AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"The humming."
I didn’t realize I was humming. I grin. "Sorry. Not intentional."
He gives me a puzzled look. "How are you humming? You’re in a really good mood."
I stop and face him. I know I must look surprised. "Of course I’m in a good mood."
"Danielle, your wife, is in that room in excruciating pain and you can’t do anything about it. How does that put you in a good mood?"
I can’t help it, I grin. "Nathan, on the other side of this, we’re gonna have a baby. The next time we walk through our front door, it’s gonna be with a little Dani or Michael. This is just the start to an amazing adventure. And…" I study Nathan‘s face, trying to decide if he’s actually ready for what I’m about to say. Then I decide I don’t care. "I get to go on this adventure with my three best friends. Dads my age are probably terrified. I’m not. You know why? Because my kid is going to have the most amazing mother ever. And that’s even over Lori McNeill. Though if you tell her that I’ll deny it. And I’m not worried about anything because my kid is going to have you and Michael. Anything I can’t do, anything I screw up, you guys will be there to fix. That’s fucking amazing." I spread my arms wide. "This is one of the best days of my fucking life. And I’ve had a pretty damned good life so far, so that’s saying something."
Nathan is staring at me. But the frown lines on his forehead have eased up.
"But Dani…"
I drop my arms and nod. "Man, I know. It’s tough to see her go through this. But she’ll be okay. Michael will make sure of that. The two of us don’t have to do anything but stand around and be cocky about that amazing woman choosing us. That baby at the end of the day is going to be ours. We’re the luckiest sons of bitches in this hospital." I take a breath and blow it out, feeling so fucking…happy. This is just pure joy. "And Dani can handle this, Nathan. She’s in pain, for sure. But she’s stronger than you realize. Than any of us give her credit for sometimes. Let her prove that to us. Let her go through this. Let her prove it to herself. And you know she’s excited. She wants this baby so much. I promise, when this is over, Dani’s going to be a new person. And believe it or not, I think she’s going to be even more incredible than she was before. So maybe you should just take this time to get ready for that. Because even being in the same room with that gorgeous angel is gonna be a lot for a couple of dumbasses like us."
Again, Nathan just stares at me for several long moments. Then he blows out of breath. "Fuck, it’s good to have you back."
I let out a surprise chuckle. "What do you mean?"
"This. This is what you’re good at. This is why we all need you. At least one of the really big reasons. After the championship loss, you sank into yourself and were sad and pissed off and frustrated. And that’s fine," he says quickly. "I’m not saying that it’s not. But it’s not you. You’re the happy, optimistic, annoyingly positive, fun guy. We all need you to bring this… happy into our lives." He pauses. "We missed you."
Now I’m staring at him like an idiot. "Nathan Armstrong," I say. "Are you saying that you love me?"
He rolls his eyes, but he says, "Yes McNeill, I’m saying that I love you."
I clap him on the shoulder. "Fuck yeah you do. And I love you. Now come on, I’ve got something to show you."
We continue down the hallway past another set of doors, and then I spread my arms. "Check this out."
Nathan steps up to the window, his eyes wide.
He’s looking in on the nursery. There are about a dozen babies in there right now. And they’re cute as fuck.
"We’re gonna have one of those, Boss. Soon. Our girl is giving us one of those right now."
He nods, and I realize that at the moment, he can’t speak.
So I just pat him on the shoulder again.
"See, best day of our life."
CHAPTER 26
Michael
The labor is going as well as can be expected. First babies take their sweet time and Dani is progressing as she should. All her vitals are good. It’s just a waiting game. A long, hard, emotional waiting game.
Being a physician isn’t really helping me other than I can readily read Dani’s monitors and the body language of the nurses and the doctor, who has only been in the room once. Everyone looks like this is business as usual so I’m not concerned.
But I’ve never been in a labor and delivery room. It’s one thing to think about it intellectually, another to be here, in this moment, seeing my wife go through all the phases of labor, pain etched on her features.
I feel like I’m walking a tightrope, trying to gauge what Dani needs and doesn’t need from me. That of course is nothing compared to what she’s enduring so I put aside my own discomfort and just try to listen and respond accordingly. At one point, she was leaning against me, letting me cradle her. Then she was shoving me away, saying she was hot.
Now she’s shivering and the nurse is putting a heated blanket over her. I know that indicates she’s in the transition phase of labor and we’re getting really close. She’s moaning low in the back of her throat in spite of having an epidural.
Crew and Nathan came back after their walk more relaxed and that seemed to help Dani relax more as well.
