“I’m in labor and Ry is freaking out because we haven’t left yet, but don’t worry, we’ve got plenty of time. First babies are notoriously slow and my contractions are still ten minutes apart and there’s been no great flood so we’re good.” She aimed a tight-lipped smile at him as she sucked a deep breath in through her nose and blew it out though her mouth.
“You…?” Jake lowered his gaze and eyed Maz’s belly. “Are you sure?”
“About what? Becoming a parent? Hell no. And I don’t think watching Maddox helped with that.” She frowned, shook her head. “Did you know he falls overall. The. Time!”
He tried not to cringe. “Ah, yeah, he’s getting better though.” Jake knew he was the reason his son wasn’t steady on his feet yet.
After he’d gotten Mad back eight months ago, he hadn’t been able to put him down. In those first few months even when Mad slept, Jake had him in his arms. They’d only just started sleeping in separate beds a couple of weeks ago.
Not rooms though. He couldn’t go that far yet.
“Ry says it’s normal. The falling down thing.” She put her hands on her hips and scowled. “Just which one of us is in the medical field anyway? You’d think out of the two of us I’d be the calm one, right? Butnoooo… I’m freaking out about things I won’t need to worry about for months—” Air rushed through Maz’s lips in a hiss, her hands darting from her hips to cradle the lower curve of her stomach as she bent over.
Well, as over as she could with her huge belly in the way.
Jake stepped closer. He couldn’t keep the panic from his voice when he said, “Maz?”
“Get,” she gasped. “Ry.”
He wasn’t about to leave her bent in half in the open front door to go in search of her husband. Putting his hands on her shoulders—because what else was he supposed to do? He had no idea how to deal with a woman in labor—he shouted over her head. “Rylan!”
A strangled laugh had him glancing down. Maz was shaking her head, her hips moving in a similar motion as she rubbed the sides of her rounded stomach.
“I’m not sure this is funny,” he muttered.
She sucked in a breath and looked up, the hostile edge to her gaze almost made him step back. “If I’m not laughing, I’m screaming,” she growled between clenched teeth. “Which do you want?”
Him? Why the hell was he choosing? He wasn’t about to push a baby out his…
He lifted his hands and took that step back. “Do whatever you need to do.”
“Good answer.”
Thumping had him looking up again. Ry came running into the foyer, Maddox clutched to his side. “What? What? Why are you yelling?”
Jake didn’t answer and even if he had, the pained moan Maz let out would have drowned out anything he said. Looking down he watched a puddle of fluid form between her feet, spreading further and further the longer he stared.
“Oh shit!” Ry rushed forward and passed Maddox over Maz’s bent body. “Here. Take Mad.”
Jake already had his hands out and wrapped them around his son’s waist. “Hey, Madman.” Lifting him over Maz, he pulled him close and dropped a kiss on Mad’s forehead.
“Maz, you need to get in the car. Now,” Ry said as he tried to urge her out the front door.
“I’m not going anywhere without changing my shoes!”
“But—”
Using a fistful of his shirt, Maz yanked Ry down to her eye level. “Do not argue with a woman in labor,” she snarled.
“Ah, um, where’s her hospital bag?” Jake edged around them and into the house. “Mad and I will get it and put it in the car. Do you want me to drive?”
Ry sent him a pleading look Jake couldn’t decipher and said, “Her bag is by the door to the garage.”
“Right. We’ll go get that organized.” He headed deeper into the house and hoped someone would give him more directions soon.
“Ry will drive us,” Maz called out behind him, her voice almost back to normal.
As much as he would be happy to drive them to the hospital he didn’t think it would be good for Ry to be without a vehicle and Jake couldn’t hang around. There was no way he’d be able to keep Madman occupied in a waiting room for however long this took.
