Page 65 of Karma Kitty Christmas
“Hopefully you’ll get a good doctor and staff—but you don’t always. If she’s in pain andyouknow she’s in pain, it’s your job to let everybody know that she doesn’t act this way for ahangnail. If she’s hooked up to a baby monitor and the monitor is going bananashit, don’t assume anybody else will notice. It’s your job to make people pay attention. If they put her on her back and her labor stalls, it’syourjob to have them roll her to her side so it can start up again. You and Isaac took the classes with her?”
“Yeah,” Luca said, although they’d both been tired and distracted and not really on their game.
“All the shit they tell you not to do in Lamaze, I swear to God, some medical professional has tried to do to me when I was on my back and vulnerable as fuck. Make sure it doesn’t happen to your sister. As far as I’m concerned, it validated Brian’s entire entrance into parenthood, because he may not havebeenin labor, but by God he was present for me when I was.”
Luca nodded, trying to imprint everything on his brain. “Okay,” he said, feeling a little weak about the whole thing. “Uhm, one more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Should we tell her she’s in labor?”
Roxy grunted. “You’resureshe hasn’t figured it out yet?”
“No. We started timing her getting up and stretching because her back was cramping. It seemed really… regular.”
Roxy’s laugh was relieved. “Yeah. No. Don’t tell her. She’ll figure it out when she’s ready. Remember, most women can’t sleep when labor gets close—the contractions wake us up because they’re super strong. Right now, she’s relaxed, she’s moving, she’s excited about tomorrow. You call me as soon as you’re ready to go to the hospital, and I’ll come over to take over the kitchen thing. That sweet kid—Jimmy Bob’s niece—whatwazername?”
“Trixie,” Luca supplied.
“Yeah—between Trixie and Nonna and probably Jimmy Bob himself, we can get the dinner ready and on the table. You, Isaac, and Allegra go do the hard part, okay?”
“But Roxy, what about your own Thanksgiving?” he asked, feeling terrible.
“Oh, honey—I literally went into labor with Falcon during my sister’s wedding. I was the maid of honor. Someone stepped in to pick up her train, Brian helped me to the car, everybody made jokes at my expense during the toasts, and the other bridesmaids made up the slack. I tried to apologize to Joanie the next day, and she told me to go away, she was bonding with the baby. They’re part of life, Luca. Babies areneverwhen or where you expect, even when they’re asleep in their cribs. I guarantee you, one night you’re going to wake up, and it’s going to hit you that there’s a whole other human being in your house that you were not planning on knowing. It’ll freak you out, but take deep breaths. It’s worth it.”
Luca laughed softly. “You’re really something,” he said. “Thank you for this. For everything. Allegra—” He swallowed. He didn’t doubt, not even for a moment, that Allegra and probably Isaac had dumped the entire sorry visit to his parents’ house on her. “Allegra really needed a big sister, and you’re like a gift from God.”
Roxy cackled. “You know I’m only doing this so I can get a playmate for Sparrow Anne, right? Which reminds me—Brian and I have a betting pool on the name and gender of the little tadpole. Winner gets a foot rub. There’s a fiver in it if you tell him it’s a boy until after he pays up, even if it’s not.”
Luca was still laughing when he signed off. Calling Nonna and Jimmy Bob was a lot easier then. Somehow, Roxy’s “We got this” was infectious. He knew normally that washisjob—it had been his job since he’d gotten kicked out of the house.
I got this, Allegra—I’ll move in with Nonna and Pop Pop. It’ll be okay.
Don’t worry about a job, Allegra—I got this. I really need help at the shop.
Oh, baby—I’m sorry your boyfriend’s a douchenugget. We got this, right? You move in to my place, and it’ll be okay.
And he’d been good at it. He knew that when he went downstairs and talked to Allegra and Isaac,he’d have this. But somehow, Isaac’s support system was his now too. And the enormity of what he and Isaac were about to help his little sister do was not as frightening.
Don’t worry, Allegra—we got this.
BY THEtime he got downstairs, Isaac had covered all the dishes, put them in the refrigerator, and put instructions on each dish with a Post-it. He was in the middle of stacking dishes in the dishwasher when Luca came up behind him and gratefully pulled his slender body up against Luca’s chest.
“Mmm…,” Isaac murmured, turning to lean his head on Luca’s shoulder. “This is nice. What’s news?”
“Well, I’m going to talk my sister into taking a long shower, andyou’regoing to go pack her and the baby a go bag. Roxy says she’ll figure it out for herself when it’s time.”
Isaac grunted. “I think we need to come down while she’s sleeping and clock her contractions, don’t you?”
“That’s really creepy, Isaac.”
“Look at her!” Isaac muttered. “I don’t think it’s occurred to her yet that this is happening!”
Luca glanced over at his sister, who was watching TV, crocheting a baby sweater that would probably fit next year, and doing that yoga stretch with her back again.
“Fourteen minutes?” he asked.
“Thirteen,” Isaac said grimly.
