Page 78 of Tear Me to Pieces
Probably shouldn’t have done as much research into this process.
When I’m all situated, once again staring up at the ceiling, all my hair tucked into a blue stretchy cap, one of the nurses leads Simon in. He’s wearing a set of blue scrub looking pants and shirt. His dark wavy hair is tucked under the same kind of hat on my head, and a set of covers hide his boots. This is probably a strange time to notice how absolutely sexy my husband is, but I can’t imagine anyone else filling out that awful outfit as well as he does.
The nurse brings him right to my side, moving him quickly into place. She shoves a stool behind him. “Sit down right here, dad.”
Simon lowers into place, his movements stiff and slow.
Since I can’t move anything besides my face and head, I pinch my brows together. “Are you okay?”
He shakes his head at me, reaching out to stroke down my cheek. “Don’t worry about me. I’m fine.”
He doesn’t look fine. He looks awful, actually. A little like?—
My doctor calls out the time, announcing the start of the surgery. For a few seconds, I don’t feel anything, but then there’s an odd tugging sensation. It doesn’t hurt, it’s just bizarre.
I wrinkle my nose. “That’s really weir?—
A sudden movement has me turning toward my husband, getting my eyes on him just in time to watch Simon’s roll back in his head.
I can’t do anything to help him so I’m forced to watch, helpless, as his big body starts to tip backward.
“No you don’t.” My nurse steps right behind him, shoving him upright.
“Called it.” My doctor’s voice is followed by a laugh. “You can always spot the ones who’ll pass out.” She peeks at me over the partition. “It’s usually the hot ones.”
“Is he okay?” I’m so distracted by what’s happening with Simon, I don’t pay much attention to the continued tugging happening behind the curtain.
“He’s fine.” The nurse waves something under his nose and Simon makes the most awful face. “Just a little overwhelmed.”
Simon blinks hard a few times, his dilated pupils finally finding me. “What happened?”
“You passed out, handsome.” My doctor pipes up. “And Nurse Melanie owes me five bucks.”
I fight a laugh, figuring it’s probably not a great idea to jostle around my middle while they’re extracting a baby from it.
“Hey there, cutie pie.” My doctor’s tone is sweet. “You might be stubborn, but you’re also adorable.”
A tiny, screaming body is held up for me to see then whisked away.
“We’ll get him to you in just a sec, mom and dad.” My doctor is still in place, finishing up, but I’ve already forgotten she exists.
Because I’m a mom.
I’ve wanted it for so long. Tried to bargain my way into it.
And ended up accidentally falling in love with the best man in the whole world.
Even if he’s a little passy-outie.
A new nurse—my original one is still positioned behind Simon—carries our son over, resting him close to my face so I can sort of cuddle him with my chin. She pulls up a stool and sits beside me, showing me all the parts of him she can considering he’s tucked tightly into a hospital issued blanket.
Tears streak down my face even though I don’t feel like I’m crying as I soak up the first few minutes of motherhood.
They’re not the way I imagined they’d be, but that’s okay.
Sometimes even the best plans go off the rails.
I’m super, super, SUPER sorry. I know this story ended on a little bit of a cliffhanger. I literally spent weeks trying to come up with an alternative, but every option I could think of would ruin some part of Butch and Becca’s book.
And you guys have waited for them too long for that to happen.
On the plus side, now you know why Butch and Becca were always going to be last.
Unfortunately, as this series progressed, I struggled to figure out how to make Butch’s story fit. I knew from the beginning he was an undercover cop , but as I got closer and closer to his story, I just couldn’t see how it would fit into the Lost Boys or Sinners and Saints.
But he did fit somewhere else. Really well, actually. Somewhere he can get everything he wants and be exactly who he’s meant to be.
