One night when he’d thought she was sleeping, she had overheard a conversation he’d been having with Luke where he’d told her best friend that he couldn’t lose her. That his biggest fear was life without her. She knew he was worried she’d go overboard and not take care of herself when he was gone and it was because of that reason that she did.
The time flew by and before they all knew it, they were at her week thirty-five visit and the doctor told them it could be any time. Baby number one was in position.
After Allie and Luke were done checking out the room, they’d be going downstairs to eat some lunch and watch Ethan’s game which started at one. Mia’s empty stomach wanted to get a move on.
“Hey, ready to eat?” she asked them.
“If you are,” Luke replied, heading to the door, Allie right behind him.
“Uh … always,” she said, causing them to laugh. Mia took a step towards them and it felt like a dam opened between her thighs.
Fuck, she thought as the liquid ran down her legs, soaking her pants and probably the rug beneath her.
“Uh, Luke,” Mia called from behind them. He turned around, his eyes shooting open when they landed on the big, wet stain surrounding her on the carpet. “I think my water just broke.”
“What do we do?” he asked her.
“I don’t know!” Mia replied, training her eyes on Allie, which made Luke chuckle.
Allie pulled out her phone and ordered Luke to get Mia’s bag from the hall closet and then she ordered Mia to sit down in the glider. “Stay put,” she ordered. “I’m going to make some calls while I get you some new clothes, okay? I’m going to have Luke come back to be with you. Don’t worry, Mia,” she said calmly. Mia did as she was told and nodded her head to let Allie know she understood.
Mia was surprised that she wasn’t freaking out. She’d been feeling good today. No pains at all, feeling completely normal and then BAM! At least she’d had no contractions—yet.
Luke came back to the room with her bag. He rested it against the wall by the door and then crossed the room to her. He kissed her hard on the mouth, taking the breath right out of her. Then he took her hand. “Where the fuck is Allie?”
Mia smiled, realizing that her best friend had a case of the nerves. Before answering, she squeezed his hand. “She went to get me a new outfit and make some calls.”
“Why the hell do you need a new outfit? You’re going to be out of those clothes and in an ugly hospital gown in no time.”
“For one, it’s cold outside and my pants are drenched. And two, I’m a goddamn rock star. I do not go to the hospital looking like I pissed my pants.”
Luke looked at her and a robust laugh escaped from deep within his chest.
Allie came back to the room with a long, black skirt and relayed a message while Mia changed. “Your doctor said to get on over to the hospital now and Ethan said he’d meet us there.”
“He’s not going to play?” Mia paused pulling up the black maxi skirt. He’d never said anything to her. In her shock, her grip on the fabric loosened and the skirt fell to the floor.
Luke knelt down and helped her the rest of the way with the skirt. “No, sweets. He never planned on it if it happened like this.”
She looked down at him with watery eyes—Ethan would be there. Nodding her head quickly, Mia held out her hand for Luke. “Let’s go!”
From the nursery to the car was a blur to Mia. Everything happened so fast. Mia found herself in the back of Luke’s Range Rover, Allie by her side, and Luke at the wheel driving like a goddamn old lady! Now was not the time to drive slowly. Chill, Mia. So far, no pain. You’re good.
Then all of a sudden, a sharp pain circled her stomach. She groaned loudly and colorfully cursed at Luke to drive faster.
“Uh …” Luke never drove fast.
“Pull the fuck over and let Allie drive then!” Mia yelled as she tried to remember how to breathe through these damn contractions.
“Mia,” Allie stated her name in a way to get her attention—full of authority. Mia focused on her, because she damn sure needed something right now. “We are fine right now. The hospital is only ten minutes away,” Allie said to her calmly. “Next time a contraction comes, let me know and we’ll practice your breathing through it, okay?”
Nodding at Allie, Mia stared out the window as Luke drove to the hospital, holding on to her bulging belly. When her phone rang in her purse, Mia let Allie answer it for her, not wanting to talk. Allie answered the call and, smiling, handed Mia the phone. “You’ll want to take this.”
Mia took the phone from Allie and spoke. “Hello?”
“Hi, suga.”
“Ethan!” she said, a smile transforming her face.
“I’m leaving right now. I had to take off my uniform. Are you there yet?”
“No! Luke drives like an old lady!”
“This is one time I’m glad he does. How are you?”
“Contractions hurt!” she said as one decided to wrack her body. “Allie, now.”
“Okay, remember your breathing. Breathe in … one … two … three … and out … one … two … three … four. Again,” Allie ordered, her eyes focused on her phone, timing the contraction while Mia focused on Allie’s count. “Tell me when it’s over.”
Mia kept her eyes shut as the painful gripping of her stomach continued. Then it was over and she took a deep, cleansing breath. “Allie, it’s done,” she said, then she spoke to her forgotten husband on the phone. “This is going to suck. I’m going to be crying like a kid with a skinned knee in no time.”
“It’s okay if you do,” Ethan said, trying to reassure her. Mia had to change the topic. She didn’t want him worrying about her. She had this.
“This is the first game you’ve ever missed.”
“Yeah,” he agreed.
“Weird?”
“A little, but I’m more excited about the reason why.”
And that reason made her smile in return. “Babies! Oh my God! We never decided on names, Ethan!”
“We will when we see them. No big deal. Don’t worry.”
Look at him telling her not to worry.
“Luke’s finally getting off the highway. We’re almost there,” Mia told her husband, thankful to be closer to the hospital. Her anxiety was off the hook. She was on edge, waiting for the next contraction to attack her.
“Good. So am I. I’m going to get off the phone now, suga. I’ll see you very soon.”
“Ethan! I love you.”
“I love you, too, Mia,” he said and the happiness in his voice helped calm her down—just a bit.
She handed Allie the phone and put her head against the seat, feeling like the space around her was solid and folding in around her. Mia focused on the macaroni necklace she and Kaitlyn had made for Luke many years ago which he still kept hanging from his rearview mirror. The space around her was not collapsing, just her anxiety getting the best of her. She’d focus on the masterpiece made by the little girl she loved like her own. She’d focus on that memory in her head of Kaitlyn’s squeals of laughter as they’d both tried to thread the macaroni on the string.
Oh fuck! The pain.
“Allie … again.”
“Really?” she said, glancing at her phone.
“Mmhmm,” Mia groaned, closing her eyes tight. She fought the pain with that memory of Kaitlyn, but the intensifying pain was winning. This contraction hurt a whole lot worse than the others. Her body started to shiver. She did not like that at all—hated it with a passion.
Allie reminded her to breathe. It sort of helped. At the very least, it gave her something to focus on.
“Your contractions are pretty close together,” Allie informed her after the contraction ended and Mia slumped in the seat.
“How close?”
“Three minutes apart.”
“Goddamn it, Luke. Get us to the hospital now!”
Ethan
Why did the hospital have to be clear across town? He
needed to be there. Mia was probably freaking the hell out. While he was glad Allie and Luke were with her, Ethan needed it to be him and he was positive Mia needed it too.
He finally got to the hospital only to spend time trying to find damn parking. After pulling into an empty spot, he jumped out of the car and broke out in a run towards the entrance. Spotting Luke ahead, he called out. Luke slowed his pace for him and when Ethan approached his friend, Luke threw his arm around his shoulders. “Ready for this, Ethan?”
“I can’t wait to hold my boys!” he said excitedly. “How’s Mia? Scared?”
“A little. She does not like pain, does she?” Luke asked as they walked up to the entrance.
“I guess not,” Ethan laughed. “This should be fun.”
“She’s going to be complaining and acting like the diva she says she’s not.”
Ethan chuckled as he walked through the automatic sliding doors which revealed his wife in a wheelchair, being pushed by a big male nurse. “Mia!” he called out.
She whipped her head around and a smile of relief covered her gorgeous yet scared face. “Ethan!”
She quickly spoke to the nurse who stopped them. Ethan picked up his step and rushed to her even faster when he saw pain grip her face. A contraction. When he reached her, she didn’t say a word but gripped his hand—hard. He’d have to remember to give her his non-throwing hand next time. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Allie note the timing of the contraction. About a minute later, her grip relaxed. “Son of a bitch,” she cursed.
He leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Hi, suga.”
Mia let out an exasperated puff of air. “Hi.”
The nursed continued on to the elevator and pressed the up button. Once they arrived on the labor and delivery floor, Ethan and Mia were directed to a room while Allie and Luke were sent to the waiting room. The nurse instructed her to get undressed and put on the gown and Ethan helped his wife out of the wheelchair to change. As he pulled her shirt over her head, another contraction hit her. Mia whimpered and clutched his arms in a death grip. He held her up and felt her breathing heavily on his chest.
After it was over, he quickly finished undressing her and put on the gown. She shuffled to the bed and climbed in, her head resting back against the pillows. A few minutes later, a doctor came in and did a quick examination of Mia, as well as an ultrasound to see if the babies were in the right position. His boys were ready!
Her blood pressure was pushing up and the on-call doctor told her to do her best to keep calm and do her breathing. They wanted to get her set up for the epidural quickly. The doctor left saying her own obstetrician would be there in the next fifteen minutes.
Then a nurse came in and monitored the babies’ heart rates and both were fine. The revolving door had the anesthesiologist next to give her the epidural. Mia tried to give a final protest, but was told it was the rule at the hospital when it came to the birth of multiples. With a sigh, Mia bent over and let the doctor do his job. Not long after that was complete and Mia calmed down, her regular doctor arrived and examined her.
“You, my dear, are ready to go to the OR!”
“Dr. Kendall, wait!” Mia called out nervously. “I just got here! How the hell am I ready? I thought I had hours …”
Ethan’s ears perked up at the panic in her voice and hurried to her side. “Mia, it’s okay. This means our boys are ready to make their appearance.”
She looked up at him and fear circled her dark brown orbs. Her fear worried the shit out of him. Why was she so afraid? He knew he had to swallow his own worries and be strong for her, but that was proving a little hard to do.
“You can do this, suga,” he said, cupping both sides of her face.
“I’m scared,” she admitted.
“No need to be. You have me. Luke and Allie are out there somewhere and we have a slew of doctors and nurses here to help you through this.” He kissed her forehead, but then she pulled his head down to hers and laid those sweet lips of hers on his. He held that kiss, infusing whatever strength he had into her before pulling back. “You’ve got this.”
Another contraction interrupted them. She seemed calmer with this one, but she still let her head fall back to the bed and held her large stomach.
It was then that the medical team started to wheel her to the OR. One of the nurses held him back and gave him an armful of fabric. Scrubs. “Get these on and meet me out in the hall. I’ll bring you to her.”
He nodded and quickly donned the blue garments, the hairnet, and mask, and when he arrived in the OR, Mia was in the middle of a major contraction. Beads of sweat fell down her forehead. Agony washed over her face and he wished more than anything that he could take away her pain.
Ethan didn’t understand how she could feel that now; he thought the epidural took away the pain. The nurse informed him that they turned it down so she could push.
The room was loud; activity all around. His eyes were all over the place, watching the team prepare for the birth of his sons. Ethan’s gaze landed on his wife again. Anxiety had a strong hold of her. He could see it on her beautiful, anxious face. She needed it quiet. It calmed her a little. Moving to her side, he kissed her cheek and spoke to her. “Mia, I need you to calm down, okay? There’s no need to panic.”
His eyes followed her gaze to her shaky hands. She closed her eyes and swallowed. He knew how the shaking made her feel, how it reminded her of the night her mother left her.
“What do you need, suga?”
“I’m shaking. My hands, my entire body.”
“Need to hold on?” he asked, offering his non-throwing hand. She nodded with a whimper and grasped his hand in a bone crunching hold.
“I really feel like I want to push. So much pressure!”
“Next contraction, let’s do that, all right?”
For the next several minutes, Mia pushed with her contractions. Her cries were so hard for him to hear. She didn’t get all angry with him like he’d seen in the movies. His wife was focused on doing as the doctor said. With his lips to her hair, she screamed as she pushed.
“That’s it, Mia. Baby number one has crowned. Want to feel his head?” the doctor asked. Mia smiled and gave the doctor her hand to guide between her legs.
“Oh my God! He has a lot of hair!”
Dr. Kendall chuckled. “He does!”
Ethan continued to observe, holding his wife’s hand as the doctor led her through the birth, talking to her gently, calmly. Things seemed to be going well, but when the nurse leaned in to whisper to the doctor, Ethan’s eyes locked on her and silently cursed when the nurse said that Mia’s blood pressure was rising. One sixty over ninety. Numbers she hadn’t had since September.
Then someone called out, “Second baby is in distress.”
The doctor nodded and then focused on Mia. “Okay, Mia, I need you to give me your best push.” To the nurse, he said, “Prep for a c-section.”
The words hit Ethan, but before he had time to process them, Mia squeezed his hand hard as she bore down and pushed out his first son.
God … his son. He had a loud, screaming son. Ethan watched them take his firstborn to the warming table and clean him up, Ethan’s eyes filling with tears as they examined him. The nurse gave him a thumbs up and his hand flew to his mouth before he used it to wipe away his tears. The flurry of activity happening around Mia didn’t register with him until the doctor swore loudly, pulling Ethan’s focus back to his wife.
Her eyes were wide and moved all over in panic, and then they changed and she seemed confused, disoriented. Not two seconds later, her hand went limp in his and her body started to convulse.
“Fuck!”
He wasn’t a doctor but he knew that she was having a seizure—the thing they had worked so hard for her to avoid.
“Mia!” he yelled as he was removed from her side as the hospital staff worked on her. He felt so helpless watching his wife’s body jerk on the table. When the longest fucking minute of his life w
as over, chaos of another kind began. “Get ready, people … meds are in. We need to get this other guy out of her as soon as possible.”
And within five minutes, his other son was born, but wasn’t crying like the first.
Please be okay, he prayed as he watched the nurses and doctors work on him. Please, God, let my son be all right!
The blare of the machines pulled Ethan from his prayers.
“She’s hemorrhaging!”
Ethan looked down at his wife. She was unresponsive. Her brown eyes closed. Her skin so damn pale.
“We’ve got to control this bleeding!”
He looked over at his boys and then at his wife, the doctors working frantically on her, and the panic started to set in.
“What’s going on?” he asked, needing to know what was wrong with her. A nurse came to him and explained, but he didn’t understand. Only bits and pieces of information made it to his brain. Too much blood loss. Had to control it and fast. Body was in shock. Blood transfusion.
Ethan just stared at Mia on the table, his eyes on her sweet, beautiful face. He had never been so scared in his life. He could not lose her. She needed to fight! She had to fight. She couldn’t give up.
He leaned down, his face against hers. “You’ve got to make it, Mia. You cannot leave me. Do you hear me? You cannot leave me now. I just got you back; I cannot let you go again. I won’t make it without you.”
Mia
As she tried to open her eyes, the brightest light she’d ever seen assaulted her. Snapping her lids shut, Mia then blinked a few times to adjust to the light. She felt like she’d fallen asleep while sunbathing, the sun blinding her as she tried to wake.
Pushing up off the floor, the light so bright it was white lay ahead of her. Behind her it was dark … and loud … the noise chaotic. She didn’t like it, especially when the path ahead was bright and peaceful. Mia was so tired of all the noise.
Taking a step further, the light seemed to envelop her and the sounds behind her disappeared. It was like she was in the middle of a deep fog, yet this was brighter than that. She felt calmer as she walked further in.
Never Over You Page 9