The Hard Way

by Austin Bates

  He reached into his back pocket and fumbled around with his phone. A powerful swoop of a contraction assaulted him, and he fell to his knees.

  Ashton snatched the phone from off of the floor and mumbled about “unreliable people” and “worst lawyer I’ve ever heard of.” He called 911 and said, “Yeah, I’ve got some hack lawyer going into labor in my apartment. I’m just off of St. Lawrence Street. The Barkley High flats. Thank you.”

  Tears welled up in the corner of Noah’s eyes as he stuck his hand out for his phone. “Give me my phone, I need to call my boyfriend. He’s going to want to fly up here.”

  Ashton snorted in disgust and crouched down in front of Noah; he limply offered him the phone.

  I’m six weeks early… this can’t be good! Noah pressed Issac’s contact icon in favorites and the phone went on for three long rings until Issac answered, “Hello? How’s the case going?”

  “Terrible, I’m going into labor on the shitty carpet in his living room!”

  Ashton grunted at this but pretended to be busy looking outside of the window as Issac bellowed through the speaker, “Are you fucking kidding me?! Now? The baby isn’t due for six weeks!”

  Noah filled up his lungs with air as far as they would go as another contraction attacked his body. “The contractions are not that far apart, Issac—” He moved his phone away from the receiver to bite down on a balled piece of his shirt and scream into it.

  “Issac, you need to get up here,” he instructed between pants. “The baby is coming and there’s nothing I can do to stop it.”

  “I’m booking a flight right now, don’t worry, I’ll be there before you know it.”

  The stairwell thudded with heavy footfalls as a hard knock sounded on Ashton’s front door.

  “Emergency responder!” an urgent-sounding voice shouted through the door.

  Ashton pulled the door open and pointed at Noah. “There he is, he’s having a baby.”

  Noah said, “I love you” into his phone before the EMT helped him to his feet. They navigated Noah through the stairwell and to St. Bernard’s Memorial Hospital.

  Chapter 33

  Noah was lucky enough to get a private room. The doctor placed his feet up in the stirrups and looked through his legs to smile at him. “Okay, Mr. Wilson, you’re doing great. Are you feeling comfortable?” he asked.

  “Not particularly,” he answered. His eyes darted around the room as another contraction set in.

  “Just remember to breathe, Mr. Wilson. It’s all in the breathing.”

  Oh my God, the baby is going to be born and Issac isn’t here! My mother isn’t here, no one is here to see this baby come into the world. Are you kidding me? he thought and grasped a handful of sheets in his hand. “Fuck!”

  “That’s it, we’re going to try pushing now.”

  “What?! Already?”

  “Yes, this baby is ready to be born. Now on the count of three, 1… 2… 3… push!” A nurse that had been standing nearby dabbed at Noah’s forehead as he pushed.

  “Oh my God!” he howled as he pushed and felt the small bones of the baby trying to compress to make their way through. He looked over his belly at the doctor. “Is my baby okay?!”

  “Yes, they’re just moving a little slowly. Give me another big push. 1... 2... 3… push! And keep pushing, don’t stop. Five more seconds and I’ll start to see the head.”

  Noah collapsed against his soaking wet pillow. “I can’t… I haven’t done this in forever. I can’t push anymore, I don’t know how I did this—”

  “Noah! Push, or we’re going to restrict airflow to the baby.”

  Noah took a deep breath and gripped his knees as he used his pelvic muscles to push for as long as he could.

  “This is still not enough. Noah, I need a big one. I need you to push right through that pain.”

  With his teeth clenched, Noah pushed harder. Sweat rolled down his forehead and into his eyes before the nurse could wipe it off.

  “I’ve got the shoulders now, Noah. Give me a big push. We might be able to get the rest of the baby out.”

  Pushing as hard as his body would allow, Noah sent another half of the baby sliding out of him.

  “I’ve caught the head,” the doctor announced. “Give me one big push. Let’s see if you have a beautiful baby boy or girl.”

  “Okay,” Noah gasped. “Are they okay? Do they look healthy?” he asked.

  “It looks like he just wants to get his legs out of his daddy. Give me that last push.”

  The baby slid into the doctor’s arms and he handed the wailing baby off to the nurse. Noah gripped the side rails on the bed and pulled himself upright. “Is my baby okay? Does everything look normal?”

  The nurse came over and handed the swaddled baby over to Noah. “He’s perfect,” she said, and Noah’s mouth fell open as he gingerly placed his hand underneath the baby’s head.

  “I have a son? I have a son!” The baby cooed and smacked his little lips together. Noah ran a thumb across his soft cheeks. “My baby boy.”

  The doctor came over and held his arms out to Noah. “We’re just going to run a few tests, but this baby is in perfect health. Let me give you a bit of space,” he said as he scooped up the baby and stepped into another room.

  Noah fell back against his pillow and allowed himself to really breathe for the first time since he went into labor. His eyes felt heavy and so did his limbs. He closed his eyes for a minute, and then a minute turned into an hour, and then an hour turned into three hours.

  When Noah lifted his heavy eyelids again, Issac loomed over him. Concern was etched into every line on his face and he pulled his face away as Noah blinked himself awake.

  “Hey, you’re awake. I’m so sorry that I missed the delivery, my plan got delayed twice, and then I had to argue with Ashton about which hospital they took you to. You left your phone at his place, by the way.”

  Noah started to respond but felt the dryness that had built up in his throat. “Water.”

  Issac grabbed a cup of water off of the nightstand and handed it to Noah. Noah drank until there was water running down his chin and turned to Issac. “Did you see him?” he asked.

  Issac slid his fingers in between Noah’s. “I did. He’s breathtaking. I’ve never seen a baby moments after it's been born.”

  “Moments?” Noah repeated. “When did you get here?”

  “I got here shortly after he was born. You were resting so well, I didn’t want to disturb you right away. How are you feeling?”

  Noah grinned and replied, “Well, I’m sore in all of my sensitive places, I quit my first case ever, and I gave birth to my first son today. So, all things considered, I’m pretty good.”

  Issac wrapped his arm around Noah’s shoulders and asked, “You quit your case?”

  “Yeah, Ashton was a complete dick. The last guy left because he had a family emergency, but I’m really starting to think that maybe he made it up to get away from Ashton.” Issac laughed at this and Noah went on to say, “He had made it practically impossible to defend his case; he used company funds to buy himself a new wardrobe every time he traveled away from the home office. I hope that Hugh isn’t too upset.”

  “Well, I don’t think that he will be because I called to let him know that you had gone into labor, in case he wondered why you hadn’t checked in yet,” Issac said.

  Noah’s face lit up as he grabbed a handful of the Issac’s shirt and pulled him close. “That’s great. I’ll smooth things over with Hugh and then I’ll try to apologize to Ashton—I wasn’t very professional when I told him that I wasn’t going to be his lawyer anymore.”

  “Blame it on the labor. You did just give birth to another human being. I can’t think of a better reason to be rude, honestly.”

  Noah chuckled and stretched his neck to see if anyone was coming towards his hospital room.

  “What’s wrong?” Issac asked, sensing Noah’s uneasiness.

  “What if something’s wrong and they
haven’t told me yet?”

  Issac looked into Noah’s tired eyes and said, “They would have told you by now if something was wrong with him. They’re just making sure he’s fit to be outside. He has to travel kind of far to get back home to Baltimore.”

  Noah chewed on his lip as he became absorbed into his worries. Issac took his hand and said, “Hey, have you thought of any names that you like?”

  Noah shrugged. “I honestly didn’t think that he’d be a boy. I hadn’t thought of any male names.”

  “None?”

  “Nope. Do you have any boy names that you like?” Noah asked.

  Issac rested his head on top of Noah’s shoulder. He pulled the coarse hospital blanket higher up on Noah’s body. “Well, I’ve always wished that my name was Wyatt. Wyatt sound cool, like they don’t let the little things bother them. They also sound smart, and I know that he’ll be smart because he’s half of you.”

  Noah snuggled deeper into Issac. He squeezed his hand. “I like Wyatt. I’ve also never met a Wyatt that could ruin that name for me.”

  “So, Wyatt Wilson?” Issac asked. “It’s alliterative, that’s cool.”

  “Well, I’m going to ruin that for you. Wyatt Fitzgerald-Wilson.”

  Issac pressed his lips onto the soft skin of Noah’s forehead. “Wyatt Fitzgerald-Wilson then.”

  A nurse wearing pediatric scrubs with flying puppies printed onto the soft pink background entered Noah’s hospital room. In her right arm, Wyatt slept soundly, swaddled in a small blanket.

  Noah sat up straight and held his arms out. “He’s back. Is everything okay?”

  The nurse smiled and carefully transferred Wyatt into Noah’s arms. “Everything is just fine. He’s a healthy little screamer. He’s got an excellent pair of lungs. He’ll be good to go whenever you’re feeling well enough to be discharged from the hospital.”

  Noah held him close for a moment and then held him out to Issac. “Do you want to hold your son?”

  Issac timidly took Wyatt into his arms. Noah took his hands and placed them properly underneath the baby’s neck and bottom. “Just like that, support his head.”

  Issac took a look at his son’s perfect pale face. His little lips were bright red and his cheeks were as fat as a chipmunk’s. Wyatt’s eyelids fluttered open as he opened his mouth wide for a yawn.

  “His eyes are green. I always wanted green eyes.”

  Noah chuckled, “Well, it looks like you get to live through him.” Noah patted Issac on the knee as he cradled their baby. I never thought that I would ever see Issac like this, this vulnerable with our son in his arms. Noah allowed himself to rest again and fell into an undisturbed sleep.

  Chapter 34

  Madeline and Jade gathered around Wyatt’s bassinet. Jade leaned over as far as she could on her tippy toes to loom over her new little brother. When Noah had offered to let her hold him earlier, she decided not to, terrified that she might drop him and break him. Madeline held her hand over her heart as she gazed into her grandson’s sleeping face. He is just so beautiful. Before I know it, Noah will be packing up the kids and moving out of here. Everything is changing so much.

  Noah came up behind them and leaned against his mom. “Isn’t he great?” His hand drifted to Jade’s hair and he asked her, “Are you excited about your brother?”

  “I’m so excited, I can make him do my homework, and clean my room—”

  “Jade, he’s barely three weeks old. Give him some time before you give him a full time job.” Noah rolled his eyes and scooped up the baby into his arms as he began to stir. “I think he’s ready for a diaper change. Do you want to watch this time, Jade?”

  Madeline turned to Noah and said, “Actually, I think that I’ll change him. Why don’t you grab a seat and start going over all of those cases that you were complaining about earlier?”

  Noah protested, “Mom, you already do so much with Jade, you don’t have to change his diaper. I’ve got it.”

  Madeline stuck her hands out to receive the baby. “It’s fine, Noah. Go sit down, rest up a bit. I want to spend some time with my grandson.”

  Noah reluctantly handed the baby over to Madeline and headed back to the living room. All of his court documents were spread out onto the floor; he had spent the last three weeks pouring over them and was determined to go back to work soon after apologizing to Hugh about what happened with Ashton.

  Hugh had been surprisingly mellow about it. He even apologized to Noah for sending him on a business trip so close to his due date. But Noah didn’t want to lose his second floor status because he was being idle for too long.

  “Daddy, Issac is here!” Jade shouted as she ran through the living room. Noah scowled as he rushed to grab a flurry of the documents that Jade had sent flying all over the room.

  “Jade, you don’t have to do that every time. Issac has been coming here for forever now, and you just stepped on half a dozen new cases!” he snapped.

  Jade sat down on the couch and out of trouble but not without muttering, “I wanted to let you know that he’s here.”

  Issac came into the room and carefully navigated the sea of legal documents. He sat down on the only clean space next to Noah and said, “So, I might have found the house of our dreams, if you’re willing to tear yourself away from this work that you don’t need to do yet.”

  Noah scoffed. “I have to get this done. I want Hugh to see how dedicated I am despite having given birth three weeks ago.”

  “I think that he’ll also want to see that you’re well rested, which you won’t be if you keep working like this.” Issac reached over and grabbed a stack of papers out of Noah’s hand and tossed them to the side. “Put a pin in being a workaholic for right now.” Issac kissed Noah on the temple. “Let me do the worrying for a little bit, okay?”

  Noah sighed and set his work down onto the floor. “Okay, at least help me clean all of this up. Jade will make paper animals out of all of it.”

  “They would be pretty!” Jade chimed in.

  Issac and Noah set to work with collecting all of the case documents and sorting them into the appropriate folders. Once they were done, Issac turned to Noah.

  “Okay, go get dressed,” he said, pointing at the shoddy robe that Noah had been wearing for the last three days.

  “Get dressed? Why?”

  “Because I made an appointment with my realtor and I want to show you the house that I was talking about earlier. You were too absorbed in your work load to listen to me,” Issac teased.

  “I have to stay here with the baby,” Noah said, and Madeline walked into the living room just then.

  “You cleaned up all of that crap that was on my floor? Excellent! Hey Issac, how are you?” Madeline embraced him and kissed him on the cheek.

  “I’m great, Madeline. Is there any way that you could watch Wyatt while Noah and I take a look at this house for sale across town? He’s being a helicopter dad, and won’t leave him.”

  Madeline playfully hit Noah on the shoulder. “You know that I want to spend more time with Wyatt. Stop smothering him! I happen to be very good at taking care of a little, baby boy, remember?”

  Noah rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’ll go and get dressed. You guys are ridiculous,” he muttered, shuffling towards his bedroom.

  “We’re ridiculous?” Madeline repeated. “He’s the one that’s been wearing the same bath robe for three days straight. By the way, thank you for stopping by and getting him out of that thing.”

  Issac snickered. “No problem. I really didn’t want to waste an opportunity to see the inside of this house because Noah was too stubborn to get dressed.”

  “Well, I’m glad that he has you two around to coax him out of those stubborn moods that he falls into. By the way, when are you guys thinking of moving?” Madeline asked. She walked into the kitchen and signaled for Issac to follow behind her.

  “If Noah loves the house as much as I think that he will, then we’ll put in an offer this afternoon. If everything
goes well, your son and grandchildren will be completely moved out in as little as two months.”

  Madeline waved his comment off. “Now that Wyatt is here, I’m in no hurry to see him go. And I’ll miss Jade. I think that I might get a little lonely without her around to be loud and make messes for me to clean up.”

  “Hey!” Jade shouted from the living room.

  Madeline handed Issac a glossy blue mug with a cup of steaming black coffee inside of it. “Here you go. I didn’t want to dress your coffee for you.” She went to the fridge and came back with a bottle of creamer.