subsides and demonic Meg fades to merely unpleasant Meg. Adrian isn’t happy about it, but I send him for ice chips. I’m convinced the ice chips will help. She’s in the middle of another contraction when he comes back with them.
“You’re too nice,” Adrian states gruffly, giving me the ice chips.
My eyes widen. “Do you hear the noises that are coming out of this woman?”
He shrugs, unconcerned. “I’ve heard grown men make noises just like this. Didn’t break my heart then, doesn’t break my heart now.”
“I love you, but you’re being a jerk.”
“I am not being a jerk, she’s a jerk,” he mutters, but now he’s all flushed since I used the L-word so he meanders away.
I try to feed Meg ice chips and she is, in fact, a jerk about it. I’m sure it’s just because she’s in lots of pain though, so I set them aside and let her crush my hand while she whines and rages at the world some more.
After what must be an hour of pushing, the doctor signals Mateo to come over. They talk in hushed tones and Mateo glances at Meg.
“What?” I ask, since Meg is moaning and in misery, unable to concentrate on anything. “What’s happening down there?”
Mateo nods at the doctor and comes over, gently pushing me out of the way. “We need to get her on her hands and knees.”
“Why?” I ask, alarmed.
“The baby’s heart rate is dropping.”
My heart drops. I stammer a few times, but Meg doesn’t know what’s going on, so I swallow, willing color back into my face and attempt a smile when she looks over at me.
“What are we doing?” she asks, confused. “Why are we moving?”
Mateo and the doctor help get Meg up on her hands and knees. Another contraction hits and she howls. Everything moves fast. Mateo stays by her side now and Adrian comes over to pull me back into the protective shelter of his chest.
“Why don’t we go out in the hall and—”
I shake my head. “No, I have to… Is the baby going to be okay? Shouldn’t we do something? Maybe we should go to the hospital? Call an ambulance?”
“They’ve got this under control,” he assures me.
Meg roars and I cast a worried look her way, so Adrian moves in front of me, blocking my view and giving me a firm look. “Come on. You’ve helped as much as you could.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” I inform him.
“I can’t do it,” Meg whines.
“You have to push,” Mateo states, firmly. “The doctor said to keep pushing.”
“You push!” she tosses back at him. “I’m tired.”
The doctor tells her to give him one more good, hard push and even though she looks like she’d rather die, Meg manages to do it.
The doctor pops his head up to tell Mateo, “He’s crowning.”
Now Mateo leaves her side and goes to the foot of the bed where the doctor and the assistant are.
One minute the unpleasant sounds of labor fill the room, and the next, a new cry joins the mix. A somehow angrier little cry, screaming at the top of his lungs to let us all know how pissed off he is at his eviction.
I light up like a kid on Christmas and grin at Adrian. His shoulders sag with relief, and we both turn back to look. The assistant is grinning at Mateo, holding the shrill bundle of anger up for him to see.
I grab Adrian’s arm and give it an excited shake. “Let’s go see him.”
“He’s so mad,” Adrian remarks.
“Furious. He must have been happy where he was,” I add, craning my neck to look as the assistant carries him over and begins cleaning him up.
Mateo waits for her to do her thing, but he looks over at me and smiles as I approach.
“He’s okay, I take it?” Adrian asks.
“All good,” Mateo verifies, nodding his head.
The baby continues to scream his head off.
“He has your disposition,” Adrian jokes.
Mateo tries to give him a dry look, but he doesn’t quite manage to shake the happiness. I feel the faintest stab of pain that I’m not the one who gave him that, but I shake it off just as quickly. This isn’t the time. There will never be a time, because that’s an unpleasant and unproductive way to feel.
I snake a hand around his waist and he turns his attention to me. I’m smiling as I say, “You finally have a son.”
He wraps his other arm around me and draws me close, then lets his hand drift down to rub my belly. “We have a son. In a few months, we’ll have two.”
That makes me feel better. I lean in to kiss him—just a quick peck, but he holds me there for an extra minute.
The assistant comes back with a bundled up baby. He’s still mad, but not as mad as he was. Now his cries have tapered off. As the assistant hands him over to Mateo, the baby makes some vague noises of disgruntlement, but he seems to soak up Mateo’s presence and understand already his bullshit will not be tolerated.
I grin, placing a hand on Mateo’s shoulder and peering over to see the baby. He’s all red right now, but he’s so beautiful. “He has hair,” I say, excitedly.
Mateo cuts me a smile. “Of course he has hair. All my babies have hair.”
“Oh, my God, he’s so adorable.” I resist the urge to ask if I can touch him—this is my husband, my family, of course I can touch him. I reach out and run my finger across his tiny, soft little hand. I have to work hard not to erupt with excitement, but babies are so awesome, and this is Mateo’s baby; I can’t entirely handle it.
“You still like Roman?” Mateo asks me, his eyes on the baby’s tiny face.
“For the name? Yes, I still like Roman.”
He nods and I dart my first glance at Meg since the baby emerged. I was initially too worried about the heart rate and whether or not he was okay, but now that the baby’s health is no longer a matter of urgency, I feel like I should go check on his mother.
Mateo’s voice brings me back to the moment. “You want to hold him?”
I utter a faint “oh” of surprise, then a feather-light little bundle of blankets is transferred into my arms. I shift his weight on my chest, cradling his small body in my arm and smiling down into his handsome little face. “Hello, little cutie.” His mouth opens and closes and he turns his head, looking up at me with big, solemn eyes.
I can’t handle how cute his little face is. He makes a little noise and my heart erupts like a volcano of love. I dart a look of excitement at Mateo. “Listen to him. He has the sweetest little voice.”
“Yes,” Mateo remarks, amused, “his vocal chords are quite impressive.”
“They are,” I insist, rubbing the back of my finger across his cheek and snuggling him close. I peer at Meg again. The doctor has walked back to his assistant, so I guess we’re good to approach her now. I want to keep holding the baby, but I shift my gaze to Mateo. “Do you want to take him over to see Meg?”
He doesn’t look back at her. “You can, if you want. He’s probably hungry.”
I look back at Roman, unable to resist rubbing his little cheek again. “I bet you are. Being born is a big job, huh?” I cradle him closer and step around Mateo, walking over to Meg’s bedside. “Momma, look who I have here.”
Meg appears to have fused with the bed. She’s so exhausted she doesn’t even look legitimately excited that I’m bringing Roman over. It takes her a minute to lift herself up and hold her arms out to take him. He starts to cry as I hand him over, not a big fan of being shuffled around and handed off like a hot potato, apparently.
“Hey, little guy,” she says, smiling faintly as she settles him into her arm. He’s still screaming at her, but she settles him against her chest and places kisses on his forehead. Begrudgingly, he starts to calm down.
“He’s so cute,” I gush.
She smiles a little bigger now, rolling her eyes. “Of course he is.”
“I want to snuggle him forever,” I state, barely resisting the urge to reach out and touch him again.
“I’m sure you’ll get to,” she says, evenly enough, all things considered.
I dim a bit, even in the glow of the new baby. “I didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know you didn’t,” she assures me, nodding dismissively. “Can you get me… something? I don’t know; I’m hungry, I’m thirsty, everything hurts, and I feel like I just emptied out everything that was inside my body. I sort of feel like death.”
“Yeah, of course. You want a sandwich? I’ll go make you something.”
Before anyone can tell me not to, I run downstairs and throw together a turkey sandwich for Meg. I scoop out some of the macaroni salad Maria made, then scoop out a side of mixed fruit until it’s a suitable post-labor feast. I grab bottles of water and orange juice and head back upstairs.
Roman is still eating, but when Meg sees all the food I’ve brought her, she coaxes him off. He lets out a new round of screams to announce his displeasure, but Meg settles him in her lap and takes the food, happily trading.
“Oh my god, thank you. You’re an angel.”
My gaze drifts to Roman. “Can I take the baby back?”
She nods absently, her gaze on the sandwich. “Come to me, my love.”
I smile faintly and pick up the baby, snuggling my own little love against my chest. He’s still really pissed. Now that he’s against my chest, he seems to think he can get the same all-you-can-eat buffet from my breasts and starts rooting around, trying to eat me.
I wander back to the guys. Mateo is perched against the dresser, arms crossed, eyes on Adrian as they chat. His gaze flickers to me when he sees me coming, then drifts to Roman.
“He’s trying to eat me,” I inform him. “I think he’s still hungry.”
“That’s all right. We’ll give him a bottle in a little bit.”
I lightly tap the blanket cushion around Roman. “Hey, you hear that? I’m sorry to disappoint you, but there’s no milk coming out of these just yet. You’re going to eat more soon.”
He ignores me, working his little arm out of the blanket, then working harder to get at my boob. I raise an eyebrow at Mateo. “He’s an aggressive little guy.”
Mateo smirks. “Are you surprised?”
I shake my head, peering down at him. “Like father, like son.”