“Proud of you, son.” He slaps me on the shoulder, going back to the car to park it.
I push her into the hospital, all the way up to delivery. The second I step out of the elevator a nurse is here to greet us. She tells us to follow her, bringing us into a room with a bed, a couch, and a rocking chair.
“Okay, folks, I need Mommy to get undressed and put on the gown. I need your insurance papers as well.”
I grab my wallet and open it, giving her my papers and Karrie’s.
“Perfect. I’ll go put this in and will be back in a couple of minutes. When did her water break?”
“During Top Chef,” I answer her, watching her eyebrow shoot up.
“Okay, and what time was that?”
“I have no idea. It’s on our DVR.” I shrug, looking over at Karrie, who is now moaning. I rush over to her. She is bent over, rocking from side to side.
“She’s in active labor,” the nurse says, pressing the button at the door. Another nurse comes in. “This is Karrie Cooney.”
“Grant,” I say from beside Karrie. “Her last name is Grant. We just haven’t gotten the paper yet.” I rub her back while she moves from side to side.
“Okay, my name is Sherry. Mr. and Mrs. Grant, how about we get her on the bed and see how we are doing?” the second nurse who came in says, walking to the other side of Karrie, helping her stand up.
Karrie sits on the bed and throws her legs up. “I need drugs,” she says to Sherry. “It’s on my birth plan. I want drugs about now.”
“Babe,” I say quietly beside her, “you said you didn’t want it.”
“Really, Matthew, my vagina feels like it’s being lit on fire with a blow torch, because of you and that big ass head of yours.” She looks at the nurse. “Drugs?”
“Okay,” she says, putting on gloves. “I’m going to go in and see how far along you are, okay?”
Karrie opens her legs while the nurse checks her.
“Five centimeters, almost six.”
“So when do the drugs get here?” Karrie asks, stopping when a contraction rips through her. Out is the sweet girl who was taking a shower. In is someone I have never seen. I’m pretty sure her voice has been replaced by the woman from the Exorcist. “I hate you,” she hisses out. “You and that big head of yours.”
Sherry comes over to me. “Just remember she loves you, just not right now.” She smiles, looking back at Karrie. “I'm going to attach you to the monitor to make sure the baby is okay.”
That makes Karrie sit up. “What do you mean make sure the baby is okay? What’s wrong with the baby, Matthew?” She starts crying. “The baby.”
I walk to the side of her bed. “Nothing, they just want to check and see if the baby is doing okay.” I rub her head while the nurse asks her to lift up to put the elastic thing around her waist while she squeezes the gel on it, tying it around her waist. The sound of our baby fills the room.
“Now this machine will tell us exactly when you have a contraction as well as your baby’s heart rate while you have the contraction. Okay?” Sherry asks while Karrie nods her head, watching the numbers on the machine.
“Another one is coming,” she says, this time her moan louder and longer than before. “Are the drugs on their way?” she asks when she can finally breathe normal again.
“We just have to monitor you for a bit to see how fast you are dilating.”
“I don’t want to do that. I want drugs,” she hisses out but doesn’t say anything else because her moaning starts again. This time she grabs my hand, squeezing it. For a small girl, I’m pretty sure some fingers will be out of place when she’s done.
“That wasn’t even a minute apart,” Sherry says. “Okay, you know what, honey, I’m going to check you again.” She puts on another pair of gloves, checking her. “Okay, Karrie, I need to call the doctor. You're about nine centimeters. We are having this baby any second.”
“Wait, I didn’t get drugs yet,” Karrie keeps saying.
Sherry presses a button behind Karrie while Karrie has another contraction.
“I have so much pressure,” she says when she can finally talk.
“Totally normal.” We hear from the door when Karrie’s Dr. Noelle finally comes in. “Hey there, Karrie, how are you doing?”
“How am I doing? I need drugs, Dr. Noelle. Please.”
She smiles at Karrie, holding out her hands to put the gown on that Sherry is holding out for her. She puts gloves on, sitting on a stool in front of Karrie’s bed. A baby bed comes in while she puts the stirrups up, telling Karrie to put her feet in them.
She lifts the gown and I try not to gasp out loud, but I can’t help it. I see hair. “Okay, Karrie. This little one really wants to meet his mom. I’m going to have you push a bit, okay? When the next contraction comes, I want you to bear down and push out.”
“I can’t do this,” she says, shaking her head. “I want a cesarean. I changed my mind.”
I grab her hand, scooting down beside her. “Babe, look at me.” Her head turns to me, tears in her eyes. “You can do this.” One arm goes over her head. “You can do this. I know you can.” Her head shakes from side to side. “Come on, baby, push.”
Sherry stands on her other side, counting to ten.
“That was great,” Dr. Noelle says. “Let’s do it again, okay?”
“It burns. It burns so much,” Karrie cries out. “It hurts.”
“I know it does, baby, and I’m so sorry,” I tell her. “You have to do this for the baby.” Because if I say for me I will probably never have another child.
“Okay, now push,” Sherry says, grabbing one of Karrie’s legs, bringing it back. She puts her chin to her chest and pushes with all her force while Sherry and I count to ten. I look down and see that the baby has half his head out.
“The head is almost out,” I tell her with tears running down my face. I will never forget this moment.
“I’m tired, Matthew, so tired,” she says in a whisper.
“Okay, how about we give one more push,” Sherry says, looking at the doctor, who nods. “Big push, Karrie.”
“I don’t think I can.” She closes her eyes. “It’s too much. It hurts.”
“You are the strongest person I know. You can do anything,” I tell her right before Sherry yells out.
“Push, we need her to push.”
My head snaps up at her urgency. I think Karrie heard it also, so she grabs her legs and pushes hard.
“Stop pushing,” Dr. Noelle says. “Okay, the shoulders next and it’ll just slide out. Push.” And she does, she pushes till the doctor says, “Meet your baby.” She places the baby directly on the towel that Sherry placed there.
Karrie lets go of my hand, holding onto our child. Her sobs fill the room. “My baby,” she says while I bring her head to my lips, kissing her and looking down at my child.
“We have a boy,” Dr. Noelle says. “If you will do the honors,” she hands me the scissors, “in between the two white clamps.”
I cut my son’s umbilical cord.
Sherry takes my son from Karrie’s chest, bringing him to the crib while she takes his heartbeat and his cries fill the room. Loud, angry cries.
“Go see him,” Karrie says from my side, the doctor still between her legs. Walking over to the crib, I see his arms moving around while the nurse is putting a diaper on him and putting his name tag on his ankle.
I grab his small hand with my finger. He wraps it around the top. “He’s so beautiful.” He stops crying the minute he hears my voice. His eyes blink open slowly. “Hey there.” His feet start to move now.
“We have a big boy, almost ten pounds. Good job, Mom,” Sherry says while she puts a hat on him. “I’m going to wrap him up now so we can take him to go feed,” she tells me while she wraps my son up like a burrito.
The nurse that met us at the elevator comes in. “Okay, I hate to crash the party, but I have a waiting room full of people pacing back and forth. Someone needs to go and
tell them that this is a hospital and not a reception party.”
I smile, thinking about the amount of people that must be outside. “Do you want me to stay or go and tell them?”
“You better go before they get some drones to fly in here,” she says while the doctor finishes, taking off her gloves.
I walk to kiss her right when the doctor hands her the baby. “Here’s your son.”
Karrie grabs the baby, kissing his face. “He looks exactly like you.” The baby’s hands poke out from his blanket. “I love you,” she tells him, “so, so much.” She kisses his face, and he starts to fuss again.
“How about you try to nurse him and see if he’s hungry?” Sherry says while Karrie presses the button on the bed to sit upright. “Now make sure that he latches on properly or you’ll be getting cracked nipples.”
“Are you hungry?” Karrie asks him while she takes her breast out, placing him the way Sherry tells her to. In a matter of seconds, my boy is latching on. “He’s definitely his father’s son.” Her tired eyes meet mine. “Go tell the family.”
I kiss her lips before walking out of the room.
Walking into the room, it goes dead silent. My mom sits down next to Cooper, who has his feet crossed at the ankles and his head down. Doug sits in the corner of the room, watching the golf game that’s playing. Allison and Vivienne are sitting side by side. My Aunt Meghan and Uncle Tom sit up.
“I have a son.” My voice cracks as I say it.
My mother gets up and walks to me, wrapping her arms around my waist. Allison is the next one who comes to me. The last one is Cooper, who grabs me by my neck, bringing me to him. The four of us hug with Zoe and Zara standing by Cooper’s side.
“Okay, enough,” Vivienne says. “Let me see a picture,” she asks while I let go and grab my phone, showing her the pictures I took while he was getting weighed. “What’s his name?”
“Karrie and I decided that we would name him Cooper Douglas Grant,” I say, looking at Cooper. “Two of the strongest men we know.”
Doug asks to see Karrie. I nod and tell him where she is.
“So what do you think, Grandpa, good name?” He doesn't have to say anything at all because I know in that moment that everything is something so perfect!
Epilogue Two
Karrie
Six years later.
“Cooper Douglas, you better get back here before I get your father!” I yell from the kitchen, looking back at the flour mess all over the brown floor, three little prints showing exactly where they went.
“I no do it,” he yells from behind the couch in the family room. “Is Franny and Vivi.” Franny aka Francis Parker, both our mothers’ names combined. Our daughter came out one year later. They were almost what you call Irish Twins. I found out I was pregnant again when Cooper turned three months. It was a shock to both of us, especially since we literally only had sex the one time. Okay, maybe not one time, but we weren’t going at it like rabbits. Okay, fine, it was daily, but it wasn’t like twice or three times a day. He did travel with the team.
We decided to move out of the brownstone as soon as Cooper was born. Instead, we got a house in Long Island. The commute to the city isn’t that bad, if the kids are sleeping. Plus, we had the summer house near Cooper and Parker. What I wanted was a nice and cozy house. Well, step in my husband and my father and then throw my father-in-law in there and here I am in an almost fifteen-bedroom home. I pretended to be pissed about it for months, especially when we found out that our parents had bought it for us. Cooper couldn’t stand the fact that Dad put in half, so he put in the other half, and let's not talk about the gifts that arrive daily from them. All that aside, my kids are showered with so much love, it's what makes me look away most times.
Vivienne Allison came into the world two years after Francis. Again, no trying was needed. I was finally sleeping through the nights, teething was done, toilet training was almost done, and boom he shoots he scores.
I walk to the back of the couch where I see my three culprits. Cooper, with his black hair and blue eyes, starts talking first. “Franny want to make pancakes, Momma.”
“No, I don’t,” my curly blond hair blue-eyed girl says with flour all over her face and hands. “Is Vivi.”
My other blond child looks at me. All she’s dressed in is a diaper.
“Where are your clothes and where is your father?” I stand with my hands on my hips.
Vivi answers first, “Shh, he’s sleeping.”
I shake my head and turn around, going into the game room or what was the game room and is now a princess shrine. Most of it vintage from Allison. There in the middle of the room lying on his back with blue eye shadow, pink lips, and orange cheeks is my husband sound asleep.
“See, Momma,” Vivi answers, “he’s so tired.” She puts a finger to her lips, telling me to be quiet, but her whisper is her normal voice.
He is back home from his two-week long road trip. When I had only Cooper we would accompany him, but then when Francis came it was too tough, so he did it without us. Pouting the whole time.
“I miss so much when I’m on the road.” He started saying while he threw his bag on the bed. “I missed Francis rolling over.” He turned back to get his stuff from our closet.
“Matthew, we all missed it. She woke up on her back.” I pointed out, looking at the monitor beside my bed. Cooper was not kidding when he said he had someone to hook us up. The whole house had cameras in it and you could watch them on all the televisions. Beside our bed was a monitor of all three kids’ rooms, all three kids passed out.
“Still it’s not fair.” He almost sounded like Cooper. I was expecting him to stomp his foot.
“Matthew,” I say in a soft voice while he grumbles. “Matthew, you need to get up and come clean the kitchen.”
He blinks his eyes open.
“Daddy, Franny and Vivi made a mess.” Cooper comes forward.
“Oh, you are not going to get away with it this time,” I tell him, knowing full well that Cooper has Matthew wrapped around his finger, along with the girls, who can never do any wrong.
“How did you guys make a mess when you were supposed to be resting with me?” Matthew sits up and grabs my hand, yanking me down onto his lap where he buries his face into my neck, biting it. A giggle escapes my lips.
“Is gross,” Cooper says while the girls mimic their brother.
“Yeah, gross.”
“What time is it?” Matthew asks me while planting butterfly kisses on my neck.
“It’s clean up time,” I answer while I place a hand around his shoulder, bringing him closer to me.
“Is anyone home?” I hear my father yell from the front door.
“Poppy!” all my kids say, running out of the room.
“So I was thinking we could have some alone time, so I called your father, who is taking them for the night.” Matthew pulls his face from my neck. “What do you think, babe? Me, you, bubble bath?”
“The last time you had that plan we almost flooded the bathroom.”
I smile when I think of all the towels it took to clean up the mess.
“That was actually your fault.” His hands come up from my waist to cup my breasts. “You rode me so hard you splashed all the water out of the tub.”
I don’t have time to answer him since my father comes in carrying both girls in his arms. “Okay, I’m going to get this one dressed,” he says to Vivi. “And then we are going to go to Chuck E Cheese’s,” he says and the kids lose their shit.
“Dad, please don’t bring home any more knick-knacks. Seriously.” I try to get up, but Matthew holds me on his lap. When I feel his hard cock under me, I understand why.
“Honey, you can’t tell a grandparent not to spoil your children.” He looks at us both. “Now excuse us while we go and have fun without you two.”
“Dad, please don’t make them eat ice cream too late!” I yell at his retreating back while he walks away, saying ice cream for everyone.
I shake my head, looking back at my husband.
“Your father almost saw my huge dick,” Matthew says while I put my head on his shoulder. “That’s awkward, right?” Now it’s my turn to bury my face into his neck, giggling.
“Momma.” The girls run back into the room together, Vivienne finally dressed. “We go.” Her chubby baby arms wrap around my neck while Francis goes to see Matthew. “Don’t be sad, we come back.” She puts her head on Matthew’s shoulder.
We kiss them both goodbye along with Cooper, who walks in the room with the ‘I’m forced to come back’ look.
We get up from the playroom and walk upstairs, ignoring the flour footsteps that are all over the house.
“You tired, babe?” Matthew asks while in our bedroom.
Family pictures are scattered all over the place. Matthew’s idea, not mine. Actually there are frames everywhere. It’s his thing that I made peace with. If he likes a picture it’s in a frame. There are three big picture frames in our room, of each child’s first ultrasound.
“I could use a shower,” I tell him, pulling my shirt over my head, standing here in front of him with my yoga pants and white plain bra. Gone are the days of sexing it up. Now don’t get me wrong. I still have a whole drawer full of lacy, frilly things. I just don't wear them on a normal basis. Luckily running after three kids has kept the weight off of me, but my body is different. My hips are fuller, my breasts less perky, and guess what, I love my body. Well, not as much as Matthew does, but just about.
“I could use a shower also.” He winks at me, walking past me to the bathroom where he opens the glass shower door. Once the rain shower starts working he pulls his shorts down, showing me all of him. It’s been seven years we’ve been together and he still takes my breath away. His body is on point with all the training he does. “You see something you like, babe?” His hands go straight to his thick cock that’s already ready to party.
I peel my pants off, unsnapping my bra, letting it fall from my shoulders. “You're okay to look at,” I say, walking past him into the shower, the water the perfect temperature.
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