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“But I lied to you,” he finished for me.
“And I lied to you by omission. We’re a real piece of work, aren’t we?” I took a deep breath. “I’ve been to see a doctor. They’ve looked over my past medical history. They assure me that everything looks good right now, but there are still no guarantees. As the pregnancy progresses, the chances are stronger, but the doctors said that the next couple of months might still be rocky.”
“You’re really pregnant?” he whispered.
“I am.”
He was quiet for a long moment before asking, “Are you just here because of the baby?”
Annoyed, I pulled back. “Seriously? If I was here because of the baby, I never would have left!”
Laughing, he eased to his knees and pressed his head against my stomach. “I just needed to make sure. Jillian, I’m here for you. No matter what happens. I love you more than anything, and I’m going to be by your side. As your husband.”
“Good. Because I very much want to be your wife again.” Blissfully happy, I closed my eyes and stroked his hair. “It’s a girl.”
His eyes widened. “You already know?”
I stroked my fingers through his soft hair. “In my heart I know.”
He looked up at me and beamed. “She’s going to be just like you.”
“God help you,” I chuckled and bent down to kiss him.
In that moment, my fears fled.
Brendan was the love of my life, and we may have taken too many detours to get here, but I knew that with him by my side, we’d be able to get through anything.
EPILOGUE
Brendan
Six months later…
“Push!”
As the nurse began counting, Jillian bore down, trying with all her might to push my baby from her body. I held her leg up with one arm while the other supported her back, helping her to lean forward as she grunted and cursed and cried through the pain.
“You’re doing so great, Jillian. So beautiful,” I murmured as the contraction ended, and pushed her sweat soaked hair back from her face. Taking an ice cube from the cup sitting on the rolling table beside me, I rubbed it over her parched lips, wishing I could do more.
She licked at it, then sucked at the ice cube greedily, thirsty after nearly thirteen hours with no food or water allowed. I didn’t understand why. Damn doctors. So I grabbed another ice cube to offer what little comfort I could.
Her hand tightened on my arm, and I knew another contraction was coming. Tossing aside the ice, I resumed my position and waited for the doctor’s cue.
“Push!”
The nurse began to count.
Jillian bore down, and her hand nearly broke every knuckle in my fingers as she began to grunt and curse again.
This was terrible.
And there was nothing I could fucking do to help.
So I just talked to her, held her. Tried to keep my shit together.
“I want an epidural,” Jillian roared when the contraction subsided. She looked up at me and spiders of fear walked up my spine. My beautiful wife must have been possessed by a demon because the next word sounded like it was spoken by a devil. “Now!”
The doctor swiped a hand over his brow. “Too late for that. The baby is right here. You just need to push a bit harder.”
Jillian immediately began to sob, and I wanted to punch the man for being so insensitive.
“But I can’t do this anymore.”
On the other side of the bed, the nurse took over. “Yes, you can, and you will. In just a few moments, you’ll have a baby in your arms and all of this will feel like a nightmare.”
“It is a nightmare,” Jillian screamed. “There’s something wrong. Surely it shouldn’t feel like… aggghhh!”
“Push!”
Sobbing, Jillian gathered herself and I held her up as the nurse counted. “That’s right, baby. Push our child into the—”
A familiar sound came from the region between my wife’s legs, and I gasped in shock as a projectile missile splatted against the doctor’s chest.
Was that our baby?
If so, it was tiny. And brown.
“Get out!” Hands were pushing against me as I tried to process what just happened.
Then it hit me.
“Shit,” I murmured, still unable to believe what I was seeing. Literally.
“Get out!”
Jillian was screaming, pushing at me, clearly understanding that she’d taken a dump on the obstetrician’s smock before I did.
“It’s okay, honey. I—”
“Get out!”
The demon was back, looking at me through the eyeballs in my wife’s flushed face.
It made me more than a little afraid, but I mustered on, even as another nurse helped the doctor changed smocks and the first nurse wiped my wife’s butt with baby wipes.
Was this normal?
“Don’t worry,” the nurse said, apparently reading my mind. “It happens all the time.”
“Not. To. Me.” If this had been a movie, the lights would have dimmed and creepy music would have begun playing. “I want you… aaaggghhhh…”
