Ready to Wed (12 page)

"Come on, clothes off?" he demanded.

"What?" I asked, still slightly chuckling.

"You heard me. If you say sex will bring on labor, than that's what we're doing. Right now. Clothes. Off. Leah," he said, his voice dropping an octave as the last three words were said. His eyes narrowed and fixed on me and I suddenly didn't feel like laughing anymore.

"Okay," I answered.

Yay, sexy fun time.

I thought pregnant sex would get awkward and awful the bigger I got, but I should have known better. When you're married to Declan James, sex can only get better, no matter the circumstances. I was convinced we'd be knocking bed posts and getting caught in janitor closets when we were living in a nursing home.

I took my time removing my clothes, making sure he got a bit of a reward for all of the crap I'd put him through in the last few weeks. I'd always rolled my eyes when the crazy pregnant women came into the hospital, dragging their tired, strung out husbands behind them and swore I'd never be that woman. And yet, here I was.

My poor husband needed to be taken care of.

His eyes savored every second, as he watched my shirt move up and over my head. I let my fingers skim down my heavy, full breasts and over my round stomach. Slipping them under the waistband of my very unsexy maternity pants, I slid them down my legs, letting the material fall to the ground. My panties joined the pile a second later.

"See, beautiful," he whispered.

His clothes were shed and as he slipped behind me under the covers, I felt him heavy and full against me. Knowing how much he wanted me, even when I felt tired and swollen was empowering. I pushed back against him and heard him groan.

Having a giant basketball permanently mounted to your stomach made intimate situations much trickier. Lovemaking over the last several months had become a fun, new game. How many positions could we think of?

After much trial and error and lots of practicing, we'd found a few favorites. As Declan’s hand skimmed down my hips and dipped to the front juncture of my thigh, I moaned.

His lips touched my shoulder, sprinkling kisses up and down my back and neck. Every touch was gentle and filled with purpose. Such a different tone from the joking man I'd laughed with seconds earlier. It was as if he was savoring each and every second.

"Our lives are about to change," he said softly. "Any day now, we're going to be parents to a tiny baby girl and our life is going to explode into a wonderful blend of joy and chaos. Right now, let's lose ourselves in each other."

And we did. Knowing I loved the feel of his strong body behind me, he spread my legs slightly and slipped into me as we both laid on our sides. He kept his hand buried in my thighs as his fingers worked my clit. Slow and steady, his strokes hit deep and I cried out, loving the friction this position created.

Shifting up on his elbow, I felt his warm breath tickle my ear. "I love you, Leah," he whispered.

I turned my head, finding his heated gaze. "I love you Declan."

He leaned over and claimed my lips, lifting my leg slightly so he could drive in harder. As his kiss deepened, our tongues entwining and moving together, his body slammed harder and faster into mine. I felt the orgasm coming seconds before it detonated, sending shockwaves through my entire body. My core clamped down, and I felt his movement become more frantic as he chased his own release.

Knowing he was close, I pushed back, grinding myself into him as he worked in and out, until finally I heard his breath catch.

"Fuck!" he cried, as his body tightened and spasm. He sagged against me, wrapping an arm around my belly. He tucked his head against my neck and he placed a quick kiss there.

The baby kicked his hand and he jumped.

"Why does she always get so active when we have sex? It freaks me out!" he said, jerking his head up to watch my stomach move under his hand.

I laughed, placing my hand over his as I cuddled further into the bed and cherished the feel of our unborn child moving beneath our joined fingers.

Come on baby girl...Mama wants to meet you now.

~Declan~

My eyes flew open as I felt a hard jab to my side.

"What the hell?" I cursed in confusion. It was dark. Like pitch black, middle of the night, why the fuck am I awake dark. I looked over at the alarm clock that stood on our small nightstand.

Two thirty in the morning.
Awesome
.

"Declan!" Leah hissed, hitting me again in the arm.

"Ouch, seriously woman. Why are you abusing me in the middle of the night?"

"I think my water just broke," she said.

Well, that got my attention. I immediately sat up in bed, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, as I threw the covers off of me.

"Well, why are you still in bed?" I said, glancing over at my very still wife. Why wasn't she throwing the covers off and jumping out of bed? She did say "water" and "breaking" in the same sentence, right?

"Because it was just a tiny bit. Like a dribble. It could have just been a little pee."

I frowned at her. "So, you're saying you peed in our bed?"

She threw her hands up in frustration, "I don't know! I should know, right? I'm a freaking OB nurse. I should be like the calmest fucking pregnant woman on the planet. Shouldn't I know whether I'm peeing or not--ohh!" she said suddenly, and jumped out of bed. She made a mad dash to the master bathroom, and I was on her heels, following close behind.

I round the corner of the bathroom and found my wife, sitting on the toilet...peeing? The trickling, water sound instantly made me want to back out of the room, run and close the door. We were married but still in the honeymoon, first year phase. I wasn't exactly ready to stand around and watch her pee like it was a theater show.

"Ahh...are you peeing?" I asked, rubbing the back of my neck with my hand as I stood there in my boxer briefs.

She looked up at me, and I swear I saw Satan.

"I. Am. Not. Peeing," she answered, very slowly with a voice I could only describe as demonic.

"Oh. OH!" I said, as it finally dawned on me that that trickling water sound was actually amniotic fluid, not urine.

My first thought was relief. At least it wasn't pee, because damn....that was the longest pee I'd ever heard. And I was a dude.

My second thought? Holy shit, is my baby going to fall out into the toilet?

Then smart, sensible Declan took over and I realized that wouldn't happen.

Probably.

Okay, I may have backed out of the room, called the hospital to let them know Leah's water had broke and perhaps asked the doctor.

Whatever, it was my first labor and delivery. I wasn't lucky enough to be present at my son's birth so I had absolutely no idea what I was walking into.

When I slipped back into the bathroom, the steady trickle had reduced to a dribble and Satan had thankfully disappeared.

"Hey babe," I called the hospital. They said to bring you in. I'm going to grab your bag, and the clothes you had laid out. Do you want me to do anything else?" I asked sweetly.

Please don't hurt me.

"No, I'm okay I think. I'm just going to stay here so I don't make a mess. Thank you. I love you," she said, looking up to give me a soft, sincere look of devotion.

She melted me. Still. With one glance. It didn't matter how many pregnancy hormones she threw at me or devil eyes she gave me. One look like that and I was on my knees thanking every deity under the heavens for bringing a woman like her to such an underserving man like me.

Gotta get to the hospital.

I sprang into action, turning on my heels and running into our bedroom as I made a mad dash for the overnight bag we'd packed weeks ago for this very moment. I grabbed the clothes and shoes she'd picked out just in case we had to run to the hospital, which it appeared we did. Within seconds, I was back in the bathroom.

I set the bag down and slowly helped her get dressed.

Pulling her shirt over her head, our eyes met and I stole that one second to grab her chin and kiss her briefly.

"You ready for this?"

She smiled, "I've never been more ready."

I slung the bag over my shoulder and helped her down the stairs, shaking my head and chuckling as I convinced her that there really were the same amount of stairs as the day before.

"Are you sure? I swear there were less yesterday," she huffed, as we made it down to the bottom.

"Nope, actually I added a few more after you fell asleep just to fuck with you."

"I knew it!" she said.

We got to the door, and I stopped, feeling like I was forgetting something. I paused, and then simultaneously, Leah and I both turned to each other.

"Connor!" we both said.

I turned to run up the stairs towards his bedroom, but Leah called after me,

"He's not here! Remember, we dropped him off at Clare and Logan's last night after baseball practice."

My heart still pounding, I turned back around. "That's right. Okay. Is it weird that he has sleepovers with Maddie? Aren't they a little old for that? I mean, he is my son after all." I said, thinking out loud.

Leah gave me a look, arching her eyebrow in disbelief.

"Right, going into labor. We can worry about that later."

I helped her into the car, and dropped the bag into the back. We were flying down the road in minutes. I called Logan, and let him know we were on the way to the hospital. He said they'd tell Connor the happy news in the morning and bring him over when we were ready to introduce him to his baby sister.

"How much do you love this car?" Leah asked, as we merged onto the interstate.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I pretty sure I'm leaking amniotic fluid on your car seats right now.”

"Babe, I don't give a flying fuck about the car," I answered, reaching over to take her hand in mine. I pulled our joined hands to my lips and kissed each one of her knuckles.

"I just want you at that hospital. Preferably before that baby is born," I added.

We pulled up to the entrance of the Emergency Room, and I jumped out, running around to the other side of the car to pull open Leah's door.

I slowly eased her out of the car and pushed the car door shut when my foot. I wrapped my arm around her and held her hand. We made our way into the ER, through the automatic doors and passed a janitor as he pulled up the "wet floor" sign signaling that the floor was now safe to walk on.

Suddenly, Leah gripped my hand harder, stopped dead in her tracks and squeezed until my fingers turned white. The contractions had started.

"Breathe babe," I said, turning so I could face her. I ran my free hand up and down her arm trying to relax her. Her eyes clamped shut and every muscle in her body was tense and rigid. She pushed through and after several seconds, her body relaxed and I saw the blue of her eyes staring back at me.

"You okay?" I asked.

"I think so. And holly hell, contractions are no joke."

I once again wrapped my arm around her shoulder and we proceeded to the check in counter. Since this was the hospital Leah worked at, she was recognized immediately.

"Is tonight the night, baby girl?" the older woman at the check-in counter asked. I didn't recognize her, and her name tag didn't ring a bell, but Leah was well known around the hospital. She was always willing to lend a hand, and cared about everyone. She talked tough but she was nothing but softness on the inside.

"It is," she answered.

"Well, we better get you on up then."

Leah nodded, and shifted slightly. I felt her tense.

"Another one?" I asked.

"No," she answered. "I'm leaking again."

I looked down and she was indeed dribbling. Right on the freshly mopped floor of the Emergency Room.

~Leah~

Fire.

That's what contractions felt like.

A burning fire in my nether regions and all I wanted to do was cry.

Oh wait, maybe I'd already done that.

Why, why hadn't the anesthesiologist come to give me the happy drugs yet? I hadn't planned on a natural birth. I'd been in enough delivery rooms to know in advance that this shit hurt.

But, wow. Witnessing it and feeling it were two very different things.

When the contractions came, my stomach would hardened into a stone like mass and that fire I felt burned up my spine like a motherfucker. Add a bag of pitocin to speed everything along thanks to the gift of my water breaking in the middle of the night and it was like straight-up hellfire.

Oh shit, here came another one.

I clamped down on Declan's hand again and bless him, I hope I hadn't broken anything yet. He ran his hands along my forehead and kissed my cheek.

"It's okay, I'm here," he said, bending down which allowed me to wrap my arm around him and bury my head into his shoulder. I'd discovered after the first few that this was the position I liked best when the waves of pain came--buried into the warmth and security of my husband. No amount of breathing or Lamaze would ever steady or calm me more than the feel and comforting smell of Declan. He was my anchor.

My nurse, a coworker of mine, popped her head in as the contraction started to pass. Seeing my coworkers working but not working alongside them was odd. Maybe I should have rethought this whole birthing plan.

"Hey hun, how are you feeling?" Trish asked, her genuine warm smile reminding me I was amongst friends. Friends who would take care of me.

"Wouldn't mind a little spinal action right about now," I answered, attempting a faint smile.

"I'm calling him again. Don't worry, he'll be here in five minutes if I have to go down there and drag his ass up here." Okay, maybe not such a bad birthing plan.

Within three minutes, both a smug looking Trish and the doctor arrived. My contractions were coming a bit more frequently and after they'd gotten me hunched over and swabbed my back, he started the process of the epidural. About halfway through, I felt the burn start up, and I whimpered slightly.

"Declan, I'm getting another one."