Page 77 of Delayed Penalty

I wish I could take it for her, I wish I could do the hard work, be the one dealing with being uncomfortable, but unfortunately, I was born with the wrong parts for that job. Scooting her forward a bit, I step behind her, wrapping my arms around her using my hands to hold her belly, lifting it up gently, just enough so that she’s no longer carrying the entire weight herself.

Her small sigh of relief is all I need as I just hold her, her head falling back to rest on my shoulder, working in our advantage in the situation.

We get off the elevator and stop in at the front desk where they point us in the right direction to Trevor and Ellie, and when we get there most of her friends have already arrived and are just getting ready to head into the room to meet the new little addition.

“Hey,” I say as we walk up, everyone hugging and saying their hellos.

Trevor comes out to bring us all in, and it’s so adorable watching him dote over Ellie and their new little one. Thankfully, Trevor’s parents were able to keep Addy while they were here at the hospital, they’ve already been down here to see the baby.

“What’s her name?” Rex asks, his eyes on the little bundle in Ellie’s arms.

“Lucy. Lucy Elizabeth Adams,” Trevor says, a proud smile on his face, and I can’t help but smile.

I’m so proud of him and can’t believe I’m getting to watch him turn into this amazing family man, a stepfather to Addy, and now watching him and Ellie bring their own little bundle of joy into the world. I’m just so happy for them.

Everyone smiles around the little one, checking in on Ellie and asking questions, all of which she happily answers. I look down at Avery who’s watching them with a smile, our eyes finding each other's as I lean forward a press a quick kiss to her lips, wrapping my arm around her and just enjoying our family as it continues to get a little bigger.

It all happens so quick. One moment Avery is sitting in the chair next to me, smiling over at Ellie and Lucy, the next she’s mentioning a headache and how she’s not feeling well. Gwen immediately calls for support from other nurses, letting them know about Avery’s blood pressure problems while sitting next to Avery and checking her blood pressure.

I remember them mentioning how a headache could be a sign that she was going to need to deliver soon and that was the whole reason for the steroid shots. I guess I just figured since we were being so proactive and on top of her medication, trying to eliminate any stressors that we we’d be in the clear. I don’t know. I just felt like we were going to slip closer toward our due date, but unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

“Have you taken your blood pressure medicine today?” Gwen asks as she looks down, concern evident on her face as she bites her lip.

It’s making me more nervous as I rack my brain on if she took her medication.

“Yeah. Harris always brings me toast in the morning with the pills and I took it then, along with the baby aspirin they had me start to take after my last appointment,” Avery says, her voice quieter than usual.

“Well, that’s concerning because your blood pressure should not be this high if you’ve taken medication this morning. Have you been checking it at home?”

“Yeah, we bought a cuff and have checked it a couple times during the day, it’s been fine,” I say, letting Avery rest her head on my shoulder again.

“Okay, well, it’s not anymore, and my guess is you’re not going to be walking out of this hospital pregnant. Instead, you’re going to have a newborn, but let’s wait for the doctors. I’m going to go check in at the nurses’ station to see if they’ve gotten you a room ready yet.”

With that, Gwen’s gone, leaving all of us confused and waiting while Avery just looks absolutely miserable.

“Are you doing okay, Ave?” I whisper, pressing soft kisses so her hair.

“No, my head. It hurts so bad,” she says in a whimper that nearly does me in.

I look over at my friends, the concern evident in their faces, and I can’t lie, I’m scared. Terrified. Especially as Rex and Sawyer sit their looking at us, concern on their face, the nurses checking in with Ellie, but everyone keeps looking back over at Avery like we’re all afraid she’s a ticking time bomb.

“Okay, Sawyer, can you shoot my mom a text and let her know she should come down here. Ave, I’m going to go call Kelly, and then I’m going to let your mom and dad know what’s going on. This is your health and at this point I think we might be staying at the hospital for a little while so they should know what’s going on.”

I thought Avery would fight me on this, her desire to talk to her parents has been zero lately, but she must understand the severity of the situation because she just nods. As I stand up, both Cassie and Max come to sit on either side of Avery, with Cassie holding her hands and Max just letting her rest her head on his shoulder and I nearly lose it.

I’m not sure what it is, but I’m immediately hit with a paralyzing fear of not knowing what to do. The desire to fall tothe ground in fetal position and wait for my mom to get here to tell me what to do is so overwhelming I almost fall into it. Until I look back at Avery, so helpless in her misery, that I’m reminded that I need to be strong.

Strong for myself.

Strong for my wife.

Strong for our baby.

Putting one foot in front of the other, I leave the room with Sawyer, who’s been standing at the door waiting for me, concern etched in her eyes as the paralyzing fear must be broadcasted in my eyes. With her hand outstretched, I grab it, both of us with our phones in the other hand as we head out to the waiting room. I see Gwen come in with another nurse, pushing a wheelchair that I can only assume means they’ve got a room set up for us.

Pulling out my phone, I call Kelly who immediately put her kids in the car and heads this way, then dial her father's number that I unfortunately have. Well, not unfortunately, because I’m thankful to have it in this moment, I just truthfully hope they know that this is a situation to not fuck with.

“Hello?” her father's voice comes through the phone, and I can only assume based on his attitude that he knows who I am.

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