“Hey, hon, what do you need?” The nurse bustled in.
“I-I think my w-water broke.”
Lifting the blankets, the nurse whistled. “You weren’t kidding. Let me grab some fresh linens and I’ll get you nice and dry, okay?”
Gabby nodded.
“Your doctor is on the floor. She’ll be right in to check your progress.”
Gabby nodded.
The nurse brought a colleague, and in no time, Gabby was cleaned up and dry.
Just as they’d finished, the doctor came in.
“Ouch,” Dr. Yan said while consulting Gabby’s chart, “bet you’re wishing you were back home lounging, huh?”
“Y-yeah.”
“All right, well, let me take a look at what’s going on with this kid of yours, and with any luck, you’ll be resting comfortably with him real soon.” Tossing the blankets back, she asked one of the nurses, “Becca, how about grabbing Gabrielle’s Lamaze coach. He’s right outside the door with another gentleman.”
The nurse left.
Gabby’s apprehension rose along with a fresh wave of pain.
“Ride it through.” The doctor rubbed Gabby’s knees. “There you go…. It’ll pass.”
Nodding, Gabby forced a deep breath.
The doctor took rubber gloves from a wall dispenser, and then, with the nurse by her side, performed her exam. Once finished, the doctor removed her gloves, made notes in Gabby’s chart and then graced Gabby with a reassuring smile. “Well, we’ve got another good news, bad news situation on our hands.”
Gabby groaned.
“Don’t worry,” the doctor said, “the good is that you’re fully dilated. The bad is that you’ve got to get through one more rough patch before you’re holding your son in your arms. You ready?”
“Do I have a—chooooice?” If Gabby had known having a baby hurt this bad, she would’ve told Ben to take a hike before their first kiss!
“Sorry, sweetie,” her doctor said with another affectionate pat.
From out in the hall came the sound of raised male voices.
The doctor looked that way. “Last time there was that much commotion up here was during a heartbreaking adoption case when the birth mother changed her mind about giving her baby away.”
Gabby wished the latest scuffle was so cut-and-dried. Not that she didn’t feel for the adoptive parents’ heartbreak, but at least their issue had an ending. She suspected her troubles with Dane and Ben were only just beginning.
Though his voice was muffled, she plainly heard Ben say, “Screw you, Dane. I’m the baby’s father. You’re nothing more than a freakin’ Lamaze coach.”
“Yeah, I’m also the one who picked up the pieces of the mess you made of Gabrielle’s life.”
“Gentlemen,” Dr. Yan said, opening the room door, “this is neither the time nor place.”
“Damn straight,” Ben said. “I came a long way to be here, and I’m not missing my son’s birth.”
“But you had no problem missing the last nine months?” Dane pushed open the door with enough force to slam it into the wall. “Gabrielle, would you please tell my little brother that he’s no longer needed?”
She wanted to, but how could she when Ben was her baby’s father? Did she even have the legal right to ask him to leave? The pain was so great her mind was muddied. She could hardly catch her breath, let alone think. Why was this happening? Why couldn’t Ben have come later? Better yet, not at all?
The doctor said, “While I change into scrubs, I’ll let you sort this out.”
Ben was at her side. “Tell Dane you don’t need him anymore. I’m back, and I’m here to stay.”
Dane stood at the foot of her bed, staring, staring until she felt his disappointment in her as certainly as a slap. The fact that Dane was the consummate gentleman and would never speak his displeasure only made his anger hurt that much more.
“Daaaaane…” She held out her hand to him. Her contractions were agonizing. All she wanted was for him to hold her, love her and tell her everything would be all right.
Still staring, only this time at Ben, Dane rounded the bed to stand next to her. “I’ll be with you in spirit, but it’s Ben who should be here.”
Nooo, she wanted to scream, but she lacked the energy to fight. Besides which, the fact that Dane would willingly leave her after all they’d shared…
The pain was too much to bear.
Time ceased to exist. There were only more never-ending contractions. Pushing and gritting her teeth.
“Come on, babe, you can do it,” Ben coached, acting as if he’d never been gone. Part of Gabby hated him for it. Another part, desperate for comfort, slipped back into her old routine of leaning on him. As the hours passed, so did the months Ben had been gone. She was half out of her mind with exhaustion. Maybe he’d never even left her? Maybe her time with his big brother had been but a wonderful dream?
Dr. Yan hurried into the room and took her place at the foot of the bed. “Push,” she urged. “Come on, honey, I see your baby boy’s head! Push!”
Two nurses were also there, coaching her on.
Ben never complained no matter how hard she squeezed his hand.
“There you go,” the doctor said, “just a little more…You can do it. Push, Gabrielle, push!”
“Arrrgh!” With all of her might Gabby gritted her teeth and pushed. And when her baby’s head popped out, the relief was intoxicating. Like seeing the sun after days and days of gray.
The sound of her baby crying was music to Gabby’s ears.
“Congratulations,” Dr. Yan said, “she’s a girl!”
“What?” Gabby bolted upright. “But I thought—”
“Relax,” the doctor said in a laughing tone. “I was teasing. You have a perfect, healthy baby boy.” And to prove it, suddenly her son’s heart beat against hers. Tears sprang to her eyes, emotion bubbling inside her. Dane? Where was Dane?
“He’s cool,” Ben said, using just his index finger to stroke the infant’s brow. “We made a good-looking son.”
Her baby was everything Gabby had dreamed he would be. Ten tiny fingers and toes. A shock of black hair and his daddy’s piercing blue eyes.
“He’s got your nose,” Ben said.
“Thank goodness,” Gabby teased.
“If you don’t mind,” Dr. Yan said, “we need to cut the umbilical cord and then take him for some routine tests.”
The doctor and nurses shot into action, cleaning not only the baby, but Gabby.
“Sir? Would you mind stepping out while we make your wife more comfortable?”
“Um, sure,” Ben said, not correcting the nurse’s mistake. He kissed Gabby full on her lips, and then asked, “You going to be all right?”
What a loaded question.
Fingers to her mouth, she couldn’t ever remember being more confused. Couldn’t he have allowed her a few moments’ peace before messing with her already swimming mind?
“I—I’m fine,” she managed to say.
“And I remember all too well that pouty look.” Kissing her again, he said, “I’m going to leave you in the nurses’ expert care, but when I get back, you’re going to tell me what’s going through your gorgeous head.”
Chapter Thirteen
“Look what I’ve got,” Ben said late that afternoon, carrying his blanket-swaddled son into Labor and Delivery’s waiting area. He beamed with pride—as if he’d done so much to help bring the baby into the world.
As badly as Dane wanted to hold the infant who’d grown excited at the sound of his voice, he remained on the fringe of onlookers. His mother and Nana were oohing and cooing. Olivia and Stephanie each took a turn holding the newborn. Everyone was so concerned about the baby’s well-being, but no one had asked about Gabrielle. How badly had her long labor hurt? Had she thought about him? Missed him?
He needed to see her. Even if she was sleeping, he needed to know she was all right.
Slipping away from the waiting-room crowd, he qu
ietly entered her room. Wearing the pale pink pj’s he’d packed for her, she looked finally at peace after the delivery that’d ravaged her body. He’d ached for her, wishing there was something he could do. Had his little brother even cared that she’d been in pain?
Consumed with regrets and resentment for Ben’s arrival, Dane turned to leave. But then there was a small groan from the bed.
“Dane?”
Fighting the sting in his eyes, he turned to her, forcing a smile. “Hey. I saw your son. He’s already quite the ladies’ man.”
She graced him with a drowsy grin.
“Are you all right?” he asked, stepping forward to take her left hand. “Was it rough?”
“As sandpaper,” she quipped. “A-are y-you angry with me? About Ben being there instead of you?”
Yes. But now wasn’t the time or place to show it. “It all happened the way it was supposed to. Leave it be.”
“I—I wanted to fight for you to be the one sharing the birth with me. You deserved to be there. But the pain took over and I couldn’t think. My body was on autopilot and I was just along for the ride.”
“I understand,” he said, even though he didn’t. The rational side of him fully got the fact that Ben was her child’s biological father. But there was so much more to being a great dad than just showing up in the delivery room.
“He is beautiful, isn’t he.” Her eyes radiated her contentment. Her complexion glowed. Her long hair tumbled around her shoulders in perfect disarray. She’d made a lovely pregnant woman, but was a full-on gorgeous mom.
“Yes, he is.” Dane cupped her cheek, brushing silent tears with his thumb. “What’s wrong?”
Shaking her head, she laughed through a teary sniffle. “There shouldn’t be anything wrong, but I can’t stop thinking about how nothing went like we’d planned. All of those hours we spent in class, making sure my baby’s delivery would be a calm, orderly process just sort of flew out the window.”
“It’s okay,” he said. “The end result of holding a healthy child in your arms turned out the way we wanted. That’s what’s important.”
“You always know the right thing to say. How can I ever repay you for all that you’ve done?”
“Bake me a few dozen cookies every now and then and we’ll call it even.” And every day for the rest of my life, I’ll wonder what I could’ve done to make this turn out differently. To ensure that Ben never rode in to take the woman and baby that were rightfully his.
“Ben asked me to marry him.”
The shock of her matter-of-fact confession took him a minute from which to recover. “Oh?”
“I told him I’d think about it. He hurt me. He wants to just sweep all of our troubles under the proverbial rug, but it’s not that easy.”
“No, I imagine not.” Dane was not only proud of her for turning down his little brother, but filled with secret hope that maybe Gabrielle finally realized which of the Bocelli brothers was better husband material. How could she have forgotten that she’d first proposed to him? Why, why hadn’t he just said yes? Because now, in the face of losing her, all of Dane’s so-called noble concerns about not stealing his brother’s girl seemed ridiculous.
Was he only imagining it, or had her contented expression turned wistful? As if her fairy tale weren’t quite coming true.
“Could you do me a favor?” she asked.
“Anything.” Most especially if it had to do with telling Ben to take a hike.
“Could you please find your brother, and tell him I’d like to see my baby.”
“IT SEEMS SURREAL,” GABBY said, gazing upon the face of her son. Hours had passed, yet with a never-ending stream of well-wishing Bocelli aunts and uncles and distant cousins stopping by, this was the first time she’d managed to privately drink him in. Tracing his tiny nose and eyebrows and lips.
“What?” Olivia asked. She was Gabby’s sole guest, and had sat quietly while working a crossword puzzle.
“Finally seeing him. He truly is a miracle. How this gorgeous little guy has been inside me all this time.”
Olivia patted her still-bulging belly. “Hear that? Our friend Gabby says that pretty soon, I’m going to be as happy as she is instead of peeing every five minutes and suffering mind-numbing indigestion.”
“It’s worth it,” Gabby assured.
“If you say so.” Olivia’s grin softened her sarcastic tone. “So, now that the whole Bocelli clan is out of our hair, what are you planning to do about Baby’s daddy?”
“You mean Ben?”
“I’m not talking about the abominable snowman.”
“Ha, ha,” Gabby said, even though her friend’s question wasn’t the least bit funny. “I’m not sure what I’m supposed to do about him. I mean, he acts as if we’re still a couple. During my labor, I didn’t have the wherewithal to tell him to leave, but now I’m regretting the fact that he was there….”
“Instead of Dane?”
Gabby sighed. “He’s hurt. He’s trying not to show it, but I can tell.”
Toying with the ear of a baby-blue elephant one of the Bocellis had brought, Olivia said, “I don’t blame him for being upset, but his brother had every right to be in the room.”
“Every legal right,” Gabby argued, “but what about morally? He abandoned me—and his son. If having babies were a sport, this would be like the quarterback showing up in the last thirty seconds of the game.”
Olivia laughed so hard she snorted. “Oh, Gabby, you do have a way with words.”
“YOU’VE THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING,” Ben said upon walking into the nursery. He’d picked her and Jackson up from the hospital late that afternoon. After two nights in the hospital, Gabby couldn’t wait to get home. On the other hand, would it even feel like home with Dane not being there?
“I tried,” Gabby said, rocking Jack, who was cradled against her chest. He weighed only six pounds, ten ounces, but what he lacked in size, he more than made up for in spunk. Even at two days old, he seemed curious about everything and everyone he saw. Gabby was breast-feeding, and already the bond she felt for him was beyond any attachment she’d ever felt before. “But it was tough with me being stuck in bed for all those weeks. Dane picked up a lot of things I’d forgotten. He’s really been great.”
Scratching his head, Ben leaned against the changing table. “I know Mom roped him into being your Lamaze coach, but what’s up with him camping here?”
Gabby had to count to ten in her head not to lash into him. “Your brother has been a godsend. I don’t know how I would’ve managed without him.”
“I’m sorry,” Ben said. He grabbed the baby powder dispenser, twisting the lid open and closed. “Really. I had a lot of time to think in L.A., and the best I can come up with is that I left because I was scared.”
“Of what?” Nuzzling Jack’s downy-soft hair, she fought the knot in her throat. She wouldn’t let him see her cry. “We were good together, Ben. Our love created this child. You ruined that. Just threw it away.”
“You think I don’t know that?” He slammed the powder bottle to the table. “Why do you think I left? It was too good. Something was bound to go wrong. I wanted to get out before it all went bad.”
“How do you know it would’ve?” she asked, no longer caring that tears streamed down her cheeks. “How could you be so cruel as to not even have the decency to tell me your fears? I was carrying your baby. We could’ve talked it out. Gone to a counselor or something. You didn’t even give us a chance.”
He covered his face with his hands.
“Say something.”
“Like what?” he asked. “I can’t turn back time.”
No. And truthfully, knowing what she did now, would she even want him to?
In front of her, he knelt, resting his hands on her knees. When they’d first met, his every touch was electric. She’d lived for his kisses. Now it wasn’t Ben she craved, but his older brother.
“Please, Gabby,” he said, “give me a second chance. I prom
ise this time will be different.”
“How can you make that kind of promise? You can’t.”
“All right,” he admitted, “so I might fail again, but for the sake of our son, shouldn’t we at least give us a try?”
ON A SUNDAY AFTERNOON, a week after Jack’s birth, three days before an early Thanksgiving, Gabby stood in the Bocelli family dining room, staring out at the gloomy sky. A drizzle had set in, making the already turning leaves look dreary—especially the ones already on the ground. The temperature hovered in the teens. Cold for this time of year.
After having been passed around to the whole Bocelli clan both before the meal and after, Jack was out. He slept soundly in his portable playpen.
“Five bucks for your thoughts.” Dane stepped up behind her, startling her from her introspection.
“That’s a lot of money,” she teased. “Deal.” It was so strange being around him. Familiar, yet not.
He chuckled. “Guess I’d better check my wallet before making such a grand offer, huh?”
“Yep.” A yearning crept through her. She missed talking with him and sharing meals and laughter and arguments and—
“You look pretty. New dress?”
“Yes, sir.” He’d noticed. As she’d slipped into the ruby-colored suede dress, she’d wondered if he would.
“New hair, too. Looks like someone was ready to get out of the house.” When he smiled, the familiar crinkles around his eyes made her ache with loneliness.
“I was,” she said, “but it’s different going out with a baby in tow.”
“Better, I should think. Considering how handsome Jack is.” He looked to his feet, then back to her. “I like the name, by the way. After your maternal grandfather, right?”
He remembered. “Yes. I never met him, but from the stories my mom told me, he was an amazing man.” Just like you.
An awkward silence fell between them.
Dane broke it with a pointed question. “You and Ben together?”
A Wedding For Baby (Baby Boom) Page 13
