Defensive
Page 16
I ran into the closet, trying to find dry clothes to change into when he knocked on the bathroom door. “Are you okay?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just come in the closet. You need clothes,” I hollered at him.
I heard him open the bathroom door and step into the closet. “What are you doing?”
“I didn’t pee. My water broke,” I barked, not looking up from digging through my clothes.
“Babe, are you serious?” He whirled me around.
“Yeah. I can’t get it to stop so I’m looking for some pants that I don’t mind ruining,” I told him as another contraction hit me.
“Okay, yeah, um… let me get some clothes on and I’ll load our bags into the car.”
An hour and a half later, I was hooked up to different machines monitoring the baby and me. I had answered a million questions that made me wonder why I had even bothered to pre-register. I was pretty sure I had already answered half of them. The contractions were coming steadily and I was hurting.
“I need the damn epidural,” I told Jackson.
“Okay. They said the anesthesiologist is on his way,” He said, stroking my hand. The overwhelming feeling of wanting to hit him came over me again. It was easy for him to sit there and wait while I was in what seemed like an unnatural amount of pain. “Here he is.”
“Thank God,” I yelled out. I didn’t care if I looked like a bitch. I didn’t care about anything besides numbing the pain and pushing the baby out of me.
The epidural didn’t take long and I instantly felt more relaxed knowing that it was over with. Or at least the epidural part was. I leaned back onto the bed, feeling a little bad about wanting to hit Jackson. I knew he hadn’t done anything wrong and was just being supportive, but sometimes he just annoyed me.
A half hour later, the nurse was yelling for the doctor because the baby was coming. I wasn’t in a lot of pain but I was scared. It was an overwhelming feeling that I couldn’t describe. I was going to push a baby out of my body.
“Okay, when I tell you to push, push,” the doctor said as he sat down in front of me.
I focused on Jackson’s eyes as everything became a blur. The only noise I heard was the doctor saying “push.” I pushed as hard as I could until finally I heard the sound of crying. I looked up to see the most beautiful, dark-haired little girl I had ever seen.
The nurse placed her on my chest as tears fell from my eyes. I had a little girl of my own. I was a mother. I looked over to see Jackson, smiling at our daughter as his eyes filled with tears.
“She’s absolutely beautiful,” he said as he stroked her hair.
“Yes, she is,” I told him as we both looked at our little girl in awe.
“What did you finally decide to name her?” Amanda asked while cuddling my daughter.
“Chloe Beth,” Jackson said from beside me. We’d had several names picked out but decided to wait on naming her until we saw her.
“That’s beautiful!”
“It is, isn’t it? I just love it!” my mom piped in from the other side of the room.
Landon glanced down at Chloe from beside Amanda. “She’s obviously smart, too. Waiting until her daddy had a break in his schedule. That game last night was awesome!”
“Yeah. I was relieved I was here. I would’ve been devastated if I’d missed it. You don’t know how lucky you are that you don’t have to worry about that.”
“Only eight more weeks,” I told Amanda.
“I’m getting really nervous. I can’t believe our babies will only be two months apart.”
“I know. It’s perfect! Everything is perfect,” I said, looking across the room. I had the husband of my dreams, the perfect daughter, and my best friend and brother were finally together, starting a family of their own. Yes, everything was perfect.
The End
Read other books by JD Rivera
First, a huge thank you to the readers. It’s because of you that I continued this story and I hope you enjoyed it.
I will always need to thank the love of my life, Carlos. Thank you for all of your support and encouragement. I also need to thank my two wonderful sons for letting Mommy write. I love you both so much!
My editor, Tara Entwistle-Clark, thank you! You rock!
A huge thank you to Debra at The Book Enthusiast and Casey at Hardcover Therapy. And all of the blogs that helped spread the word about Guarded and Defensive.
I can’t say thank you enough to my beta readers Anna Coy, Jennifer Laslie, and Liz Dellinger. You guys helped make this story so much better.
And thank you to all of my friends and family for supporting me each and every day. I love you all.
J.D. Rivera lives in Oklahoma with her husband and two boys. Her life consists of school projects, homework, cartoon shows, and Little League sports. She loves Diet Mountain Dew, the OKC Thunder, costume jewelry, the beach, and reading.
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Defensive
Copyright J.D. Rivera 2014
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All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Table of Contents
Title Page
Other Books by JD Rivera
Prologue—Vanessa
Chapter 1— Vanessa
Chapter 2— Jackson
Chapter 3— Vanessa
Chapter 4— Jackson
Chapter 5— Vanessa
Chapter 6— Jackson
Chapter 7— Vanessa
Chapter 8— Jackson
Chapter 9— Vanessa
Chapter 10— Jackson
Chapter 11— Vanessa
Chapter 12— Jackson
Chapter 13— Vanessa
Chapter 14— Jackson
Chapter 15— Vanessa
Chapter 16— Jackson
Chapter 17— Vanessa
Chapter 18— Jackson
Chapter 19— Vanessa
Chapter 20— Jackson
Chapter 21— Vanessa
Chapter 22— Jackson
Chapter 23— Vanessa
Chapter 24— Jackson
Chapter 25— Vanessa
Chapter 26— Jackson
Chapter 27— Vanessa
Chapter 28— Jackson
Epilogue— Vanessa
Acknowledgements
About the Author
About the Designer
Copyright Notice