Baby Come Back(33)

I felt like a hippo in my summer dress as I put in on over my head, helping it past my belly. I slid into some flip-flops and grabbed my keys. I tried to reach Tristan on my cell as I got into my car. My call went straight to voicemail. This was getting to be a bit too frequent to suit me. After I had made such a big deal of how I loved and trusted him, I couldn’t very well start calling others at the club to check on his whereabouts when he didn’t have his Blackberry on.

I tossed my phone over onto the car seat and started the car. The drive out to DeKalb County wasn’t bad once I got out of the city proper. It was a nice sunny day. The heat didn’t bother me now that I had my A/C blasting on high. I maneuvered the vent so that it was blowing on my face and neck.

Once I got to Tylar’s, Preston was up and immediately came running over to see her Aunt Gina. She was so cute in her little skort and tank top. She looked as if she had been getting a little sun. Her hair was getting long and it was up in a ponytail to keep her cool.

Tylar was kicked back on one of the two matching Barcaloungers in the family room. She had the flat screen on watching ‘Days of our Lives.’ Jean was clinking around in the kitchen. Tylar had it made in the shade with lemonade. Where the hell at that old rhyme surfaced from?

Jean poked her head out of the kitchen.

“Hi Gina. Would you like a cold glass of lemonade?”

“You read my mind, Jean.”

Tylar waved for me to take a seat in the other Barcalounger. I felt like a beached whale as I plopped unceremoniously down into it and pushed it back to recline. My ankles were a bit swollen so I tried to keep them propped whenever possible.

I started to say something but Tylar shushed me; her eyes were glued to the television screen.

She had a major crush on E.J. DiMera. She thought the character that played that role looked like Trey. I finally got her attention when the show went to commercial.

“I’m sorry, Gina. E.J. is just so flippin’ fine, isn’t he?”

“Yeah, sure. He kind of looks like Trey, doesn’t he?”

“Now you’re just being a smart-ass,” she replied.

Jean brought us each a tall glass of iced lemonade.

Tylar grabbed the remote and set the DVR to record the rest of her soap. She turned to look at me.

“Wow, you have really popped out in the last couple of weeks. You look like you’re ready to explode, Gina.”

“Thanks, Ty. I thought it was just my imagination that I felt like a stuffed sausage ready to burst out of my casing. I appreciate your confirming that for me.”

She started laughing good-naturedly.

“It’s all worth it when you hold your tiny little baby in your arms. Mine has been kicking the hell out of me all day. I’ve had to pry either fingers or toes out from between my ribs all morning.”

I had finished the lemonade and knew I would have to get up to pee shortly. I started rocking myself forward trying to get the lounger back in the upright position. On my third try, I felt the gush of water between my legs.

(Holy shit! Did I just pee in Trey’s chair?)

It couldn’t have been that because I still felt the urge to pee.

“Uh oh.”

“What uh oh?”

“I think my water just broke in Trey’s chair, Ty.”

“Oh my God!” Tylar was up and out of her chair, helping me get my soaked crotch out of the chair I was in. She yelled for Jean.

I asked Jean to get a towel when she appeared so that I could wipe up the amniotic fluid in the leather lounger.

“Don’t worry about that, Gina. I’ve got to get you to the hospital. You need to call Tristan.”

Tylar was starting to freak out which made me want to freak out. Tylar asked Jean to get a clean pair of underwear for me. Jean scrambled to do it.

“Where’s your phone, Gina?”

(Huh?)

“Hello, Gina?”

“Oh, it’s still in my car, I think.”

Tylar grabbed her Blackberry and called Tristan from it. Jean returned in the meantime with a clean pair of underpants for me. She helped me to the downstairs bathroom so that I could change. I was in a fog.

Once I had finished up in the bathroom, Tylar was waiting for me, her purse and car keys in hand.

“Come on. We need to hit the road, Gina. Stop dawdling.”

“Relax, Ty. I haven’t even had a contraction yet.”

By the time Tylar drove up to the ER entrance of the hospital, I was writhing in pain and had cussed out Tristan on his voicemail three times. I had managed to call my mother at work and let her know that it was ‘showtime.’ She had argued with me that it was two weeks early, asking me if I was sure.

“Mom, I’m pretty sure that when one’s water breaks it’s for sure!”

I was helped into a wheel chair and taken up to the maternity floor. Tylar had to wait in the visitor’s lounge until I was fully admitted and prepped. The nurse had examined me and said that I was at three centimeters. It hurt like a whole lot more than that.

Finally, Tylar was allowed to come in and wait with me. She still had not been able to get in touch with Tristan. She had called Trey but he was in depositions.

“Tylar - would you please ask the nurse for some ice chips,” I moaned.

“Sure thing, Gina.”

She was back in a couple of minutes, handing me the plastic cup with crushed ice. I immediately started crunching on it. It was something to do at least when the pain wasn’t racking through every nerve and muscle in my body.