CHAPTER 71

CHAPTER 71
The pain was unbearable, my abdomen felt like it was on fire.

One second I was standing in the middle of the forest holding a shovel and the next my knees buckled and Dan caught me before I fell face-first on the ground. 

Pain tore through my lower back and wrapped around my belly so strongly and quickly that I drew in a breath.

“Emily?” Dan’s voice was sharp, and startled. His hands were under my arms holding me steady. “Emily, talk to me.”

I couldn’t even utter a single word. All I could do was grip his jacket and wait for the pain to subside. 

My teeth clenched so hard my jaw started to ache. I felt like my whole body was on fire It wasn’t the dull ache I’d been warned about, this felt like hell. 

My heart started beating against my chest in fear of the reality of my situation.

“We need to drive back home.”I gasped between breaths. “Something is wrong.”

Dan was already moving. His phone was out, and he started writing something with his free hand. 

“Seriously, Dan? Are you fucking serious now?” He quickly shoved his phone back into his pocket before he scooped me in his arms.

Any other day I would've been extremely happy to be in this position but right just feels like every time I move the pain gets worse.

I was supposed to have two more months. Two more months of nesting, of pretending the baby wasn’t going to change everything. 

“What are we going to do about that?” I asked pointing at the open grave. “I will figure that out with Luca once the baby is born.” 

“I’m going to have a baby,” I whispered to myself, realization dawning upon me that this is it and there is no turning back.

“We are going to have a baby,” Dan said covering my hand with his. Luca opened the car door and I lay back on the seat. Dan took the driver’s seat and he immediately fled out of there.

The right back home took us eight minutes, the whole time the pain came harder and faster each time, leaving me shaking and drenched in sweat. 

The car ride was a blur of red lights and white knuckles. I gripped the door handle with one hand and Dan’s with the other, breathing through each contraction the way the prenatal videos told me to. In through the nose, out through the mouth. It didn’t even help.

“We’re going to the hospital,” Dan said, looping my arm over his shoulder taking me inside the house. 

He was pale, but steady. He is panicking, how can he panic? he is not the person who has to push a whole baby out of their private part. “You need monitors. You need—”

“No.” The word tore out of me on the next contraction. I dug my nails into his jacket, groaning in pain. “No hospital, Dan. I can’t.”

“Emily, you’re seven months—”

“I know how far along I am!” I snapped, then cried out as another wave rolled over me. 

We entered the house and it smelled like lavender and bleach when we got back. 

Luca had been here earlier, airing it out, preparing the guest room like we were supposed to have weeks to set up the nursery. 

Now it was becoming a delivery room. “I’m not giving birth in some sterile room with strangers staring at me.” Luca caught my other side, his face grim.

“She’s scared, Dan. We should just let her make the decision.”Dan’s jaw worked. I saw the fight in him the instinct to control, to protect me by doing what he thought was right. 

“My bed,” I said, clutching him tighter. “I want to be here at home. I want…” I didn’t know what I wanted. A normal that didn’t exist anymore. “Please, Dan.” He looked at Luca. Luca nodded once. 

“We can do this. I’ve got the first aid kit. I’ve got towels. I’ve got—”

“I’ve got a wife who’s in pain,” Dan cut in. He scooped me up before I could argue. “Fine, we can do it where you want but if anything feels wrong, you can just tell me and we can go.”

Dan lay me on the bed while Luca cleared the nightstand and laid out towels, sterile gauze, and a bowl of hot water. How am I going to give birth with two men who have never delivered a baby?

“Where’s your mother?” I asked Dan between waves. I don’t like Victoria and she doesn’t like me but I think I might need a woman in the room.

“On her way.” He wiped my forehead with a damp cloth. “I called her the minute we left. She will probably get a speeding ticket while coming here.”

Of course she is, she’s about to become a grandmother.

The next hour bled together in a haze of pain and heat and Dan’s voice talking me through it. 

Luca ran to the pharmacy for more towels and painkillers I probably couldn’t take this early. He boiled water for me to drink and I kept vomiting everything. He stacked pillows behind my back. 

“Push,” Luca said softly when the next wave hit. “Just a little, Em. Test it.”

I pushed, and the pain was worse with the unbearable pressure.

“Not yet,” Dan said, catching my hand. “You’re not dilated enough.” As if summoned, there was a knock at the door. 

Victoria came in like a storm, bag slung over her shoulder, hair in a messy bun, scrubs still on from her shift. 

“Victoria?” I looked at her in shock, and I turned to look at Dan in confusion. “She has been a private nurse for the last twenty years.”He said with a sheepish smile.

“And you never bothered to mention this?” I asked groaning at the end from pain. I got up from the bed and knelt on the floor hoping it would help with the pain. “You never bothered to ask.”

She took one look at me and her face softened, she may not be my favourite person but if she will get this baby out then I can bear her for a few hours.

“Everyone out of the way,” she said, dropping her bag on the bed. “Dan and Luca help me get her into the bathtub, Emily, look at me.”

“Why are you even having contractions now? You’re too early,” she said bluntly.

“But we’re here now. I need you to work with me, okay?” I nodded, tears burning my eyes. “Okay.”

She checked me, her hands gentle but efficient. “Four centimeters and the baby’s breech.” She glanced at Dan, and I saw the worry she was hiding. 

“We’ll do this at home. But if his heart rate drops or you start bleeding heavily, we go. No discussion.”

Dan nodded. “No discussion.”

Dan’s mom swifly walked around the room showing us things we didn’t even think would help. She showed Dan how to support my back.

“You do know you need to speak to her right?” She asked looking at Dan, who looked scared and caught off guard. 

“And say what?” He asked shrugging his arms. “You need to talk her through the contractions.” She said as she softly pressed on my tummy. 

“It’s fine, you don’t have to say anything. I am already annoyed as it is.”

“Your baby’s fighting, Emily,” she said during a break, wiping my face. “That’s a good sign. His heart’s strong.”The word ‘his’ made it real. 

It wasn’t just a baby anymore, it was a little boy who’d decided he was done waiting. 

The hours dragged by but the contractions kept coming every three minutes.

I kept falling asleep and being wide awake when the contractions came. But I had Dan’s hand in mine, and Luca’s voice counting my breaths. 

Her face changed. “We should go to the hospital.” Luca pressed a cold cloth to my forehead. “You did well, Em. You did really well.”

I wanted to stay awake to try and get this baby out of me. But the exhaustion was bone-deep.

Dan’s mother worked for another hour, checking on me and listening to my heartbeat with a monitor.

“I’ll stay,” Luca said immediately. “I’ll do shifts. I’ll—”

“You’ll sleep,” Dan’s mother cut in. “All of you will.” Dan sat beside me. He looked exhausted, terrified, and in love all at once. 

Luca slept in the armchair, fully clothed, ready to jump up if we needed him. 

I lay there in the dark, staring at Dan wondering how can I get this baby out of me.