I had never experienced pain like this in my life. I just wanted the labor contractions to end, for this damn baby to come out, and where the fuck was Garrett or Mason?
I was going to fucking murder them if those assholes didn’t show up. Why thefuckdid they need to abandon me when I most needed them?
“You’re not far off,” the doctor said encouragingly. “You can do it.”
“Easier said than done!” I said, along with many other swears.You fucking try and do this yourself!
I kept looking to the door as my breathing intensified and I kept screeching in pain. God, Garrett, please…Mason, even…just one of the two…
I felt like the baby would come out at any moment, but I also felt like the baby was taking its sweet fucking time hanging out. If I was not in so much pain, I would have said something like it was waiting for its father to arrive so it could be born.
Except I was in a world of fucking pain that made me want to scream!
“Where the fuck is Garrett?” I blurted out.
“I’m sorry?”
“Garrett, that asshole, he’s—”
“Arrived!”
My eyes went wide. So did the doctor’s and nurses’, who had not expected someone to just barge into the room unannounced. But there he was, in all his handsome glory. He had blood on his cut—which, did I even want to know why—but otherwise, he stood there with eyes that were both determined to see him and soft at the sight of me.
“The fuck have you been!”
“Long story, baby, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” he said, briskly walking to me and taking my hand. “I know that I haven’t always been around the last eight months. I know Mason and I have had our differences.”
“You don’t fucking say!” I said as a brutal contraction hit.
Garrett paused as I winced through the pain, speaking only when I looked back at him.
“But I can promise you that no matter what happens going forward, I will not leave you. The only place I will be is with you.”
Time seemed to slow. Around me, doctors and nurses moved to prepare for the baby’s arrival, somehow allowing Garrett and I to have our moment despite being within inches of the bed. But as he held my hand, as he looked into my eyes, as his own expression melted at the sight of mine, it felt like the only thing in this world was Garrett and me.
And as I gazed at those soft but fierce brown eyes and that smile that was no longer about seduction but support, I knew that he would be the best father possible. I knew that he would be the best…well, someday, the best husband possible. And he was someone that…
That I lo—
“Ah!” I screamed as a strong contraction again struck.
“Stay with it, baby,” Garrett said.
I squeezed his hand. If I had the strength to break it in my grasp, I would probably find it in the next few seconds. I closed my eyes and tried to push the baby out. It finally seemed willing to come out, but fuck almighty, this hurt so badly!
“You are going to be the world’s greatest mother, and I know that to be true,” Garrett said. I could barely hear him, but somehow, as if on tape delay, his words seemed to hit my mind a second after he said them. “You know why? Because you’re still here. You’re giving birth. You fought through all this bullshit. You’re a survivor, Hannah. And I’m going to help you be a thriver now.”
“Garrett,” I gasped, but just speaking coherent words was a massive pain in the ass right now. “Garrett!”
I squeezed even harder. I had no idea how Garrett didn’t pull his hand back. It was almost cute how he was probably willing to let me break his hand.
“I’m not going anywhere, baby,” he said. “Nothing, not even the Black Reapers, not even my brothers, not even your brother, can pull me away. This, right here—this is my everything.”
I groaned loudly.
“Or would you prefer a shot to calm your—”
“Garrett, goddamnit!”
