Page 408 of Redeeming 6

“You disgust me.”

“Not nearly as much as this healthy eating plan you’ve got me following disgusts me,” he huffed before wagging his brows and grinning. “Now, who’s up for a burger from the chipper?”

Kav said no at the same time Shannon said yes, and I swear I’d never seen a lad do a one-eighty faster. “You want something from the chipper, Shan?”

“Uh, maybe?” she replied. “If that’s okay?”

“Anything,” he replied gruffly. “You can have anything you want, baby.”

Beaming up at him, my sister reeled off her food order, while Kav hung on her every word.

“Anything, Shannon like the river,” Gibsie parroted in mocking tone, clutching his chest. “You can have anything, baby.”

“Gibs,” Kav warned, climbing to his feet and pocketing his wallet. “Give it a bleeding rest, will ya?”

“You can have my battered sausage,” Gibs continued to gush mockingly. “Like I said: anything for you, baby.”

“I’ll take a spin into town if it’s going,” I interrupted, deciding that it would be mentally less scarring to ignore the battered sausage jibe. “See if Aoife’s back.”

135

Maths Is Not My Strong Point, Mam!

AOIFE

“Where’s Dad? Has he come back yet?”

“No, I presume he’s still at the garage, love. I haven’t seen him since we got home from town. How are you feeling, Aoife love?”

“Oh, I don’t know, Mam,” I called out from our bathroom later that night, as I stood under the steady spray of water pouring down on me. “Like I want to throttle Dad for getting rid of the bath.”

“How are the pains?” Mam asked from the bathroom doorway. “Are they coming regular yet?”

“No, they’re not coming regular,” I snapped, having had quite enough of this whole damn ordeal. “Nothing about my life is regular, so why would my contractions be any different.”

“Well, you heard what the midwife said on the phone,” she parroted. “As soon as they start coming every five minutes, and last for a full minute consistently for over an hour, then we need to head to the hospital.”

“Maths is not my strong point, Mam,” I snapped, scrubbing myself down with a loofah, while I mentally warned my little intruder to stay the hell put for another night. “You do realize you’re talking to the girl who failed leaving-cert maths, don’t ya?”

“Oh, Aoife,” she laughed. “Only you could make a joke during a time like this.”

“Who’s joking?”

“Have you packed your bag for the hospital?”

“Yeah, it’s in the back of my car,” I called back. “That’s why I was asking where Dad was. He took my car, remember?”

“Oh Jesus.” I could hear the panic in her voice. “Let me go and phone him up. Tell him to get back with it.”

“No need,” I grunted, breathing through a particularly crippling tightening, as my belly turned to rock from the pressure. “I’m not having the baby tonight.”

I waited until my mother had closed the bathroom door before releasing what I could describe as a low keening noise from my throat.

The pressure building up in my body was beyond intense.

Electrifying and assaulting my core.

“Jesus, I’m going to die,” I wailed, biting down on my lip, as I tried to breathe through the pain. “This is going to take me out.”

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