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“How are you feeling, Honey?” Brennan asked, leaning down and kissing my forehead. I was reclining on the bed, barely able to move for how huge I was. It was okay, though, because I want being treated like a prince, not only by my alpha but by piles of household staff members, just waiting for me to request something from them.Everybody should get this kind of treatment when they’re pregnant.
I rubbed circles on my giant tummy, stretched tight as a drum. “Fine, Babe. Not much happening yet.” I remembered very well what labor felt like, so when it started, I knew automatically what it was. I was much calmer about it this time around, because I knew what to expect and because an expert medical team had been standing by for a week, but Brennan was little harder to convince.
“Are you sure?” He pointed behind him, “because I can call the cavalry.”
I chuckled. “Calm down, okay? Everything will be alright.”
He nodded and took a deep breath, trying to listen to my advice. “I’ll do my best. I need to go oversee some construction on the west wing, will you be okay if I’m gone for forty-five minutes or so?”
I waved a hand. “No problem. I’ve having contractions, but there not too bad and they’re not too fast. You should have plenty of time. I’ll sound the alarm if need be.”
He held out his hands as if to pat the air in front of him. “You’re sure?”
I shrugged. “Sure, I’m sure. I’ll see you in forty-five minutes.”
He backed toward the door, slowly and reluctantly. “Okay. But only if you’re sure.”
“Get out of here!” I said, playfully kicking a foot at him.
“Okay. I won’t be long. Everybody’s standing by.”
I stretched out on the bed, relaxing as best as I could as my womb contracted, “I know. I love you.”
“I love you, too. All three of you.”
Finally, Brennan backed out of the door and I was on my own. I enjoyed the quiet, and even though it was the middle of the afternoon, the shades were pulled so the room was nice and dim. The softness of the bed was luxurious, and for the moment, I felt no need to move. My inner squirrel was satisfied that these were good, safe conditions to labor in.
I watched a bit of TV, weathering the storm as the contractions grew stronger and more painful every time. I tried to balance distracting myself and passing the time with the videos, while also monitoring my progress. Brennan would be back in forty-five minutes. Nothing much was going to happen in that time.
Unfortunately, what I’d heard about giving birth after your first child was true. This time, it was going much faster. Only, I hadn’t realized how much faster.
“It’s like these littles monsters are in a rush to escape,” I said to myself. Carrying two definitely put more pressure on the body than one, so maybe it was my body that was calling it quits. I got up, feeling the need to move a little, and went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face.
The next contraction was a whopper.
Things changed in an instant. One second I was napping, waiting for Brennan to come back, casually waiting out the early stages of my labor, the next I was in agony, and the twins were only moments from arriving.
I called out, but it was hard for anyone to hear me in the bathroom, and like a fool, I’d left my phone on the bed when I came into the bathroom.
“You two are troublemakers already,” I gritted out. I cradled my heavy belly, dropping down to one knee as the pain was suddenly intense, almost unbearable.It’s okay, Riley, you’ve done this before.
I pushed back up onto both feet, reaching for the intercom in the bathroom. I was only standing long enough to press the “call” button, then I sank back down to the floor. A voice came over the com, but I didn’t hear it clearly through the fog of pain. They’d only be a few minutes in coming to see what was wrong. I took a few deep, calming breaths. As long as there weren’t any unforeseen complications, the three of us should be fine. That didn’t mean I didn’t want my alpha with me to see me through the birth.
“Riley, I’m- Riley?” I let out the longest breath of my life. The alpha had to be psychic. The forty-five minutes had blessedly passed and here my man was. He kept calling my name, and the panic rose in his voice.
“I’m here,” I called weakly.
Brennan let out a long string of curse words when he saw me crouched on the floor. He crouched next to my, cupping my elbows.
“Part of the reason I have all this money is so that you can deliver the babies with like, you know, a state-of-the art medical team, not on the bathroom floor.”
“Tell your children that,” I groaned. “While you’re at it, tell them I could have used some pain relief, too.” The heated floor was nice on my bare feet, at least.
Originally, I had told the medical team to hold off because my instincts demanded space and quiet. However, in the blink of an eye, I was ready to push. The twins were not waiting. That same familiar feeling as when Holden was born, like there was a balloon full of water in my pelvis sinking lower, lower, and lower, let me know that the first baby was close to being born.
“It’s coming,” I told Brennan, squatting down on the bathroom floor. Pink-tinged fluid running on the bathroom tiles, pooling around my toes. Brennan put a couple of towels down, tucking the edges under my feet, keeping a hold of me so I wouldn’t slip.
The heavy weight sank lower, all while my insides squeezed relentlessly. I cried out again. By now the whole house must have known I was in labor.
