Boss of Me

“What’s this?” I lift it smiling into her eyes.

She grins back, giving me a wink. “It’s my birth necklace. Ray made it. Each stone represents an energy she wants for the baby.”

“It will remind you of the love and strength that surrounds you as you labor.” Renée joins us, putting her hands on our backs. “So much good energy here. This baby will be blessed.”

I put my arm around her and kiss the top of her witchy head. “Thanks, Sugar Ray.”

She waves her hand at my nickname for her and starts for the door. “I’m going to make you some red raspberry leaf tea. It promotes healthy labor.”

Rocky looks up at me and grins, and I pull her close to me, pinning her against my chest. It’s a little harder to do now that Peaches is between us, but I still do it.

This one’s mine.

After a dinner where Renée brushes her sister’s hair, gives her tea, and then massages her hands and feet, we hit the feathers. I crash out almost immediately, but Rocky sits up reading. At some point she turns out the light, but it seems like only a second blinks past when I wake up confused.

Reaching to the side, I find I’m alone in the bed. I feel all around, but only a large puddle of wetness is where Rocky should be. It’s too dark to see if the liquid is blood or something else… then I hear a scream that curdles my blood.

My feet don’t even touch the floor. I’m out the room and flying in the direction of my wife’s voice when I’m caught around the waist by a band of iron.

“Slow down! It’s a contraction.” Marley’s at my ear, and we’re both breathing hard.

His face is coated in sweat, and his eyes look as frightened as I feel. “What the fuck?” I try to push past him, but he holds me.

“Renée said not to let you burst in there like this. She said it’s negative energy. You’ve got to be calm.” He’s talking f

ast, and I’m struggling harder.

“You’re not calm!”

“That’s why she sent me out here.”

Another scream from Rocky, and I physically lift my friend off the ground, moving him out of my way. My hand is on the door when it opens inward, and Renée steps out, closing it behind her.

“Let me in there.” I’m breathing hard, and my voice sounds like sandpaper.

“Stop this.” Her eyes are wide and stern. “You can’t go in there in a panic. You’ll scare her to death.”

“She can’t have the baby here… Something could go wrong.” I’m not above picking my sister-in-law up and physically moving her as well.

She puts her hands on my arms. “It’s too late. She’s dilated to ten centimeters. The baby is coming. If you try to take her now, she’ll have the baby in a car, and I guarantee you it will be far less safe and sanitary than my little birthing pool.”

The noise of all our breath fills the silence. My hands grip the doorframe so hard, I’m surprised I don’t snap it like a twig. “We have to bring a doctor here.”

I step back, but Renée catches my wrist. “You’re not going anywhere. Martin, see if Dr. Plimpton can come.”

He’s running to the door almost before I can stop him. “Tell him to come. Tell him who I am. Tell him I’ll pay him one hundred thousand dollars.” Marley nods at the end of every sentence. “Take my car. If that doesn’t work, offer him two hundred thousand.”

With wild eyes, my friend heads off into the night.

Renée catches my face and looks straight into my eyes. “This baby is coming fast. She’s in the right position, and Rocky is healthy and strong. There’s no reason anything should go wrong. I need you to be calm. She needs you to be calm.”

Swallowing my fear, I take her wrists. “I’m calm.”

Calm is not as easy to maintain as it sounds.

Visible relief washes over my wife’s face when I enter the room, and she starts to cry. “What’s happening?”

“I heard we’re having a baby.” I kiss her cheek, positioning myself behind her at once, holding her back against my chest, doing everything Renée says.