by Maya Banks
“But if they’ve gotten stronger, isn’t that something that should be of concern?”
Lauren couldn’t keep the anxiety out of her voice. She wanted to go and get Lily’s husbands, or at least one of them, but she didn’t want to rat Lily out. Even if Lauren was very concerned over these contractions.
Lily shook her head. “I don’t think so. With Rose, I definitely knew when it was time. They were stronger with time and more regular.”
“Uhm, Lily, I hate to be the one to point this out to you, but you just said they were getting stronger. If they were Braxton Hicks, they wouldn’t be stronger. And you know not every pregnancy and birth is the same. Haven’t you listened to Holly’s stories of when her children were born? No two were ever the same, which is why of the four, only one was born in a hospital!”
Lily started to speak, but then her eyes widened and they both looked down as moisture seeped into the bed, dampening the sheets.
“Oh no,” Lily breathed out. “I think my water just broke.”
CHAPTER 4
LAUREN raced from Lily’s bedroom and into the living room, where Michael was sitting. Seth and Dillon were both still in town but thankfully, town was only a few minutes away.
Michael looked up with a frown when Lauren screeched to a halt in front of him. “Lauren? What’s wrong?”
“It’s Lily,” she said breathlessly.
Michael was on his feet before she got it all out. She put her hand out to his arm to restrain him. She hated the fear in his eyes. The instant panic. And she wanted to reassure him. She shouldn’t have freaked out but oh my God, Lily was in labor. Here. Not in a hospital, but here.
“She’s in labor, Michael. Probably has been for a while. Her water just broke. But she didn’t know. Don’t be angry with her.”
Michael stared at her in stupefaction. “Angry? Why the hell would I be angry with her?”
His expression softened and he purposely bit back a further response. She ducked her head because she knew none of the Colters were anything like Joel. They’d never hurt a woman. But her instinct was to protect someone she cared a great deal about. She didn’t want any of the Colters angry with Lily over the fact she’d be granted her fondest wish. To give birth to their child in her home.
Michael squeezed her hand and smiled. “It’ll be okay, Lauren. Can you do me a favor, please? Can you call Seth and Dillon and then call my mom and the dads? Let them know what’s going on, and tell them to hurry. I need to go check Lily and see just how close she is.”
Lauren nodded vigorously and was already reaching for her cell phone when Michael strode away toward the bedroom where Lily lay.
Michael entered the bedroom to see Lily struggling to get out of bed. She was prying the wet sheet away with a grimace and then she bent over, holding her stomach, her entire face beaded with strain.
“Baby,” Michael said lovingly as he went to her, holding and supporting her as she breathed through a contraction.
She glanced up, her eyes wide with fear. “I wasn’t afraid before, Michael. I wasn’t! But oh God, it’s real. It’s here. What do I do?”
The panic in her voice hit him right in the chest, and he went absolutely soft with love. For her. For their child.
He hugged her to him, placing his splayed palm over her still-rippling belly.
“We’re going to have a baby,” he said cheerfully.
She looked at him with such relief in her eyes that it gutted him.
“First thing we need to do is strip these sheets off the bed and get you into something dry and warm. Then I’m going to see just how far along in this process you are.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?” Lauren asked from the door.
Michael turned to see a very worried Lauren standing there.
“I called everyone. They’re freaking out but they’re on their way. All of them.”
Michael nodded. “Can you help Lily into a new gown while I strip off the sheets and replace them?”
Lauren rushed forward and took Lily’s arm, guiding her toward the chest of drawers where her nightclothes were folded. Michael made quick work of the bed and then positioned the pillows so she’d have plenty of back support. When the others got there, he’d put Dillon and Seth on point to give her all the support she needed.
Right now he was going to do everything in his power to ensure that Lily was calm, even if he was about to lose his fucking mind.
Give him an animal? He could deal. But delivering his own child? Suddenly he wished like hell the dads were already here. They’d delivered three of their children. He could use some reassurance, because all he could think was what if something went wrong? What if he screwed up? He could never face Lily again if he did anything to harm her or their child. And Lily simply couldn’t bear another loss.
“Michael?”
His wife’s soft, sweet voice filtered through his panicked thoughts. He turned to see her watching him, her eyes shining with love. She put her hand on his arm and then leaned into him, nestling her swollen body close to his.
“It’s going to be okay,” she whispered.
How like her to be the one comforting him when he should be doing everything in his power to offer her reassurance.
He smiled and squeezed her close just as her body went tense and a low moan slipped from her lips.
“Let’s get you comfortable,” he said in a husky voice laced with emotion.
“I’ll go watch for the others,” Lauren said anxiously. “Seth and Dillon seemed . . . stressed.”
Lily smiled as Michael guided her toward the bed. “I just bet they did. Poor guys.”
Michael kissed her forehead and then helped her settle down. He gently pulled her gown to her waist so he could see if she was crowning. God, he hoped she wasn’t. Not yet. He at least wanted the others present before their baby slid into his waiting hands.
She bent her knees and spread them, giving him access. When he got a glimpse, he sucked in his breath. Oh shit. She was crowning. Not hugely, but the baby’s head was right there.
He felt light-headed. His hands shook. Hell, he didn’t have anything.
“Lauren, get me my med kit! It’s on the counter. And blankets. I need blankets and some water to clean Lily and the baby when we’re done.”
“Is it time?” Lily asked, her body tensing once more. “Oh God, Michael, I need to push. What’s happening? Is the baby coming now?”
He lifted his head so she could see him over her belly. “Yes, honey. It’s time. But I don’t want you to push yet, okay? I need to get a few things. It’s going to be all right. I swear it. Okay? Trust me?”
Her eyes glowed warm as she blew out the rest of her breath in a whoosh. “I do trust you, Michael. You won’t let anything happen to our child.”
“Or to you,” he said softly. “You’re my life, Lily. Our life. I’ll go to hell and back to keep you with me. Never doubt it.”
She smiled and nodded. “I love you too, you know.”
“Yeah. I do.”
Just then a commotion sounded in the living room, and Michael breathed a huge sigh of relief. Reinforcements were here.
Seth and Dillon burst into the bedroom, a crazed look in their eyes.
“What the hell is going on?” Dillon demanded. “Lauren said she’s having the baby now.”
Seth went immediately to Lily’s side, his forehead creased in concern.
“That she is,” Michael said calmly. “I need you both to not freak out and give me a hand here. There’s no way to get her to the hospital in time. The baby will be born right here in our bedroom.”
Dillon looked deranged, but then he made a concerted effort to collect himself. His hands were shaking violently, though, as he went to Lily’s other side.
Seth took Lily’s hand and curled his fingers around it. Then he kissed her temple, fear stark in his eyes.
“What do you need us to do?” Seth asked hoarsely.
“Lauren is getting my me
d kit. I need a suction, scissors to cut the cord and something to tie it off with. We also need some blankets to wrap the baby in and something to clean up the baby and Lily afterward.”
“I can do that,” Dillon said. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. We’ll do this. Okay?”
Despite the contractions wracking her body and her fighting the urge to push, Lily laughed. “I’m fine, guys. Really. I can do this. We can do this.”
“Where the fuck are the dads?” Seth muttered. “They’re the ones with all the childbirth experience.”
Lily laughed again. “That’s so funny. One would think you’d be looking to your mother at a time like this, and instead you want to know where the hell the dads are.”
“Mom didn’t deliver three babies at home,” Dillon said in a disgruntled voice. “The dads did.”
Lily rolled her eyes. “She didn’t? What exactly do you call pushing a kid the size of a small watermelon out of her womb?”
“How can you joke at a time like this?” Seth asked, the panic rising in his voice.
“It’s either laugh or cry,” Lily said. “I’m scared to death!”
Dillon and Seth immediately looked contrite. They gathered in close to her, kissing her and offering reassurance.
“We’re assholes,” Seth said. “Sorry, honey. But don’t be scared. Between the family we’ll get this baby safely here.”
She reached up and stroked his cheek. “I know we will.”
Another sound came from the living room, and Michael realized that his mom and the dads were here. Relief soared. Hell, he had a medical degree. He’d delivered every kind of animal imaginable, and yet he was relieved that his fathers were here. But they’d always been his rocks. Mom and the dads.
“Need help, son?” Adam said from the bedroom doorway.
Holly Colter shoved Adam aside and hurried for the bed, where Lily sat propped against the pillows. She took Lily’s hand from Dillon and squeezed reassuringly.
“It’s going to be okay, baby. The dads are here, and they have more experience with childbirth than most women do!”
“That’s what I’m counting on,” Lily said just before she went silent as another contraction hit.
“I can’t hold off any longer,” Lily panted. Her face was red with strain and her cheeks puffed outward as her entire body coiled into a knot.
Lauren rushed in with all the things Michael had asked for, and Ryan took them from her and began arranging them on the side of the bed.
“Tell us what you want to do, son,” Ethan said. “Though I have a feeling our young lady here planned it this way, and she probably wants you to deliver her child. If she talked to your mother at all, then the idea would have been planted that this baby would be born here.”
Holly’s lips tightened and Lily flashed a guilty smile.
“Busted,” Lily murmured.
“Is that what you really want?” Dillon asked as he wiped her hair from her brow.
Lily glanced up at Dillon and then to Seth and finally at Michael. “Yes,” she said quietly. “I want our child to be born here. Delivered by his fathers. I want our children to grow up in this house just like you all did in the house you were born. I can’t think of a better way to usher in the next generation of Colters.”
Tears gleamed brightly in his mother’s eyes. The dads were no less affected. Adam wiped at his face before lowering his hand to touch his wife’s shoulder.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Seth said, kissing Lily again. Then he looked up at Michael. “What do you need us to do?”
“Stay there and support Lily,” Michael said. “Hold her, support her, talk to her. Encourage her. She needs to push now so our child can be born.”
In the distance he heard Callie’s and Max’s voices. Knew they were here. Satisfaction gripped Michael. Lily was right. What better way for their child to be born then right here, surrounded by parents and grandparents. Aunts and uncles.
“Help me,” Lily said, breathless as she struggled upward.
Seth and Dillon went into action, propping her forward like she wanted. They each wrapped an arm around her back, anchoring her in place.
Adam quickly went to work sorting through all the things Lauren had brought in. Michael spread a blanket over the mattress and tucked it under Lily’s bottom. The baby’s head bulged, pressing forward, stretching Lily as it prepared to make its entrance into the world.
“Okay, honey. Bear down with this next contraction okay? I need you to take a deep breath in, hold it and then count to ten.”
Her face reddening, she sucked in a breath and then leaned forward, her chin nearly to her chest. Beside her, Dillon began counting.
“Too fast, Dillon. Slow down some,” Michael said. “I don’t want to rush things and I don’t want her pushing too hard. She’ll tear. Let’s just take things nice and easy and let the baby come in his own time.”
He locked gazes with Lily and then his brothers. This was it. The woman they adored beyond reason was gifting them with something more precious than anything in the world. She’d struggled and overcome so much adversity in her young life, and he was determined that she never go down that road again.
When Dillon got to ten, Lily slumped back against Dillon’s and Seth’s arms, her breath escaping in rapid pants.
“This hurts,” she ground out.
Dillon pressed his lips to her temple, his face a wreath of agony on her behalf. Dillon looked as helpless as Michael felt. He’d do anything to spare her this pain.
He’d been so absorbed in monitoring her contraction and the progress of the baby’s head, that he hadn’t even noticed his mom and the dads had made a discreet exit. Panic nearly overtook him again, and he was tempted to call the dads back. Or at least Adam. Not much rattled him. Except when it came to Holly.
Lily leaned forward, sucked in her breath, and Dillon began to count again.
“That’s it!” Michael said excitedly. “It’s coming! I’ve almost got the head. Don’t relax until I tell you, honey.”
The warm, gooey head slipped into Michael’s waiting hands. And then Seth was there, handing Michael the suction and a blanket. Michael suctioned the baby’s airway, and then the most wonderful sound he’d ever heard. The baby let out a soft wail that echoed through the room.
“Okay, Lily. Just one more push, honey. Can you do that for me? The baby will be here. Just one more push.”
Her body heaved, and then she bore down and the baby slid easily into Michael’s grasp. He stared down in befuddlement at the squirming, sticky baby in his palms.
“A son,” he said reverently. He glanced up at his brothers and then met Lily’s tired gaze. “We have a son!”
Seth quickly helped cut the umbilical cord, and then wrapped his son in a blanket before carrying him very carefully to the head of the bed, where Lily waited.
Her expression was one of awe as Seth laid their son in her arms. Dillon’s eyes were bright with unshed tears, but as soon as Lily held their child to her breast, they slid down his cheeks unheeded.
“He’s beautiful,” she choked out. She lifted her head to stare at her husbands, so much love reflected in her gaze that Michael couldn’t breathe.
They’d done it! Mother and baby were fine.
“I need to ensure the placenta is delivered and there is no hemorrhaging,” Michael said in a low voice. “Help her nurse him.”
No one paid him any attention as he tended to Lily’s needs. She barely even registered the placenta being delivered or his carefully cleaning her afterward. He itched to hold his son again. But he was nestled firmly in his mother’s arms, sucking at her swollen breast.
He stood at the head, staring down for the longest time until Lily lifted her head and their gazes connected.
“Thank you,” she whispered in a voice tight with tears. “Thank you for this. For my son. For another chance. I’ll never forget this day. Never.”
Michael swallowed back his own tears. “No, thank you, honey.
For giving us our son. For loving us.”
“He’s beautiful,” Dillon said hoarsely. “The most beautiful baby I’ve ever seen.”
Seth smiled, wiping away his own tears as he gazed down at his wife and child. “You up to letting everyone come in to see the newest Colter? I imagine Mom and the dads are chomping at the bit out there.”
“Yeah,” Lily whispered. “Let them come. I want them to see their first grandchild.”
CHAPTER 5
I’M reminded of when Seth was born,” Adam said, his voice aching with memories.
Holly smiled at her three husbands as they sank onto the couch at home. They’d left Lily and the boys just a half hour earlier, and returned home to rest and leave the new parents to fuss over the baby themselves. The boys insisted on bringing Lily and the baby to the hospital the next day so both could be checked out and make sure there weren’t any problems. But Holly had a feeling that if Lily got her way, they’d settle for having the doctor come out and tend to mother and child at home.
“Never a more beautiful moment,” Ryan said softly.
“I’m reminded of when you came home,” Ethan broke in. “That first time I saw you after all those months. Big and swollen with our child. I’ll never forget that day. It was the best day of my life.”
Adam nodded. “Can’t argue there.”
Holly sighed and settled between Ryan and Ethan on the couch. She was just as beautiful, if not more so, as she’d been nearly thirty-five years ago when she’d had Seth. Adam loved her more with every passing day, and he hadn’t imagined being able to love her more than when she’d returned to them.
But he had. The day she gave birth to Seth. And then to Michael and Dillon. And finally Callie. The scare she’d given them just last Christmas still lingered in his mind, a shadow that may never fade.
“It’s hard to imagine we’re grandparents,” Holly murmured. Her voice was a little sad, her face drawn, though Adam knew how happy she was to be a grandmother. “The years go by so very fast. I don’t know where they’ve all gone.”
“The best are yet to come,” Ryan said, pulling her into his side.
