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“Then you need to tell me what it is so I can make it happen, baby.”
“Well…”
“Arella,” I bit out. “Tell me, and we’ll go get it right now.”
“It’s just that I don’t know how you would feel about…needles.” She looked at me through her lashes. “You don’t have any ink, and I’d never really asked if that was because you don’t want to mark your skin or if you just had an aversion to needles.”
“A tattoo?” She nodded. “You want me to get a ring tattoo?”
“Only if you want to. It’s just so much more permanent than a regular ring. You can never take it off… Well, I guess you could if you had it lasered off, but—”
I kisse
d her again to stop her rambling. This woman was so endearingly precious that I would have let her talk me into inking my entire body if that were what she told me she wanted.
Lifting my head, I tucked her hair back behind her ear. “Your name will look perfect inked around my finger,” I told her. “Do you think your cousin Lyric will do it for me if we fly up tonight?”
“He kind of loves me, so I’m sure it won’t be a problem,” she said with a smile that lit up the room.
“No one could ever love you as much as I do,” I growled, that possessive monster roaring to life. “Now, go pack an overnight bag. We’ll fly up and be back by tomorrow night.”
Epilogue
Arella
“Deep breath,” the nurse instructed. Her touch was gentle on my bare back, soothing and calming my frayed nerves as the anesthesiologist worked on placing the epidural in position.
I was two weeks past my due date, and I still hadn’t started dilating on my own, so my doctor had scheduled me for an induction. I’d already had fluids through an IV for over an hour and they were about to give me the meds that would get things started, but before all the fun pain started, they’d asked if I wanted an epidural or not.
Um, yeah, I might have a high pain tolerance, but I wasn’t brave enough to go through all that discomfort without drugs, so the epidural had been part of my birthing plan from day one. I didn’t really care that my mother had birthed five babies completely naturally, or that my cousin Lyric’s wife Mila had nearly ripped herself in half pushing her twin sons out with not a single drop of drugs.
That was great and I applauded them, but I wasn’t either of them. This was my experience, and I wanted to enjoy it without screaming and shouting at the people I loved in the throes of agonizing pain.
Plus, I didn’t want to have to put Jordan through watching me go through that. It would only make this miserable for us both.
Once the epidural was in place and I was able to lie back on my big comfy hospital bed, surrounded by my own pillows, the nurse let Jordan and our moms back into the room. Apparently after one too many fainting spells from bystanders, the birthing center’s policy was no one but the patient and medical staff in the room while an epidural was being administered.
My husband hadn’t been happy that he’d had to leave my side, but I was more than a little thankful he wouldn’t have to see that.
As soon as he was through the door, Jordan sprinted to my side, kissing me as if he hadn’t seen me in weeks instead of less than half an hour. “Are you okay?”
“I’m good,” I assured him with a bright smile. Now that the scary part of having a huge needle put in my spine was over, I was great.
While the moms got comfortable in the chairs around my bed, the nurse was already placing the medicine into my IV that would get my labor started. For the next few hours, I sat up in bed and played board games with Mom and Alexis while Jordan rubbed my shoulders and neck. Other members of our family came and went, promising they would be with my dad and Jared Moreitti in the waiting room, where the moms had banished them because neither one of them could handle the anticipation of what was going on in my private laboring room.
Six hours in, the doctor came in and broke my water then said he was going for some dinner.
But no sooner had he reached the door than I started feeling an intense pressure in my lower abdomen and bottom. “Aw, fuck!” I cried, my hands gripping the rails of my bed.
“What?” Jordan cried, his face turning gray. “Baby, what’s wrong.”
“Well then,” the doctor said calmly as he came back to my bed and pressed the nurse’s call button. “Let’s just take another look, shall we?”
I heard Mom and Alexis murmuring excitedly to each other while Jordan scrubbed his hands over his tired face. “Is she okay?” he demanded just as the two nurses came into the room. They didn’t even approach me, just started prepping.
“Arella, take a deep breath for me,” my doctor said in that soothing voice he was known for. “Jordan, why don’t you help her pull her knees up to her chest.”
I felt my husband’s hands tremble as he did as he was instructed. Mom came around to my other side and helped too while Alexis moved to stand beside her son. Another intense pain hit me and I tried not to cry out, but it was too much and I whimpered just as the doctor told me to push.
