Mine To Keep (Love By Design 7)

“No, smartass, I’m going to drive her in.” I clicked my radio off and leaned in to unbuckle Remi, pulling the strap from around her body. I had no idea how she had managed to get that around her body and clicked in. Right now the damn thing was a nuisance, and I had a feeling if I tried to cut it off, she might take my balls with her.

“It hurts so much.” She panted the words out, and I didn’t know what to say to her. “They didn’t tell me this part. I knew, but dang it, oww.” Tears streaked down her pale face, and I brushed them back. My hand was shaking, and I made a fist, pulling away so I could get my shit together. I had a feeling there was a lot about being pregnant the books didn’t cover.

“Sweet girl, why didn’t you call an ambulance?” I helped her out of the car and supported her hunched-over body. She waddled over to the backseat of mine, and I eased her down inside. There was no way I could get her upfront with my mobile computer and bag up there. She wouldn’t fit and that wasn’t me being an asshole about her basketball-looking belly. Pregnant ladies probably needed to lie down anyway, but damn if I could remember any part of my emergency medical training that covered this. It was likely I heard pregnant and tuned the rest out during my rookie days in the academy. Truth was we all kind of skipped the module on birthing, certain it would never happen on our shift. I mean, what were the odds?

“I-I couldn’t afford it and I didn’t want to bother anyone.”

I gritted my teeth, pissed but not at her. I wanted to ask where the fuck Daddy Dearest was in the picture, but that wasn’t something I felt comfortable diving into. Her dress was wet between her legs, and I stifled the unmanly gag in my throat. I knew this was natural, but it wasn’t something I ever planned to experience and hoped she was done leaking. I doubted I had time to get the blanket from the trunk. I was afraid if I let go of her, she would slip right back outside the vehicle. Give me a dead body, but don’t ask me to birth a baby in the back of a squad car; that was going to need a serious cleaning and detailing after this shift.

“Evaaaaaan!” Remi screamed my name and squeezed my shooting hand to near breaking point. Damn girl had a death grip on me that shocked me with the strength behind her tiny hand. Panic set in for both of us, and I forced myself to get it together. I wondered how this brave sweet girl had been managing alone. I was pissed at Andy and David; for fuck’s sake, they lived in the same building with her and worked with her every day. How could they have not seen she needed help. She needed something and they failed her. My anger was misplaced for sure, but it was there in full force.

“Shhhh. It’s okay. How um…how far apart are the contractions?” I remembered to ask her. I checked my watch to see what kind of time this kid was going to give us.

“I-I don’t know. They were eight, maybe five minutes when I left my apartment.”

I calculated she was maybe still at five minutes from when I pulled her over to now. “Okay. I’m going to drive you to the hospital. Vassar sound good?” She nodded her head, clutching her belly. She looked like she ate a bowling ball, but what did I know about babies? Zero. That was why I needed to haul ass, sirens blazing to get her there.

It took a bit of maneuvering to get her situated as comfortably as possible. I grabbed her purse and sped off down the highway, letting my sirens do the talking. I pulled up to the ER bay in record time, and a nurse was waiting for us with a wheelchair. We got Remi inside. She was soaked through and worn out as they took her inside.

“Sir? Sir?” A nurse wearing cartoon character scrubs called me over as they took Remi into a room. I tried looking around her, and I knew I should get back to town because I was one of two guys on duty, but I couldn’t leave her there all alone. I ran through my mind of who to call but came up short, realizing I was still holding her bag.

“Sir!” The nurse grabbed my arm, this time tugging me away from the exit door.

“What?”

“Are you the father?”

“No, I…” I didn’t know what I was to Remi except there was no way in hell I was abandoning her.

“Are you family?”

“Uh…”

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“Evaaaan!” Remi screamed from behind the curtain, scaring the shit out of me. I was the closest thing she had right then, and I wasn’t leaving her alone.

I blew past the nurse, figuring I’d let my badge explain later as she yelled after me. “I guess you are now.” I guessed she didn’t care as long as her patient stopped screaming and scaring everyone else on the floor.

Following them inside, I pushed my way through. “I’m coming, baby.” The words slipped from my mouth like they had been there all along. I didn’t know what any of it meant, but I was there and this was happening.

“I’m here.” I touched her hand to make sure she was okay. She turned mine over, squeezing. The grip of her hand was a lifeline I refused to sever. In this moment, I was hers and she was mine.

“Honey, you have to relax so the doctor can look and see how dilated you are.” An older nurse was trying to coax Remi to part her legs, and something primal in me wanted them to let her go and get their gloved hands off her pale trembling limbs. Eyes squeezed shut, she shook her head through the pain, biting her lip.

“Hey, stop that.” I coaxed her to open her eyes and thumbed her lip from between her teeth. Tear-soaked eyes looked at me. “Remi, sweet girl, I’m here.” I pulled her face into my chest and held her for a moment as another contraction jolted through her body like lightning stiffening every part of her. Small hands clutched me tightly, and her breath shuddered in pops against my neck.

“Miss, I have to check you and make sure you’re okay.” The doctor tried to coax Remi to relax, but she wasn’t cooperating. The pain seemed to leave her in this protective walled-off state. I didn’t blame her; I wasn’t a fan of the doctor myself, but I was no expert on delivering babies. Thinking about her hunched over inside her car back on the highway, I couldn’t imagine her having to do this on her own.

“Remi, let him check you out.” I moved to stand at the foot of the bed, but she held fast to my arm.

“Please don’t leave me.” Her lips quivered and sweat glistened her brow, making my voice catch when I responded to her.

“I won’t go anywhere.”

“Promise?”

I gave her a nod and kissed the top of her sweat-soaked hair.