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“I think. I have lots of experience.”
“Excuse me?” He’d been in the delivery room for exactly one of their two existing children.
“Delivered calves with Grandaddy.” He didn’t move his hand. A half-grin quirked his mouth. “Might have helped David deliver a baby in the back of an ambulance one time.”
“He’s early.” She moistened her bottom lip. If this was real, she wasn’t ready . . . and having this baby in Georgia had not been in their birth plan.
She was not prepared for this, anymore than she’d been prepared for the reality of Tick when she’d looked into those stunned dark eyes across that conference table nine years in the past.
“Yeah, he is.” He rubbed a slow circle over the swell of their child. “We’ll be fine.”
“He’s early, and my doctor is seven hundred miles away.” Her disbelieving laugh shook between them, and he cupped the back of her head with his left hand.
“We’ll be fine. I promise.”
Her lashes fell even as an inevitable contraction tightened her belly all over again. He cupped the taut muscles, massaging as the pressure faded.
“Right at a minute, three minutes apart.” He reached for his phone. “Is your weekender packed?”
“No.” Tears tightened her throat. They had an early flight home booked and . . . oh, my God.
Holy Mother.
“Okay.” He tapped out a text. “I’m grabbing a couple of Dee’s chicken salad sandwiches for real, then I’ll put your bag together. You want to eat anything?”
“No.” The whisper scraped through the tightness. Shouldn’t she be excited, rather than terrified? But this was not what they’d planned.
“Hey.” He hooked his hand about her nape, holding her gaze under his. “Whatever you’re feeling is okay and completely normal.”
“Easy for you to say,” she muttered, trying to pull her emotions together. She needed to focus, to get through the physical toil first.
“We’ll figure this out, the whole not being at home thing.” He darted a glance at his phone as it buzzed with a text. “We’ll be fine together.”
Fingers trembling, she nodded and brushed her hair back as he stepped away to pick up his phone.
“Mackey says keep tracking and for you to walk or do whatever keeps you comfortable. I’m grabbing sandwiches and coffee, and we’ll get your stuff together.” He set up the coffeemaker and pulled the container of sandwiches from the refrigerator. He glanced at his watch under her audible intake of breath. “Three minutes like clockwork.”
“We were supposed to call Alice at five minutes apart.” The breathing eased the physical discomfort and calmed her emotions as well. Their baby would be here, whether she was ready or not, just like his father had been.
“Mackey’s putting in a call to Shaw, the OBGYN on call.” He lifted a sandwich half, the rich smell of coffee filling the air about them. “She’s already on the labor-and-delivery floor tonight. Apparently, they’re busy.”
His calm demeanor settled her further. She nodded and slipped from the stool. Walking sounded great, and she needed a task to keep her hands busy. “I’m starting our bag.”
“Lay everything on the bed.” He called the command after her, words muffled around a bite of sandwich. “I’ll get the bag.”
“You’re ridiculous.” She didn’t point out she’d been lifting weights through her entire pregnancy. His quiet chuckle followed her, sparking a blend of affection and irritation.
She might kill him before this was over.
Chapter Twenty-One
Things I Love
“Lorraine, if you could not bust my chops right now, that would be great.” With a fingertip, Tick scrawled his signature across the online admittance forms, keenly aware of Caitlin’s bone-crushing grip on his left hand. Hell, was the hospital even in their network? They’d preregistered last week at home, and why was he worried about any of the random shit anyway? He was barely holding it together, and Lorraine seemed intent on getting even with him for everything he’d done since ninth grade.
First babies always came late and slow, but Eleanor and Eva had both been early and slow. And this was baby number three. Alice had cleared them to travel . . . and his son wanted to show up weeks early, with a frighteningly fast labor.
Putting her bag in the backseat of the Jeep, realizing they didn’t even have a car seat here . . . that moment had almost done him in.
