Whispering Rock (Virgin River #3)(99)

“Please, God, no…”

“Well, if that’s what it takes…”

He lifted his head in time to see the cord had been cut, and the baby was placed on the mother’s stomach when this horrible-looking thing he knew to be a placenta came bubbling out. He thought, I’m gonna die. Right here, right now.

Vanessa made a terrible sound and he thought, see! She can’t take it, either! But when he looked at her, he realized that wasn’t the problem. With one hand on her big belly and a grimace on her face, she looked as if they were headed far too rapidly for real life.

“Oh-oh,” he said.

“Yeah,” she said. “Shew. It’s okay—we have plenty of time. We can watch the movie again and again, if you need to.”

“No,” he said sternly. “I am never watching that movie again!”

“Then you’re good to go?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t say so, no.”

“Okay,” she said, clearly ignoring him. “I think you should go take a shower. Clean up. I’ve been in labor all day, but the contractions are getting serious now and I’m going to call Mel to touch base.”

“Are you f**king kidding me?”

“We’re gonna do it, Paul. I know you won’t let me down.”

“I bet I will,” he said. “If I manage to stay upright through something like that, it’ll be a miracle. I’m talking miracle!”

“I need you,” she said. “If Matt can’t be here with me, I need you to be here with me. Please?”

Oh, goddamn it, he thought. She’s playing the Matt card.

“Please?”

“Vanni, I’d do anything for you, honey. But this is a mistake. A mistake.”

And she said, “Ohhhhh,” while she held her belly. He stared at her with wide, horrified eyes while she tried to get through the contraction.

So that’s what he’d seen on her face when he walked in the door. She was now having her baby and everything else was on the back burner. She was focused, like a mother wolf protecting her pup—not a grieving widow, but a mother. And she meant business. It amazed him how something like that kicked in. When the contraction passed she looked at him with clear but fierce aquamarine eyes and said, “Shower.” Then she stood, holding her belly underneath, and went to the phone.

Paul went to his room, gathered clean clothes and headed down the hall to the shower. He made it quick, but clean. He shaved. Then he thought, I am shaving—why? To be smooth cheeked when I pass out? By the time he was coming out with his dirty clothes to take back to his room, he heard voices. Male voices down the hall and female voices in Vanni’s room. And laughter—as if there was anything to laugh about!

He headed down the hall where there were men, where there would be someone sympathetic who could get him out of this. There he found Jack with David on his hip, Walt and Tommy. “Hey, there,” Jack said. “How you doing?”

Paul got right up close to Jack. “Listen, Jack, you have no idea what she wants me to do,” he said under his breath.

“Yeah, I do. She told everyone. Mel will be right out to get you as soon as Vanni’s settled.”

“You’d be better at this than me,” he said.

“Yeah, I probably would.” Jack grinned. “But I wasn’t asked.”

“I can’t do this,” he whispered.

Jack clamped a hand on his back. “Sure you can. You’ll be fine. Count your lucky stars—at least you have a midwife in there with you.” Jack smiled. “It’ll be a good experience for you.”

“I’m sure you’re wrong about that.”

“Paul!” Mel called. “We’re ready for you.”

“Aw, Jesus.”

Jack leaned toward him. “Man-up, pal. Or they’ll never let you hear the end of it.”

Reluctantly Paul went down the hall. Mel, grinning very happily, met him outside Vanni’s bedroom door. “How we doing?” she asked.

“Not so good, Mel. I’m pretty sure I’m not up to this. I’m very inexperienced.”

“All right, Paul, don’t worry. It’s going to be a while before the baby comes, and right now all Vanni really needs is someone to rub her back, help her remember to breathe through the contractions, maybe give her a damp cloth for her forehead, or the back of the neck really helps sometimes. That’s all.”

“I can do that part.”

“That’s good. If you can’t go the distance, that’s okay. Just get us that far, okay?”

“I’ll do what I can,” he said. When he got into the room he was very relieved to see Vanni, clothed in a gown that didn’t reveal anything, sitting up in the bed, cross-legged, smiling. So he smiled back. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine at the moment, thanks.”

“Vanni, you should have told me this was what you wanted a long time ago. I’m totally unprepared to do this.”

“Don’t worry, Paul. You’ll be fine.”

“Probably not. I probably won’t be—”

He stopped talking as he noticed he didn’t have her attention anymore. She was looking off into the distance, running her hands in circles over her belly, breathing in with slow exhales. And after just a moment of that, her face contorted and the breathing came faster, harder. Then there was some groaning as the pain seized her. As the crescendo was reached, it began to subside, back to the slow exhales and circular hand movements, then eventually it went away and she looked back up at him and smiled.