Page 64 of The Lover
I got out and opened the back door of the truck. I probably should have taken the minivan, but when her water broke I hadn’t been thinking of a side of the road delivery. Just getting her into town as fast as possible.
“Okay, see this?” I pointed to the handle bar above the window. “Grab on to that with both hands. You can use that for leverage.”
She’d worn one of her light, maxi-length maternity dresses. I pushed the material up over her belly and then ripped her underwear off. Which, don’t ask me why because she was screaming in pain with an enormous belly and gigantic maternity panties, was still a little hot. Because it was Ellie, and anything to do with Ellie was hot. I made a mental note when she was recovered to try this trick again.
Then I focused on the task at hand. I spread her knees wide, and holy shit she was right. The head was already crowning.
I looked up at her. “Good call.”
She puffed through a contraction. “Third time. I got this nailed.”
“All right, let’s do this. Let’s give Jack and Sam their newest sibling.”
Jack was for Jackson Talley Jr. Ellie loved my name, and while she felt Jake was a suitable nickname wanted to keep the Jack in Jackson. Sam, well that was obvious. For this baby we’d decided not to know the sex in advance. For a boy we were torn between Tom and Alex. I had no idea what she was thinking if it was girl. I just told her she couldn’t name it Petunia.
It was messy, but it was almost too easy. Ellie bore down on one long push, and my daughter slid out head first, then a shoulder like she simply could not wait to meet us. Finally she was free and I laid her on Ellie’s chest. While Ellie checked that her mouth and throat were clear of any mucus, I ripped off the bottom of Ellie’s dress to dry the baby and wrap her up as best I could.
Then I hopped back in the car and drove us the last of the way, where Dr. Jenkins was waiting for us to deliver the afterbirth and cut the cord.
* * *
Ellie
Ababy girl. I glanced down at the pink bundle in my arms and promptly fell even more in love than I already had when Jake first laid her on my chest. Just like I had done with Jack and Sam. It was this bottomless well of love that never seemed to end.
We were driving home now. Dr. Jenkins had given me and the baby a thumbs up, so there was no point in staying at the clinic. I was sore as heck sitting in the truck, and we hadn’t had time to bring the baby seat, so Jake was driving twenty-five miles an hour which meant the trip would take even longer, but none of that mattered.
Not when I was so blessed.
“I told you we should have stayed and done it at the house,” I told Jake.
What we knew after two previous pregnancies was I gave birth at record pace. Jack had been the longest at three hours, but we’d barely made it last time with Sam.
“What I should have done was have Mary come. Well, too late worrying about it now. We’re just lucky there weren’t any complications.”
I reached over to rub his arm, because I knew he’d been scared.
“You did good, Dad.”
He grunted.
“Did you call Howard and Mirry?”
“Yes. I told them what happened. Howard thought it was funny. It was not funny. They are going to take the boys to their place tonight. Let them have a sleepover and give you a break.”
Howard and Mirry had basically become our kids’ de facto grandparents. They had been over for dinner, which was just lucky timing, when my water broke. Which was a surprise, since the baby wasn’t due until the first week of May.
Clearly this girl was in a rush to get started with life.
“What are you going to name her?” Jake asked.
“You’re going to think this is hokey…”
“Ellie. Do not go crazy on me.”
I didn’t think it was crazy. I thought it was just another in a long line of amazing birthday gifts Jake had given me over the years.
“I want to name her April,” I said, looking down at her, wondering if she agreed. Then I looked over at Jake and I could see him nodding. He understood. Every April he gave me a gift that in some way showed me how much he loved me. This April was no different. To me it was a word synonymous with love.
