She was holding her belly…baby…uterus? Really, when pregnant wasn’t it kind of all those things? Regardless, she was still holding it. Now that I stared some more, there was an unnatural gleam to her skin as she tried to focus on me. “Are you sure you’re all right?” I asked again.
She blinked rapidly before shaking her head. “Yeah, I am.” She rested her head on the steering wheel and sighed. “Just forget about it, okay? I won’t let it bother me now that I know you at least feel guilty, right Lucy?”
“Can I have them?” Lucy asked another question instead of answering the one she got.
“No,” her mom clipped out.
“I really did nothing to the chips,” I said almost hesitantly. “Can you even do anything to chips?”
She thought about it seriously before saying, “I don’t know, but how about instead of taking the bag, you’ll promise not to go stealing another kid’s?”
It was right on the tip of my tongue to say something mean. My mouth opened, but I clamped it shut, tilted my head, then said, “That was the first and last.”
“Then, I hope this is the last time we argue….” She drifted off like she was waiting for something, eyeing me expectantly, even her chin dipping down as she studied and waited. For what?
“Elijah.”
“Elijah?” She finished her sentence, strangely appearing dumbfounded about something. Then I gave her the same look she’d given me. “Hadley.” She was quick with the head nod, letting her eyes dart away and gazing at the car door like it was a saving grace. I knew the signs of someone wanting to escape because I did a lot of that myself. Stepping back, I didn’t know what else to do but walk away.
Did people normally just leave after introducing themselves? I thought about it and shrugged. Oh, well. Neither of us was comfortable. She clearly wanted to get away, and I felt ten times lighter after getting those words out. I didn’t care about anything beyond that point.
I heard Lucy yell, “Mommy!” followed by, “What’s wrong?”
That was a trap. One of many I’d fall prey to the months that led to becoming friends with this woman and her tiny family. A fundamental change in my life. Only I didn’t know it yet.
Chapter Seven
Hadley
My water broke.
I knew it was going to happen. Just not right in front of our jerk for a neighbor whose name was closely similar to my soon-to-be born son. If Lucy hadn’t yelled… I called my doctor a few hours earlier after suffering contractions far too often and too close together, and she told me to head to the hospital. I saw her a few days ago and she let me know that Eli would come any day. She offered to admit me then, but I refused. Told her I would wait for Eli to pick the day himself with the promise that I’d stay home and rest until he did. And that was what I did all week.
I woke up this morning with the feeling that today was going to be the day.
I sat straight in my seat, shutting my eyes, and trying to think through the pain. I sucked in a breath and whimpered as another tight contraction took hold of my entire stomach, squeezing Eli further into a ball inside my uterus.
“Mommy!” I was scaring Lucy. I could kick myself for being so stubborn. My parents said they’d come to get us and I refused, saying I could do it. Although the hospital was only ten minutes away, I knew it would be impossible for me to drive. I’d seen my co-worker Ali walk right into the hospital while in labor, squirt the kid out, and strut around later like giving birth was a piece of cake. Some women had all the luck. Even though I had a pretty high tolerance for pain, when I reached a certain point, I was a goner.
And I was there. Fumbling around for my phone a second or two before I realized it was in my hand, I searched for my mom’s cell number when the car door opened. My neighbor, Elijah, peered down at me with a tight, worried scowl. “Are you sure you’re all right?”
I was in so much freaking pain that I gave up and whispered through another pinched breath. “My water broke.” No doubt he saw that long before I pointed it out. My gray pajama bottoms were soaked. I could hear Lucy crying in the back but couldn’t turn around. “It’s okay, Lucy, you knew that we were on the way to the hospital so I could have Bubby.”
“I’m scared,” she sobbed.
Me too. “It’ll be—” Another contraction hit, and I finally let my fear creep in. I held my stomach and gritted my teeth together. What if I had the urge to push long before my parents got there? I rushed with the phone, about to dial for them when Elijah unbuckled me.
“Can you stand to make it over to the passenger side?” he asked.
“I’m afraid to even stand,” I wailed as tears seeped from my eyes. “I’m going to call my parents. They’re already on their way to the hospital, but they can stop and get us like I should have let them.”
“You can’t fucking sit out here the way you are.” Why was he angry? I turned my head and saw his face near mine as he put one arm underneath my leg and his other against my back before scooping me up. My belly made it difficult for him to cradle me better. I caught his neck and gasped out of shock and intense agony as he lifted me over the console and onto the passenger seat.
There were some things, no matter how close to freaking out and miserable I was, that I couldn’t help but notice and that was the fact that this man had touched bodily fluids that gushed out of me when he had grabbed me. He climbed in and sat in them as he shut the driver’s door with a loud bang.
“What are you doing?” I murmured, clutching my stomach and practically screaming as my entire belly tightened into a giant ball again.
“Getting you to the hospital,” he replied, and I knew it made sense but I was mortified. I hadn’t even wanted Scott to see the agony and mess of childbirth, and that had been the man I’d loved. It was ten times worse for a handsome stranger to see those things. It was too embarrassing for a shy woman to handle.
Another contraction destroyed that train of thought. Eli was coming, and he needed me to get my crap together and make it to the hospital. I forgot about shame and remembered what was ahead—pain, tearing, and pushing then the joy of having Eli.
I couldn’t straighten my spine so I stayed hunched over as Elijah started my car and sped out of the parking lot.
“Mommy?” Lucy was still sobbing. I wanted to soothe her more than anything, but it was hard when I could hardly concentrate through the pain ripping through my pelvis.
“You ready for Eli to be here?” I asked her without moving from my position.
“Not if it hurts you.”
Her words made me smile through the pain. Kids were so honest.
“Do you need to call the dad or something?” Elijah’s eyes darted over toward me briefly then went back to the road. If my body hadn’t been tilted toward him, I would have missed the gesture.
“He already knows to be there,” I told Elijah, which was another issue I dreaded. All week Scott had nagged me to allow him in the room while I gave birth but I refused. There was a part of me that felt guilty for taking that away from him, but I’d never keep Lucy and Eli from him. I just couldn’t allow him in with me during such a private and intimate moment ever again. He’d lost that chance when he chose to get between my cousin’s legs. He might not have seen it that way, but I did. He made a choice and forced me to make one because of it.
Some women could forgive their men for cheating and come together stronger than ever. Not me. I thought I gave Scott all of me and had only wanted the same from him. Call me young or foolish, even absurd, but I could never look at him and feel what I had for him ever again. He ruined that, not me.
Scott could hold Eli afterward, but I only wanted my mom with me. Olivia would have been my first choice, and even though she left to get here a couple of hours ago, there was no way she would be here before Eli was born.
Now I was crying. Even though I said I didn’t want Scott in there—and I didn’t—I was still overcome with loneliness. I had him with Lucy so I didn’t feel this way,
but I’d never felt so utterly alone as I did on the way to the hospital with a stranger that had been mean to Lucy.
What was I doing? How was I going to take care of two kids by myself? Any other day of the week I’d put on my brave face and count down the days until I got a better job, but not at that moment. Not when the pain was tearing into all my doubts and fears.
I sucked in a breath as my belly tightened and tears streamed down my face. Silence gave way to screams as the pain ripped through me. I leaned against the seat and practically tore off the car door’s arm. I briefly thought about doing the same to Elijah’s arm but caught myself last second. Lucy was hysterical in the back.
“You’re not going to have him right this second, are you?” I glanced up at Elijah. He stared at my stomach with bulging eyes.
I glared at him not caring about the tears or my snotty nose. Yelling, I asked, “If you’re worried about that possibility then why the fudge did you climb in my car?”
His brown eyes widened more. Even in the dark I saw his face pale. He shook his head and refocused on the road. The man looked positively rattled.
“Sorry,” I burst into tears and screamed at the same time because, hello, this agony was killing me. Through gritted teeth, I said, “I’m in a lot of pain. Thanks for driving me.” I studied him for a moment and then added, “But can you please go faster? This baby won’t wait much longer for a doctor.”
Within seconds, the engine roared as it accelerated. Two minutes later, we pulled up to the emergency room’s sliding doors. “Do you…” He put my car in park and eyed me warily. I opened my door, staggered to my feet, and grabbed onto the car for dear life. Could I even walk inside? “Sit down. Let me go find a wheelchair!” Elijah hollered as he ran through the doors. I sat down but kept my feet on the concrete and waited, taking deep, even breaths as best I could.
“Are you and Eli going to be okay, Mommy?” Lucy asked from her seat.
“Eli’s just ready to come out.” I patted the seat where she could see me do it since I couldn’t reach her. “It’s okay. This is normal.”
“We can send him back. I don’t like this,” she mumbled. I pictured her crossing her tiny arms over her chest.
“Here.” Elijah was in front of me. He didn’t offer me his hand, but waited as I lifted myself and sat down.
“Can you help Lucy with her buckles?” I asked apologetically, knowing this was beyond weird for any two people that didn’t know or even like one another.
He gave me a withdrawn but accepting sigh as he walked to the door and opened it. A few seconds later, Lucy was by my side, examining me as she scanned every part of me. Elijah rushed me inside. “Stay by me, Lucy.” She took my hand and walked by me, barely keeping up with Elijah’s long strides.
He dropped my keys in my lap as he stopped, then called the nurses. “I think her water broke!” I covered my forehead with my palm. Did he have to yell it? The ER wasn’t even where I needed to be, but at least I was here.
I hissed and held my stomach with my free hand as the tightening grew worse. “Can someone please do something? Fuck! Look at her! She’s seconds from having the kid.” He said kid instead of a baby.
A pretty blonde stepped out of the doors and greeted him with a smile like she’d seen that scene a hundred times before. Maybe she had, but I hadn’t. Scott had been chill the entire time, even grabbing himself a soda and chips from the vending machine while I waited for my water to break with Lucy.
Thankfully, the nurse came to me instead of Elijah, rushing in and taking over. “It will be just a second, Dad.” She stared straight at Elijah. “Don’t worry, we’ll take care of her. If you want to go ahead. We can prep her and get you dressed—”
“He’s not the father,” I told her quickly. “Please, I have to take my daughter back with me. I can’t leave her out here.”
“But he’s—” The nurse pointed toward Elijah.
“Absolutely not,” I said adamantly. “We don’t know him. He simply rushed us here when he saw us in the parking lot.”
The nurse nodded, clearly confused.
“Hadley!” I recognized my mom’s voice and sagged in the chair. They couldn’t have shown up at a better time. “Did your water break already?” she asked as Lucy ran to my dad.
“Mommy’s been crying,” she told him.
“I can go now,” I told the nurse. “Mom?” I didn’t care that I was about to be a mother of two. A girl knew when she needed her mom, and I was lucky enough to still have mine.
“Go on. Lucy and me will wait outside the windows,” Dad told us with a reassuring smile. “You ready to be a sister, Lucy?”
Mom came with me as the nurses rolled me away.
I was about to be a mommy for the second time at twenty-one-years-old.
Chapter Eight
Hadley
“You did good, Momma.” Olivia winked at me with her deep-blue eyes, lying on the hospital bed with me the next day. Her new burgundy hair color made them pop even more.
I was tired and sore but already felt ten times better than I had during labor last night. Eli was between us as he gripped Olivia’s index finger—my boy had a strong grip. The nurse had just brought him back. I was sure they’d come to get him again at some point, and I already couldn’t wait to get him to our little apartment.
I ran my fingers across Eli’s forehead. “Thanks, sis.”
“What about me? I did good, too,” Lucy piped in from the bottom of the bed. She was like a wild bunny hopping about. I’d already warned her a few times about being careful with Eli on the bed. I didn’t know what she expected, but I really didn’t think she was as happy as she wanted to be about having a sibling anymore.
Raising to her elbow, Olivia smirked at Lucy. “And what did you do?”
“I said, ‘are you okay, mommy’ over and over,” Lucy answered as she sat crossed-legged.
Olivia and I laughed. “Wow, you did do good,” Olivia told her. “How do you feel about your new baby brother?”
Lucy responded the way she did to anything she didn’t want to acknowledge, by not answering. “When are we going home?”
“Tomorrow, most likely,” I told her.
“Can’t we go home now?” she whined.
“Your daddy will take you home with him tonight.”
She crossed her arms and pouted. “I’ll just stay here.”
Olivia and I shared a frown. “Don’t you want to spend time with Daddy?” I asked her.
She wouldn’t look up from the covers. “Yeah, but not if Eli gets to stay here with you.”
God bless America. It was already starting. “Lucy.” I waited until she finally glimpsed up at me before I grabbed her little hand. “Eli and you are both my babies. When mommy gets to go home, we’re all going home. Together.” I smiled at her. “Don’t you want to spend time with your dad?”
She reluctantly nodded. “Yeah…”
The door to my room opened, and Mom poked her head in. “Scott and his family are back… Just let me know when you’re ready for them to come in.”
I dropped my head on the pillow and groaned.
“Tell them to fuck off,” Olivia told Mom.
“Olivia!” I muttered, watching Lucy who was observing every word. “Don’t say that.” Olivia flicked her gaze at Lucy before giving me a tight frown.
“Sorry,” Olivia mumbled while Mom shook her head. I caught Olivia mouth not really, and I couldn’t help but laugh since it was acceptable as long as Lucy couldn’t see.
“Spend some more time with your sister. Scott and his family can wait a bit,” Mom finally said with a knowing expression. “Want me to take you to see your daddy, Luce?”
Lucy glanced at me, then Eli before reluctantly scooting off the edge of the bed.
Once Lucy was gone, Olivia turned to me. “Is he giving you a hard time?” She was referring to Scott.
I sighed. “You have no idea. He tried to stay in here with me last night and thought I’d let hi
m kiss me when I was in tears after the nurse put Eli in my arms for the second time.”
Olivia huffed. “He won’t stop, you know? He knows he fucked up, but he’ll just have to live with it.”
I stared down at Eli asleep between us. “Gosh, he’s so perfect.”
“I’ll come and stay with you when school’s out. All summer.”
I sighed. “No. Enjoy your time off, but I do want you to stay with me some.” I smirked at her. “The kids will miss you.”
The kids I referred to were only a few years younger than me—her high schoolers. She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah, the little shits.” She fussed with Eli’s sparse blond hair—a result of both Scott and I having light-colored hair. “I’ve had a good bunch this year though. That I can say.”
“Most of the boys have crushes, right?”
Every school year, Olivia had to endure the misguided affections of teenage boys. My sister had always been the stunning one. She was taller and thinner than me. I hadn’t seen her with her natural blonde hair since she was fourteen. I obviously had the boobs and butt between the two of us—thanks to Lucy and Eli, but Olivia’s willowy appearance always made me envious.
She laughed. “They’ve not been that bad, but I’m sure they talk about me.”
The door burst open, and Lucy came ran in and yelled, “Mommy! Dad said we can stay in the room here with you.”
“That asshole,” Olivia whispered.
Eli cried, and I scooped him up in my arms when Scott strode in with his obnoxious smirk. He knew what he’d done.
I hated when he used Lucy to get to me.
Chapter Nine
Elijah
Two days later, the following Monday, not that I was stalking around or anything, Hadley’s car was in the parking lot when I headed out for work.
So she left with Lucy and came home with an extra one…
I didn’t want to admit it, but I thought about them enough to wonder if everything turned out okay.
That was some scary shit. For a moment or two, I thought she was going to have the baby in the car. With all of her screaming and crying bloody murder, I was glad she didn’t. She would have scarred both of us. I couldn’t just walk away, though, after knowing her water had broken, and the shitty part of it all was I knew she wouldn’t have asked for my help.
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