Page 79 of Love is a Drum Beat
“Wait until I tell him what he came out of.” Jo groaned and didn’t let go of Dax.
“All right, Jo. I want you to try pushing. I’m going to count to ten, don’t stop pushing until I finish.”
Jo sucked in a breath and the doc started counting. She pushed, her face contorting as if she was trying to scream and couldn’t. Her grip on Dax tightened as her cheeks went red. Once they hit ten, she exhaled loudly and gulped air as if she hadn’t been able to breath for a long time. After a few moments, she relaxed back onto the bed. “Is he out yet?”
“Take a break for a minute until the next contraction. And here, this will help.” She handed Jo an oxygen mask to wear while a nurse looked for contractions on a machine that printed out what looked to Jo like little squiggly lines interspersed with mountains. The nurse nodded to the doctor and Doctor Lawrence smiled. “Come on, Jo. Let’s push again.”
Dax leaned down and brushed sweaty hair out of her face. “You can do this. Do you know how I know that?”
She shook her head.
“Because you’re Jo freaking Jackson. The first time I saw you, I knew you were capable of anything. You’re strong, a fighter. Who are you?”
“Jo Jackson.” Her voice was weak.
“Who are you?”
“Jo Jackson,” she screamed as she pushed.
“Good.” His mom nodded in approval. “Now, you can relax for a moment.”
Jo turned a tear-stained face to Dax. “It’s too much, Dax. I can’t push anymore.”
Dax pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “I will never abandon you. And you have a waiting room full of people who’d say the same thing. We’re here for you. This baby won’t want for love. You can do anything, Jo. We all know that. Now, it’s time for you to believe it.”
Tears rolled over the bridge of her nose. “I’m ready.” It was a whisper at first. “I’m ready,” she said louder.
Dax’s mom nodded. “Give a big push.”
“Dax, you need to distract me.” She barely gritted the words out as she pushed and pushed again while Doctor Lawrence counted. This one lasted longer.
Dax didn’t have his guitar or any instrument that served as sort of a security blanket. All he had was his voice.
So, he started singing, leaning down to let the words flow right into her ears. No one other than Marco had heard this new song.
I want to dry those tears of yours.
Build you up as you were meant to be.
Let me be the one to love you.
To have your smiles and your tears.
Let me be the one to hold you.
To brush away all your fears.
Her eyes stayed locked on his as her jaw clenched, and she pushed. She didn’t look away with each push, until finally, the baby came.
Dax brushed his lips across her forehead as silence surrounded them. He glanced at his mother as she handed the unresponsive baby to one of the NICU nurses. No one spoke. He doubted anyone breathed.
Not until a cry pierced the room.
“Is he okay?” Desperation clung to Jo’s words.
The nurses cleaned him up while Dax’s mom fixed Jo up with whatever they had to do to clean up from the birth. Dax never wanted to know about all that.
One of the nurses turned around, holding the most precious thing Dax had ever seen.
