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She was the voice of reason, the one who would keep everyone sane. Instead, it was just me, and Mia was all the way in Beverly Hills. She had a guard who stayed on-site whenever Barrick had to travel. Sometimes she came to stay with us, but mostly, she stayed at her place so she could be closer to the dance school. I tried not to panic, but that didn’t stop my hands from trembling as I sent another reply.
Me: I’ll be there ASAP!
Mia: I’m scared, Daddy. My due date is still three weeks away.
Me: Don’t worry, sweetheart. I won’t let anything happen to you or my grandbaby.
As soon as I hit send on the last message, I brought up the only other person I could think of on my phone and started typing. By then, my entire body was shaking with nerves, and it was a wonder I didn’t drop the damn phone.
Me: Jesse! Mia’s water broke, and I can’t fucking drive. My hands won’t stop shaking, man. HELP!
Jesse: On my way, bro.
My best friend only lived down the street, so he was there to pick me up in less than a minute.
“Where’s Layla?” I asked, trying to distract myself.
“Lucy’s,” he said, weaving through traffic, driving like he did it for a paycheck. “I texted her. She’s calling Emmie’s assistant. Hopefully she can find a way to reach Em’s pilot and get them turned around.”
“Yeah,” I panted, the panic pushing the air out of my lungs at a faster rate than normal. “Let’s hope.”
By the time we got to Mia’s house, she was already sitting on the front steps. Her bodyguard stood beside her with two overnight bags in his hands. The man’s face was pale, but at least Mia seemed calm enough. Seeing that she didn’t appear scared put me at ease—a little.
Jesse hit the brakes, and I jumped out.
“Here,” she said, handing me a plastic trash bag and several thick towels. I stared down at them in confusion. “So I don’t leak all over the seat, Daddy.”
“Yeah, okay.” I put the trash bag down first and then the towels before lifting her into the SUV, while the bodyguard placed the bags in the back. He took the front passenger seat, and I slid in beside Mia from the other side. As soon as everyone’s seat belts were fastened, Jesse burned rubber again as he pulled away from the house.
“The birthing center is expecting me,” Mia said, rubbing her belly.
“Good. Good.” I raked my hands through my hair. “Good.”
My daughter made a little sound in the back of her throat and began breathing deeply. In. Hold. Out. Slow and steady. I watched her with terror in my eyes as she breathed through what must have been a contraction. But surprisingly, my own breathing mimicked hers, and I was able to fight off a panic attack.
In no time, we were at the birthing center and in a huge private room. The staff moved quickly to get Mia set up according to her birthing plan, which meantno epidural. Which seemed like something she was fine with…
Until the contractions started getting closer together and more powerful.
“Are you sure about the no epidural, sweetheart?” I asked, wiping the sweat from my brow while she slowly rocked in an antique-like chair while breathing through the latest horrible contraction.
“I’m. Sure,” she gritted out. “Was Rachel able to reach Momma or Barrick?”
“They’re on their way back now,” I told her, reading the last text I’d gotten from Emmie. It had been time stamped an hour before. Their Wi-Fi had been out for a few hours, but once Barrick had sorted it out, their phones had gotten hit with all the voice mails and texts about what was going on. They had been halfway to New York by that time, but at least they were turned around now.
The hope was that the labor would last long enough for them to arrive in time for the baby to be born, but as the contractions kept getting closer and closer, that hope dwindled.
Because of strict protocols, Mia was only allowed the people she’d listed on her birthing plan to be present for the delivery. Barrick’s parents were still out of his life, so that only left him, Emmie, and, to my surprise, Mia had put me on the list as well.
It made me happy that she’d thought enough of me to place me on that list, but I’d never thought I would actually be there for the entire laboring process. She’d even laughed at the baby shower and said she figured I would leave when she started pushing. I would have happily switched places with any of her aunts who were in the waiting room. All of them had experience with giving birth. They would have known how to help her through the pain, how to make this all easier on her. Instead, the staff refused even to contemplate letting anyone but the names listed on the birthing plan past the labor and delivery doors.
Mia didn’t seem nearly as concerned with having me there as opposed to someone more qualified—like Dallas, who was in the waiting room with Axton. Or Lana, who’d had five babies with no drugs. The woman was a fucking superhero if she’d gone through even half of what I’d witnessed Mia experiencing with every one of her own deliveries. It gave me a new respect for her, that was for damn sure.
Emmie had had C-sections with both her pregnancies, so this was all new territory for me. She’d been strapped to a table, and all I’d had to do was talk to her while the doctors worked their magic on the other side of a tent that separated us from her lower half. There hadn’t been any walking around the room or bouncing on an exercise ball. No rocking in a chair or a nurse asking if she wanted them to run her a bath. The most excitement from either of my children being born was when Emmie’s water had broken and she’d had to have an emergency C-section rather than her scheduled one.
For hours, I’d been at Mia’s side. Wiping her brow, rubbing her back, scratching my fingers through her hair to try to relax her. Feeding her ice chips, singing her lullaby when she grew tense and begged me to sing it. For the baby, she’d claimed, but something told me it was just as much for her as my grandbaby.
“I can’t sit here anymore,” Mia groused, and before I could help her, she pushed up from the rocking chair where she’d been for the last hour.
