“I think it’s almost time,” she panted, gripping her stomach. “I need to push.”
Just then, Jeremy rushed out, followed by two nurses with wheelchairs. As Daisy helped Valerie out of the car, a pain doubled her over. She cried out and clutched her stomach.
Wide-eyed, Jeremy said, “You’ve got to be kidding. Not you, too!”
A pickup truck pulled up behind them, and three identical looking men jumped out of it. Daisy leaned against the door of the SUV, just as their husbands all ran up to them.
“Oh, thank You Lord above,” Jeremy prayed.
Ken arrived at her side just as the pain subsided. A frown brought his eyebrows together. “You, too?”
“Apparently. That was the first one, though, so it might be a false alarm. Alex is in active labor, Valerie’s is escalating.”
“Do you need a chair?”
She shook her head. “I can walk.” She pulled her phone out of her coat pocket. “I should probably let my mom know.”
“Good call.”
Daisy and Ken slowly followed his brothers and their wives into the building. The nurses took them to different rooms. Daisy stopped at the desk. “Hi. Daisy Dixon. I’m due today and just had a pretty strong contraction.”
The woman behind the desk raised both eyebrows. “You all three went in labor on the same day? That has to be some kind of a record.” She gestured at Ken. “Your brothers look just like you.”
He smiled a tight-lipped smile. “You don’t say.”
“Just hang tight. We’ll get you checked in. You preregistered?”
“We did,” she said, then shot a text message to her mom and Camila.
An hour later, Daisy stood next to the window, wearing a hospital gown and a robe, looking out at the parking lot. She’d had two more contractions on the heels of the first one and could feel the changes happening in her body as labor progressed. It hurt, but so far, she’d hadn’t had trouble working through the pain.
Little fingers of excitement kept dancing up and down her spine. It looked like today she would hold her new baby. She looked over her shoulder at Ken. He leaned against the wall with his hands in his pockets and a distant look on his face.He will make such an excellent father, she thought, as love threatened to beat her heart right out of her body.
Rosaline tapped on the door and walked in, her face glowing with a smile. “Alex and Jon have a baby girl.”
“Oh, a girl, they wanted a girl.”
Ken asked, “How’s Alex?”
“Fine. It was fast. She barely had time to think about it before she was born.”
“I can’t wait to see her.” As Daisy spoke, she put her hands on the bed and bent forward. It felt like something inside of her spread her stomach open and squeezed it together at the same time. “Ahhh,” she said, leaning forward on her forearms and rocking her hips back and forth.
Ken rubbed her lower back, quietly supporting until the pain subsided. She chuckled as she straightened. “Well, that was stronger.”
Rosaline gestured behind her. “I’m going to go check on Valerie, then head back to Alex. Ken, Dad has his phone in his pocket.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He stood close to Daisy. “Do you want to walk down the hall?”
“Maybe.” Did she want to get so far away from the bed? “Yes. I think so. Can we go see Valerie?”
He smiled and brushed a lock of hair off of her forehead. “Sure.”
She felt fine now. Rubbing the side of her belly, she and Ken slowly walked out of the room. Her parents sat in her private waiting room. Her father read his Bible and her mom watched a show on her tablet. They looked up as soon as her door opened. “I’m going down to see Valerie.”
Her mom smiled. “We’re right here.”
Daisy nodded and walked next to Ken. Her mom had talked to her a few weeks ago about the birth. She remembered her mother’s words as she waddled down the hall. “I just want it to be your time with Ken. I think the rest of us, and his family, can wait until the baby’s born,” she’d said. “It’s a very special, intimate time between husband and wife. He isn’t going to want to chat with people, and you’re going to be busy.”
