“I hope so.” My mind kept whirling with thoughts. “Oh God.”
“What is it?”
“Our quickie,” I hissed.
“What about it?”
“I can’t believe we’re going to meet our son after sex and without a shower.”
Rhys threw back his head with a laugh. “Seriously? That’s what you’re worried about at the moment?”
“I can’t help it. I wanted everything to be perfect, and now it seems tainted.”
“We can always stop at one of the Flying J truck-stops and grab a shower.”
I wrinkled my nose. “I think I’ll pass on a truck-stop shower. Although freshening up might not be a bad idea. As long as Keira isn’t progressing too fast.”
“Whatever you need, babe.”
I’m not sure how we made it the two hours back to Atlanta without having a nervous breakdown. Well, Rhys managed to shave at least ten minutes off our time with his lead foot. Thankfully, traffic wasn’t too heavy into the city considering it was Christmas Eve.
We screeched into the Emory Midtown parking lot and quickly parked in the deck. Apparently, the cell reception was fuzzy inside the hospital because we hadn’t received an update from Keira in the last thirty minutes. After sprinting from the car, we continued jogging all the way inside the hospital and over to the elevator. Once we located the maternity floor, we began frantically searching for Keira’s room number.
When we found it, Rhys and I skidded into the room before getting tangled up in the curtain. “What the hell?” Roland’s voice boomed at the spectacle.
After we burst out from behind the curtain, I said, “Sorry. It’s just us.”
“Oh, I’m so glad you made it!” Keira cried.
“So are we,” Rhys replied.
My gaze bounced from Roland to her. “How are you doing?”
She smiled. “Pretty good.”
Rhys’s brows furrowed. “Wait, are you supposed to be smiling in labor? I thought you’d look like something from The Exorcist right now.”
As I smacked Rhys’s arm, Keira laughed. “I’ve had the good drugs.”
Roland exhaled a ragged breath. “Thank God. I was just about to lose my mind seeing her in so much pain.”
A petite, grandmotherly woman entered the room. “Hi, Keira, it’s good to see you doing so well.
With a nod, Keira said, “Hi, Sandy.”
“Looks like we’re ready to get things going by starting to push.”
Keira’s formerly amused expression turned to one of panic. “Um, okay.”
Although I wasn’t the one about to push out a baby, my rising fear echoed Keira’s. Mainly it was the fear of the unknown that gripped me. I’d never been ringside for a delivery before. When Andrea gave birth, I was stationed out in the waiting room until after the big moment. With Abby having a c-section, I’d done the same thing. I realized I was about to get way more personal with Keira than any other member of my family. In a way, it made sense considering she was giving birth to my son.
When the stirrups came out and the blanket and sheets came off, it was Rhys’s turn to freak out. “Maybe I should wait outside?”
Keira shook her head. “No. It’s okay.”
“But you’re….” He appeared unable to form the words. Something about saying she was half-naked was just too much for him, least of all to see it.
“It’s okay. You can stand at the top of the bed and you’ll see the most important part,” Sandy suggested.