At least she’d gotten her parents to agree to let them have a quiet marriage ceremony after the baby was born.
“Stand up,” Dì Tam ordered. She stood next to Phuong and visually picked Jenny apart. “It is too bad you are pregnant.”
“Dan and I were willing to wait until after the baby was born.”
Her mother shook her head. “No, today is a lucky day.”
Jason reappeared. “Dan and his family just drove up.”
She sent him a worried look, hoping Dan and his brothers remembered all the intricacies involved from the red cloth-covered boxes containing traditional gifts to the proper order of entering the household. “Maybe I should go out there and explain things one more time.”
Her mother and aunt blocked the door. “No, stay here. We don’t want to appear to be too eager.”
“Relax, Jenny.” Jason came over and massaged her shoulders. “Dan and I have been over this a hundred times. He’s got it under control.”
The doorbell rang, and the house fell silent.
Her mother smoothed out the same pink áo dài Tam had brought back from Vietnam. At least it was getting some use, and it looked far better on Phuong than on her. “Your father and I must receive our guests. Do not come out until we come get you.”
From the confines of her bedroom, Jenny strained to hear the conversation outside. Her parents opened the door and greeted Dan’s family. Dan and his mother would be at the head of the procession. Maureen would ask permission of her parents for her hand, and Dan would present the first gift if they accepted, followed by each of his brothers and Paul. One of her cousins dressed in a red áo dài would receive each gift until they’d all been given. Only then would her parents send for her.
Heavy footsteps came down the hallway. Jenny checked her reflection, noting her flushed cheeks and full lips. She looked like a proper bride from the waist up.
Her stomach tightened again, bringing tears to her eyes this time. As soon as the ceremony was over, she needed to find a place where she could rest and rehydrate. But her parents stood in the doorway to retrieve her, so she told herself that could wait. Right now, all she wanted was to make her engagement to Dan official.
Dan’s brothers towered over her family, making them easy to spot in the crowd. They were dressed in dark suits according to tradition and stood in line behind him.
The glow in Dan’s eyes as she entered the room made her forget about her jitters. He looked at her like she was the most beautiful woman in the room, and her heart fluttered.
Just like he had at Chinese New Year, her father linked her hand with Dan’s. “We present to you our daughter, Hue, to be your bride.”
Dan squeezed her hand and followed her to the family altar, helping her down to her knees so they could pray for the ancestors’ blessing. Another contraction hit her midway through the prayers, this one more intense than the earlier ones. She bit her bottom lip to keep from gasping, but Dan noticed it.
“The baby?” he whispered
She gave him a discreet nod.
“How far apart?”
“No idea.”
“Then let’s hurry this up and get you to the hospital.” He stood and helped her up.
That was when another contraction ripped through her lower stomach. She clutched her belly, and dug her fingers into Dan’s arms. The pain lasted less than a minute, but the gush of fluid that followed made her head swim.
Her water had just broken.
Her mother and Maureen rushed to her side, hiding the puddle that was trickling down her leg and forming around her foot. “Babies always know how to make their presence known, huh?” Maureen joked.
“I told you this would be a lucky day.” Her mother wrapped her arm around Jenny’s waist and helped her through the crowd. “My granddaughter will be arriving soon.”
“I’ll go get the car.” Dan brushed by them, followed by his red-headed brother, Frank. He had the engine roaring by the time they got to the car.
Frank held the door open for them. “And here I was looking forward to getting to know your cute little cousins better,” he said with a wink.
“Franklin Scott Kelly, you will behave yourself,” his mother warned.
“But they’re so cute and dainty.”
Jenny wanted to warn Frank that her cousins just looked cute and dainty. They’d pack a mean wallop if he tried anything, followed by a not so pleasant reprimand from their fathers and brothers. But the next contraction took away her breath.
Jason and Mike’s car pulled up alongside them. “We’ll meet you at the hospital,” Mike said in his calm courtroom voice.
She nodded and turned to Maureen. All the travel and preparations for the engagement ceremony were wasted now. “I’m so sorry for this. You came all this way, and we didn’t even get to the dinner.”
“We will have time to celebrate later,” Phuong answered. “Right now, it is time for the baby. We will entertain our guests.” Then, in an uncharacteristic show of affection, she kissed Jenny’s cheek and turned to Dan. “Take care of my daughter and my granddaughter.”
Dan met her mother’s gaze and said solemnly, “I will.”
***
Dan sped through the traffic on the freeway, his gaze shifting to his silent fiancée every thirty seconds. Jenny drew in a sharp breath through her nose, held it until her face turned red, and then exhaled with a slow sigh. He glanced the clock on the dash. The contractions were about three minutes apart now. If he didn’t get her to the hospital soon, she was in danger of having the baby in the car.
And for a baby with gastroschisis, that could be dangerous. The risk of infection alone could kill it, not to mention the cold Seattle weather.
He rammed the accelerator until the speedometer teetered over seventy-five.
“Slow down, Dan. We don’t want to have an accident.”
“The HOV lane is clear.”
“And what if a cop pulls us over?”
“Then I’ll ask him if he wants to catch the baby.”
The words came out light and jovially in stark contrast to the dark panic sludging inside his gut. He’d lead the cop on a merry chase straight to Labor & Delivery before he stopped. He wasn’t going to risk anything with Jenny’s baby.
As the skyline of Bellevue appeared, Jenny closed her eyes and cradled her stomach. “I’m not ready to let go of her yet.”
Neither was he.
Even though his brain reminded him that this wasn’t his child, he was still connected to her as though she did share his DNA. He wanted to hold her, watch her take her first steps, see her off to the prom and graduation. He wanted to be her father.
But like Jenny, he’d have to let her go to her real father as soon as she was born.
He blindly reached over and held Jenny’s hand. “We’ll still be here for her. It’s not like she’s leaving us to go to a perfect stranger.”
Jenny nodded, her eyes still squeezed shut. “I know, but it’s just not the same.”
He ran his thumb over the top of her palm, knowing exactly how she felt at the moment.
***
Mike stood next to a nurse waiting with a wheelchair at the elevator that led from the parking garage straight to L&D. As soon as Dan skidded to a stop, he opened the door and helped Jenny out. “Jason’s parking the car. We called ahead and let them know we were coming.”
“Thank you.” After the adrenaline-pumping race to the hospital, she was looking forward to the slow roll to the delivery suite. “Is my OB, Dr. Davis, here? What about the perinatologist?”
“We’re getting everything in place for your baby’s arrival,” the nurse reassured her. “But first, we’re going to get you changed into a comfortable gown and see how she’s doing.”
Jenny lowered her eyes to her ruined áo dài. She must look like some poor creature from a horror flick.
Another contraction rolled through her uterus. She gripped the arms of the wheelchair and clamped her jaw closed. Perspiratio
n beaded along her scalp. She refused to scream or make a spectacle of herself in front of everyone. Even though it was more painful than the time she broke her arm as a child, it would only last for a few seconds. She could get through it.
“How far apart are the contractions?” the nurse asked.
“Three minutes,” Dan answered from behind them. “And from the look of things, getting more intense.”
How did he read her as well as he did? She’d been trying so hard to keep up a brave face, to be stoic and deal with the pain through deep breathing.
But the last contraction seemed to linger in the form of an intense pressure building in her bottom. It wasn’t exactly painful, but it wasn’t comfortable either.
By the time they reached the delivery suite, Jason had joined them. The nurse looked at the crowd of men, confusion hazing her eyes. “Which one of you is the father?”
Mike stepped forward. “I am, but Dan is her fiancée.”
The confusion only deepened the lines between the nurse’s brows. “Um, well, I’m going to help her get undressed…”
“Message received loud and clear.” Jason looped his arm through Mike’s and led him toward the door. “We’ll be out in the hallway until it’s safe to come back in.”
Jenny’s legs trembled as she tried to stand. Dan steadied her as another contraction ripped through her. White-hot fire burned along the bottom of her pelvis, and the pressure intensified. As soon as she could speak, she said, “Please, can I go to the bathroom first? I feel like I need to go.”
“No!” Dan and the nurse said in unison as they forced her into the bed.
“But the pressure…”
“Don’t push.” The nurse went to the phone on the wall and asked for assistance.
Jenny’s heart swelled with panic. She turned to Dan. “What’s going on?”
“When a woman in labor feels the need to push like that, it usually means you’re fully dilated.” He brushed her sweat-damp hair out of her face. “I can’t tell you how many stories I heard during my OB rotation about babies being delivered in the bathroom.”
The last thing she wanted was for her daughter to be born in a toilet.
No, it’s not my daughter. It’s Mike and Jason’s. “I’ll try not to push, then.”
Three more nurses rushed into the room. One of them opened a closet to reveal a baby warmer, while the other two cut away the pants of her áo dài. The nurse who brought her to the room strapped a monitor to her belly and started typing information in the computer. It was a well-orchestrated dance, one the nurses had performed more than once, and some of Jenny’s fear ebbed. Even if her daughter was born this second, the team would know what to do.
The nurses at her sides draped a sheet across her lap and then helped her bend her knees. One of them moved to the foot of the bed. “She’s crowning.”
Before she could ask if that meant what she thought it meant, another contraction slammed into her. A ring of fire burned between her legs. The primal urge to push threatened to overwhelm her. Every muscle in her body quivered from fighting it.
The door slammed open, and Dr. Davis ran in, half gowned. “The little girl decided to make an early appearance, eh?”
“During her engagement ceremony, no less,” Jason said from the doorway.
The nurse who roomed them handed Mike a gown and a set of gloves. “Since you’re the father, put these on. It’s the only way they’ll let you go near the baby.”
Jenny searched the room and noticed that the nurses gathered around the warmer were wearing similar gowns and gloves. Everyone was taking special precautions for her daughter.
She inwardly winced every time she referred to the child inside her as her daughter. It wasn’t hers. And yet, after all these months, how could she not be hers?
Dr. Davis finished tying on her gown and sat down on the stool at the foot of the bed. “Okay, Jenny, at the start of the next contraction, I want you to push.”
Finally, they were going to let her do something about the pressure.
Dan took her hand and kissed her cheek. “You can do this.”
She gave him a hesitant smile. He may have thought she could, but her strength was already zapped. The idea of pushing out a whole baby from such a small opening terrified her.
Another person in a blue gown and mask stepped into the room. “Am I too late?” he asked.
Jeez, it was turning into a three-ring circus. How many more people could they fit into this tiny room?
“Dr. Glanville, you’re just in time,” Dr. Davis replied. “We’re crowning, and I have a feeling this little girl will be out in one to two pushes.”
The other doctor checked out the warming stand. “We’re ready for her over here.”
I’m not ready for this. I’m not ready to let her go.
The next contraction interrupted her thoughts and blurred her vision in a sea of black and white stars. She heard the distant command to push. Dan and one of the nurses supported her back while she bore down. Fire flared through her veins. So hot. So intense. So breathtaking and dizzying at the same time. She poured every ounce of her strength into that push.
And then a clammy rush of relief followed.
As her vision came back into focus, Dr. Davis was delivering something to the blue-gowned people gathered around the warmer. Mike stood behind them, his camera angled down to record what they were doing. A weak cry rose from the noise.
“Congratulations, Jenny,” Dan whispered by her ear. “She’s here.”
“She’s so beautiful, Jenny,” Mike added, his eyes never leaving his daughter.
The crew of blue-gowned people started to move. Dr. Glanville pulled away to say, “We’re going to take her down to the NICU and get her ready to go to Children’s. Her father can come with us.”
The warmer rolled out of the room, completely barricaded by the army of nurses. Mike followed, and the room started to clear out.
They never let me see her.
The realization punched her right in the center of her chest. She’d given birth to her daughter, and she hadn’t been allowed to see her, to hold her, to reassure herself this wasn’t all just some bad dream.
She turned to find Dan staring at the door with grief tugging at the corners of his mouth and a wistful light in his eyes. He still held her in his arms, still held her hand in his, but his attention was focused on the child who’d been whisked out of the room before they’d even had a chance to know her.
Worry nagged at her insides. “Was the gastroschisis worse than we thought?”
“Not at all, Jenny,” Dr. Davis replied from her position at the foot of the bed. “In fact, it was one of the smaller ones I’ve seen.”
“So she’ll be all right?”
“I’ll defer to Dr. Glanville on that one, especially since she’s a few weeks early, but I can tell you I’ve delivered babies with larger defects, and they turned out just fine.” The doctor stood and removed her bloody gloves. “You got through this like a champ. No tears or anything.”
The praise did little to comfort her. She still wanted her daughter back.
Dr. Davis left, leaving only the nurse who’d roomed them behind. She typed away at her computer, not saying anything to them as she charted.
Jenny turned back to Dan and stroked his cheek. “Did you get a glimpse of her?”
“Barely.” He gave her a weak smile. “She has a head full of dark hair.”
“Pretty normal for Vietnamese babies.”
He nodded and stroked her hair. When he met her gaze, an unspoken promise passed between them, one full of love and hope. It soothed the ache in her heart and gave her something to cling to in the coming years.
Next time, it will be ours.
Dan was here for her, both now and forever, and in that moment, she was finally able to let go of the regret that she’d carried throughout her pregnancy.
A soft knock came from the door, and Jason peered in. “Are you decent?”
&n
bsp; Part of her wanted to laugh. She was still wearing the top part of her red áo dài from the engagement ceremony.
Dan pulled the covers up to her waist. “Come on in.”
The door opened, and the gentle roll of a wheeled cart followed.
“We thought you’d like to see the baby before we leave,” Jason said.
They brought the plastic incubator up to the bed, and Jenny’s eyes welled up with tears. A tiny baby rested inside. A blanket covered her stomach, but it couldn’t hide the abnormal bulge of bowel underneath. Tubes ran from the baby’s nose and arms, and the soft frantic beep of a monitor announced every rapid beat of her young heart.
And yet, despite the reminders that this was a special-needs infant, she couldn’t have been more beautiful. Jenny studied her face in awe, noting the almond shaped eyes and full lips. A pair of midnight black eyes blinked up at her as though the infant knew she was her mother. And the connection Jenny both feared and longed for formed.
“May I touch her?”
The nurse twisted open one of the side ports and nodded. “Just be gentle.”
Jenny reached in and stroked her daughter’s head. The hair was as fine as silk, dark and thick. She continued down until she got to the infant’s hand. Immediately, her daughter clamped around her finger, and tears welled up in Jenny’s eyes.
“I didn’t think I’d ever fall in love with a woman,” Mike said from the other side of the incubator, “but one look at her and I was gone.”
Dan stood up to see better and then dropped another kiss on Jenny’s cheek. “She’s as beautiful as her mother.”
Jenny’s gaze never wavered from her daughter and the tiny hand gripping at her finger. “Have you picked out a name for her?”
“Camille,” Mike replied, his voice choking up.
“Be good and come home to us soon, Camille,” she said softly before she withdrew her hand.
The nurse twisted the port back into place and headed for the door.
“We’ll send you pictures on the way over,” Mike promised before following the team.
Jason gave her a hug. “Thank you again, sis. You’ve given the world to us, and you have no idea how grateful we are.”
The Heart's Game (The Kelly Brothers, Book 4) Page 15
