Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(122)

When it was over, she put the phone to her ear again. Sean was saying her name in a panic.

“I’m here.”

He gave a deep breath. “What happened?”

“I’m in labor Sean, I have contractions. Don’t freak out every time I have one. That is my job.”

“Okay Krista, I am closer now.”

“I’ll see you when you get home.”

“Krist—“

She pulled a Ben and hung up without saying goodbye.

She slowly straightened and started walking back up to the house. The driveway wasn’t steep by any means, but it wasn’t flat, either. She hadn’t thought of the climb up when she was lumbering down.

Halfway up she was winded from lugging her girth any great distance, and stopped to take a break. She had another contraction. Walking was unreal for speeding it along. She breathed through it, but had a harder time staying calm. Shit was starting to get serious.

More serious than the last time she thought it was getting serious.

She’d wait for Sean after all. She was far enough up that the little brick wall Sean talked about was too big to climb up and sit on. Instead, she hopped up on her car’s hood. There she stayed until Sean got home, two contractions later.

He came racing up the drive until he saw her, and then immediately slowed down. She wondered if he knew how transparent he was. Probably not. She waited patiently for him to get out of the car and walk to her in a measured pace.

His smile was radiant. Of course, he wasn’t the one in pain…

“Hey baby, how are you doing?”

She was. “I need you to start timing.”

“No problem. Let’s get you to the house and we’ll fire up the stop watch. How long have you been feeling contractions?”

“Oh, about five hours or so.”

His grip on her tightened spasmodically. He wanted to berate her for foolish behavior, but his voice came out even and positive. “You should have called earlier. That is a long time for you to be on your own with this.”

“I didn’t want to worry you.”

His jaw clenched but he struggled through it and remained up-beat. “Well, let’s get you inside and see how we’re doing.”

They were ten steps from the door when another wrenching flood of pain caught her. She sucked in her breath and bent over, trying to continue focusing on her breathing. Immediately Sean started massaging her lower back and cooing. The pain lanced through her lower section. Now it felt like the vice had her whole lower body under pressure, not just a few bits on the inside. The waves of pain radiated in pulsing, thick tendrils.

It lightened up, then stopped, leaving her slightly dizzy.

“Start the timer,” she said breathlessly.

Sean reached for his phone, tapped a few things on the face, and then resumed helping her to the door. He did not look frazzled or flappable in the least. He was sure handed and seemed to know what happened next.

Thank God because Krista hadn’t a clue.

They made it up the steps slowly, his arm supporting her. At the door, another wave crashed over her, stopping the progression, making her tighten her jaw and grip Sean’s arm. Stuff was happening that wasn’t supposed to, Krista was sure of it. No way were things supposed to hurt this much. No way.

“Oh Lord,” Krista said as it passed. “This is starting to seriously suck.”

Sean sat her down, telling her she was doing great, telling her it would all be worth it, telling her there were drugs at the hospital that would take all the pain away if she wanted. He was positive and excited. She was still scared.

Next, he took out his phone again. “Cassie? I’m activating the phone tree…No, start calling—the little vixen waited all day to call me…Yeah, I know, you were right…I don’t know, hold on…” Sean put the phone to his chest and leaned down to Krista. “Did you want Kate, Jasmine, and Ben there, or would you rather just me and Cassie?”

Krista felt things start to tighten and realign in the world of pain. She started breathing and ignored Sean as her torso tried to disengage from her body and stuff itself into a tiny box. A sledge hammer was banging against the bottom of her spinal column. She lost control of her breathing as the pain ripped through her.

She wasn’t going to be able to handle this. Too much! Way too much pain! People could not do natural birth through this! Something seemed wrong.

Krista whimpered Sean’s name and clutched his hand. Tears came to her eyes. This one was stronger than the last one. She must be ready for the hospital by now. There was no way it could get much worse! Maybe she was too late for drugs.

Oh no, what if I am too late for drugs?!

“Time,” she panted as the pain receded. The memory of the pain stayed behind.

“You’re doing great, Krista. Really, really well. That was six minutes and lasted for nearly a minute. Almost time to go.”

“You can invite the girls. Don’t want Ben to see my hoo-haw.”

Sean relayed the message. “Of course. Sure. Cassie?... Yeah, we’re really close. I might get her loaded up after another couple contractions. K-Jaz is a yes, Ben is a no for now…See you there.”

Sean stuffed the phone in his pocket and kneeled down to her. “Do you want to go look at the ocean? Would that relax you?”

“No. Let’s get this done. I need to walk around.”