Forever Mine: Callaghan Brothers, Book 9(56)
“When did the contractions start?”
“About four hours ago.”
“Did her water break?”
Did it? Shite, he didn’t know. Kathleen said they had to go, so they went. “I – I don’t know.”
Heaving a heavy sigh ripe with disdain, she handed him a clipboard. “Have a seat and fill this out.”
“No, you don’t understand, she’s -—”
“In labor. Yes, you’ve said.” Her mouth thinned into a tight line. “Childbirth is a marathon, Mr. Callaghan, not a sprint. Have a seat.”
“But—-”
“Have. A. Seat.”
“Now look here,” Jack began, about to give Nurse BattleAxe a piece of his mind, but Kathleen beat him to it.
“Jack!” she cried out, her voice ringing like fine crystal through the frenzied hum. “The baby is coming right now!”
That got the beefy nurse up off her ass. She stood and peered out through the sliding glass windows. She took one look at Kathleen and her eyes widened before she started shouting out commands with the authority of a commanding officer.
“I need an orderly, stat!”
Like magic, a harried-looking orderly appeared with a wheelchair.
“Get this woman up to OB.” The nurse tossed Jack a dirty look as if he had been the one stalling. “Why didn’t you say she was so far along?”
Jack clenched his jaw and swallowed his response, concentrating instead on getting Kathleen out of the waiting room chair and into the wheelchair. Kathleen grabbed on to him and gripped his hand hard enough to crush a few of the smaller bones. He winced when he realized how much pain she must have been in to produce that level of strength.
She was forced to break the contact when they turned the corner. The orderly pushed ahead toward the elevators, where they all crammed in. The muted Muzak piped into the car was at odds with Kathleen’s heavy breathing and sense of urgency.
“I love you, baby,” he said, brushing a kiss across Kathleen’s forehead.
“I love you, too,” she panted, “but I also kind of hate you right now.”
Jack chuckled with nervous anticipation. She didn’t mean it. He hoped.
The moment the doors opened on the fourth floor, the orderly took off like a shot. A short, motherly-looking nurse in scrubs appeared out of nowhere and kept them from following.
“I’m sorry,” she told them, “but no children are allowed in the birthing rooms. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the waiting room.”
“But what about Mom?” Jake was looking down the hallway where Kathleen disappeared from sight.
“Your mom is going to be pretty busy for a while, and she’ll want to know you’re safe and comfortable. We’ll take good care of her, I promise.”
Jack nodded, thankful that this nurse was far more pleasant than the Guardian of the ER. He couldn’t help but be disappointed, though. He’d wanted to be there for the birth of his third child, but he couldn’t leave the boys.
They settled into the waiting room, more than half-filled with similarly anxious fathers-, siblings, and grandparents-to-be.
“Why did Mommy say she hates you?” Kane asked as Jack handed him a Big Machines coloring book. The older woman across from them smirked; the guy to the left of him chuckled and tried to cover it up with a cough.
“Having a baby can hurt a lot, and hurting a lot can make people say things they don’t really mean.”
“But why is she mad at you?” Jake asked.
Kane shot him a suffering look. “Because Dad’s the one who put the baby in her, stupid.”
“I’m not stupid!” Jake protested, then turned to Jack. “How did you do that, Dad?”
Jack heard a few more chuckles. “Oh, look. A combine. Are you going to color it green for John Deere or red for Case?”
Thankfully, the distraction worked. Someday he was going to have a talk with his boys about the birds and bees, but it wasn’t going to be today. He wondered vaguely how Kane had known as much as he had. Kathleen must have given him the pre-school Cliff Notes version without going into specifics.
It was less than an hour later when a man in blue scrubs entered the packed waiting room and called his name.
“Mr. Callaghan?”
Jack stood and looked into the twinkling brown eyes of a man he didn’t know. By the looks of the surgical scrubs and cap he wore, he was a doctor, but not one Jack was familiar with. He would have remembered this guy. Young. Chiseled features. Too damn pretty. Everything about him rubbed Jack the wrong way.
“Here.”
“Congratulations, Mr. Callaghan,” the guy said with a smile worthy of toothpaste commercial. “You have a son.”
Seated on the floor in front of him, Kane and Jake high-fived. “Told you it was going to be a boy.”
“Did not.”
“Did so.”
Jack narrowed his eyes and fixed them on the doc. “I’m sorry. You are?”
The man laughed and extended his hand. “Dr. John Christman. I’m assisting Kathleen’s regular OB tonight.”
Jack took his hand, registering the soft, uncalloused hands. The thought of those hands on his wife didn’t sit well, doctor or not.
“Your wife is an amazing woman, Mr. Callaghan,” Prettyboy said with a smile. “Made my job a piece of cake. Obviously not your first,” he said, looking at the two black-haired, blue-eyed boys flanking Jack’s legs.