Stumbling Into Forever (Stumbling Through Life Book 2)

by Molly O'Hare

  Jimmy looked down to see Twitch rubbing against his legs so he plucked him into his arms.

  “Soon, I hope.” Holly looked past Jimmy to glare at Waffles some more.

  Jimmy looked at Twitch as he scratched under his chin. “Uh, do you think when he gets home we can go to the dog park? I kinda promised Waffles and Ripley we’d go today.”

  That’s where the attitude from Waffles was coming from. She glared at her dog who was now plopped onto his butt staring her down.

  “Oh, you did now?” She asked still in the stare down with Lord Waffles.

  “They are kinda hard to say no to when they give you that look.” Holly broke her standoff with her dog to see Jimmy biting his bottom lip. When she looked back at Waffles, he was now giving her the look. Why you little shit! “Are you trying to manipulate my boy?”

  Waffles huffed.

  He was. Oh, let me at him! Waffles turned his nose up, defying her. “Young man, you do not manipulate your brother. Jimmy doesn’t have to do anything you say.” Holly crossed her arms over her chest. Take that, Waffles.

  Oh, he took it all right. He sent Holly an evil look before walking over to Jimmy. The bastard then fell over onto his back demanding scratches.

  Jimmy was instantly on his knees giving in to the little devil’s demands. To make matters worse, out of the corner of his eye, Waffles had the audacity to look at her as if saying he was the one in charge here.

  “I’m telling your father.” Waffles barked at her. “Don’t back sass me.”

  Waffles flipped over onto his front with a huff before staring her down again. This caused Jimmy to burst into laughter.

  “Don’t encourage him.”

  Jimmy looked at her with the exact same look Waffles got in his eyes when he was causing havoc. “I’ll think about it.”

  Oh my god, there is two of them now. Wait, three when you add in Ripley. Holly plucked Twitch into her arms, who’d been sitting on the floor after Jimmy let him go. At least I have you.

  Twitch then jumped out of her arms and ran over to Ripley who was on the couch watching the show.

  Wonderful. Holly shook her head. “You hang around Waffles too much.”

  “That’s ‘cause I love him.” Jimmy smiled brightly at her.

  She leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “He loves you too. Why don’t you go outside and play for a little while until Ben gets home?”

  “Okay!” You didn’t have to tell Jimmy twice. He took off running towards the backdoor with Waffles and Ripley by his side.

  Poor Twitch. He sat at the backdoor. He then looked back at her. “Oh, now I’m good enough for you?”

  Twitch’s head flicked as he stared at her. “Fine. Come here little one.” Twitch ran to Holly “They’ll be back in soon then you can go back to pretending I don’t exist while they’re in the house.” Twitch started purring in her arms.

  Figures.

  “I’ve got them, Grace!” Ben rushed through the front door nearly scaring Holly to death. She placed her hand over her heart. I think I just peed.

  Then Ben’s words registered. “Wait, what did you say?” She stared at him with bated breath.

  “I’ve got them.” Ben held up the papers in his hand.

  “Are you kidding? Don’t play with me Benjamin, it won’t end well for you.”

  Ben pulled her close before giving her a kiss. “Not even a little bit, Grace. Here are the approved adoption papers for Jimmy.”

  Holly screamed in excitement. “Is this really happening?”

  “You bet your sweet ass it is!” Ben brought his lips to hers once more kissing the ever-loving daylights out of her.

  They had worked so hard to get to this point. They’d had countless appointments with their lawyers, supervised visits with the social worker, you name it, and it all came down to this moment.

  This was what they had been waiting for.

  Jimmy was going to officially be theirs.

  Forever.

  “What are we waiting for. Let’s go tell him?” The moment Holly took a step towards the back door she froze causing Ben to stare at her with his brows pulled together. “What’s wrong, babe?” He cocked his head to the side.

  That’s not pee.

  “Uhh, Ben, I think my water just broke.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Holy fuck!

  Ben stared at Holly who was completely frozen with her legs spread slightly apart. He gave her the quick once over, but his mind wouldn’t catch up. There was no way in hell he heard her right. Holly wasn’t due for another two weeks.

  Two weeks.

  Yet, Holly stood there her eyes wide, her mouth partly open, and her face pale.

  Maybe it was a cramp? Yeah, that’s what it was. Ben looked her up and down again. No, this was it. His heart slammed against his chest.

  The doctor said two weeks. That meant they had two weeks. That was fourteen days.

  Doctors can’t do the whole oops thing. There were no takesie backsies in this situation.

  “Ben?”

  He snapped his attention to Holly, who hadn’t moved a muscle. “He said we had two weeks! Two. Weeks.” Ben’s eyes widened. “Doctors get paid to be right about this stuff. Where the hell is the accountability?”

  “Are you always right?”

  Ben puffed out his chest. “Are you questioning my medical knowledge?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I’m saying sometimes things change and right now Peanut has decided they want out. Two weeks be damned.”

  Ben made a mental note to send the doctor a very strongly worded email about their timelines once the baby was here.

  Holy fuck their child was about to be born!

  “Are you just gonna stand there?” Holly asked still not moving.

  At her words, Ben finally snapped into action. Holy fuck it was happening. In an instant, Ben started running around the house like a mad man.

  He ran to their bedroom where Holly’s hospital bag was packed. Thank fuck he’d made her do it last week.

  He then ran into the bathroom. When he got there, he had absolutely no idea why he went in there to begin with.

  Fuck it.

  He knew he didn’t have time to question anything. So instead, he threw open the medicine cabinet, and with an aggressive arm sweep, he tossed everything into her hospital bag.

  Better to be safe than sorry. It didn’t matter he’d also tossed into the bag his aftershave. Deciding not to care, he zipped up the bag, threw it over his shoulder and sprinted into the living room. That’s when he saw Holly’s new favorite blanket. The one Emma had made. Quickly he snatched it into his hands before throwing it around his neck.

  Ben ran full speed out the front door. Once he got to his SUV, he tossed everything inside before taking off around the house to the backyard.

  “Ben! You’re home! Now we can go to the dog park.” Jimmy’s face lit up.

  “Not this time, kiddo,” Ben yelled as he ran full speed toward him. “It’s go-time.”

  Unfortunately, for Ben, Waffles thought anyone running in the backyard meant it was time to play. Instantly Waffles swerved in between Ben’s legs causing him to lose his footing.

  Before Ben knew it, he was on the grass in a complete daze at what happened.

  Was this how Holly felt?

  Ben looked at Waffles who was giving him the side-eye, like he was offended it wasn’t really play time.

  Can anything be easy in their life? Waffles barked at him before prancing his way toward Jimmy. Yes, prancing, like the diva he was.

  Ben shook his head as he stood. Quickly he brushed himself off before he turned his attention back to Jimmy.

  “We gotta go, kiddo.”

  Without thinking Ben threw Jimmy over his shoulder before running through the backyard, taking the steps up to the house two at a time. All while ushering Ripley and Waffles into the house.

  Through all the chaos and barking, Ben managed to get inside before lockin
g the backdoor.

  With Jimmy still on his shoulder he ran through the living room and back out the front door. When he made it to the car, as gently as he could he tossed Jimmy in the back seat before buckling him.

  Once he was secured Ben ran around to the driver’s side door before hopping in. He turned on the car and peeled out the driveway in route to the hospital never once looking back.

  “Uh, Ben?” Jimmy spoke from the back seat.

  Ben’s heart raced as he rounded the corner of their neighborhood. “Yeah?” Right now, his only focus was getting to the hospital.

  “I think you forgot something.”

  Ben’s brows pulled together. No, he hadn’t forgotten anything. He’d planned this out in his head a hundred times. He had their hospital bag, Holly’s blanket that Emma made, and then… “Oh, fuck!” Ben slammed on the brakes causing the car to come to a screeching halt.

  Holy fucking shit. He hit his hand on the steering wheel. He’d seen this in movies tons of times, but he never thought it actually happened in real life.

  He fucking forgot Holly.

  With a U-turn that he was sure was illegal on how fast he peeled around the corner he raced back to the house.

  Holly looked down at Waffles. “Do you think he realized he forgot me?” she asked. Waffles barked before walking into the living room plopping down onto his stomach ignoring her.

  “Love you too, Waffles.”

  Holly was a tad freaked out. Okay, she was way more than a tad freaked. She was about to push a human out of her va-jay-jay. A human. That’s cause to be terrified. Regardless though, she found herself chuckling at seeing Jimmy thrown over Ben’s shoulder as he ran through the house. Holly and Jimmy had even shared a “what’s going on” look before Ben carried him out of the house.

  “Why were you not in the car?” Ben yelled slamming through the front door.

  Holly crossed her arms over her chest as she arched her brow.

  “Don’t give me that look, Grace. You could have gotten into the car.”

  Both of her brows shot to the ceiling as her hands went to her hips.

  “Un-knot your twat, buster, you’re the one that forgot me. I just stood here and watched the show.”

  “Un-knot my twat?” His brow raised.

  A smile spread on both of their faces as they both said at the exact same time. “Mildred.”

  That’s when another contraction hit her. At least I now know I’m not dying.

  Ben was by her side in an instant. “You could have come to the car.”

  “And miss the show? Not on your life. It’s not very often I get to see the calm, cool, collected Ben lose his fuckin’ shit.” Holly looked him up and down. “Why are your knees dirty?”

  “Waffles tripped me.”

  “Really?” Holly smirked. “I thought you were too smooth to let his holiness ever get the better of you?”

  Ben glared at her. “I’m gonna let that slide, but only ‘cause you’re about to give birth to my child.”

  “Our child.”

  Ben ignored her comment, scooping her into his arms bridal style. “I can walk.”

  His eyes narrowed at her. “Then you could have walked to the car.”

  “Good point.” Holly wrapped her arms around Ben’s neck as he carried her. “Do you think it was dumb to have waited until the baby pops out to find out what we’re having?”

  “That’s what’s running through your head right now?” he asked.

  “Don’t get snippy with me.”

  Ben shook his head. “Let’s just get to the hospital.” Carefully Ben got Holly into the car. It didn’t help Jimmy was in the backseat laughing so hard he was snorting and threatening that he was about to pee on himself.

  Ben sent Jimmy a glare too.

  Poor Ben.

  “I’m gonna pee!” Jimmy snorted again.

  “Don’t go joking about peeing on yourself.” Holly looked at Jimmy. “I thought I had.”

  “Eww.”

  Preach it.

  Holly gritted her teeth as she felt another contraction. Oh, my god, I’m about to have a baby. “Emma!”

  “What about her?” Ben asked as he pulled out of their driveway.

  “I promised her I’d call as soon as I went into labor.” Holly grabbed her phone dialing her number. Emma swore to Holly she’d be there when the baby was born. She’d be the level head in case anything went wrong… like you know forgetting Holly.

  Holly’s call went straight to voice mail so she tried again.

  Nothing.

  Oh god, what if something happened to Emma. What if —

  “Holly, what’s wrong?” Ben grabbed her hand. “Are you having another contraction?”

  “Emma’s not answering her phone.”

  Ben squeezed her hand tighter. “Calm down, Grace, it’s okay. Maybe she’s got no service.”

  Holly’s heart pounded against her chest.

  “Can you do me a favor and call John and let him know we’re on the way to the hospital?” Ben asked.

  Holly nodded as the realization started to sink in again. She was about to push out a child… She wasn’t ready. Nope, not at all. “On second thought, I think we can turn around and go home.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “I think all I did was pee on myself. Yep. That’s it.” Holly started bouncing her head up and down. “That’s exactly what happened.”

  “That was your water breaking.”

  “Nope. Pee.”

  “Holly…” Ben looked at her as another contraction hit. Stop it Peanut! We aren’t ready!

  “Holly you’re holding your stomach and wincing.”

  “It’s gas.”

  “Holly.”

  “Fine. Jerk.” She took a deep breath before looking at her phone again. It took John four rings to finally pick up. “Hello?” he panted into the phone.

  “Why are you breathing so hard?” Holly asked as she bit her bottom lip. This wasn’t a full-on contraction but it still felt like there was a monster inside of her and it was clawing its way out.

  “Why are you calling?” he countered in typical John fashion.

  “What’s with all the attitude from everyone today?” Holly snapped.

  “I’m right in the middle of something here, Holly. You better be havin’ that baby or I promise you, you thought I was a pain in the ass before you haven’t seen—"

  “Of course, I’m pushing out a child. Why else would I be calling?” She narrowed her eyes. That’s it, John was officially off their Christmas card list. And this year she had a good photo planned. It involved her, Ben, Jimmy, all their pets, and elf costumes. It was gonna be freaking epic.

  “Oh shit! I thought you had two weeks.”

  “Well apparently doctors lie. Even though it’s their job and all, they can say whatever the hell they want.”

  Holly heard rustling on the other end of the phone. “Fuck. Okay, we’ll be right there.”

  “Who’s we?”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Holly wasn’t sure who was freaking out more, her or Ben. From the looks of it, she was leaning more towards Ben right now. At least she got happy drugs once she was admitted into the hospital.

  Thank god.

  Although, they weren’t that happy since she was still in pain.

  The moment Ben pulled into the hospital and hauled her out of the car, she was taken to the labor and delivery unit where they started an IV and told her she needed to wait. Unfortunately for her, she was too far along for the epidural, but not far enough to push.

  She closed her eyes. Universe, I thought we had this heart-to-heart already? Will you ever give me a fucking break?

  Holly clenched her hands as another contraction hit.

  Nope. Read you loud and clear, Universe.

  “How in the fuck do they think you’re not ready?” Ben growled looking at her. “You’re wincing every few minutes.”

  “Language.” Holly glared at him, before darting
her eyes to Jimmy.

  “That’s okay, Ben said the same word when he realized he forgot you.” Jimmy sent her a playful smile before looking at Ben.

  “Oh, he did now?” Holly’s eyes narrowed at her husband.

  “Yep.”

  “I’m gonna remember this, kid.” Ben snapped his attention to Jimmy, who shrugged.

  Throw me a bone here universe and take me now. Holly threw her head back onto her pillow looking at the ceiling as she felt a sharp pain once again. I mean Ben is right. Sure, I got meds to help but this kinda sucks. Okay, this really sucks. How in the hell do people pop out more than one kid?

  Ben grabbed onto her hand squeezing it. “Do you want me to force them to give you an epidural?”

  “You can’t force them to do anything.” She gritted her teeth as the contraction went through her.

  “I can try.”

  “It’s fine. They said I was too far along. So, it wouldn’t help anyway.” With her luck, she’d get the thing, push out the kid, then end up going numb from the waist down.

  “Do you want me to see if they can give you more pain meds? There has to be something they can do.”

  “No.” Holly squeezed his hand. How had she gotten so lucky to have Ben? Even now he was trying to ease her pain any way he could. She looked at him as the contraction died down. There was so much concern in his eyes. “I just want this baby out.”

  “Two weeks my ass,” Ben mumbled.

  “Language!” Holly closed her eyes again. “But, you’re not wrong.”

  “Is Peanut coming soon?” Jimmy asked drawing Holly’s attention to him.

  “I hope so.” Even if I have to crawl up there myself and get Peanut out.

  Jimmy nodded before sinking back into the chair, looking down at his hands. Holly was about to say something when another pain started to creep in. Her heart raced as a new wave of panic washed over her.

  This was it.

  There was no going back now.

  She was about to push a human out of her. A human she and Ben would be one hundred percent responsible for.

  Holy crap on ten million crackers. I’m not ready!

  As Holly was about to fall into a complete panic attack, John burst through the door. “Is it happening?”