Always Us (The Jade Series #8) (51 page)

“Why didn’t you tell me this?”

“Because you worry too much. I was just tired. I didn’t feel sick.”

“So you haven’t been sick? Like morning sickness or anything?”

“No, I didn’t have any other symptoms except missing my period, but the doctor said that might happen after going off the pill. That’s why I didn’t think I was pregnant.”

“Do you know your due date?”

She smiles. “May 15
^th
.”

I smile back. “The day I proposed.”

“And the day you told me you were free from the organization. It was a really good day. And it’s going to be even better now. There’s something else, too.”

“What?”

“The doctor can’t say for sure, but she thinks I conceived on August 22
^nd
.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Your birthday. So we made the baby on your birthday and found out about it on mine. And our baby will arrive on the day we got engaged. I guess this baby’s into celebrations, just like you. She’s just like her dad.”

“She? You already know—”

“No. I just didn’t want to call our baby ‘it.’”

“Our baby.” I smile as I hug her against my chest. “I like the sound of that. Actually, I fucking love the sound of that. I can’t believe we’re having a baby.”

“I know. I can’t either. It hasn’t really sunk in yet.”

I sit back and look at her. “I love you. I love you so much.”

“I love you, too.”

“Holy shit. We’re having a baby!”

Jade laughs and I hug her again. Then I take her for lunch, then a movie, then out for a nice dinner, followed by a romantic sunset cruise on a sailboat. Jade still loves sailboats.

Later, when we’re in bed, Jade thanks me for giving her a great birthday. But the fancy dinner and sunset cruise were nothing compared to the news we got today.

It’s Jade’s birthday, but we both got a gift. A gift that will make our life together even better.

JADE

“
Garret, you cannot be in the room with me,” I tell him as I waddle through the kitchen. That’s right. Waddle. I no longer walk. In fact, I haven’t for months. I miss walking. I can’t wait to walk again.

“Jade, every father is in the delivery room. It’s normal.”

“Not in the old days. Fifty years ago, men sat in the waiting room, smoking cigars. That’s what you should do. Get some cigars.”

I’m slowly pacing the floor. I’m nervous because I might give birth today and I’m scared to death. I woke up at six this morning, worrying about it. I got out of bed, because even just lying in bed is uncomfortable now.

“I don’t smoke cigars, and even if I did, you can’t smoke in a hospital. And I’m not sitting in the waiting room. I want to be with you.”

“Garret, we’ve been over this a thousand times. I don’t want you in there.”

“Jade, I swear. I will stay by your head. I won’t even look.”

This is why I don’t want Garret in the delivery room. I went to the birthing classes. I saw the films. And I don’t want Garret seeing any of that stuff. I don’t want him down there when the baby comes out. No way. Other women may be fine with it, but not me.

I sigh, because I can’t sit down. I’m so big in front, I feel like I’m going to tip over trying to sit in my favorite chair. It’s in a little area that’s connected to the kitchen and looks out at the ocean. I always sit here in the mornings before I start my day.

“Here.” Garret helps me into the chair.

“I can’t believe how huge I am,” I say, looking down at my belly.

He leans down and kisses me. “You’re beautiful.”

“I’m huge.”

“You’re not huge. From the back, people don’t even know you’re pregnant.”

It’s true. The rest of me looks normal but my stomach is huge. Like I swallowed a giant beach ball. And all that weight in front throws me completely off balance.

 
“How can a tiny baby take up so much space?” I ask.

Garret sits on the arm of the chair. “Maybe it’s not a tiny baby. Maybe it’s a big baby.”

“Garret! Don’t say that! I’m already freaking out about getting it out of me.”

He reaches down and holds my hand. “Don’t worry about it. You’re gonna do great.” He smiles. “Especially since I’ll be there coaching you through it.”

I smile back. “Fine. You can be in the room. But if you glance down there even once, I swear I’ll—”

He kisses me before I can say it. “You know what?”

“What?”

“By tomorrow at this time, we could be holding our baby.”

“I don’t think so. I think this baby plans to stay in here a while.” I rub my belly. “And that’s fine with me because I don’t think I can do this.”

Garret laughs. “It’s a little late for that, Jade. The baby’s coming and I bet it comes today.” He said ‘it’ because we still don’t know if we’re having a boy or a girl. We wanted it to be a surprise. “You should’ve read the books, Jade. If you did, you wouldn’t be so freaked out.”

When Garret found out I was pregnant, he went out and bought every pregnancy book he could find. And then he read them all. But I wouldn’t. It was too much information. I read a few pages of one of the books and all it did was freak me out even more.

“Between you and Harper, I got more than enough information. I didn’t need to read the books.”

Harper is also pregnant, with baby number two. She’s due in a couple weeks. She’s having another boy. She thought for sure she was having a girl this time. She even started buying pink baby clothes, but then found out it was a boy. I just laugh because she’s such a girly girl and she ends up having boys. But she loves her little boy and she can’t wait to have another one. And Sean is a great dad and a great husband. He always has these dad and son days so Harper can get a break and go shopping or get a massage or do the other girly stuff she likes doing.

“You two are up early.” Karen walks in the room, with Frank right behind her. “It’s only six fifteen.”

“I couldn’t sleep,” I say, as she comes over to me.

Karen and Frank got here a few days ago. I asked them to come stay with us because Karen’s the only person who’s able to calm me down whenever I panic about the delivery. Karen’s been a labor and delivery nurse for more than 30 years, so she’s seen pretty much everything. She keeps telling me that giving birth is no big deal. That it’s natural and my body will know exactly what to do and that women have been doing it forever. It’s all stuff I know, but the way she says it always makes me feel better.

I love Karen. She’s awesome. She treats me like the daughter she never had. She and Frank come out and visit all the time. Frank really lucked out when he found Karen. He’s so much happier with her in his life. And she takes such great care of him that now he has way more good days than bad.
 

She smiles and rubs my arm. “All ready for the big day?”

“Not really. I’m kind of freaking out.”

Frank leans down and kisses my head. “Relax, honey. You’ll be fine.”

“You may not deliver today,” Karen says. “It could be tomorrow or later this week. How do you feel?”

“I feel okay. But I feel like I should do something. Maybe I’ll clean out the refrigerator.” I try to get up, but can’t.

Garret laughs. “The refrigerator doesn’t need to be cleaned, Jade.”

“She’s still nesting,” Karen says to him. “I’m going to go make some coffee.” She and Frank walk into the kitchen.

Karen’s nesting comment is referring to my need to clean and organize the entire house. I’ve been doing this for weeks. Apparently it’s something pregnant women do before giving birth.

“I’m not nesting,” I insist. “I just need to clean.”

Garret kisses my cheek. “What you need is breakfast. What do you want?”

“Could I have some donuts? I’m dying for a donut.”

Garret’s been making food runs for months. My cravings are out of control. My donut cravings, especially.

“Jade, I’m not leaving you on your due date. What if you go into labor and I’m not here?”

“According to your books, labor goes on for hours and the donut shop is only a few minutes from here. Nothing’s going to happen while you’re gone.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea. How about some toast instead?”

“But I’m really craving donuts. Please.” I give him my sad eyes, which I know he can’t say no to.

He sighs, then leans down and talks to my stomach. “Stay in there until I get back.”

I laugh. “You’re funny. Hey, get me the chocolate ones with chocolate frosting and sprinkles.”

He shakes his head. “I hope this doesn’t mean our baby’s going to be born addicted to donuts.”

“There’s nothing wrong with donuts.” I try to sit up to kiss him but I can’t reach him and now I’m stuck in this chair. It’s a deep, squishy chair that’s hard to get out of.

Garret notices me attempting to move. “You want help getting up?”

I sigh. “No, I’ll just stay here. If I need help, Frank or Karen will help me.”

He leans down and gives me a kiss. “I’ll be back soon. Love you.”

“Love you, too.”

He leaves.

And a few minutes later, my water breaks.

GARRET

I’m at the donut place when my phone rings. It’s Frank.

“Garret, she’s having the baby. Meet us at the hospital.”

“Are you serious? I just left the house.”

“And as soon as you did, her water broke.”

I race back to the car. “I’ll be home in a few minutes. I’ll take her to the hospital.”

“We’re already on the way. Karen said things are moving fast. We couldn’t wait.”

Shit! I whip out of the parking lot and speed off. “Okay, I’ll meet you there. Let me talk to Jade.”

He gives her the phone.

“Garret?” She sounds out of breath. “Sorry. I didn’t know this would happen.”

“I’ll be right there, okay?”

“I’m scared. I’m not ready for this.” When she says it, I know what she means. This time she isn’t talking about giving birth. She’s talking about being a mom. She was so excited about it for the first eight months of her pregnancy and then the past month, she started panicking, thinking she’ll be a bad mom.
 

“You’re ready, Jade. This baby is so lucky to have you as a mom.”

I tell her this all the time and it always makes her cry. I hear her sniffle, then moan. “Oh, God, that hurts. Garret, I can’t talk. I’ll see you at the hospital.”

She hangs up and I speed even faster down the road. Then I hit construction and have to slow down. Going to the donut shop took me off the road I would normally take to the hospital and now I’m stuck here, waiting in a line of cars. I honk but it’s no use. There’s nowhere to go. I call Frank and let him know. He tells me Jade was taken straight to the delivery room. This baby’s coming fast. Jade and I both thought she’d be in labor for 15 or 20 hours, like most new moms. But no. This baby’s as impatient as Jade is and it wants out.

Ten minutes later, I finally move past the construction zone and speed to the hospital. I park and run inside.

Frank is waiting for me by the nurse’s desk. I must look like a nervous wreck because he laughs at me. “Calm down there, Garret. Everything’s fine.”

I’m out of breath from running. “Where is she?”

“She’s in one of the delivery rooms. The nurse will show you.”

An older woman dressed like a nurse comes over to me. “First timer, huh?” She smiles.

“Yeah.”

“Right this way.” She takes off and I follow her, waving goodbye to Frank. This is all happening so fast. This isn’t how I pictured it in my head. I read all those books and was all prepared for a long labor, spending hours sitting beside Jade trying to keep her calm.

The nurse takes me to the delivery room. Jade’s doing the breathing exercises she learned in birthing class. Karen’s next to her, holding her hand. Karen sees me and smiles, then says to Jade, “I’m going to leave now.”

“No! Don’t leave me!” Jade didn’t notice me walk in. “Please! Not until Garret—”

“I’m right here.” I take her hand and kiss her forehead, which is all sweaty.

“Garret.” She squeezes my hand really hard, then squeezes her eyes shut and bites down on her lip. Must be a contraction.

Karen comes over and talks in my ear. “There was no time for an epidural. The baby’s coming fast. Shouldn’t be much longer.”

I nod, and she leaves.

Natural childbirth? That’s gotta hurt. And it’s not at all what Jade wanted. She was counting on that epidural.

“Jade, you’re doing great.” I smile at her as she squeezes my hand again, so hard she might break some bones. At least we’re at a hospital.

“Okay, it’s time to push,” the doctor says.

I glance down at the doctor. It’s not Jade’s normal doctor. It’s some other woman. She’s older and very calm, which is just what Jade needs.

After a lot of pushing and breathing and squeezing of my hand, our baby is born.

A baby girl. Eight pounds, two ounces. With dark brown hair.

And all of a sudden it hits me. I have a daughter. I’m a dad!

The nurse wipes the baby off and hands her to Jade. “She was sure in a hurry to meet you.”

Jade takes the baby, tears running down her face. Happy tears.

“Hi.” She smiles at the baby and lifts her up to kiss her cheek.
 

I lean down and kiss her, too. “She’s beautiful.”

“Yeah. She’s perfect.” Jade kisses her again, then whispers to her, “You have to meet your daddy.”

Jade hands her to me. I gaze down at her, cradled in my arms. She’s so tiny. So sweet. So beautiful. I just met her and I already love her more than words can describe.

Later that day, Frank and Karen go back to the house and I stay with Jade in her hospital room. Grace was here, too, but she left with Frank and Karen so Jade could get some rest.

Jade’s exhausted. She was taking a nap, but she’s starting to wake up.

“Hey.” I gently rub her arm. “How are you feeling?”

She sits up a little. “Sore. Tired.” She gives me her sleepy smile. “Happy.”

“Yeah. Me too.” I take her hand and kiss it.

“We did it, Garret.”

“
You
did it. And you were amazing.”