Page 211 of With Us

Someone else beat me to it.

“Dada!” she screamed, racing across the room to him.

Theo’s eyes widened, but so did his dimpled grin. He opened his arms, catching her before burying his head in her tumble of wavy brown hair to make raspberry noises.

Squealing with delight, she wiggled, though it was unclear if it was to get away or closer.

“What’re my girls doing here?” he asked, settling Adelaide on his lap.

She pounded her pudgy toddler fists on the keyboard. “I goin’ Na-Pa’s.”

“Is that so?” Theo asked, eyeing me from across the room. And even from a distance, there was no missing the heat in his gaze.

Na-Pa’s, Adelaide’s version of Nana and Papa’s, usually meant Mama and Dada were getting a little alone time. Time that was spent having loud sex before sleeping in until noon, both rare luxuries with a three-year-old in the house.

That wasn’t the case this time.

Adelaide nodded at Theo, her green eyes filled with love and wonder. To her, Theo was better than ice cream for dinner, a superhero, and a trip to the toy store.

She was a smart girl.

She also had a big mouth. “Mama’s havin’ baby.”

It took Theo a moment before his attention shot to me. “What?”

“Mama made big mess.” She patted his chest. “No time out, she cleaned it.”

“Did you drive?” Theo asked, standing and setting Adelaide on his chair before coming over to me. He searched my face ascertaining I was fine before laying into me. “Why didn’t you call? Are you out of your mind? We’ve gotta get you to the hospital!”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not reckless, so no I didn’t drive. Niall is downstairs in the SUV. I didn’t call because I knew you’d react like this, and at least now I’m here for you to see that I’m fine.” I held my arms out and spun slowly. “Yes, I am out of my mind. I’m also hugely pregnant, starving, and, after seeing those damn mirrors, horny. So, I suggest you watch what you say.”

Theo smiled. “Noted.”

“Your mom and dad were in the city, so they should be here to get Adelaide any minute. The doctor said to wait until the contractions were more regular, which they aren’t.”

“You said that with Adelaide, and then she was almost born at Faust.”

“How was I to know it’d happen so fast?”

In all my baby books, it said the movies and TV were wrong, and my water wouldn’t break until I was already having contractions. Even then, it was more likely the doctors would have to break it.

That was my first clue that the baby books were as full of shit as everyone else.

I hadn’t been having contractions at all. An off feeling, sure. But no contractions. I’d only gotten halfway through my deliciously cheesy appetizer before thinking I’d peed myself a little. I’d gone to bathroom, stood to get back to my food, and the liquid continued to leak. Getting a pad from the little machine, I’d put it in place before returning to my dinner.

Waiting until dessert to say anything may have been a mistake.

“We’re much closer to the hospital,” I said. “We’d have had to come this way, so all I did was save time. You’re welcome.”

Theo pulled me as close as my belly would allow, tucking my hair behind my ear. “You sure you’re okay? We can leave Adelaide with Rosa.” He turned his head. “Rosa, cancel my next six weeks! Reschedule with Luc if it’s an emergency.”

I settled my hand on his chest. “Calm down, I’m fine.”

Rosa wheeled her office chair into the doorway with a notebook in her lap and four different colored pens in her hand. “What’s up?”

“Mama’s having baby!” Adelaide said, clapping her chubby hands. She must have picked up on our excitement because her original response had been to shrug.

“Oh! Oh, man, what’re you doing here?” Rosa stood and began pacing. “Want me to call an ambulance? Boil some water and rip some sheets? I’m so excited, in a terrified way.”

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