Total pages in book: 49
Estimated words: 56149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56149 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 281(@200wpm)___ 225(@250wpm)___ 187(@300wpm)
“Come on now. Let’s see if we’re going to have a baby around here soon,” Marie says as we both rush to my bathroom. Quickly, I ready the test and do it, placing the stick on the sink when I’m done. I open the door for Marie to come into the bathroom, and we both just stare down at the test and wait.
“What are you doing?”
I scream out in surprise, jumping around to face Sean is standing in the bathroom doorway.
“I…oh…” I look to Marie for help, but she just stands there. “I thought you left,” I finally finish, stumbling over my words.
“I tried.” He runs his hands through his hair. “Just felt like something was off.” He takes a step into the bathroom, and I try to move further back, wanting to block the test, but my ass is already against the sink.
“Baby, you’re kind of freaking me out here.” He takes a few more steps until he’s right in front of me, and I have to lean my head back to look at him. He must see the test on the sink behind me, because a smile breaks out across his face.
Suddenly, he’s dropping to his knees in front of me.
I feel Marie move beside me, then her words hit me. “Two lines.”
Sean places his face against my stomach, echoing her words “Two lines.”
“We’re having a baby,” I whisper, and run my fingers through his hair.
“I love you,” Sean says to my stomach, and I feel a tear slip free.
Then he’s picking me up and carrying me to our bed. Marie is long gone. Probably off to tell Sal they’re going to be grandparents.
“We should leave the island. It’s not safe here. Then maybe—”
I cut him off. “Calm down. You planned for this. Think about it, Sean. We have Marie and the two midwives. It doesn’t take long to get to the main island, and we can stay on the main island when the due date gets closer. We aren’t leaving. This is our home. The home we’ve made for the family we’re going to have. We’ll make this work.”
“You’re right, little fox. We can do anything.”
Epilogue
Sean
Nine months later…
“Wake up, baby. I think my water broke.”
I shoot out of bed, nearly knocking Tessa to the floor. Luckily, my reflexes are good when it comes to her, and I grab her by both arms, picking her up in my arms before she can tumble back.
“The baby? It’s here?”
She giggles at me and nods. This isn’t a time for giggling. We have to move. Now.
“When did your water break?” I ask, striding around the room, not really having any kind of direction. I’m just walking around, holding her in my arms while she has our baby in the middle of the room.
“Sean. Calm down.”
Tessa agreed we would go off the island tomorrow and spend the last week of her pregnancy in town. It’s our first baby, and we thought for sure she would go over her due date.
I begged her to go before, but she wouldn’t. Finally, after dinner last night, I had to get on my knees and beg her to take the boat over in the morning. I couldn’t handle the stress of being so far from the hospital with the baby so close to being born.
“Tessa.” There’s a warning in my tone that wants to tell her ‘I told you so’. But I’ll do that later. Goddamn it, I knew this would happen!
“I’ve already paged Sal. He and Marie are by the docks, ready to go. Our bags are packed, and it won’t take us fifteen minutes to get there. I’ve got time. Just breathe.”
Those are supposed to be my words to her, not the other way around.
Carrying her out of the room, I try to think ahead and concentrate. I take her carefully down the dock and slip on my shoes. Marie must have left them there for me, predicting this would happen. Thank God, someone is thinking.
“It’s time,” I say in a panic as I see Sal and Marie waiting.
“We know, son. Just calm down. Everything is going to be okay.”
Sal puts his big hands on my shoulders, helping me into the boat as I clutch Tessa to my chest. I haven’t put her down since she said her water broke, and I’m a little terrified that if she stands on her own two feet, the baby will fall out.
I realize this isn’t possible, but I’m not exactly thinking rationally right now.
Marie comes to sit down beside me and pushes the hair out of Tessa’s face. “You’re doing great. We radioed the hospital. They’ll be waiting at the docks for us.”
“It’s not me and the baby I’m worried about. It’s Twitchy McGee over here.”
Tessa nods at me, and I immediately stop bouncing my feet up and down under her. I’m nervous as fuck, but I need to hold it together. Our baby is coming, and I need to be her rock.
“It’s fine. It’s going to be totally fine.”
“A little less panic in your voice next time and you may convince yourself,” Sal laughs as he gets behind the wheel of the boat and pulls out into the water.
The ride is only fifteen minutes. I can do this.
“You still think it’s a boy?” Tessa is trying to distract me, and I really need it right now.
Taking a deep breath, I decide to focus on this. The sex of the baby is going to be a surprise. Both of us wanted that special moment when the baby comes.
I kiss her forehead and breathe in her scent. It calms me a little. She always calms me, and right now I’m thankful that I’ve still got her in my arms.
“And you’re convinced it’s a girl?” I say, looking into her big golden eyes. There’s not an ounce of fear there, and it warms my heart to know how brave my girl is. She’s always ready for whatever rolls her way. It’s how I know she’s going to be a phenomenal mother.