Page 91 of Claimed By Ruin

She looked at the doctor. “You didn’t tell me it was going to hurt this much.”

Miranda shrugged. “I’ve never had a baby.”

Asia looked riotous, but calmed at Miranda’s smile. “I promise you it’s going to be worth it at the end.”

“You say that like the end is going to come,” Asia said.

She pushed off the bed, then started to pace. Froze. Bent at the waist as another contraction ripped through her.

“It will come. You’re so close. Just keep walking and tell me how you feel,” Miranda coaxed.

“Same way I felt three hours ago. Like I want this to be over,” she said.

“You got this, Asia,” Miranda said.

Asia paced back and forth, back and forth, and I never felt more like an actual, literal fucking appendix than I did at that moment. I tried to keep it calm, keep it light, but I was losing my shit.

Miranda pointed at me. “You need to calm down.”

Asia was distracted, staring out the window, when she caught my eye. I stilled my leg, bouncing furiously, and gave her a curt nod. Yeah, the best thing I could do right now, the only thing I could do right now, was keep calm for her.

Kind of hard when I was anything but, but she had done the real work. I’d do my part.

“Should we be doing, like, some breathing exercises or something?” Asia looked at Miranda.

“I think we’re beyond that point. Just keep walking.”

“Fine.”

“Something feels different,” Asia said an hour later.

Miranda pulled on a fresh pair of gloves. “Different how?”

“Pressure, a lot of it,” she said between pants.

“You need to push?”

“Yeah,” Asia said.

I grabbed her hand, wrapping my arm around her back.

“Should she be lying down or something?” I asked.

Miranda pulled a paper mask over her face and pulled down a plastic shield. “No. She needs to be however she’s comfortable.”

Asia pushed away from me, leaning on the edge of the bed. Her knees were bent at an angle that looked torturous to me, but seemed to give her some relief.

“Oh God⁠—”

Miranda was shockingly calm. “Just push with the sensation. Listen to your body and push with it.”

Asia did. Then pushed more, more.

“You’re almost there. He’s crowning,” the doctor said.

Asia squeezed my hand so tight I thought it would break, and then, on a final exhale, my son appeared.

He was screaming.