I got Gina’s ice chips and hurried back to her room. She was likely to bitch at me for taking so long to get back. When I got there, her nurse was examining her under the sheet tent. She pushed back from Gina’s bent legs, peeling off her Latex gloves and announced that she was at five centimeters.
“Oh thank God! Give me my fucking epidural now!"
The nurse scurried away to do Gina’s bidding. She wasn't what one would consider a model patient. But then, I never figured she would be.
“Did you bring my ice chips?” she demanded.
“Yes Gina, they're right here,” I replied, setting them on the tray table next to her hospital bed. She immediately grabbed a handful and started shoveling them into her mouth.
“Oh, that's better,” she breathed.
“Really?” I asked. “Those ice chips never did much for me.”
“It’s like they make my teeth hurt so much that I forget about the fucking pain between my legs,” she gasped, crunching on the ice.
That had to be a "Ginaism." That's what I'd started calling her peculiar quotes and sayings she seemed to always be coming up with. I got a damp washcloth and wiped her forehead with it.
“Ty,” she said, “I just want to thank you for being here with me. Who else would come to my rescue like you have?”
“Really, Gina? I know of one person who would.”
“Who?”
“You,” I laughed. “You've always been there for me, girlfriend,” I said, imitating her New Jersey accent. “Hey, I called your Aunt Becky earlier. She said your mom's trying like crazy to rearrange her work schedule to fly down. She wasn’t expecting an early arrival. No one was, apparently,” I laughed.
“That’s me,” she conceded. “Never a dull moment, I guess.”
“That's what makes you special, Gina,” I said to her, taking her hand. “Listen to me. I want to tell you something that you told me a while back. "You're my best friend and you're like my sister. I'm here for you, always. Got it?”
“I got it, girlfriend,” she said, smiling.
The anesthesiologist came in just then bringing the long needle that would administer Gina’s epidural. I was about as relieved as Gina was that she was finally getting it.
My one ear had gone slightly deaf with the screaming and cussing. The anesthesiologist gave her the shot and Gina relaxed back against her pillows. I watched as she laid back and totally relaxed. Hopefully, she'd be able to doze off until it was time to push, which shouldn’t be all that far off. It seemed as if we'd been going at this for hours.
I felt my baby kick inside of me. It felt like he or she was doing somersaults inside my belly. This baby was quite a bit more active than Preston had been in the womb. My due date was October 2nd. Tess’s due date was November 2nd. I didn’t know the sex of this baby. I wanted to be surprised, just as I'd been with Preston. I rubbed my rounded belly with the palm of my hand. This pregnancy had been so much different than my pregnancy with Preston. I'd suffered bouts of morning sickness for months. The thought of sex had repulsed me. My only hope was that I delivered a boy. Somehow, that would make it all worth it. I needed to get back to my plan for the future. The plan that had dissipated once I'd become pregnant with Preston.
Just then, Gina woke from her momentary doze. Something was wrong. I saw the look of alarm in her eyes. I immediately moved closer to her bed. The epidural should've kicked in; she should've been feeling no pain. She writhed in agony.
It was then I looked down and saw the blood stain spreading across her bottom sheet. Her body started convulsing. I pressed the buzzer for the nurse. I heard the screams then; they were coming from me, not Gina.
“Somebody get down here, freaking stat!”
How About a Teaser from Book #3, "These Dreams?”
I took the elevator up to our old apartment. It was bittersweet that the apartment that Trey and I had once inhabited together had much better memories than our large, cold house in the country.
Gina had the door open and was holding Reese in her arms when I came in. She immediately knew that something was seriously wrong.
“What is it, Ty? You look like shit.”
“Thanks, Gina. Glad that I have you as my best friend.”
“What the fuck, girlfriend? I haven’t even seen you in more than a month. Not since you buried Marley.”
“Stop!” I shouted. “Do not go there right now.”
I had startled Reese. He started crying leaning in against Gina, rooting for her breast.
“It’s okay, baby,” she crooned to him, unbuttoning her shirt so that he could gain access. He latched on immediately, sucking loudly as he nursed.
“Can I use your phone please?” I asked.
“You came all the way into Atlanta to use my phone?”
“My phone died, Gina. May I please use yours?”
“Go right ahead. Are you going to tell me what the hell is going on?”
“I will. Just let me make this call first.”
Gina walked into the living room after she handed me her cell. I phoned my dad’s cell number, and once again I breathed a sigh of relief when he answered.
“Dad, its Tylar. I’m calling from Gina’s phone.”
The tears started flowing along with my hysteria. I didn’t know where to begin with him. We had no history together, but for now I needed a dad. I needed him.
“Honey, are you alright?”
“No, Daddy,” I sobbed. “I’m not alright. I need to come home.”
Gina listened to everything that I shared with my father on that phone call. I could see her tense up when she heard what I had observed Trey doing with Amber. She was nursing Reese trying to stay calm, but I knew that she was ready to go off.
After I got off the phone with my father, Gina got up and took Reese to the nursery. The same nursery that had been Preston’s when we lived here. How happy we had been here I thought. She returned in a few moments later having laid him down for a nap.
“Ty,” she said, her voice cracking with emotion, “will you please sit down and talk to me?”
I went over to the couch where she had gestured for me to take a seat, and I sank down next to her. I put my hands on my cheeks, bracing them as I tried to assemble my words.
Gina turned to me, and looked at me as if she hadn’t seen me in years instead of weeks. She pulled my hands from my face, taking them into hers and she swallowed nervously.
“I’m so sorry for what you’ve gone through these past several weeks,” she said to me softly. “I know that maybe I’ve been too tied up with Tristan and Reese to be there for you. I’m sorry,” she said, starting to cry.
“There’s no need for you to apologize or to be upset,” I told her. “This is my problem. I’m handling it.”
“I don’t think that you are, Ty. Look at you,” she choked, tears running down her cheeks.
“Well, excuse me,” I said, slightly annoyed, “But I’ve spent the better part of the day with horses and working in the barn, not to mention sprinting across the pasture after I discovered my husband kissing his junior partner in my house. I’m fucking sorry that I didn’t take the time to fix my hair and reapply my make-up before making my visit here.”
“God damn it—that’s not what I’m talking about and you fucking know it! You’re skin and bones. My God. Your eyes take up half of your face with the dark circles going on underneath them. You lost a child, girlfriend. That has to hurt.”
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Other Books by Braxton Hicks
Hungry Heart - New Adult Romance
Three's Company - Menage
Shattered Dreams, Book #1 in the "Dreams Series."
Shadows & Dreams, Book #2 in the "Dreams Series."
These Dreams, Book #3 in the "Dreams Series."
Dream Lover, Book #3.5 in the "Dream Series."
Hicks, Shadows and Dreams (Dream Series Book 2)
Shadows and Dreams (Dream Series Book 2) Page 40
