Page 118 of Glitterati Omega

Morgan was silent for a second or two. Then they said, “You realize that might not happen, right? That we might have to induce you, especially if you or the babies are in any distress, or—”

“Everything was fine at my last check-in, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, but things can change real quick.”

“I feel rushed, forced, and I don’t like it, Morgan. You said it was better for them to stay on the inside longer if we could help it. Let them stay in here as long as they like.”

“Roo, that’s not—”

“No C-section,” he said. “You can schedule it, but I’m not going to show up. I’m just not.” He couldn’t help the tears.

“All right, all right,” Morgan muttered. “I’ll move it back.”

“No!” Rupert cried.

“January 11. Allright?”

He let his shoulders slump. “Fine,” he said.

“Thank you,” Morgan offered. “You’re booked in for January 11.”

“Right,” Rupert said, and there was a long, awkward pause.

“So help me if you go into labor on Christmas,” Morgan muttered.

“And what does that matter?” Rupert groused, sick of the conversation. “You think it’s inconvenient foryou?”

With that, he hung up.

,

Rupert did not deliver on Christmas Day, nor the day after (which was not a holiday in America, which was so strange). He didn’t deliver the next day either, although Latisha said he was more dilated at each check-in.

That meant he was going. Or perhaps that the babies were coming. It was hard to tell any longer.

“How are you feeling?” Mama Thandiwe asked him the morning of the twenty-eighth. There was something in her expression that seemed almost … hopeful. Like she was going to share a secret with him.

He shook his head. “No different.”

She hummed. “Let’s go for a walk.”

“But I’m supposed to stay in bed.”

She shook her head. “Now the babies are coming. Walking is good.”

She took him by the arm and led him down the hall. They went out on the terrace and walked around the perimeter of the pool.

“Good morning,” Mandisa called to them from the kitchen. “What are you doing out here?”

“Strolling,” Mama replied.

“Mmhmm,” Mandisa said. “Well, breakfast is on soon, that’s what Charli says.”

“Good, good.”

They stopped near the door. Mandisa apparently had more to say, but Rupert put his hands on his back and took a deeper breath. “Oh-oh,” Mandisa said, “you got your pains.”

“It’s not that bad,” he said. “Not really that much different from before.”