I recoil. “What? What did I do?”
“You didn’t do anything.” She takes several gasping breaths and her grip on my hand tightens until her knuckles grow white and mine become red.
“Are you having another contraction?” I lower myself so my elbows are resting next to her, ready to help her through the pain, even as I glance at my watch.
“Yes,” she hisses through gritted teeth. “But that’s not all?”
“What? Can you feel one of the heads coming out?”
I know it’s a stupid question as soon as I ask. If I didn’t, the annoyed look Sophie gives me would be telling enough.
“Sorry.” I adjust my grip on her hand, clasping it between both of mine. I try to keep my voice as calm as possible. “What’s going on? What do you need?”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know.” The panic in her voice slices through me like a knife to the heart. “I’m… I’m…”
“Oh!” The nurse smiles pleasantly as she strides into the room. “It looks like your water has broken. Things will hopefully start moving along.”
It takes several seconds for my heart to start beating again. But when it does, I stare deeply into Sophie’s eyes. In them, I see excitement, joy, and fear. No doubt, she sees the same in mine.
“You can do this.” I kiss the back of her hand. “I’ll be right here with you for every second of it.”
The nurse is mostly right. Things do start to pick up from here. The contractions are faster and longer, not to mention intense enough to have Sophie making sounds I’ve never heard before.
I almost kiss the anesthesiologist when they give her the epidural.
After that, everything else is a blur. As promised, I don’t act like an asshole to any of the hospital workers. Not even the doctor when he makes a dumbass comment about the first baby having a hairy head like their dad.
It doesn’t matter. Not when I hear our little girl cry for the first time. Still gripping Sophie’s hand and stroking her forehead, I crane my look.
“Oh, honey.” My voice cracks. “She’s beautiful.”
As much as I want to take a closer look at her, I don’t leave Sophie’s side until our son makes his appearance several minutes later.
By the time the babies are cleaned, wrapped in blankets, and tucked into our arms, my heart feels like it’s going to burst.
Sophie kisses each of our children’s cheeks then rests her head against my shoulder.
“You did so good, babe.” My voice shakes more than I care to admit. “We’re a family.”
I can feel her lips curve against me. “We are.”
“I love you all so much.” I rub my cheek against the top of her head.
Later, back in Sophie’s room, we sit in happy silence for long minutes. There’s still one more thing I want to do, but I’m content to wait while we bask.
But soon, my heart is pounding again, and my stomach is churning with nerves. Carefully easing Sophie from myshoulder, our daughter still curled up in my arm, I straighten and reach a hand into my pocket.
“You know I love you. More than anything.”
She arches an eyebrow but smiles. “I do know. You just told me five seconds ago.”
“It’s been more than five seconds. And you can never hear it too often. But we’ll let that go for the moment.” I swallow past a lump that’s suddenly forming in my throat. “You’ve given me everything good in my life. And I… I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
Her eyes crease around the edges. “I know. We will.”
“I know this is all out of order in the way people are supposed to do these things. But…” I pull a velvet box out of my pocket and flip it open. “Will you marry me?”
She gasps as she stares at the sapphire ring inside of it. “You want to get married?”
