Page 58 of Unsteady in Love

“Deal.” She scrunched her brows in all seriousness.

“Holden,” Prue screamed from the bedroom. It wasn’t the scream of finding a huge mess in the kitchen or somewhere else in the house. She was in pain. She had sounded the exact same way when she’d gone into labor with Violet.

I was instantly on alert. “Holy sh…shabooby,” I corrected myself for Violet’s delicate ears. Gripping Violet by the shoulders, I sat her out of the way and darted around the island.

I ran as fast as I could to my wife to find her kneeling on the floor by our bed in a puddle of what had to have been amniotic fluid.

“Shit, Prue, are you okay?” My hand trailed up and down her back.

She looked up at me with fierce determination in her eyes, her teeth gritted together. “Get me to the fucking hospital now. I want drugs,” she seethed. Even the devil himself would have been afraid of the fire in her eyes.

Prue had not received any drugs while in labor with Violet and had sworn she would never have another baby again. Obviously, she had changed her mind, but she was determined not to feel an ounce of pain this time around. It looked as if that ship had sailed, but I would try to remedy that as soon as possible.

“Call Alex now and ask her to come get Vi and help me get off the damn ground.”

I had a feeling baby number two was going to be our last. Prue didn’t forget a thing. She might forgive but certainly didn’t forget, and the prospect of having our own basketball team wasn’t looking good at the moment.

“Now, Holden,” she growled out, her eyes slits as she peered up at me.

Wrapping my arm around her waist, I hoisted her up and helped her lean against the bed as I snatched up my phone and punched in Luke’s number. It rang four times before he answered, sounding exhausted. “Hey man, I…”

“I need Alex to come over to the house and watch Vi. She can take her back to your house. Whatever she wants, but I need her here now. Prue’s in labor.”

“Holy shit!” Luke laughed, sounding more awake. “You’ve got to be kidding me. I’m at the hospital now with Alex. She’s in labor. It happened around two this morning.”

“Who am I going to call? Prue said Alex.”

“Holden get off the phone and grab my bag. Do I smell something burning?” she screeched almost blowing my eardrums.

Shaking my head, I grabbed the bag she’d packed. “No, baby. Vi and I were making you breakfast for Mother’s Day. Now that I think about it, I might have left the stove on. I’ll be right back.”

“Relax, dude, and call Gabi. She loves Violet and would be happy to watch her. Then get your ass to the hospital before Prue rips off your balls.” Little did Luke know his own balls could very well be in danger. Women turned into different creatures when they were in labor, but I’d let him find that out for himself.

Heading back to the kitchen, I found Violet sitting on a stool eating a pancake and giving one to Atticus. He was her best friend. He always sat underneath her while she ate knowing he’d get a smorgasbord of food each and every day. He really was better than a broom or mop.

But I couldn’t believe I’d left Violet in the room with the stove on. I scooped her into my arms, turned off the stove, and carried her back to the bedroom where Prue was waiting.

“Mommy,” Violet cried out in happiness when she spotted her mom and reached her arms out for Prue to take her. “Happy Mother’s Day.”

“Baby, I don’t know if Mommy can…”

“Let me sit down,” Prue interrupted as she hoisted herself onto the bed and held her own arms out. “Come here, sweet girl.”

Once Vi was sitting on her mom’s lap, Prue hugged her, nuzzling the top of her head.

“I’ve got to call Gabi. You’ll never believe it, but Alex went into labor earlier,” I said already punching in Jax’s number.

With wide eyes, Prue’s hand went to her stomach. “You need to tell her to hurry because this baby is coming fast,” she grunted. “I can’t believe Alex and I are going to have babies on the same day.”

“Is my brother coming?” Vi clapped excitedly.

“Yeah, baby, he’s coming.” Prue tried to smile through a contraction.

“Hello,” Jax answered in his usual gruff voice.

“Jax,” I let out a sigh, “I need you and Gabi to come over and watch Violet for us. Prue’s in labor.”

“No shit,” he said calmly then yelled, “Hey, baby, Prue’s in labor; we’ve got to get over there.” I heard Gabi yell, and then Jax laughed. “We’ll be there as fast as we can.”

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