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Chapter 16
FAMILY TIES
“Selena, I really need to get your statement,” Henry Lewis told me, his tone urgent.
“Nine centimeters dilation,” said the nurse at the bottom of my bed.
“Henry, I’m kind of in the middle of something!” I snapped. Good thing the table in my hospital room that currently held a bedpan was too far for me to reach, or I probably would have grabbed it and hurled it at his head.
Calvin’s fingers tightened on mine. He hadn’t left my side for a single second, not even in the chaotic aftermath of his blowing out Max Speros’s kneecap and calling the Globe P.D. to the scene…right after he’d contacted 9-1-1 to come and take me to the hospital. The police and the ambulance had shown up around the same time, so while I saw Henry come marching toward the house with several of his deputies in tow, I’d already been loaded onto a gurney and wheeled down the front walk of the Airbnb where Jack’s parents had been staying.
That was probably why the police chief had hurried over to the hospital to get all the details from Calvin and me. Although Henry knew my husband would never discharge his service pistol without a damn good reason, he still needed to hear the details of the confrontation from both of us.
Unfortunately, I was a little occupied at the moment. For whatever reason, this baby had decided it was time to make his or her appearance today. Things had moved so fast that the OB-GYN on duty at the medical center hadn’t even been able to give me an epidural, which hadn’t improved my mood very much.
Another contraction wracked my body, and I gripped the sheets, grimacing as I held back a shriek of pain. The last thing I wanted was to be screaming like a crazy woman in front of Henry Lewis, even though his wife had been through this twice herself and he probably had a good idea of the level of stress I was dealing with right now.
“You don’t need her statement,” Calvin said. He still sounded remarkably calm, all things considered, but somewhere outside my pain, I thought I detected a distinct edge to his voice. “I already told you what happened. Max Speros lunged for Selena, obviously meaning her bodily harm, and I had no choice but to neutralize him. Your time would be better spent interrogating the Speroses — I have a feeling Leslie is the weak link. You just need to put a little pressure on her.”
Henry’s eyes narrowed. However, he seemed to realize this wasn’t the time to let Calvin know he shouldn’t be telling him how to do his job, because he gave us both a curt nod and then said, “I’ll get out of your hair. But I may have more questions later.”
“Great,” I gritted. “You know where to find us.”
He left then, and Calvin’s grasp on my hand tightened a little. It didn’t hurt, though. No, that firm grip on my fingers told me he was going to be there through everything.
Not that I’d doubted him for a second.
Dr. Carlisle came in then, smiling. “Well, Selena, it looks like it’s time. This one’s definitely ready to come into the world.”
I sent her an apologetic look. “Sorry we’re early — and for dragging you here on a Sunday.”
Her smile only widened. “Kind of comes with the territory. Babies don’t have much use for schedules. Calvin, we’re going to need you to get suited up — I assume you want to be there for the birth.”
“Of course,” he replied, then leaned down to press a kiss against my forehead. “You’re doing great, Selena.”
I supposed I was. Or at least, it seemed all my worries about being in labor for thirty-six hours or some other ungodly span of time had been for nothing. Barely an hour had elapsed since the ambulance picked me up at the Airbnb, and already the contractions were only a few minutes apart. And yes, they hurt, worse than anything else I’d ever experienced, but knowing this was all going to be over soon made me able to hang on.
The nurses wheeled my hospital bed down the corridor to the delivery room. Calvin stayed beside me the whole way, although he had to pause before he could enter so he could put on some scrubs. Several more nurses were waiting for us, and soon enough they helped me onto the delivery table.
This was real. I was going to have a baby.
Another contraction spasmed through my body, and instinctively, I started to push. Anything to get this over with.
“Not yet, Selena,” Dr. Carlisle told me. “I need you to breathe. Can you do that for me?”
About all I could do was nod.
Not big gulps of air, though.
Rhythmic pants, just the way they’d taught Calvin and me in Lamaze class. He was there then, jeans and shirt covered up by aqua-green scrubs.
“Perfect,” he said, his voice soothing. “You’re amazing.”
“So — are — you,” I panted. It was the best thing in the world to have him with me right then. I honestly couldn’t understand how some women would scream at their husbands or significant others about getting them in this mess at such a moment, not when I knew this would have been so much more difficult if I’d been going through such an ordeal without him at my side.
He smiled.
“All right,” Dr. Carlisle said. “Time to push. Are you ready?”
