Page 2 of Her Beta

“It’s going to be okay, sweetness,” he reassured her, wrapping her fingers around his hand so she had something to squeeze.

I was impressed that he didn’t complain—not even a grimace—when his fingers started to turn purple. “Let’s get your feet into the stirrups, and I’ll take a look to see where you’re at with dilation.”

It turned out to be a good thing that we moved quickly—and that she was wearing a skirt—because she was at ten centimeters. And the baby’s head was already crowning.

My plan to instruct her husband to help her change into a labor and delivery gown went out the window. Pressing the call button on her bed, I said; “It looks as though your son is in a rush to meet you, Cressida. I’m going to get the doctor in here right now.”

“Oh thank goodness,” she breathed. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I wasn’t sure how long I could hold on without pushing. It feels like a ring of fire down there.”

Kelly, the other nurse on the floor, rushed in, and I instructed, “Get Dr. Charron in here, stat. This baby is coming now.”

Kelly ran out of the room and returned with the doctor only a couple of minutes later. I used that time to get Cressida a little more comfortable. Luckily, she had planned to go without an epidural since there wasn’t enough time for one. Her labor and delivery went by freakishly fast for a first-time mother. Only twenty minutes later, she gave birth to their son. I immediately moved him to her abdomen for some skin-to-skin contact while I dried him, covering him with a warm towel and placing a cap on his head.

His father cut the umbilical cord, and a short while later, I was placing their new baby in his mother’s arms after he passed his Apgar test with flying colors.

“You did so good, sweetness. Andrew is perfect,” Aaron murmured, running his hands over his son’s cheeks, looking even smaller against his large fingertips.

I stepped back, intending to give the new family their privacy, but then I was overcome by an urge to capture the moment. “Would you like me to snap a few photos?”

“That would be wonderful.” Cressida beamed a smile at me. “My phone is in my purse.”

I grabbed the device and took a bunch of pictures before handing it over to Aaron. “Here you go.”

“Thanks,” he mumbled, his attention firmly fixed on the phone’s screen as he scrolled through the photos I took.

I was about to step out of the room when Cressida asked, “What did you think of Leyton?”

2

EVETTE

“Leyton?” I echoed, my brows drawing together. “Who’s that?”

Cressida tilted her head toward the door. “Our friend with the truck who drove like a bat out of hell to get me here before I gave birth to Andrew.”

“You have more important things to focus on than what I think of your friend.”

I shook my head, laughing softly. “I’ve been a nurse for almost three years, and this is the first time I’ve had a patient who just gave birth try to play matchmaker for me.”

“You know it’s not necessary, sweetness,” Aaron murmured, bending to brush a kiss against her cheek before doing the same to their son. “If Evette and Leyton belong together, that’s what will happen.”

Kelly returned with security bands to put on the new mom, dad, and baby. Then she placed Andrew in a bassinet and rolled him from the room to take his footprints, one for our records and another for the parents. Aaron followed her, unwilling to let his son out of his sight so soon after his birth.

“Your husband didn’t strike me as the romantic type. At least not with anyone but you.”

“He’s full of all sorts of surprises.” She winked at me. “We both are.”

I assumed she was teasing, but there was a thread of seriousness in her tone that made me wonder what kind of surprises she was talking about. But my curiosity was bound to be unsatisfied because I wouldn’t see Cressida and her husband again after today. Or their friend Leyton, which oddly made me sad since I’d never even said a word to the man.

Hours later, when my shift was nearing its end, I popped back into Cressida’s room. Pausing in the doorway, I curved my lips into a smile as I watched Aaron sit next to his wife. Andrew was nestled in his arms, baby and mother both asleep.

I’d helped many women give birth, but I’d never seen a man look at his partner with the level of love and tenderness blatantly visible in Aaron’s eyes as he gazed down at his wife. It was obvious that she—and now their newborn son—were the center of his world.

Oddly, seeing how Aaron was with Cressida made me think about Leyton. His name had been stuck in my head ever since she shared it. I didn’t know what it was about that man, but nobody had ever been able to distract me from my job before. And definitely not while I was in the middle of helping a patient give birth. Let alone to their first baby.

I wasn’t sure what to make of my reaction to him, except that the timing really sucked because I didn’t have any time to explore the attraction. It was just my luck that I’d finally meet—sort of—a man who sparked my interest on the same night that I was headed out of town for good.

Since we left him at the hospital doors when they first arrived, I had only caught glimpses of Leyton in the waiting room and at the window of the nursery. Each time, I still felt the zing of our chemistry from afar. He was dangerous for my ability to concentrate, so I stayed away and forced myself to focus on my job.

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