by Nicky James
Iggy snoozed off and on while we waited for our flight. I couldn’t. My mind was too active. I downloaded that detective game Anastasia and I had been playing and kept myself busy with it while the hours ticked by.
When our boarding call came at five in the morning, I sent a quick text to Phoenix since it’d been silent for a while and I wanted him to know we were going dark for the flight.
Arden: How’s it going? Are the guys there yet? How’s Bryn?
I cursed when my message remained unread. Iggy and I filed onto the plane and found our seats while I stared at my phone, silently yelling at Phoenix to answer me. I was about to text again and let him know we were leaving when his icon bounced down to the message I’d sent indicating he was there and reading it. The little bubbles on my screen danced telling me he was typing.
Phoenix: Aven and Finn just got here. Bryn is hating on life right now. Mom kicked Carrie and me out of the room. I think the doctor said six centimeters, so not much progress these past few hours. The guys are in with her now.
“They made it,” I said to Iggy, unable to fight my grin. “Phoenix said they are in with Bryn now. She’s only six centimeters. Maybe we’ll make it too.”
Iggy was just as thrilled and kissed my temple as I typed a final message to Phoenix telling him we were on our way before shutting my phone down.
It was all so surreal. I couldn’t be prouder of my sister for doing what she was doing. She’d been so amazing with Aven and Finn, and I knew how grateful they were to have found Bryn in their search. She’d shared every step of her pregnancy with them. Invited them to every appointment and ultrasound, and told them of every kick and food craving.
And they’d spoiled her. Finn especially. He always made sure Bryn was taken care of.
The flight felt long. I was too tired to stay awake the whole time and snoozed off and on while Iggy held me. When we landed in Toronto, it was seven local time. By the time we collected our bags, found Iggy’s car in the long term parking, and got on the road it was nearly eight in the morning.
Iggy drove us out of Toronto’s Sunday morning traffic—thankful it wasn’t a weekday—and got us on the highway pointing toward home.
I ripped my phone out the minute we were on the road to check for updates.
When none came through, I sent Phoenix a text.
Arden: Anything? We landed. We’re on the road. Be there soon.
His response came through within five minutes.
Phoenix: Still no baby. Mom said she is at eight or something. Soon I guess. They had to give her something for the pain. Screaming banshee. That girl has lungs. Did you know Bryn could swear? I think she scared Carrie. Carrie just told me we are never having kids. :(
I snorted and typed back.
Arden: Yeah, she’ll change her mind the minute she sees the cute baby. Girls get stupid for little newborns. Just wait. She’ll be telling you she wants to start trying tonight.
Phoenix: err… we’ve been trying already for three months. :P
My eyes bugged, and I whipped my head toward Iggy. “Holy crap! Did you know Phoenix and Carrie were trying to get pregnant?”
“What?! No! Are you serious?” Iggy gaped and flicked his gaze over at me a few times while watching the road. “That little shit is keeping secrets from me now?”
I grinned and texted Phoenix back.
Arden: Iggy is pissed you never told him.
Phoenix: Oops
“Yeah, right.”
“What’d he say?”
“He said, oops.”
“Yeah, right,” Iggy agreed. “How’s Bryn?”
“No baby yet. Close.”
We continued in silence for a long time with the radio our only company—some station playing the top one hundred countdown of today’s hits. I was antsy and had trouble sitting still. My phone game no longer entertained me, and the passing forests and barren fields were nothing to look at.
Iggy pulled over for gas at one point and came back with a paper bag from the diner next door.
“Breakfast for me. You should eat something, too,” he said.
“I’m not hungry. I’m too anxious. My tummy is all mixed up.”
“You can’t neglect eating, Arden. Do you have any baggies left?”
Before we got back on the road, I searched inside my bag and came up with a bottle of Ensure and the last small baggie of dried cereal.
“Is there any fruit? I can grab you something from the store. They have little snack packs of dried cranberries or raisins.”
I nibbled my lip and considered. Dried mangos, apricots, banana slices, and apples were the only dried fruit I’d eaten to date. Iggy’s gaze was heavy and concerning, and I knew I should try.
“Cereal is enough.”
“It’s not, and you know it. You need to hit your calorie limit.”
I groaned internally.
“Okay fine. I’ll try them. Cranberries. But I make no promises. I’m already a little nauseous from all the excitement and lack of sleep.”
“All the more reason to keep your food intake up. You’ll need extra calories to get through this long day.”
“Do they sell protein drinks?” I asked. “I’m down to my last Ensure. I can probably drink better than I can eat.”
“They probably have something similar. You okay with that?”
I blew out a breath and shrugged. “I’ll try.”
Iggy kissed my cheek before returning back into the store. I tried hard not to be disagreeable too often. I knew the consequences of not eating, and I’d worked hard to get myself stronger and healthier.
Back on the road, Iggy and I ate in silence for the following half an hour. I picked at my Fruit Loops, avoiding the cranberries while doing everything to ignore the clenching in my stomach and sweat blistering my skin under my hoodie.
It was stress. Plain and simple.
When I finished my Ensure and cereal, I poked at the package of dried fruit without opening it. What I’d eaten was already sitting like a boulder in my gut. I wasn’t sure I could handle more. Especially something new.
Iggy was focused on the road, so I shoved the cranberries in my pocket, hoping he’d forget about them. I didn’t want to tempt fate and end up bringing up my whole breakfast while we were racing to the hospital. Pulling over would just slow us down.
Iggy didn’t say anything, but I figured I probably hadn’t fooled him. It wasn’t like I inhaled my food and could have eaten them all while he wasn’t looking. Something new like the cranberries would take me close to an hour to get through.
We were half an hour away from Dewhurst when the call came. My phone vibrated in the middle console, and I scrambled to answer it. The display read: Phoenix.
“Hello?”
“Hey, they just took her into delivery. Where are you guys? Are you close?”
I squealed and darted my gaze at Iggy, hissing, “They took her to delivery.” Then to Phoenix I said, “We’re almost there. Thirty minutes-ish. Is Mom with her?”
“No. Mom’s in the waiting room with me and Carrie. Dad came up too. Too many people. They are only letting the dads in.”
“Okay. Wow. Keep me posted. Is Bryn okay?”
“Dude, she’s having a baby. The whole third floor knows it too. Probably the whole hospital with those lungs. Man, that girl can scream.”
Poor Bryn.
I hung up and relayed the update to Iggy, prompting him to drive faster. Thank goodness for Sunday traffic, I thought for the hundredth time.
We hit Dewhurst in record time, and Iggy took us down some backroads to get to the hospital faster. His years driving an ambulance worked in his favor since he knew all the shortcuts.
He parked in the Emergency lot, and we ran full tilt to the entrance. I could barely keep up with Iggy’s long legs. Every one of his strides equaled two of mine, and by the time we made it to the elevator, I was huffing and puffing.
On the third floor, we found Phoenix, his wife, Carrie, my mom,
my dad, and my baby brother, Forest, in the waiting room.
“Anything?” I panted, out of breath, my gaze darting from one person to the next looking for answers.
A scream pealed down the hallway, and my eyes widened. “Oh my God. Is that her?”
“Arden, language,” my father growled.
I slapped a hand over my mouth, cursing under my breath and remembering who I was with. “I meant, holy poop, is that Bryn?”
“Yup,” Phoenix said looking about three shades paler than usual.
“She’ll be fine,” Mom explained, rubbing Phoenix’s arm. “I did this nine times and made it through. And once was with twins.” Her gaze landed on me and caused a pinch in my chest at the reminder of Ivory’s absence. “It’s an experience, but it’s worth it.”
“Birth is actually quite an amazing thing to witness,” Iggy added, stroking my back to help keep me calm.
“How the hell—eck,” I grimaced at Dad’s stern face. “How the heck would you know?”
“I delivered a baby in the back of the ambulance once. That was one crazy day. That woman delivered fast. Her water broke, and she went into such intense contractions, one after another, her husband called an ambulance. She was in labor for twenty-one minutes total. I’ll never forget that day. Delivered that baby a block from the hospital.”
“Wow.”
My family and me all stared at Iggy, equally mesmerized by his story. I was in awe of my boyfriend. Sometimes I forgot what kind of things he could encounter in a regular day on the job.
Another scream pierced the room, and Carrie’s eyes skittered to Phoenix. She nudged him and clutched her belly. “You better hope I’m not pregnant. I can’t do that.”
“Yes, you can,” Mom assured her.
A second scream rolled into the first and Phoenix took Carrie into his arms. She peered up at him and shook her head. “Nope. We are never having sex again.”
Phoenix’s eyes bugged, and he dashed his gaze to Mom and back to Carrie, hissing, “My parents are right there. Can we not discuss our sex life?”
Carrie buried her head against his chest and I thought by the way her shoulders bounced and her ears colored pink that she was laughing with embarrassment.
“How long until it comes out?” I asked, not really knowing the timeline of these things. “I mean, Phoenix said she’s in delivery. So how long does the pushing it out part usually take?”
“Depends,” Mom said. “It’s her first. If the baby is in the right position, she could be fast, or it could take her to push awhile. Barring complications, she should be fine, but if she or the baby end up in distress, they’ll perform a c-section.”
“Let’s pray,” Dad said, pulling the gathered family close together.
I clung to Iggy’s hand and dipped my chin to my chest as Dad led us through a prayer. The echoes of Bryn’s labor rang through every now and again, and I squeezed Iggy a little tighter and prayed a little harder for Bryn to get through this soon.
“Mom,” Forest asked when the prayer ended. “How is the baby coming out exactly?”
Forest was just shy of nine and the last of the McMillan kids to be born. We’d all been through this and seen Mom off to the hospital to deliver our siblings, so we’d all asked those questions long ago and learned the answers when we were little.
“Come on. We can go get a treat from the cafeteria and I’ll explain,” Mom said, taking Forest’s hand.
The rest of us found seats and proceeded to wait for news about Bryn. Just as we settled in, I realized there were two other women in the waiting room as well, sitting off to the side. Both women were older, but they watched our small group with wide smiles and soft glimmers in their eyes. I got the sense they were there for the same reason we were—and possibly the same baby.
I racked my brain, trying to remember who all Finn and Aven had talked about as being part of their combined families. I knew from group therapy that Finn’s parents were both gone, but Aven had a mom who lived in town I thought.
“Are one of you Aven’s mom?” I asked.
The woman with the silver-streaked auburn hair and blue eyes raised her hand and gave a small wave. “That’s me.”
“And I’m Maggie, Finnley’s surrogate mother,” the other woman said.
I smiled with my eyes and a faint quirk in my lip, glad to see they’d made it for the birth of their grandchild. “You must be excited.”
“First grandchild,” Aven’s mom declared. “Thrilled. I can’t wait to meet the baby.”
“Any guesses on the sex of the baby?”
Maggie grinned. “My money is on a girl.”
Iggy chuckled. “We better hope it’s a girl. As of last night, there was still no boy name chosen.”
Maggie’s eyes grew. “Oh, they picked a girl name finally, did they?”
I shrugged, realizing only then that Aven and Finn hadn’t shared what it was. They’d told everyone at dinner they just needed to pick a boy name.
“I guess, but no clue what it is. I think they’re being secretive.”
Maggie laughed. “That’s Finn for you.”
We all waited.
And waited.
And waited for this new baby to finally make an appearance.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Grayson
Beck disappeared Sunday morning before I could drag his ass to the gym. We’d slept late, and by the time I noticed the hour, Beck was out of bed and scrambling to get dressed. I deduced it had something to do with his Top Secret Mission. When he claimed he was going to grab breakfast somewhere locally, then grabbed his wallet, phone, and jacket and started texting as he walked out the door, I knew it was bullshit.
Apparently, I was a fool and too stupid to see he was up to something. Sure, he’d probably come back with breakfast, but it was plainly obvious he had an ulterior motive.
Knowing Beck, I just had to ride it out until he decided I was allowed to be in the know.
Not spending any time worrying over it, I hopped in a shower and cleaned up our room, packing up our bags so we were ready to head to the airport later.
By the time I was clean and our room spotless, an hour had passed, and Beck was nowhere to be found.
“Yeah, right. Local diner my ass,” I mumbled as I stared at my phone and wondered if I should send him a text. He knew what it did to me when the schedule got messed up. I couldn’t pull my thoughts away from the time and the passing minutes.
The last thing I wanted to do was fall into old habits and become obsessed, counting the ticking minutes as they passed, and worrying if they were going too fast or too slow.
He knew better than to mess with my head like this. “If you’re going to be gone an hour, say you’re going to be gone an hour.” Otherwise, things warped and shifted in my head.
Fuck! I threaded fingers through my damp hair and searched for something to do while I waited. Being stationary was never good. Being alone and on the verge of an anxiety attack was worse.
Instead of letting my panic consume me, I pulled up Maria’s number on my phone—Beck’s close friend and the woman who helped run his shop back home. She’d taken responsibility of the Beatles while we were gone, and we hadn’t checked in with her yet. There was a high chance she’d been taken prisoner by Beck’s psychotic cat, Ringo, when she’d gone over to feed them, never to see the light of day again.
I tapped the call button and waited.
“Grayson! Hey, sweetie, how're things going in big bad Edmonton?”
“Hi, Maria. Not bad. The conference part I’m in is all finished. We’re just getting ready to head to Mom and Dad’s. Well, I’m getting ready. Beck fucked off somewhere I’m not allowed to know about.”
Maria squeaked and giggled. “Oh, that devil. I told him to tell you he was grabbing breakfast.”
“Wait. What?! You know about this?”
“Grayson, sweetie, I know everything. Beck’s just an idiot. You know this. Are you excited to see your parents?�
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“Do not change the subject. Why do you know something I don’t? Have you talked to Beck?”
“He called to see how the Beatles were doing last night. You were sleeping. He claimed he sexed you up and wore you out.”
“He did not… okay, maybe he did. Not the point. What do you know? Talk woman.”
Maria tsked. “I’m not a snitch. Don’t worry your sexy head over it. That man loves you. It’s nothing bad.”
“I hate you. And here I was concerned for your safety. I hope Ringo eats you.”
Her high-pitched laugh rang through the phone, and I sneered even though she couldn’t see me.
“Oh, Gray. Go enjoy some time off with your man. Your pets are all fine. And Ringo knows better than to fuck with a woman like me.”
I sighed just as the door to our room opened and Beck came through, arms loaded with paper bags filled with breakfast foods. The smell of bacon, syrup, pancakes, hash browns, and toast wafted like a cloud into the room with him.
“So, he’s back. I’m gonna let you go.”
“Did he at least bring breakfast?” Maria asked.
“Yeah, which will save him for now. However, based on smells, I’m thinking he’s gonna owe me about an hour of extra gym time.” I said the last part loud enough to earn a look of death from Beck.
“Fuck’s sake,” he muttered as he unloaded the bags with all the food he’d bought. “You try to do a nice thing for a guy.”
I chuckled. “All right. Take care, Maria.”
“Love you guys. Hey, Gray?”
“Yeah?”
“Call me when you figure out what Mr. Obvious is up to, okay?”
“Sure.” I hung up and racked my brain for reasons or answers but came up dry. Mr. Obvious? Maria implied I should know what Beck was doing, but I was honestly clueless.
“It took you an hour to get food? Where the hell did you go? Calgary?”
“Shut up and eat. They were busy.”
