Page 104 of Deadlier Obsessions

“Shall we go? What are we waiting for? She’s in labor, dammit!” I grab the bag from Pretty Boy and wrench the door open.

“Such a drama queen,” Stella says, taking Lucy’s hand and leading her to the car as Gage unlocks it. “Breathe, babe, just breathe. It’s finally time! We get to meet our daughter.”

“We still don’t know that for sure, Stel. Women’s intuition apparently isn’t an acceptable-”

“It’s a boy, for fuck’s sake, I keep telling ya,” Gage says as he starts the engine while we’re still stuffing two pregnant ladies into the back seat. I sit beside Lucy as Sebastian gets in the front and then we’re moving. It’s forty fucking minutes to the hospital, but I know Gage’ll do it in less than thirty, and we’ll all be cursing him the whole time.

LUCY

I’m scared, I’m so scared. What if something goes wrong? What if the baby isn’t healthy, or I did something wrong and we lose her. I know, we don’t officially know the gender, but I’m certain it’s a little girl. Mums just know, right? For the record, I think Stella’s having a girl too, so maybe I’m just projecting my wishes onto us both. I love the idea of two little girls growing up together. As long as I haven’t messed this up. The pain starts again, in full force, and I practically whine, squeezing down on Stella’s and Mav’s hands. I hope they don’t value their fingers all that much, because I know I’m crushing them.

“Breathe, baby,” Mav murmurs, using his other hand to stroke my damp hair back from my face.

“You fucking breathe,” I snap right back, but I don’t know why I’m being such a bitch to him. It’s not his fault, well, actually it might literally be his fault I’m in pain, but I love him too much to use him as my punching bag like this. “Sorry, I didn’t mean that.”

“Oh, so youdon’twant me to breathe? Harsh, baby, so harsh.” How he’s making me giggle right now, I have no idea, but it helps.

“Hi, yes, finally! My name’s Sebastian Stone, I’m bringing in my wife, Lucy Carlisle-Dillon-Stone. She’s in labour… what? I don’t know, hang on.” He looks at us then.

“How far apart are the contractions?”

I glare at him. “Not really taking the time to look at a watch right now, dickhead. Sorry, sorry. Oh god, why am I being like this?”

“You’re in pain, babe, it’s fine. They’re asking though.”

“It’s only the second time, Pretty Boy, so we can’t be sure right now,” Gage says far too reasonably for my liking. He should try going through this. It’s eased now and I relax, loosening my death grip on my husband’s and wife’s fingers.

“Thank god. It stopped.”

“No, no, we’re not going to sit at home and wait longer, dammit. We live nearly an hour away from you.” Sebastian slams a hand on the dashboard of the car, and Gage tuts at him. “Yeah, we’ll be there in about thirty minutes. A lot can happen in thirty minutes, dammit. Her water broke like ten minutes ago. Did I mention that part?” He sighs, his head sagging. “Yeah, thank you. Sorry I’m being a dick, it’s my first baby.”

“You’d think he’s going to squeeze the kid out of him,” Mav says with a chuckle, which turns into a full on laugh when both Gage and Sebastian flash a middle finger at him.

Now I’m not in pain, I’m wondering if I panicked unnecessarily, or if I exaggerated the pain in my mind at the time. That sense of urgency has gone, along with the pain. What if I wasted everyone’s time? What if it’s days before our baby arrives? Oh god. What if it literally takes days, and I’m in labour the whole time? Twelve minutes later, when the pain hits again, and I know the time because Stella called it out, I wish for thatpainless pause to return, because this hurts like a bitch. It’s like period cramps on steroids and in a bad mood. I squeeze down on Mav’s and Stella’s fingers again, and yell at Gage to drive faster.

STELLA

Watching Lucy in labor is not exactly making me want to give birth. The pregnancy itself has been amazing, even with morning sickness, and of course I want the baby. However, the birth part I’d like to skip out on. I’ve read every book you can find on childbirth, and it hasn’t eased my anxiety one bit, if anything it only added to it.

I sit with Lucy as they get ready to deliver the baby. The guys were very upset, when Lucy went through her birth plan with the doctor's office, that they could not be there. Either she had to choose one of them to be there or only me. They only allow one person in the delivery room, so it was a tough choice.

I have no doubt that all three men are in the waiting room, constantly barking for updates. I won’t even be surprised. if I go out there after the baby is born. to find that they’ve been kicked out of the hospital. All three of our husbands tend to get rather unreasonable when we are involved, add a baby to it and it only gets worse. Neither Lucy nor I know what we are having, because we decided to let it be a surprise. She wants a girl. I kind of want a boy for one simple reason. If either of us have a girl, these men will go ballistic when she reaches dating age. No boy would be safe. I know how they behave when they think a man is looking at us, and I can only assume with their daughters it’ll get more dangerous. Boys are safer.

We still haven’t settled on names, because everything Gage came up with was insanity. He went from Albuquerque toLeviathan. And let's not forget Demon. I’m really not sure he should be permitted to name a cat, let alone a human being.

The doctor adjusts the bed, removing part of it, as I look on, probably feeling as much fear as Lucy is. The nurse pushes her left thigh back and nods to me. “I’ll need you to push that leg back.”

I take in a deep breath as I do as instructed, while Lucy grips my free hand like she’s trying to break it. Looking down at her, I smile softly. “You’re doing great. Breathe. In through the nose, out through the mouth.”

The doctor sits down on a stool between her legs. “It’s time to push. Put your chin on your chest and push as hard as you can, until I tell you to stop.”

After eight pushes, the baby's head keeps going back and never fully emerging, and Lucy is exhausted.

“I can’t do this, Stella. I’m already a terrible mother.”

Leaning down, I whisper in her ear, because this is only for her to hear. “You are a fucking amazing wife, and you’ll be an even better mother. Come on, baby, you can do this. For us. When the doctor says to push, you’ll give it everything you have, so we can finally hold our child.”

“Daughter,” she smiles softly.

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