Chapter 55: the baby

~Nadia~

"Do you have any idea the kind of hell you put Seb through?"

What was she talking about? She had a wedding ring on and a baby bump, probably in her second trimester.

"You can write such articulate letters to strangers with pen names but don't have the guts to confront the father of your child? So what if he rejects you? At least you would have tried. You deprived him of seeing the baby grow inside you and the satisfaction of being there for you. You made all decisions for the three of you."

"I saw him with you at the ball. You were all over him as always." I couldn't remove the bitterness out of my voice.

"I love him, and there was no sign of you anywhere for months. You can't expect me to be a saint and sacrifice him for you. You should have confronted him, fought with him, and claimed him back if you really wanted him that bad. You ran like a little kid, making him dig into the entire Prussian spy network and operations."

I was dumbstruck.

"He trusted you enough to look for the truth, and he found out the mess the Queen and Bella caused. He even hunted Noah down. While you lived in disguise hating on him day and night, he never gave up on you. Can you blame me for wanting to keep a man like that for myself? Do you even think you deserve him?"

While she was scolding me, I couldn't look away from the ring as tears filled my eyes.

"No, Nadia, this is not from Seb. The one he got for you is much bigger than this."

"What?"

"He had already got you one when he gave you those diamond earrings. Guess what he talked about when we had free time during the meetings at Mountbatten? He didn't want to look crazy by taking such a big step so early in your relationship."

"I-I thought he wanted me as his mistress. That's what I was."

"Were you? When he was so sure about you, why couldn't you just ask him once about where you stood in this relationship? Why didn't you ask him about Bella? You both are such idiots. I need to write a book on communication skills as Shirley Reyes to have it ready in time as your wedding present."

"W-wed--" I choked on my words and started crying.

The last four months were the toughest to carry on when I thought there was no hope for us.

"I need to see him." I wiped my tears when I felt a trickle of fluid between my legs.

"Oh, my God! Her water broke," Caty freaked out. "Seb is going to kill me. He's almost ten hours away. HENRY!! Send a telegram immediately."

I was panicking too but not as much as Caty was. She walked all over the place talking to people to make arrangements for the baby to be delivered.

"You asked me to come here before her contractions even started?" The doctor who arrived gave Caty a pissed off look. Caty made it sound like the baby's head was already out.

"Chris! Don't go anywhere. Where's your nurse? Do a thorough checkup and tell me if we need to rush her to the hospital."

"Caty, relax! Deep breaths. I don't want your baby to come before hers."

He placed a towel and asked me to sit on it.

"The Prince of Arcadia is on his way." I started hyperventilating the minute I heard Henry say these words to Caty. He came to me to say, "He says that he loves you."

Not sure if it was those words or the sudden loud claps and cheers from my friends, but I felt a contraction.

"Everybody shut up! You are making the baby arrive faster." Caty shouted at them. She was the funniest pregnant woman I ever met.

I couldn't hate her anymore after knowing she was Shirley. I understood why Ian admired her so much. His eyes were filled with such respect and affection when she spoke during the conference meetings. Even I feel that way about her now. She is my role model.

"Don't ever tell him I made your labor pains start,' she pleaded.

"Well, they haven't started." The doctor rolled his eyes.

I took her hands in mine and said thank you.

She sighed and said, "I think we got off on the wrong foot. I really liked you as Angela. And thank you for the wedding present. I loved it."

"So the idiot you mentioned you were getting married to, is that Andreas?" We both laughed, and she said yes.

"Wow! Congratulations again. He's a gem of a guy, just a little weak in math. I owe him an apology."

"You owe him an apology for leaving him. He doesn't like cookies anymore. And Seb eats desserts which is a miracle."

I was an emotional mess as she told me more and more about Ian. I missed so many people so much!

"Well, call me when the contractions become five minutes apart. I will see you in a few hours." The doctor left while Caty fussed around. She calmed down a bit when Henry told her that Andreas was also on his way.

After nine hours of walking around, getting a gentle massage, and listening to Andreas and his silly jokes, the first twinges of labor pain started just when it began to snow outside around dawn.

The room was a madhouse with one doctor, two midwives, Caty, and all the women I have known for the last few months. The midwife checked for the eightieth time to see if I was dilated enough.

"Blow some air."

"Do you feel the urge to push yet?"

"She looks tired. Oh, my God! She looks tired."

"It's not even time to push yet, and it looks like she's going to faint!"

"Give her some opium."

"Do you want water?"

"I need Ian," I said for the nth time when finally I heard his voice. He kissed my hand and said, "I'm here."

I burst into tears the minute I saw him, "I'm so sorry." I grabbed hold of his face and kissed him as many times as I could. He leaned down to engulf me into a bone-crushing hug, and I cried some more, unable to believe my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too. It's also my fault if you had doubts about me." He wiped my tears and hugged me again.

"Caty told me about the stupid letter that Bella wrote on my behalf. Why didn't you give up on me?"

"Well, a drunk woman once said she can't live without me. She made me promise that I never leave her."

"I did? When?"

"Remember when you put me to work in the kitchen? That wasn't the first time you told me you loved me. You said those words until you fell asleep the night before."

"At least the drunk me is more sensible."

"Noo! Drunk or sober, you are not allowed to run from me, ever. What if I never found you?"

"Are you crying?" I suddenly forgot about my pain and felt amused when there was wetness on my forehead from his tears.

"Shut up! It's the snow melting. You have no idea how many punishments await you."

He could make me giggle even in pain. I kissed his wet cheek. The pain suddenly increased to waves of cramping agony.

"That's not how you scare the mother of your child when she's in pain," I whined, gripping his hand tightly.

"God, I missed you."