Remember Me: Oakville Series:Book Two (34 page)

“Earth to Amber...come in Amber,” Holly says as she shakes my shoulders. “What’s with all of the zoning out today?”

“Just thinking about how much I love you guys,” I tell her as a nurse hands me a gown. The nurse looks at all of the people piling into the room with a ‘what the hell’ expression on her face. Leave it to Angel to notice the cute uncomfortable nurse and make it worse.

“To answer the question you want to ask, yes, we are all going to be here for the delivery. You see we aren’t really sure which one of us is the father,” Angel teases the poor nurse. The horrified look she gets on her face makes me giggle. Becky slaps Angel in the back of the head and then puts her arm around the nurse.

“Don’t pay any attention to the group moron, Monica. We are all going to be here for our friend, though. This is a special day,” Becky explains to the blushing nurse.

“That would explain why she has such a huge room all to herself. I’ll get some chairs brought in for you all. I’ll be back in just a few minutes to see how far along you are.” She smiles sweetly at me, but gives Angel a nasty look before leaving the room.

A
BOUT TWENTY
minutes ago, the nurse asked if I wanted something for the pain. I said no. At the time, it wasn’t really bad. Now the contractions are becoming quite painful and more frequent. The sudden need to push is also becoming overwhelming. When I tell this to the nurse, she starts just laughs it off until Becky steps in.

“You may want to check her out. She had her cerclage removed two days ago and she has a very weak cervix, I don’t think this will be your normal delivery.” Becky firmly, but nicely, puts her in her place. Luckily, the girl is smart and does what Becky suggests. She gets her gloves on and checks my cervix.

“Amber, it looks like you are right, its show time. I need to get the doctor,” she says to me.

“I think I’m ready for those pain meds now,” I tell her before she walks out. She turns and looks at me with a grin on her face.

“Sweetie, it’s too late, we can’t give you anything now,” she says with a little too much pleasure in her voice. Well, I always said I wanted a natural birth, looks like I’m about to get it. Everything starts to move quickly. One nurse begins prepping the area for the baby while another preps the area at my feet for Dr. Monty. I can’t believe this is finally happening. I look over to Kyle who is standing next to me, watching all of the commotion. When he notices me watching him, he smiles that handsome smile of his, then leans down and kisses me gently on the lips.

“We did it, princess. Are you ready to meet our son?” he asks with tears filling his eyes. I know how he feels, I’m overwhelmed with emotion, too. I’m scared, excited, and happier than I’ve ever been before, but I’m also a little sad too. I can’t help thinking of the triplets. I feel a little guilty being so happy even though they aren’t here. I’ll have to make sure our son knows about his brother and sisters when he’s old enough to understand. At least I know he will always have three of the most precious guardian angels watching over him.

“I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for this,” I tell him as I pull him down for a deeper kiss. When our tongues begin to dance together, all the noise and commotion surrounding us seems to disappear. That is, until Angel decides to be a comedian.

“Umm...isn’t that how we got here, you two? Can we have this baby before you start trying for the next one?” Angel jokes. He even has the nurses and Dr. Monty, who just walked in, laughing. I see Angel pull a video camera out of my bag. I’m glad someone thought of that because I forgot all about it.

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” I ask when I notice him walking south. He stops dead in his tracks and turns around with that smartass grin on his face.

“You want me to film the birth. In order to film the birth, I need to be able to see the birth.”

“If you or anyone else aside from a medical professional or my husband goes past my waist, I will stop this labor and personally kick your ass. Viewing of my lady bits is off limits,” I threaten.

“Okay. I got ya. I’ll stay right here,” Angel says with his arms raised in surrender.

I
S IT
wrong to be turned on right now by Amber putting Angel in his place? She never yells at him. I think even he’s a little shocked.

“Okay, folks, let’s meet this little guy. What do ya say?” Dr. Monty says as he takes a seat at the foot of the bed. I think he’s as excited as we are. He promised he’d help us have a healthy baby and here we are. I’m about to have everything I’ve ever wanted. Amber is my wife and we’re happier than ever. I own the Bar and Grille that I’ve always wanted. And the best thing of all...I’m about to become a dad.

Dr. Monty’s only told Amber to push once and now he’s saying he can see the head. This is a lot quicker than I expected. Maybe this is her reward for all of the shit she’s had to go through. There’s no screaming, no cussing, and no telling me she hates me.

“Kyle, do you want to come watch your son come into the world?” Dr. Monty asks me. I look over to Amber to see if it’s okay with her. I don’t want my ass kicked for looking at her lady bits. She smiles and nods her approval as Chelsie comes over and takes my place at her side. I sit on the stool the nurse places next to Dr. Monty and put on the gloves she hands me. Glancing up at all the people staring down at me, I think this is what it must feel like to be the luckiest man alive. Dr. Monty nudges my shoulder and I see why he’s trying to get my attention. A full head of black hair is starting to emerge and my heart skips a beat. It’s the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.

“Would you like to deliver him? It’s easy from here. I’ll walk you through it.”

“Hell yeah, I would.” He tells me where to put my hands and what to do. He lets Amber know that with the next contraction, he needs one, really big push. I’m nervous as hell, but this will be a cool story to tell my son someday.

“Here we go. Amber, you need to push as hard as you can,” Dr. Monty encourages. I do as I’m told with him guiding me. He was right though, this baby is delivering himself. His whole head is out, then the shoulders, and before I know it, I’m holding my beautiful, messy son in my arms. Dr. Monty takes him as the nurse hands me a large pair of scissors. She holds the umbilical cord tight and says to cut between her hands. I never thought I’d ever do this, but with shaky hands, I do. The nurse helps take off the gloves and I immediately go to my wife.

“You are amazing, princess. He’s the second most beautiful thing I’ve ever laid my eyes on,” I tell her as I kiss her forehead. “Thank you.”

“Why are you thanking me?”

“For loving me, making me the happiest man alive, and for giving me this beautiful little baby boy,” I tell her just as the nurse lays our son on Amber’s chest. When the tears start to fall, I don’t bother with trying to stop them. I notice I’m not the only weepy male in the room. In fact, every man in the room has tears in his eyes, especially when Amber announces what we’ve decided to name our son.

“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Cody Lee Connor,” she says while watching Beasley for his reaction. It’s just like we’d hoped it would be. A huge smile breaks out across his face while tears stream down his cheeks.

Watching all of the people I love the most ‘ooh’ and ‘aww’ over my lovely wife and new son, I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face if I tried. It’s been one hell of a journey for the two of us, but we’re still here, standing strong. If that’s not true love, I don’t know what is. As long as I have her by my side, holding my hand, we can get through anything that’s thrown at us. Feeling the way I do right at this moment, every single ounce of pain was worth it.

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other books by Kathy-Jo Reinhart