Page 66 of Dirty Lyrics
My heart stops.
I’ve got one second—one heartbeat—before my whole world tilts upside down.
“Stop messing around with the delivery guys,” she gasps, her face pale but fierce. “And get me to the hospital!”
Fuck.
Everything else disappears. The snow, the cradle, the idiot delivery man—it all fades into static.
Because my wife is in labor.
And the only thing that matters now is getting her and my son safely into this world.
But it’s chaos from the second the words leave her mouth. I run to her, crashing into the idiot delivery guy and crushing the rest of the antique cradle with his body when I push him the fuck out of my way.
“Hey!”
“Shut up!”
“Rico! Hospital! Now!”
“Get up, man,” Chuy’s already barking orders, shoving the delivery guys off the property while I scoop Maya into my arms and rush her into the SUV.
She’s gripping my neck tight, her face tight with pain but her eyes—God, her eyes are steady. Fierce.
Meanwhile, I’m a goddamn wreck.
“Breathe, Mami, just—fuck—no, don’t breathe, I mean, breathe but not like—oh shit?—”
She bursts out laughing.
Laughing.
“Rico, calm down. I’m fine!”
“Fine? You’re not fine! You’re about to have our son in the middle of a goddamn snowstorm!”
My heart’s jackhammering as I gun it down slick roads, Chuy’s SUV following close behind.
My hands are sweating on the wheel, my chest feels like it’s caving in.
By the time we screech into the hospital lot, I’m panting harder than Maya, who’s somehow grinning at me through her contractions.
Nurses rush us with a wheelchair, and I damn near break my neck trying to help them get her inside.
Hours blur together. Monitors beeping. Nurses moving fast. Me pacing holes into the tile.
Every time Maya cries out, I flinch like someone’s stabbing me. Every time she squeezes my hand, I swear she’s breaking it—and I don’t even care.
And then—she laughs. Again.
Full, bright, belly-shaking laughter in between contractions.
I gape at her, sweat dripping down my temple.
“Goddamn it, I love you, Maya, but this is not supposed to be funny!”
“How can it not be?” she gasps, clutching her belly, eyes wet from both tears and mirth. “With you huffing and puffing and practically passing out every time I push?”
