Page 145 of The Forever Vault

“Normal so far,” Rebecca answered, and one of the staff agreed, “Yes, moving along nicely, and Dr. Cosgrove should be here momentarily.”

I leaned in to whisper, “Is that the one you’ve been seeing? The one you like?”

Erika nodded. “Where’s Austin?”

“Chang-”

“I’m here!” Austin hurried over to stand beside his mother.

“You look good in scrubs, baby bro. Maybe you should be a doctor?”

“Don’t get mom started on all that again, Erika. How are you feeling?”

“Like I’m pushing a baby out of my vagina.”

I thought that would fluster Austin a little, but he just said, “Yup, that’s why we’re all here.”

“How–aaah–was the medal ceremony?”

“Great,” Austin answered.

“Did Cam cry?” Erika asked.

“Of course.”

I rolled my eyes at Austin’s answer, but Erika squeezed my hand. “My cute little emotional bestie.”

“How dilated are you?” I changed the subject.

“We’re really going to talk about this, aren’t we?” she asked.

“Kind of hard not to when it’s the reason we’re here. I wanna know if I need to grab some snacks, maybe a milkshake,” I teased.

“Shut the fuck up, you’re making me hungry. I don’t think I can eat anything.”

One of the nurses spoke up. “I can ask Dr. Cosgrove when he gets here. He may allow a light snack - it’s not likely - but we’ll wait for him to make that call. We can definitely give you some Gatorade now, or water if you’d prefer.”

“Seriously?”

The nurse nodded.

“Can we order food too?” Austin asked, followed by his mother cuffing him on the head.

After the nurse finished chuckling, she said, “Guests are welcome to eat in the cafeteria on the ground floor. It’s open twenty-four hours.”

Erika only let go of my hand to reposition herself or to take a sip, and the company changed throughout the rest of the day and into the evening - Orion, David, even Isaak had another turn. I stayed there to get her through each contraction. Even though she didn’t say so, I could tell they were getting worse for her because she’d squeeze harder each time.

At some point, Luke slipped a protein bar into my pocket and left two bottles of Gatorade on the table behind me. I ignored them until Erika said I should eat or drink something, which I then did quickly.

Dr. Cosgrove arrived just after eight, apologizing for his lateness, but Erika didn’t seem to care. In fact, I felt her relax when he entered the room.

I could see why she liked him. On the surface, he was handsome, but he also projected a confident aura and his voice was very soothing. Without being introduced, he knew everyone’s names, so a nurse must’ve told him at some point, or his memory and deductive powers were just that good.

“Well, Erika, I can’t say I’ve ever delivered an Olympian’s baby before, so I thank you for the privilege. And to be surrounded by so many other Olympians,” he mused, “it feels like I’m competing at the games myself.” He chuckled at his own joke.

“What’s the scoop, doc?” Erika asked, between breaths. “Did he miraculously slip out somehow already?”

“I’m afraid not, but you are at nine centimeters, that’s really close. We’re going to start pushing at ten, okay?”