Our New Love

by Melissa Foster

  ***

  “I KNOW YOU won’t, Jack.”

  Savannah’s voice drew him back to the present from the momentary slip into darkness. He pushed away all thought except for what was happening right here, right now.

  “Do you want to walk or rest?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I don’t want to overreact to—” She squeezed his arm as another contraction hit.

  “Breathe,” he reminded her—and himself. As he breathed with her and the contraction eased, another one hit, and another was right on its heels. The magnitude of the situation hit him full force, and he was on his feet, settling her on the bed as he drew back the covers. “I need to get the water so it can cool.”

  He quickly brought the water into the bedroom and set it on a chair close to the end of the bed, mentally ticking off what else they’d need. He hammered the ice and offered Savannah ice chips, then soothed her through a few more contractions. His mind reeled a hundred miles an hour, as he pulled from every pregnancy and childbirth reference he’d ever read, of which, over the last eight months, there had been many. He could do this. He’d had enough medical training to keep her safe, and for the love of his life, and their unborn child, there was no way in hell he was going to fail.

  “We need to get your underwear off to see if this is progressive labor,” he said hurriedly.

  She wiggled out of her panties and put her feet flat on the bed, letting her knees fall open. “God, this feels so weird.”

  In an effort to ease her worries, he said, “As long as I’m down here,” and wiggled his eyebrows.

  “Jack!” She laughed. “What do you see? Is the baby coming?”

  He tried to focus, but it took him a minute to understand what he was actually looking at. The area around her vagina was bulging. He could see a wide swatch of the baby’s head. The pit of his stomach clenched tight. This was really happening. Their baby was coming. He remembered reading about asking the mother not to push hard until the baby crowns.

  “I need to wash my hands again. Whatever you do, don’t push.” He tore out of the room with Savannah’s voice trailing behind him.

  “Jack? The baby’s coming!”

  He scrubbed fast, all around his nails, in between his fingers, everywhere he could as quickly as he was able, and ran back into the room. Savannah’s face was scrunched up tight, her eyes slammed shut.

  “Breathe, Savannah. Please, breathe through this. Tuck your chin. Good girl. Now push, but not too hard. You don’t want to tear.” He widened her knees and remembered reading about massaging the perineum. How the fuck did doctors do this? His hands were shaking badly as he silently prayed for his wife and baby.

  “The baby’s coming. Jesus, Savannah. I couldn’t love you more than I do right now. You’re so brave.” Her private parts were spread wider than he’d imagined possible. The word miracle swirled in his mind.

  “Jack!” Another contraction engulfed her.

  “Okay, you need to push, baby. Grab beneath your knees and hold your legs back.” He hoped he was doing this right, but how many ways could there be to deliver a baby? It had to come out.

  Savannah groaned. “Hurts! I can’t!”

  “You can, Savannah,” he said sternly. “You can and you will. Breathe. Good girl. When it’s too intense, exhale through your mouth. I remember reading that you should push hardest when the contraction eases.”

  “I can’t. I have to push!”

  The baby’s head was crowning. With his heart in his throat and every ounce of him hoping he was guiding her in the right way, he said, “Okay, push.”

  Savannah groaned and grunted, her face deep red.

  “Breathe, angel. You have to breathe, too.”

  “Shut. Up.” She pushed again, and the baby’s head turned as it came through, facing downward.

  Jack’s heart nearly stopped.

  “Stop pushing! Stop! Stop! The umbilical cord is wrapped round the baby’s neck.” He worked quickly to unwrap the cord, being careful not to pull on it, while Savannah shouted his name over and over, crying, begging for details.

  “Okay. It’s okay. You’re okay.” He couldn’t find the right words; he was too focused on getting the baby safely out. “It’s good. The baby’s good.”

  Another contraction hit. “Jack!” she yelled as she bore down.

  “It’s coming, angel. You’re doing it. Savannah, you’re doing it. You’re incredible.” Tears streamed down Jack’s cheeks as one of the baby’s shoulders popped out, then the other, and then the baby slid into his waiting hands. “It’s…Savannah, we have a baby boy. Oh my God. He’s perfect.”

  Jack and Savannah both cried as he grabbed a towel with one hand while cradling their baby with the other, then dunked the towel into the sterile water, quickly cleaning the fluid and mucus from the baby’s mouth and nose. The first cry was like a sound from the heavens above, and as the baby screamed, he noticed the cord and followed it back to her body. Hell, she still needed to deliver the afterbirth. He placed the baby on her belly, safely nestled in Savannah’s capable hands, as he helped her. With the baby still attached to the afterbirth, because in his frenzied state he’d forgotten to sterilize scissors, he laid their baby in her arms and went to work cleaning up his amazing wife and their incredible little boy.

  He quickly removed the bloody towels and blankets, replacing them with clean, dry ones, and then, with both his wife and their child clean and warm, he joined them at the head of the bed. He kissed Savannah’s tears from her cheeks, kissed her lips, her forehead, her hands, all the while telling her how much he loved her. The love he felt for her and the baby was bursting from him in every way it could. He lowered his lips to the baby’s forehead. They counted each of his fingers and toes, and Jack swaddled him in a clean blanket, feeling their bond sink into his heart and become part of his soul.

  “He has your hair,” Savannah whispered. “Jack, we did this. We made this beautiful baby boy.”

  Emotion clogged his throat. He opened his mouth to speak, but his words were swallowed by the love inside him. He wiped his tears, watching Savannah as their son latched onto her breast for the first time, and he felt complete in a way he’d never imagined he would.

  “Angel,” he finally managed. “You amaze me.” He kissed her again. “Look at him. Look at you.”

  “Jack, you did this. You brought him into the world with me. You unwound the cord from his neck. You saved our baby’s life.” She smiled up at him with fresh tears in her eyes.

  Those words, and the love in her eyes, bowled him over. For fear of falling apart completely, he tried to joke his voice from his lungs.

  “See? He should be named baby Hallelujah.”

  She rolled her eyes. “What do you think of Adam James Remington?”

  “Adam James.” He liked the way the name rolled off his tongue. He looked down at their perfect little boy suckling his mama and whispered, “Adam James Remington.” He smiled. It felt right. “I think I love it.”

  “I know he’s going to be big and strong like you, and he’s our firstborn, so Adam fits.” She leaned down and kissed Adam’s forehead.

  “You want to honor my father?”

  She nodded. “It feels right to. He’s a good man, Jack.”

  “What about your father?” Jack asked. “We should honor him, too.”

  “We did. We gave him the most gorgeous grandson on the planet.”

  “Thank you,” he said, unable to quell the emotions tugging at him. “Thank you for bringing me back to my family when we met and for loving me enough to stick by me when I was so broken.”

  “You were never broken, Jack. You were mourning. There’s a difference.” She leaned in for a kiss, and he met her halfway.

  Adam’s tiny pink lips unlatched from Savannah’s breast, and together they placed their tiny bundle of love upright on her chest to help him burp. When that little sound came, fresh tears sprang from their eyes.

  Jack wiped her tears and pressed his
lips to hers, knowing that all he ever needed was right there in that room.

  —THE END—

  Dear Readers,

  I hope you enjoyed this free short story. I am so thankful for your support and love for our Love in Bloom characters, and I hope to bring you more goodies like this one in the future. Thank you for your continued support, and for recommending the Love in Bloom series to your romance loving friends and family. Referrals and reviews are the best way to thank an author, and I appreciate every single one.

  In case you’ve missed it, there are family trees, publication schedules, series checklists, and more available for download on my site:

  www. MelissaFoster.com/Reader-Goodies

  If you’re new to my newsletter and the series, here is a full reading LOVE IN BLOOM SERIES list (as of December 2015). Characters from each sub-series appear in future books. Love in Bloom books may also be enjoyed as stand alones.

  SNOW SISTERS

  Sisters in Love

  Sisters in Bloom

  Sisters in White

  THE BRADENS (Weston, CO)

  Lovers at Heart (Treat & Max)

  Destined for Love (Rex & Jade)

  Friendship on Fire (Josh & Riley)

  Sea of Love (Dane & Lacy)

  Bursting with Love (Savannah & Jack)

  Hearts at Play (Hugh & Bree)

  BRADEN NOVELLAS

  Promise My Love (Rex and Jade’s wedding)

  Daring Her Love (Kat Martin from Hearts at Play)

  THE REMINGTONS

  Game of Love (Dex)

  Stroke of Love (Sage)

  Flames of Love (Siena)

  Slope of Love (Rush)

  Read, Write, Love (Kurt)

  THE BRADENS (Trusty, CO)

  Taken by Love (Luke)

  Fated for Love (Wes)

  Romancing My Love (Pierce)

  Flirting with Love (Ross)

  Dreaming of Love (Emily)

  Crashing into Love (Jake)

  SEASIDE SUMMERS

  Seaside Dreams (Bella)

  Seaside Hearts (Jenna)

  Seaside Sunsets (Jamie)

  Seaside Secrets (Amy)

  Seaside Nights (Sky)

  Seaside Embrace (Hunter)

  THE BRADENS (Peaceful Harbor, MD)

  Healed by Love (Nate)

  Surrender My Love (Cole)

  River of Love (Sam)

  More to come...

  THE RYDERS

  Seized by Love (Blue)

  Claimed by Love (Duke)

  More to come...