Page 18 of Unbound
The longer I attempt to ignore it, the more I realize these pains aren’t like anything else I’ve experienced and they’re not going away. Something’s off and I can’t place it. My stomach hurts, a pain wraps around my sides to my lower back.
Sitting up, I place my hand over my swollen stomach. I’m not due for another six weeks but my instincts are telling me he is coming early. Just like his father, he isn’t good at waiting.
Not knowing what else to do, I call out for Mia but then I remember she’s having dinner with her sisters tonight in Portland and said she wouldn’t be back until around midnight.
I check the time. It’s 7:08 p.m. She’ll be at least another four hours and I know I can’t wait that long.
Maneuvering myself to stand, I’m suddenly soaking wet.
Oh shit. My water just broke.
I go through the different possibilities of who to call for help, but the truth is the list is short. The only family I have is the Walker family and the only friend I really had was Kate, and after I discovered she had been sleeping with Rawley for the last few years, I ended that relationship. Now I only talk to Raven and Lenny.
Knowing Raven’s in Eugene at school, I call Lenny first.
She doesn’t answer.
That leaves me with one choice. Red.
“Hey, Sophie, are you okay?” Red asks when he answers the phone.
“No, I’m not. Something’s wrong. I need you to take me to the hospital. I’m sorry to bother you. I just didn’t know who else to call. Your mom is in Portland with her sisters. Raven’s too far away and Lenny didn’t answer her phone.”
“It’s okay.” He rushes out the words. “I can help. Be right over.”
It’s then I begin to panic, water trickling down my legs standing in the living room holding my stomach. I can’t for the life of me think of what to do next. I mean, I know Red is on his way but I can’t move from my spot in the living room. I’m rooted in place.
Moving my hands over my stomach, it feels hard, but my instincts are telling me he’s coming early.
Red arrives minutes later, eyes wide and standing at the door. I grab a bag from the hall closet and stuff a bunch of dirty clothes from the hamper in the laundry room because I was afraid to risk going upstairs and falling down them should a contraction hit.
When I’m in the front seat of Red’s car, watching him start the car, the panic sets in again because I realize if it wasn’t for him, I’d really be alone right now.
“I don’t think I can do this alone, Red,” I whisper in fear. I can’t. It’s not that I don’t want to. I want Rawley here. I want the old Rawley. The one who would have held me tight and whispered how much he wanted me and that everything would be okay.
Red draws me to his side, his massive arms holding me close in the seat. “You’re not alone. You have us.”
“And me!” Nova pops her head over the seat, resting her chin on the edge.
My eyes widen and I look to Red, my hands on my stomach as I push shallow breaths out. “You brought her with you?”
He shrugs and hands me my bag at his feet. “I’d just picked her up from gymnastics when you called. Didn’t think you wanted me to drop her off first.”
“Oh, well, I guess not.”
Red puts the car in gear and backs out of the driveway. It’s then reality sets in that I’m in fact on my way to the hospital and in labor.
Oh God, labor? Am I actually going to meet my son tonight? The realization, the idea that I’ll finally get to hold him sets my nerves into a spin and my heart racing.
I’m thankful Red doesn’t do the speed limit because the pain increases by the second, and I’m the biggest baby when it comes to pain. Think papercut and I’m ready to rush to the hospital. I just don’t do pain.
“Hey, Daddy?” Nova asks, leaning forward in her booster seat to rest her hands on the back of the seat.
“Yeah, darlin’?” He notices her hands and takes a corner a little faster than necessary. “Nova, sit back.”
She does as he asks but doesn’t stop talking. “Wouldn’t it be funny if the baby’s born in the car? You can call him Nova too. Like me… since I was made in here and he might be born in here.”
I never thought about it until now. Fuck, what if we don’t make it? My heart stops. “I’mnothaving this baby in your car.”
