by S Cinders
“Nate?” her voice was laced with tears.
He cleared his throat nervously, “So, this is step two of my extended proposal. I want you to know Kim that I am so fucking excited about the baby. And that even though I am terrified I will be a shit dad, I want to be there for both of you. I want to have a big noisy family with you. But even if it were only you and me, I would still want you to be my family. I haven’t had that in a long time, but I want it so fucking bad I can taste it.”
Kim’s tears glittered on her lashes, “You are going to make my mascara run!”
Nate’s crooked smile warmed her clear through.
“I love you, Nate, so very much. You will be an amazing dad.” She laid a hand on her slightly rounded stomach, “We are both lucky to have you. I love you, the words don’t seem to be enough to describe everything I feel for you, but they are all I have. I love you!”
Nate was just about to respond when there was a flurry of movement from the courthouse steps. Elliot was helping a very pregnant Mandy down the stairs. The moment he saw Nate’s car relief swept over Elliot’s features. Nate popped out of the car and went to Elliot just as Mandy let out another terrible cry.
“Can you take us to the hospital? We are having a baby!”
CHAPTER 46
There are moments in life when you know that what you are doing isn’t what you should be doing. For example, when you are a kid, and someone puts on a movie that is inappropriate, everyone knows it’s supposed to be bad. But you don’t get up no matter how uncomfortable it makes you.
Or when you are batshit crazy exhausted and you know you should wash your face, but the bed looks so soft and inviting that you throw caution to the wind. Only to wake up the next morning with your eyes matted together in leftover mascara and your pillowcase looking like a crime scene.
Mandy knew that something was different about the pains when she and Elliot made their way up the Court House steps. It seemed to be more in her back and she had bands of pain wrapping all the way around her middle.
However, this was her wedding day. And the last thing that she wanted to do was ruin it by racing off to the hospital. Especially when the last time she was so positive it was labor, and the hospital staff patted her on the head and sent her home.
Perhaps she was a bit irrational in her logic, but Mandy wanted to get married. So, she bargained with herself that if she was still having the pains after the ceremony she would say something.
Elliot had asked her no less than eleven times if she was feeling alright, “Mandy you are awfully pale.”
Mandy gave him a wan smile, “Just what every woman wants to hear on her wedding day.”
Elliot’s brows furrowed, “Are you sure that you are alright?”
She nodded while pasting a glowing smile on her face, “Perfect! Now where are Kim and Nate?”
Elliot looked around the room, “It’s not like Nate to be late. Let’s go sit down for a few moments.”
He ushered her over to the soft couch and Mandy sank into it. But instead of that feeling better she only felt worse. Scrambling to get up she caught Elliot’s arm and he helped her to stand.
“Mandy, we are going to the hospital,” he said firmly, “I can see the strain in your eyes, you can’t hide it from me.”
Another particularly tight pain shot through her back and she cried out. That was enough to convince Elliot to get his girl out of there. With hurried steps he ushered her out the door and thankfully Nate and Kim were parked at the curb.
Nate hopped out of the car and held the door open for Elliot so that he could see Mandy safely inside.
“How far apart are the contractions?” Kim’s worried tone cut through Mandy’s haze.
“I am not sure, pretty close I think,” Mandy replied. She was holding onto the car door with a white-knuckle grip.
Nate tore out of there and rushed through the streets towards the hospital. Another pain gripped her, and Elliot barked instructions for Nate to take them straight to the emergency room doors. Elliot called and left a message at the hospital that they were coming and to alert Dr. Robert’s.
The moment that they pulled up, Elliot got out and helped Mandy out of the car. Another pain gripped her, and she felt liquid running down her legs. With a cry she looked at Elliot in horror. An orderly had come out of the hospital with a wheelchair. Seeing that her water had broken the hospital staff quickly got Mandy into the chair and wheeled her into the closest examining room.
“I have to use the bathroom,” Mandy cried out, “Right now! Let me use the bathroom!”
The staff lifted her onto the exam table and flipped up her dress. It was seconds before they had removed her panties and the nurse cried out, “The baby has crowned!”
Dr. Robert’s came rushing into the room and got there just in time to help with the baby’s shoulders and with a final push, the baby had arrived. The most beautiful sound of a newborn’s cry filled the air.
Mandy was covered in amniotic fluid, blood, sweat, and tears. She had one shoe on and wasn’t sure where the other one had gone to. Dr. Robert’s wrapped the baby and handed it to Elliot. They were rushed into another room with some nurses to check the baby out.
Nate and Kim rushed in through the emergency room doors only to be told that Mandy had just delivered the baby.
“I just dropped her off?” Nate asked in confusion. “I thought deliveries took hours?”
The hospital staff just smiled at them, “Every birth is unique and this one was a doozy.”
Meanwhile back in the room, Mandy pushed again, expelling the after birth and then flopped back onto the table tears running down her face.
“The first baby in my career that I delivered without gloves,” Dr. Robert’s chuckled, “That was a near miss, Mandy. But I am so grateful that we were able to get your daughter here safely.”
Daughter.
They had a little girl.
Mandy was a mother.
The tears were clouding her vision, “Is she going to be alright?”
Dr. Robert’s smiled, “They will be back in a few moments. We don’t usually deliver in here, so the nurses just needed to make sure that everything was alright. From what I could see, the baby has a good set of lungs on her and that’s what we worry about with early babies.”
By the time that Dr. Robert’s had sewn Mandy’s tear, Elliot came back into the room holding their little girl. There were tears in his eyes as he handed her to Mandy.
“She is perfect,” he kissed Mandy’s forehead, “You did amazing, Mandy. I love you so much!”
Mandy unwrapped the blankets and the looked at their daughter. She was red and wrinkly with dark eyes and the tiniest of hands. There was fine white hair on some of her body and a shock of black hair that she had gotten from her daddy.
Mandy’s nurse helped her to remove the soiled dress and then Mandy placed her baby at her breast.
It was a moment so surreal and beautiful that Elliot knew he would never forget this day. Later when Mandy had a chance to shower and Kim and Nate were able to greet them they talked about what a crazy day it had been.
Charlotte Grace Brand was born at 1:48 pm weighing in at six pounds and twelve ounces, and was eighteen inches long.
Mrs. H declared her to be the most beautiful baby that she had ever seen. Some of the other parents took affront to her statement, seeing as how Mrs. H told that to nearly everyone in the maternity ward.
Later when Mandy had been given something for the pain, she drifted off to sleep. Elliot held his daughter firmly against his chest while he watched the two women he loved more than anything else in this world.
Who would have thought that one night all those months ago could bring him everything that he had today? Elliot had never been much of a crier, but he found emotion clogging his throat time and time again. Who knows what would have happened if Dr. Robert’s hadn’t sent Mandy his way?
Call it fate, divine intervention, good karma, Elliot didn’t care
just as long as Mandy and Charlotte were his to keep forever. It was a trifle unorthodox, but Elliot called in some favors and that night in the hospital chapel Mandy consented to be his wife.
Kim and Mandy cried but not nearly as loud as Charlotte who thought it was time for another meal. It was indeed a special wedding on a very special delivery day.
As Kim and Nate were driving home she turned to him in the car, “Do you want a large wedding?”
Nate smiled at her, “All I need is you to be there.”
Kim touched the necklace at the throat, “What would happen if I proposed to you? Would that ruin the extended proposal?”
Nate pulled over on the side of the road, “Kim, I just want to be with you. I don’t care how or what we do to make that happen. I love you and want to marry you.”
Kim’s cheeks pinked, “I thought I was proposing to you?”
Nate’s wolfish smile had her panties melting clear away, “Technically I proposed first, it was just a three-step process.”
Kim laughed, “Well, I am proposing last. Nate, will you marry me?”
EPILOGUE
Valentine’s Day
“Do you think the wind is too cold for Charlotte?” Elliot hurried around the side of the car to open the door for Mandy and escort her to the sidewalk.
“Nonsense,” Mrs. H huffed from the front seat. “It must be sixty degrees today, and you have three blankets on the child. She is going to end up with heat rash at the rate you are going.”
Elliot slid back into the car to get Charlotte’s car seat. Mandy had insisted on riding in the back next to her and Elliot had sat on the opposite side. Robert dutifully drove their unique family as Mrs. H handed out parenting advice like a dentist gives out lollipops.
The four of them made their way up the courthouse steps and through the main doors. Kim and Nate were already inside and rose to greet them.
“Where is my perfect niece?” Kim kissed Mandy’s cheek and then peered down at Charlotte Grace who was peacefully sleeping in her soft cocoon of blankets. “Is she sleeping any better?”
Elliot’s tired eyes met Mandy’s and she saw the twinkle that was always there.
“She slept four hours in a row last night,” Mandy boasted, “I think we are getting the hang of this parenting thing.”
Elliot moved to Mandy wrapping an arm around her and whispering, “You are an incredible mother.”
Kim loved seeing how affectionate Elliot was with Mandy. She deserved a man that loved her, and Elliot was head over heels in love.
One of the clerk’s walked over the where they were standing, “If everyone has arrived, Judge Thompson will see you now.”
A flutter of anxiety swished through Mandy’s stomach and she instinctively grasped Elliot’s free hand. In his opposite arm he carried baby Charlotte in the car seat. The group walked into the Judge’s office and he introduced himself.
“I understand we are having a wedding today?” The judge was in his fifties, a large man with a powerful stature. Age had softened some of his harsher features and his stomach wasn’t as trim as it had been in his earlier years. What Mandy noted right off was that he had kind eyes.
Elliot nodded, “Yes, sir.”
Before anything else could take place, Nate cleared his throat nervously. Elliot smiled as if he knew what his best friend was going to say even before he said it. Right there in the Judge’s office, Nate sank down on one knee.
Kim blinked as he took her hand in his own. She was already wearing his ring, so she hadn’t the slightest idea what he could be doing. Glancing around wildly she noticed that everyone had made a circle around them and her younger sister Mandy was smiling widely.
“What are you doing?” Kim hissed trying to yank her hand free.
Nate’s brow quirked, “Step three of your extended proposal. You can’t think that I would allow you to miss out on the third step.”
“We are already engaged,” Kim said stupidly, not understanding why her heart felt like it was beating out of her chest or why emotion was suddenly clogging her throat.
“That we are,” Nate agreed, “So, I had to step up my game. I knew that you didn’t want a big fancy wedding, but I wanted this day to be special for you. It was Mandy’s idea actually. She said that the only way today could be better would be if she could share it with you.”
Kim’s eyes met Mandy’s, she was nodding at Kim, the brightest smile on her face showing all of the love and appreciation that she had for her older sister.
“I don’t understand,” Kim whispered.
Nate kissed her shaking hand, “Kim, will you marry me—today?”
Mandy let out a tiny squeal of excitement and Elliot hugged her closer to his body. Kim felt the fat tears plop onto her carefully made up cheeks. She loved Nate more than life itself, and he knew it.
“You won’t mind?” Kim could hardly choke out the words as she asked Mandy if she really was offering to share her wedding day.
Mandy shook her head, “Nothing could make me happier!”
Kim turned back to Nate who was starting to get a little nervous, “The answer is yes, in case you have forgotten.”
Kim laughed through her tears and there was a distinct sniffling sound from Mrs. H.
“Yes, a thousand times yes!” She cupped Nate’s face in her hands and he rose to kiss her. Their lips met and the people that loved them most watched as he kissed her tenderly.
Judge Thompson cleared his throat, “You are jumping the gun, son. We don’t usually have you kiss the brides until after the ceremony.”
Nate pulled back, the smile on his face was contagious, “I have always been quick on the draw.”
“WE ARE ASSEMBLED HERE in the presence of these witnesses to celebrate the joining of Elliot Brand and Amanda Johnson and Nathanial Livingston and Kimberly Johnson in the unity of marriage. There are no obligations on earth sweeter or tender than those you are about to assume. There are no vows more solemn than those you are about to make. There is no human institution more sacred than that of the home you are about to form. True marriage is the holiest of all earthly relationships. The state of matrimony is based this deep, invisible union of two souls who seek to find completion in one another.”
Judge Thompson’s deep voice filled the office as he asked them to face each other and join hands. He asked them if they would love each other in sickness and in health. He spoke of comforting through the good times and in bad. There were promises to honor and be faithful to one another, to cling to each other in all things.
The each solemnly vowed that they would. Mrs. H was opening crying at this point and Robert seemed to have something stuck in his eye. Charlotte chose that moment to be heard and started wailing from the car seat. Mrs. H went and took her out, but it was obvious that she wanted her mother.
Mandy released Elliot’s hand and went to take the baby. She returned to where she had been standing, “It is better this way. Charlotte should be a part of this too. The baby was now swaddled in her blankets happily sucking in her pacifier. Her deep blue eyes flashing up at her parents. There wasn’t a lot that Charlotte knew about. But she did know that the two-people staring down at her loved her more than life. She knew that she would be safe with them, and that they would see her through all of the challenges that life had in store for her.
Judge Thompson cleared his throat, “Where was I? Oh yes, by the power invested in me by the state I hereby pronounce you, Elliot Brand and Amanda Johnson, and you, Nathanial Livingston and Kimberly Johnson, man, and wife. You may now kiss the brides.”
Mrs. H wiped at her eyes as she watched the man that she had known as a child turn into the person that he was always meant to be. Mrs. H wondered if Elliot’s mother was there in some small way and felt warmth in her heart telling her that she was pleased with how Mrs. H had taken care of her son.
Mrs. H handed Robert a tissue. He didn’t even try and pretend that he didn’t know what it was for as he blew his nose noisily. This st
artled Charlotte and a fresh set of tears began. There was a flurry of movement as Elliot fussed over Mandy who was certain that the baby needed to nurse again. Kim and Nate argued over who had really proposed to whom or vice versa and Judge Thompson was smiling at the group with a fond expression.
Life would have their ups and downs for these newlyweds, that was just the way of the world. But he was confident that the two marriages he had performed that day would withstand the test of time. You can’t be in the people business as long as he was and not know a thing or two about love.
And these two couples—they were something special.
Did you love Special Delivery? Then you should read Undercover Billionaire: Not Your Typical One Night Stand by S. Cinders!
What do you do when your panty melting one night stand just happens to be your new boss?
Olivia is the queen of slam-bam, thank you one night stand. However when the one she tries to throw out disses her and then ends up behind the bosses chair. Olivia declares war.
Undercover Billionaire is a funny HEA with no cliffhanger and plenty of steamy scenes.
Read more at S. Cinders’s site.
About the Author
S. Cinders began writing romance novels as a teenager. Instead of paying attention in class, she was busy scribbling out scenes in spiral notebooks to entertain her friends.
A lifetime later, or one marriage, three children and eleven different moves across the country. S. Cinders decided to try her hand at writing again.
She currently has over twenty titles and is a best selling author on the Radish App.
For a free book go to www.scinders.com!
Read more at S. Cinders’s site.