“I don’t ca—” Her face scrunched up, and with one hand she gripped her stomach, the other reaching out to steady herself on the nearby dresser.
With fluid steps, I was by her side, coaxing, “Breathe.”
“You fucking breathe,” she snapped, voice strained.
Less than a minute later, the contraction passed, and she straightened, shooting me a murderous glare, “This shit hurts like a bitch now, and it’s only going to get worse. I can’t do this without drugs. Iwon’tdo this without drugs.”
“I know this is upsetting—”
“Upsetting?!” Rory screeched. “Will it beupsettingwhen I cut off your dick? Probably for you, but I’ll be just fine knowing you can never put me through this again!”
My hands immediately moved to cover my junk because the crazy look in her eyes told me that wasn’t an idle threat.
Since she needed a minute to wrap her mind around this, and I needed to hide all the knives in the house, I inched toward the door. “I’m going to go wake up Dr. Corsi so he can examine you.”
“Corsi ishere?!?!”
I scrubbed a hand over my jaw, not sure if that news made the situation better or worse in her mind.
“He’s in a guest room in the east wing,” I replied. “I decided it was best to have him on-site once the weather report came in, citing blizzard conditions. A homebirth might not be what you were expecting, but Corsi has delivered babies before. Hell, he delivered me in this very house.”
For a pregnant woman in labor, Rory moved fast on her feet, closing the gap between us and grabbing two fistfuls of my T-shirt.
“Gio, please.”
I shook my head sadly. “This might have initially been my decision, but it’s out of my hands now, thanks to Mother Nature.”
Tears glistened in her eyes. “What if he’s too big? What if I can’t get him out on my own and need a C-section? Are you going to let your mafia doctor butcher me to save your heir?”
Those were valid concerns, and ones that had rolled around in my brain countless times since I’d determined that we couldn’t risk going to the hospital.
Cupping her face, I vowed, “We’re going to make it through this.”
Lower lip trembling, she asked, “Who’s we, Gio?”
I stroked her cheeks with my thumbs, dropping my forehead to hers. “You and me and Luca. All three of us are going to make it out on the other side.”
“That’s not a promise you can make.” Wetness spilled over her lashes.
“I’m Gio Bellini. My word is law.”
A watery laugh sounded. “You truly believe that, don’t you?”
Cockiness seeped into my tone. “It’s hard not to when I’ve never been proven wrong.”
There was an audible swallow from my wife. “I’m scared.”
“I know.” I tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “Put on something loose and comfortable. I’ll be right back.”
My heart twisted at hearing the near-silent cries filtering through the open doorway behind me as I left the room.
For all our sakes, I prayed this delivery would go smoothly and quickly.
“Gas,” Rory gasped, her sweat-soaked form writhing on the bed. “I need more gas.”
I handed her the clear plastic mask, and she placed it against her mouth, inhaling greedily.
Dr. Corsi became Rory’s personal savior when he’d held up a small tank of nitrous oxide upon entry to our bedroom suite.While it didn’t block the pain completely like an epidural would have, it dulled it enough that she’d made it through the twelve hours of contractions to this point.
