Page 110 of Cluelessly Yours

“Sit tight. I’m coming over right now!” I end the call and am instantly thankful I didn’t start the process of getting Dolly hyped to go to the park. She’s still snoozing on our bed.

Quick as my feet can take me, I rush out of our apartment, only pausing to lock the door behind me, and sprint down the hall to Brooke and Chase’s. I don’t even bother knocking. Instead, I use my emergency key to get inside.

Instantly, my eyes are graced with the view of Benji pacing around Brooke while she grips the kitchen counter, breathing through what I’m assuming is a contraction.

“You okay?”

“Do I look okay?” she cries through gritted teeth. “I’m pretty sure my water broke, and these contractions feel like a real motherlover!”

Definitely in labor.

I step up to exert a little counterpressure on her lower back. “Did you call your doctor?”

“They told me to come right away, but Chase ran to the office and isn’t answering his stupid phone!”

“That’s strange,” I comment because it is. If there’s one person who is at Brooke’s beck and call, it’s her fiancé. “Maybe it’s not going through?”

She huffs out a sigh when the contraction subsides and snags her phone off the counter. Instantly, her fingers tap against the screen, and she puts the receiver to her ear. “Chase! I’m in labor! What? What pizza? This isn’t the time for jokes! I’m in la—” When another contraction begins, she drops her phone to the counter again and only focuses on breathing through it.

Quickly, I pick up her cell and try to take over the call while still giving her lower back some counterpressure. “Chase?”

“Ma’am, do you want to order a pizza or not?”

Huh?“Who is this?”

“This is Darryl from Pizza Hut. Who is this?”

Oh, for the love of everything.

Instantly, I hang up the phone and start to scan her contacts for her actual fiancé.

“Is he coming?” Brooke asks.

“Brooke, honey, you weren’t calling Chase. You were calling Pizza Hut,” I tell her, but she’s beyond caring at this point. The pain of her contractions is her only focus. “Let’s head to the hospital,” I add as I try to guide her to a standing position. “And I’ll work on getting Chase on the phone.”

She doesn’t respond, but she also doesn’t protest.

Once I grab her hospital bag from the baby’s nursery, I put Benji’s service dog vest on and usher all of us out of her apartment and onto the elevator.

Benji follows dutifully, and Brooke curses up a storm as we make our way out of the building. And once we’re in a cab, I manage to get Chase on the phone and tell him to meet us at St. Luke’s.

I also text Kendall and Noah and Zoe and our parents, updating everyone that Brooke is in labor and we’re headed to the hospital now.

Because,holy moly, my baby sister is about to have a baby of her own.

“Mom! Mom! Did Grandma and Grandpa get here yet?” Seth shouts the moment he spots me in the waiting room of the maternity ward. Both he and Grant leave Noah’s side to sprint over to me.

“Not yet, buddy,” I say, kneeling down to hug them both. “They just got on a flight, though, so they should be here in a few hours.”

“Can we see the baby?” Seth exclaims.

“Yeah! I want to see the baby! Do we have a boy cousin or a girl cousin?” Grant asks, bouncing on his little feet.

I smile over at Noah as he closes the distance between us. He’s still dressed in his scrubs and has been keeping the boys busy for the past few hours while I stayed in the room with Brooke and Chase.

The moment Noah reaches me, he pulls me in for a tight hug. “Mom and baby healthy and happy?” he asks, and I lean back to meet his eyes.

“Mom and baby are healthy and happy.”

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