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My words are surreal, but the situation is very fucking real.
We have been trapped in the elevator for fifteen minutes. In that time, the emergency lights have flickered on, but the person on the other end of the emergency calls I’ve made has been less than helpful.
I picked up the red phone on the elevator panel moments after we first stopped. He told me they were fixing the issue. I called him back again a minute ago, only to be told that he didn’t have an estimate of when they’d have the elevator moving again.
I slam the phone down and take a deep breath.
I turn to see Bianca doubled over in pain. “Faith. Please. I’m so scared.”
I am too.
I chase that away with a deep breath. I can do this. I can help her.
“Fuck,” Bianca groans. “My water. I think my water just broke.”
I gaze down to confirm it.
Yep. It happened. The puddle beneath her is proof of that.
This is inevitable. This baby is coming now.
I move to grab the flat sheet from my laundry basket. I give it a brisk pull and lay it on the floor.
“Bianca,” I say softly. “I need you to get on the floor.”
She shakes her head. “I can’t. I need to get out of here. I have to get to the hospital.”
“There’s time,” I assure her. “We have time. Please sit down and let me coach you through the contractions.”
Nodding, she takes my hand.
I help lower her to the floor of the elevator car.
“I’m going to call my friend,” I tell her in a soft tone as I run my fingers over her forehead. “She’s a doctor.”
“Please, yes.” She looks into my eyes. “She’ll help us.”
“She will,” I say assuredly. “I promise you that we are going to get through this together. Regardless of what happens next, I’m here. I’m here for you and whatever you need.”
I dig my phone out of the back pocket of my jeans and pull up Sadie’s cell phone number. I press the button to connect the call.
It rings straight through to her voicemail. “Sadie. It’s Faith. If you get this, please call me back immediately. I’m with a woman who is full-term. Her contractions are approximately four minutes apart. Her water just broke. We’re alone on an elevator. Please, Sadie. Give me a call.”
Once I end the call, I ring Sadie’s office and relay the same message to that answering machine.
I pull up Matthew’s contact info, so I can call him to tell him what’s happening.
“Now. Oh, it’s going to happen now.”
I turn back to Bianca to see her face twisted in pain. “I think he’s coming, Faith.”
I pocket my phone and drop to my knees. “Then we’ll do this together.”
She reaches forward to grab my hand. “You’re so calm. So, so calm.”
I squeeze her hand in mine. “I’ll get you through this.”
She nods. “I see why Matt loves you so much.”
I stare at her, tears threaten but I push them back.
I can’t question her about what she just said. I can’t do anything but help her deliver her precious baby.
Chapter Forty-Eight
Matthew
“Faith is in there with her,” I try to reassure my brother. “She’ll help her, Rome.”
He grabs hold of the front of my sweater. “Bianca must be terrified, Matt. I wish to fuck I was in there with them.”
I wish for the same thing, but I’m here in the corridor waiting with my brother while the woman I love is helping the woman he loves who happens to be in labor.
I took the stairs to get up to Roman’s apartment the second he called me, telling me had a sinking feeling that Bianca was trapped in the elevator.
She’d gone out to get chocolate, and when she didn’t return in fifteen minutes, he set out to find her.
He made it as far as the corridor with the twins in tow. That’s when he ran into the manager of the building. He was on his way to tell Rome that maintenance had spoken to Faith twice.
She’s trapped with Bianca.
They are alone together.
I tried to call Faith, but it rang straight to voicemail. I admit I was pissed at first because I wanted to hear her voice. I wanted her to tell me that she was all right and that Bianca was hanging in there.
Moments after that, we were alerted to the fact that when maintenance reached out to Faith via the emergency phone in the elevator, she cut the conversation short because she was on the line with 9-1-1.
She’s smart, and compassionate and if anyone can help Bianca, it’s my Faith.
I glance back to the open door of Rome’s apartment. Callum is with the girls. I called him to get his ass down here, and he appeared within minutes.
He was only a few blocks away in a meeting, but he sprinted here and up the eighteen flights of stairs in a time that would put both Roman and I to shame.
