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but to fill the space in your heart you truly believe is mine .
Through your darkest days I’ll be by your side. Through your brightest, I’ll help you shine.
I give you my heart, my body, my mind, my trust,
Cole, I’m not your past, I’m your present and future, another life to add to your journey.
thank you for trusting your instincts about what we could be, for being brave, for facing fears and for loving me.
One week later
“Matty, can you call Karen? The number is on the address book over there, on the fridge,” I heard Harper ask calmly, from my office down the hall. Harper was three days after her due date and she hadn’t had so much as a twinge the previous night.
“What’s happening?” I asked, jumping out of my office chair and striding hurriedly down the hall to where Harper was standing holding a bath sheet between her legs, in the kitchen.
“My water broke,” she informed me laughing. “I’ve been having some weak contractions since about five this morning, but they began to heat up right after Layla left for school.” I immediately stood by her side but panic rose in my chest.
“Please, would you ask Diane and Stuart to pick Layla up for us? When Karen gets here, she’ll tell us if we can wait for her to come home at the normal time,” she asked, matter of fact, as Matty pulled the number from the fridge door and began calling the midwives.
“Shouldn’t you be lying down or something?” I asked, holding her arm in support.
“I’m not tired,” Harper replied, chuckling, and her smart-ass answer told me she was going to deal with her labor the same as she dealt with everything else—practically.
“I mean get off your feet,” I prompted, trying again.
“No. It’s better if I’m mobile. Gravity will help the labor and it’s more comfortable if I move around.”
Stuart wandered into the kitchen. “So this is it?” he said, almost as excited as Layla had been in recent days when the due date came and went with no movement.
“Either that or my bladder exploded,” Harper said, chuckling, then she winced when a contraction gripped her. The way it took her breath away also took mine, and for a moment I was back in the car with Grace on the way to the hospital in my mind. Pushing the thought aside, I eyed Harper with concern.
“Anything I can do?” I asked, hoping there was, because the sudden feeling of helplessness was crippling.
“Yeah, can you go fill the tub?” Harper asked.
“I’ll start it, but I’m not staying in the bathroom with you in here.”
“Just do it, Cole,” she barked sternly and shook her head. Pulling her to me, I softly kissed the stress from her temple and went to do as she asked.
The tub was big enough for eight people, and I used to think the people who had the house before must have had orgies in it, because I couldn’t imagine what else something this big was used for.
I waited until there was a couple of inches in the bottom and had set the faucet to balance the temperature between hot and cold, then I left it running and went back to the kitchen. To be honest, I felt I could have left it running for the day and it would never have overflowed.
“Tub’s filling? What’s next? I asked; looking for direction to keep me busy and my mind off wigging out and letting my nerves get the better of me.
“Music? The sleepover room playlist,” she suggested.
Pulling my phone out, I scrolled through my lists until I found it. “Where?”
“Here, put it on now. I want to listen,” she said, then wandered over to the kitchen counter and leaned over it to deal with another contraction. Without thinking, I went over to join her and began rubbing her lower back.
Setting my phone up with the Bluetooth speaker, I put it on shuffle and let the music fill the room. “September” by Daughtry was the first song up, and both Harper and I shot each other a look, because the lyrics were so poignant to everything that had passed and our current situation. It was also the last day of September.
“You’re doing brilliantly, Baby,” I encouraged, suddenly brave and fiercely protective. “Check the tub will you, Matty?” I asked, and then I concentrated my attention on Harper.
Matty nodded and left the room while Stuart had begun to pace. “What do you need from upstairs, Baby’?” I asked.
“There’s a bag by the side of the dresser, everything else I need is already in the bathroom down the hall.” Stuart looked relieved at the delegation and left the kitchen.
