Short Rides (Rough Riders 14.5)

She really was in shock. He’d never seen that before. “You can. You have to.”

“You can’t make me.” She sniffled. “And if you’re gonna be like this then I want you out of my room.”

“Like hell.”

Keely tried to turn away from him and tune him out.

Jack hated to poke the bear, but pissing her off was the fastest way to snap her out of it. He got right in her face. “So how’d you end up breaking your water?”

She blinked at him. “What?”

“I’ve been gone for a week. What did you do during that time? Were you tearing around on the ATV or out joyriding your horse, trying to get this baby here faster?”

“No!”

“How’d it happen?”

“I was just sitting on the bed and it felt like I kept peeing my pants. Then it just gushed out—”

“So you just...what? Grabbed your keys, left the house barefoot, in your pajamas, without your damn cell phone—again—and just drove yourself to the hospital? Why didn’t you at least call your mom? Or AJ? Or one of the two thousand other McKays who always seem to be underfoot—except when you need them.”

“I don’t know why...” More tears flooded her eyes. “I just wanted you. I wasn’t thinking straight.”

“Damn right you weren’t. When did you intend to call me? Right, how could you have called me without your cell phone? I swear I’m tethering that thing to your wrist from here on out.”

A spark of defiance flashed in her eyes. “Try it.”

“I live for a challenge. Maybe I’ll take your car keys away too, so you’ll have to call someone when you need help because you won’t be able to go anywhere by yourself.”

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“I’d do it in a f**king heartbeat. Sometimes your independent streak drives me insane.”

That got her back up.

Good. He kept hammering at her. “This is our first baby. I know you’re freaked out. I am too. Childbirth has come a long way, but there are still dangers—”

“For your information, buster, women have been havin’ babies all over the place since the beginning of time. I don’t need you to goddamn lecture me on what it takes to have a baby since I’m the one pregnant! You cannot just show up here and take over like you know what’s goin’ on when you—”

“So I’m just supposed to stand by and watch you fall to pieces? The baby is coming, whether you’re ready or not, whether or not you like it. So suck it up and deal with it.”

“Why are you bein’ such an ass**le?”

“Me?” he asked innocently. “I’m never an ass**le to you.”

She snorted. “That’ll be the day. But you have been less assholish the last few weeks. In fact, you’ve been downright mushy gushy with me lately…” Her eyes narrowed. “Hey. That was a trick, Mr. Know-it-all, storming in here, saying all that bullshit so I’d get mad.”

“Listening to you rant is a damn sight better than watching you cry.”

Her bottom lip quivered but she firmed it. “I hate you.”

“No, buttercup, you love me.”

“So? I still wanna punch your smarmy face, jerkwad.”

“I know.” Jack watched her settle and inhale a deep breath. He fought a grin seeing her hand was still balled into a fist. “But can we get back to the business at hand first?”

“Always business with you, GQ.” She eyed his clothing. “I hope you get baby birth junk and goo all over your snappy suit.”

“Now that was just plain mean.”

“I can start crying again, if you’d rather.”

“God no.” He reached for her hand. “Are you having contractions?”

“Yes.”

“And...?”

“And they’re random and they hurt like a motherfucker.”

“What can I do?”

“Tell Doc Monroe to get back here and give me a C-section because I don’t think I can do this the normal way.”

“We can do this the normal way.”

“There is no we. You don’t have amniotic fluid gushing out of your dick nor do you have to push something that weighs six pounds through the small hole at the end of your—”

Jack covered her mouth with his. Then he eased back to stare into her wild eyes. “Yes, we. Always we, Keely. Always.”

“I’m scared,” she said in a small voice that ripped at him.

“Me too.”

“Oh God, here comes another one.”

His mind went blank momentarily at seeing her face twist into a mask of pain. Then something clicked and he remembered what he was supposed to do. “Come on, breathe with me.”

Her eyes locked onto his as he led her through the worst of it. Then she slumped against him, burying her face in his neck. “I’m so glad you’re here. I can’t do this without you.”

Jack kissed the top of her head. “Every minute it took me to get here was pure torture.”

Doc Monroe came into the room. “Jack, glad to see you made it.” She snapped on protective gloves and sat on a small rolling stool at the end of the bed. “Let’s see where we are.”

The nurse said, “Keely, you need to scoot down so the doctor can check you.”

Keely didn’t snap off a snarky comment, which was unlike her, especially since she was friends with the doctor. She clutched Jack’s hand as she wiggled into position.

Jack never took his eyes off Keely as Doc Monroe examined her.

“Well, you’ve only dilated another centimeter since my last check. Since it’s been fourteen hours since your water broke, and you’re not progressing, we’ll need to put you on Pitocin to move the labor along.” She spoke to the nurse, who nodded as she jotted down the details.

Doc Monroe stood and removed the gloves. “How you holding up, Keely?”

“Better now that Jack is here.”

“I figured as much.” She eyed Jack—probably so see if Keely’s verbal lashing had left physical marks. “Thought you’d be in the doghouse for a lot longer, to be honest.”

“The day isn’t over yet,” Keely retorted.

She laughed. “Okay, Daddy, here’s the deal. You are gonna do whatever Keely wants, needs, asks for, to get her through the next couple of hours.”

“Hours?”