Trina began putting her legs up on the seat. “We may have to do it ourselves,” she said as Reno helped lift up her legs.
“Oh, Lord,” Tommy said again, looking around again. How did he get himself in a fix like this?
“What do we do, Reno?” Trina asked her husband. She needed reassurances.
But Reno didn’t know squat either. He looked at Tommy. He was a ladies man. Surely he’d witnessed a few of these emergency births firsthand.
But Tommy looked at Reno as if he’d lost his mind for even thinking he would have such an experience. “I don’t know nothing’ about birthing no babies!” was all he could think to say again.
“What do we do, Reno?” Trina asked again.
“Okay think, Reno, think,” Reno admonished himself as he began removing his suit coat and tie.
“Remove her panties,” Jimmy said, and Reno and Tommy both looked at him.
“Excuse me?” Reno asked his grown son and gave him an odd look.
Jimmy’s heart dropped. “I didn’t mean, I meant so the baby could have a way to come out, I mean. So his head wouldn’t get stuck in the panties.”
“Oh,” Reno said, embarrassed that he hadn’t thought of that himself. “Right. But you look the other way, and call 911, that’s what you do.” Jimmy did as he was ordered, and Tommy looked the other way, too.
“Not you, Tommy!” Reno blared as he removed Trina’s panties. “I need you!”
“What do you need me for?” Tommy , mortified, wanted to know.
“All those women you’ve been with, you’ve got to know something about labor.”
“That’s absurd! I don’t know a thing about labor! Why would I know about labor?”
Tommy was dressed to the nines, in a powder blue Valentino suit, and the idea of being put in this helpless position left him uncommonly uncouth.
“Just help me, then.”
“Help you do what?”
“What do they do in the movies?” Reno asked. “They boil water, right? Do something like that!”
“Boil water?” Tommy asked incredulously. “How am I going to boil water in the backseat of a limousine, Reno?”
“Oh, Reno!” Trina said as the contractions began to intensify.
Reno looked helplessly at his son. “What’s the 911 operator saying, Jimmy Mack?”
“She put me on hold.”
“Oh, for crying out loud!” Reno screamed.
“What are we gonna do, Reno?” Trina yelled.
“Just let me think,” Reno said, attempting with all he had to remember all that he had read and heard. He began opening Trina’s legs. “That class. What’s it? Those LeManns classes?”
“LeManns, Reno? They’re Lamaze classes!”
“Whatever,” responded Reno. “They talked about that fake labor deal, remember. The what’s it? The Hicks. The Toni Braxton-Hicks, that’s it! Or, hell, something like that. These contractions could be Toni Braxton-Hicks contractions, Tree.”
Tommy shook his head. “Toni Braxton-Hicks,” he said mainly to himself. “Our fearless leader, Reno Gabrini, thinks they’re called Toni Braxton-Hicks.” He shook his head again. “We’re in trouble.”
“What did those classes say?” Reno asked, flustered. “Breathe. That’s it. Breathe and push. Push, Trina! No, wait!” Reno yelled. “Don’t push. The cervix. What about the cervix? They said the cervix has to be completely open before you start pushing.”
“Is it open?” Trina asked.
“How should I know?” Reno asked her.
“Mother of Mary!” Tommy prayed.
“But how are we gonna know when it’s completely open?” Trina asked Reno.
“Maybe the head will start showing. In the what’s it? In the birth canal. That’s it! The birth canal.”
“The operator’s back on now,” Jimmy said.
“Tell her we need doctors fast!” Reno yelled.
“What about the birth canal?” Trina asked, not remembering anything she, too, had learned.
“Oh, geez, I don’t know,” Reno said helplessly. “I just remember that name!”
“Mother of Mary,” Tommy implored again, shaking his head.
But the 911 operator was able to walk Reno through what he needed to do to keep Trina relaxed and prepped in case of a quick arrival. She assured him that was probably not the case, given the contractions, but she prepared him nonetheless.
And just a few moments later, Lonnie, who had broken every speeding law on the books, was pulling the limo into the emergency room area of a hospital they all were beyond relieved to see.
It would be twelve hours later before Trina gave birth. Reno saw her go from his sweet little angel, as she made comments like Oh, baby, I love you, too, when he’d hold her hand, to Get this fool out of here now! as her contractions intensified.
But Reno remained by her side and coached her through her harshest pain. It was as if he was taking the blows right along with her. When she cried out, he wanted to cry out, too. When she winced and bent and screamed, he winced and bent, too.
And he witnessed a miracle. The birth of his son. Two eyes, ten fingers, ten toes. Pink and plump. Bone of Trina’s bone. Flesh of Trina’s flesh. Reno wanted to cry.
And when the baby cried his first cry, Reno declared if he didn’t sound like Trina already. It was the most wonderful sound he’d ever heard. This was theirs. The son of Reno and Trina Gabrini. Their precious gift from God.
He looked at Trina, who was fit to be tied herself, but she was able to smile, too. She knew what this gift meant. She knew how wondrously and incredibly blessed they were to have been given this gift. On Christmas day they thought she had miscarried. Reno thought it was over. But now it came to pass.
And when the nurse placed that baby in Reno’s arms, and Reno walked the baby gingerly to Trina and handed him to her, he still would not let go. He held his hand beneath the baby’s head. He held his other hand beneath the baby’s legs. Even if Trina’s weakened state caused the baby to fall, Reno was the backup. He would be there, right beside her, to bear that baby up.
“Thank-you, Jesus,” Trina cried as the baby looked up at her with big blue eyes just like his father’s.
“That’s all we need,” she said with a smile. “Another Reno in this world.”
Reno laughed like a man in love. Yeah, he thought. That was all they needed.
A MOB BOSS CHRISTMAS: THE PREGNANCY (MOB BOSS SERIES) Page 15