Deputy

by D Scott

  She sniffles. “I missed you, too.” She looks down to her belly then back up to me. Her eyes running over with more tears. “I’m so sorry,” she cries.

  I wrap my arms around her gently, and softly kissing all over her face and neck.

  "Shhh." I shush her quietly and whisper sweet nothings to her to calm her down. It takes a few minutes but eventually the sobs to stop and I pull back from her.

  "No, don't go." She tries to reach for me.

  "Babe, I'm right here."

  She grabs hold of my shirt. "Hold me, please."

  "Babe..." I trail off, shaking my head.

  I look over her fragile state, unsure that my arms being wrapped around her is what she needs right now.

  "Please, Gavin?" She looks up at me with those big brown eyes of hers, pleading with me, but before I can make up my mind she's wincing in pain.

  She clutches the bedrail and holds her belly as she lets out a pained wail.

  Shit, a contraction.

  "Baby!" Her cry for me gets me moving, except I have no idea what the hell to do. Every time I move, I second guess my decision, wondering if I need to be doing something else. "Ohhh oowww." Gina cries out again and I feel like I'm going to rip my hair out, I have no fucking idea what to do.

  "Shh...you can do this, babe. It's almost over — just tell me what to do. Tell me how to help."

  She whimpers. "Hold me, please. Talk to me."

  As soon as she gets the words out I'm moving. I walk around to the other side of the bed and climb on, careful not to jostle her. There's not much space as I slide in behind her and wrap my arms around her, but I manage.

  "I'm here, babe, I'm here." She turns, pressing her face into my arm. "It's okay.”

  I say whatever I can to calm her — sighing in relief when the contraction passes.

  Damn, that's the first one she's had since I’ve been here and already I feel worn out.

  I keep the thought to myself.

  She's probably been going through this for hours without any medicine, and other than her tears, she's barely complained.

  When she shifts in my arms, I hold my breath and wait for her to cry out, letting out the breath I was holding when she stays quiet.

  "You good, babe?"

  She nods, her eyes closed. "Uh huh. Just hard to get comfortable."

  With how big she is, I can only imagine.

  I keep that thought to myself, too.

  After a few tough contractions, Gina finally dozes off. I watch over her as she sleeps, my attention drifting to the large mound of her stomach every couple minutes. Just seeing it, and knowing our child is resting within her womb almost ready to enter the world, is something I'm still trying to process. My mind has been stuck on finally getting to see my little misfit again, but the news that she's pregnant — the fact that I'm going to be a dad soon — I'm still coming to terms with that. Not that it's a bad thing, I've wanted to make her mine from the moment I met her. But it's one thing to want to fill her with my child, and another for it to actually happen. Then there's the fact that she's spent all this time away from me, and never once told me abut her pregnancy. I should probably be angry with her about it, and maybe I will be later, but right now, I can't feel anything other than love for my girl and our baby she's about to bring into the world.

  I'm pulled from my thoughts when Gina tightens her grip on my arms and winces in pain. She grits her teeth and I try my best to soothe her through the contraction. Surprisingly, it 's over relatively shortly but when I look down at my girl, she's dripping with sweat.

  "Babe, you alright?"

  She nods tiredly. "Just hot."

  I start to sit up. "Okay, I'll get you some ice chips or a cool rag or something."

  Gina startles. "No, don't. Stay."

  "Babe, you're burning up. I need to get you something."

  "The call button. Call a nurse to get it," she says.

  "Babe, I’m perfectly capable of getting ice for my own wife. I'm not going to ask a nurse to do it, they have more important things to do." I move to get up again, but Gina refuses to let me go. "Babe—"

  "Please don't go," she asks in a pained whisper.

  My heart aches at hearing the worry in her voice.

  I don't want to put stress on her or the baby, so instead I reach over her and press the call button. Five minutes later my girl is sitting back munching on her ice chips, holding onto the cup like someone might take it from her. I’d laugh she wasn’t trying to bring our child into the world naturally. And speaking of which...

  “Gina.”

  “Hmm?” She answers, but her focus is still on her ice chips.

  “Are you sure you want to do this without any medicine at all? We can get you an epidural to help with the pain.” She shakes her head, still focusing on her cup of ice. “Babe, look at me.” She hesitates before finally looking my way. “It’s okay if you need something for the pain. Plenty of women get epidurals to help with labor.”

  Again, she shakes her head.

  “Gina—”

  “I said no, Gavin.”

  I sigh, and get up to pace around the room.

  I pace for a few minutes before it starts to get old.

  “I’ll be back. I’m gonna track down the nurse and ask her a couple questions.”

  She looks up from her cup. “But—”

  “I won’t go far, I promise. I’ll be right down the hall. Okay?”

  “Okay,” she whispers.

  I walk over to her to drop a kiss on her cheek before walking out of the room.

  I let out a breath as I enter the hall.

  Being cooped up in the room has me going out of my mind. I know labor can take a while, but it’s beginning to feel like the walls are caving in. And my poor girl, she’s stuck in that room, cooped up in the bed, going through the pain of labor.

  She’s being such a trooper and I know I need to man up.

  I run my hands over my face and huff out another breath then head in the direction of the nurse's station. But before I get there I see the nurse who delivered the ice chips, a petite blonde woman, coming out of a room a few doors down from Gina's.

  I flag her down as I head her direction, and we meet in the middle. "Hey."

  "Hi. Gavin, right?"

  "Yeah, right. Um, do you have a second? I have a couple of questions."

  She smiles. "Sure, of course."

  "My wife, you brought her the cup of ice not too long ago, her contractions are giving her a lot of pain. Do you know how long she could be in labor for?"

  She sighs. "It's hard to say — each case is different. But generally, women who are going through labor for the first time tend to have a longer delivery process."

  Shit.

  "Well, is it too late for her to get an epidural?"

  "It depends on how dilated she is — the doctor will need to examine her for that. Is she asking for an epidural?"

  I shake my head. "No, she's adamantly opposed to having it." I rub my hands over my face again. "But she's just in so much pain during her contractions, I don't know what to do."

  She gives me a sympathetic smile. "She has been adamant about not having an epidural from the moment she arrived. Her friend tried to get her to reconsider but she's a determined little thing, your wife."

  Screw determined, her ass is just stubborn.

  "So I just let her lay there in pain until the baby's here?"

  She nods. "Going through labor is not an easy task, and if your wife doesn't want an epidural, she doesn't have to have one. Some women are suspicious about receiving medicine during labor, even if they're assured it won't harm their baby. So if that's her decision, all you can do is stay close and keep offering her your love and support. Your daughter will be here before you know it."

  My entire body jerks at her words.

  "A girl?" I ask, just to double check that I heard her correctly.

  "You
didn't know?"

  I shake my head, unable to form any words.

  My little misfit is giving me a daughter.

  She gives me another kind smile. "Well, congratulations, I bet she is going to be one beautiful baby girl. Let me know if either of you need anything else."

  I'm pretty sure I nod before she walks away, leaving me standing there in awe.

  My baby girl will be here in a few hours.

  I don't know how long I stand in place, basking in the joy of the moment but Gina's cry jolts me back to reality. I hear her cry for me and suddenly I'm in motion.

  Fourteen hours later, I'm staring at the two most precious beings in my world.

  They're both asleep but I know my daughter will wake up soon looking to nurse.

  She's only a few hours old and already she's the spitting image of my wife. She's got a head full of dark hair and slightly pigmented skin, that will likely get darker once she's older.

  We haven't named her yet and I'm hoping Gina has some ideas, considering I've only known about my daughter's existence for just under twenty-four hours.

  I look over to the bed where my beautiful wife is fast asleep.

  She screamed and cried her way through labor and brought our baby girl into the world without any kind of medication, and I've never loved her more.

  I know we have things to work out between us, and it's not going to be easy. But looking at my two girls, I'm willing to do whatever it takes.

  "I kind of like the name Ginny," Gina's soft voice wakes me.

  "She looks like a Ginny." She's speaking quietly to herself, looking down at our daughter, who's nursing hungrily.

  She looks over at me. "Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you. I was just thinking out loud." I shake my head and run my hands over my face. I didn't even realize I fell asleep.

  "So, Ginny?" I ask.

  "Yeah. What do you think? G-I-N-N-Y." I look to our daughter. "I figure your mom's name is Ginger. My mom's name was Jennifer. And you're Gavin and I'm Gina...we can all be G's."

  I smile, liking the sound of that.

  I lift up from my chair next to the bed and place a kiss on my daughter's head.

  "Ginny it is." I look to her mother. "Middle name?"

  She bites her lip as she thinks it over.

  "Mmm...Marie? That's my middle name. We could have the same initials."

  That has me doing a double take. "You got it changed?"

  She nods and looks away. "I changed it while I was gone," she whispers.

  "Gina Marie Brooks?" She looks back at me and nods.

  I look to our baby. "Ginny Marie Brooks?"

  Gina smiles. "Yeah."

  I lean in and press my lips to hers for a soft kiss.

  "You do realize that our whole family is going to have the same initials right?"

  Gavin Michael Brooks, Gina Marie Brooks, and Ginny Marie Brooks.

  Gina shrugs. "Yeah. It'll be fun."

  "And...any kids we have in the future, we gonna give them our middle names, too?" Her eyes widen as she realizes what I'm saying. That we're going to stay together, that we're going to have more babies together.

  "Is that what you want to do?"

  I shrug. "Yeah. It'll be fun."

  Her smile widens.

  Gavin

  Thursday

  "I know, baby girl, mommy's almost done," Gina coos to our fussy daughter. I hand her another wipe as she goes about changing her dirty diaper. She's taken to being a mother like a duck to water, and it's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen.

  "See? I'm all done. It wasn't that bad." Gina scoops up Ginny and hugs her close as she continues to wail. "Can you hand me the white and gray onesie in the pink bag? I think that should be the outfit she wears home." I nod and look in the bag.

  I reach out to give her the outfit once I find it, but she shakes her head.

  "Read it first." I hold up the outfit and really look at it. There's a light grey heart in the center and inside it are the words 'I Love My Daddy' in white letters.

  I look to my wife and she just smiles.

  "A little bit delayed, considering she's already here, but...surprise."

  My heart fills with pride. "Thank you, babe."

  "You're welcome," she whispers.

  I hand her the onesie and she dresses Ginny, who's already fallen back to sleep.

  "So..." She starts, then trails off.

  She looks down at our daughter. "Are we, um, going home with you?"

  I feel a prickle of irritation that she even has to ask that question but I'm not going to let it ruin the glow of being a new daddy.

  "Yeah, babe, you're coming home with me."

  She nods. "Okay, um, I'll need to pack up our things."

  "From where?"

  "The house I was staying at. It's about twenty minutes away." I lift my brow, wanting more explanation. "It was an abandoned house, one of my brother's friends put us up in it when we first came to town."

  Tension creeps into my shoulders at her mentioning one of her brothers.

  "He still at the house?"

  She shakes her head. "No, he took off a months ago."

  "Does he know about Ginny?"

  "No. He left before I really started to show, and I only wore flowy shirts when he was around."

  "Fine, we'll head there first and get everything you need."

  "But what about furniture? You don't have a crib or anything."

  Shit, I don't.

  "We'll get it on the way home."

  She looks at me warily but still agrees. "Alright," she looks down to Ginny.

  "We're going home, baby girl."

  Gavin

  Sunday

  I take a swig of my beer then lay back and sprawl out on the couch.

  We brought Ginny home ten days ago and I'm already fucking wiped.

  I've been doing nothing but setting up my daughter's nursery and making sure she and her mother have everything they need. Gina offered to help multiple times but each time I just glared her little behind into doing something else.

  Seriously, she just brought our daughter into the world — I'd be a bastard to ask her to help me build some damn furniture. Granted, I never realized how much shit babies needed. Nor did I ever realize how much one little being could eat, scream, and poop. She's constantly on Gina's tit but you'd think by how often she screams for it that she never gets fed.

  It's exhausting as hell and I wouldn't trade it for the damn world.

  Going back to work tomorrow is going to be rough though. I called out last week so I could be around to help Gina but she's insistent that she can handle Ginny while I'm at work. I know I could probably take some parental leave but no one even knows I'm married, let alone that I'm now a father. And the sheriff has been delegating more responsibilities to me over the last few months and I don't want to let him down. I offered to hire some help for Gina since I'm going to be leaving her alone with the baby so soon, but she adamantly shut that idea down.

  I sigh, I haven't even left them yet and already I'm worrying about them.

  I look over the back of the couch when I hear noise from the kitchen. Gina's at the sink washing dishes and I have no idea how she's still on her feet.

  "Want some help?"

  She looks over her shoulder at me and smiles. "No, thanks, I've got it."

  She goes back to what she's doing and my eyes roam over her. Her body is so soft and curvy from carrying our daughter. She's got on a nightgown and a robe that's practically see through, and I can see every curve of her delectable body. My dick jerks, and the fact that I haven't had her in over six months is starting to take effect.

  I drop back onto the couch and close my eyes, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I keep them shut until I hear Gina's voice right next to me.

  "So, what time are you going in to the station tomorrow?"

  I look over at her. "Six."

 
She nods and comes to sit on the coffee table. "Sleeping on the couch again?"

  "Yeah, I don't want to wake you."

  She chuckles. "I'm sure you won't. With how often our daughter eats, I'll probably be awake."

  "Good point." I pause. "You sure you can handle her by yourself tomorrow?"

  "Yes, Gavin. We'll be fine."

  I sigh. "I know, I know. It's just — she's so little."

  She smiles. "I know. And she'll be here when you get back. We both will."

  Hearing her say that settles some of the anxiousness I'm feeling. They'll both be alright while I'm gone and they'll both be here when I get back.

  "Promise to call me if you need anything."

  "I will, baby." She bites her lip as soon as she says it and I can tell it just slipped out. But before I can react one way or another she's getting up. "I should go to bed."

  "Gina—"

  "Goodnight." And then she's rushing down the hall.

  I sigh.

  Yeah, talking things out between us definitely isn't going to be easy.

  Gina

  Wednesday

  I lay my sleeping daughter down in her crib and quietly creep out of the nursery, leaving the door cracked open as I go.

  She's only two weeks old but with each day that passes, I'm getting a little more confident with the whole 'being a mommy' thing. The biggest hurdle is not feeling like I'm gonna break her every time I touch her, and forcing myself not to over-apologize every time she cries and it takes me more than two-seconds to figure out what she needs. I know she can't understand what I'm saying yet but that doesn't stop me from apologizing to her a least fifty times a day for one thing or another.

  Thank goodness I have Gavin though. I wouldn't be able to do this without him. Even though he's already back at work, he's such a hands-on daddy when he's home that I'm not even going to think about complaining. There are so many mothers who have to do this alone, and there are men who are absentee fathers, but not my husband. He's so involved that he actually drives me a little crazy. He hovers over Ginny and I constantly, to the point that I want to smack him at times. I'm actually a little thankful that he's already back at work, because if he was home with me all day every day, he might actually drive me nuts.