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She unbuckled her belt and opened the door, and in the few seconds it took her to do that, the pain and pressure had increased so much, tears came into her eyes.
She gripped the sides of the car and boosted herself to a standing position. The pressure lessened, thankfully, and Laurel breathed out.
Then wetness ran down her legs. She looked down, surprised, but her belly hid her legs and feet, and had for weeks. She wore a dress, so she couldn’t see if it was wet.
“You’re wet,” she told herself. Pressure built again, and Laurel gripped the top of the door now. She turned toward the fish shop, but Paul had gone inside.
A car pulled up, and Laurel took a step toward it. White, sharp, instant pain slid down her right hip, causing her to cry out.
She froze, her body’s way of telling her not to move again. If she just stood still, everything would be fine.
You’re having a baby, she thought.You’re not fine! Get Paul!
A man got out of his car, and Laurel yelped, “Hey,” at him.
He looked toward her, his step pausing. She had no idea what she looked like, but the wariness slid from his face in the next moment. “Ma’am?”
“My husband is in Mort’s,” Laurel said, speaking rather quickly as she wasn’t sure what would happen next. “His name is Paul. Will you tell him my water broke and we need to go?”
He looked to Mort’s and back to her. “Paul. Got it.” He took off for Mort’s, and Laurel appreciated the urgency. She had the thought that she should sit back down, get buckled, and be ready for when Paul came out, but she couldn’t make herself do it.
Her legs ached now, and a general sense of exhaustion overcame her. Her mind fuzzed as her head swam, and she held tightly to the door so she wouldn’t fall.
“Laurel.” Paul rushed toward her. “Get back in the car, babe.”
“It hurts,” she said, looking to him for relief. He’d always taken all of her pain and held it for her until it was fixed and gone.
He grabbed onto her arms. “Hon, you have to get in the car so we can go.” He wore urgency in those beautiful eyes, and Laurel tried to think through the haze still enveloping her.
Pain tore through her abdomen, and her face crumbled. She started to cry, once again hating that weakness. This pain. That she couldn’t unfreeze her muscles.
Paul got very close to her and said, “Baby, I need you to get in the car right now,” in his don’t-mess-with-me-I’m-a-cop voice. He sometimes talked to her like this while they made love, and she adored the fantasy he created in their bedroom.
Out here, her body apparently listened the same way it did in the bedroom. She sank into her chair, and Paul helped her get her legs in. “Buckle up,” he barked at her, and then he ran around the car.
By the time he got in, Laurel had regained her senses. “Sorry,” she said. “There was so much pressure that I had to get up.”
“You zoned out,” he said.
“I was in quite a bit of pain,” she said. “It’s subsided now.”
“Your water broke?” He backed out fast, and Laurel reached to hang onto the handle on the roof.
“Yes,” she said, feeling the warm wetness again.
He drove quickly, the tension in the car more than Laurel liked. But she was having a baby, and she didn’t want to get to the hospital any later than necessary either.
Paul grinned at her and reached over to rest his hand on her belly. “Your son listened to you, hon. He’s coming.”
Laurel had a brief moment to return his smile, then another blinding wave of pain burned a path through her. So hot and so quick, Laurel cried out and closed her eyes almost like she could avoid the pain if she couldn’t see.
When she woke up,all she could hear was Paul’s voice. “Come on, Laurel,” he said. Not the tough cop who wanted her to wait, and not the sexy, sultry voice of the man who wanted to take her to dinner. This tone only carried panic, and Laurel didn’t like it. Paul didn’t panic. Paul approached everything with an even demeanor. He only let stress get to him later, at home, when the situation was over and the doors closed.
She groaned again, her throat beyond dry.
“There you go,” he coached, plenty of anxiety still in his voice. “Wake up, Laurel. Open your eyes and look at me. We’re almost there.”
She felt like she’d been dropped onto hard pavement. Every muscle in her body was on high alert, tight and tense. As discomfort moved through her core, she remembered what was going on.
