I’m headed out, Adam said.I’ll see you in about thirty-five minutes.
Can’t wait, she sent back, and then she tapped back over to her email just to see if she’d gotten any more orders in the past five minutes.
One, for a full-size pumpkin and a half-bite apple, and Joey felt like the goals she’d set for herself were finally achievable.
Now she just needed to get this soup finished and her grandparents fed before Adam arrived, because she wanted to talk him through their upcoming Thanksgiving dinner with her family, find out more about what his family did for the holidays—and oh right, she needed to somehow convince him to be her pie-baking wingman on both Tuesday and Wednesday….
CHAPTER
TWENTY
Bryce paced the length of the small hospital room, his cowboy boots making soft scuffing sounds against the linoleum floor. Codi lay in the bed, her face serene despite the steadily increasing contractions. The waning afternoon light filtered through the blinds, casting stripes across her face.
They’d been here forever.
His stomach ached and growled all at the same time, and he just wanted this baby to be born.
Bryce had been in this situation before, but this birth was nothing like the one he’d experienced when OJ had come into this world.
Codi groaned, and Bryce spun back to her. “Okay?” he asked, using that word for probably the hundredth time that day. They’d had to check in at six o’clock that morning, when Codi had been put on a Pitocin drip. She had dilatedpretty steadily and then stalled, and Bryce felt like they might be in the hospital until Thanksgiving.
“I’m okay,” she said, forcing a smile to her face. “Come lay with me. Your pacing is making me nervous.”
He couldn’t fit in the bed with her, so he took the chair beside her bed and took her hand in both of his. “I’m just….” He swallowed hard. “Lord, please bless this baby to come fast.” He closed his eyes and tilted his head back, as if petitioning heaven. “Codi’s real tired, and everyone’s been waiting for him for so long. Keep them safe, but could we speed this up a little bit?”
“I’ll say amen to that,” Codi said.
Bryce opened his eyes and found her smiling at him. That gesture fell away quickly as pain whipped across her face. A contraction gripped her, and her hand tightened against his. Bryce’s eyes flew to the monitor as the lines peaked. He’d learned about all these machines in the birthing classes they’d attended, but seeing them in action was different, more real. He’d been in such a haze when OJ was born, and every moment of this baby’s birth felt amplified in both color and sound.
A nurse entered the room, checked Codi’s chart, and then her vitals. “Let’s see how you’re doing.” She checked Codi’s progress and said, “Oh yes, you’re ready for the epidural.”
“Am I?” Codi asked, her voice filled with such hope.
“I’ll call the anesthesiologist right now,” she said. “You’re up to a six, and that means you’ve progressed quitenicely in the last hour. We’ll want to get the epidural now, or we might miss our window.”
“I don’t want to miss the window,” Codi said.
Bryce didn’t want that either, and the nurse nodded as she moved over to the phone on the wall and picked it up. He quickly texted his father, who’d been out in the waiting room for a couple of hours now. Bryce had tried to tell his parents not to come until he texted that the baby was here, but they were simply too excited.
He had his daddy, Otis, Georgia, and Abby in a group text, and he quickly messaged,They’re giving her the epidural. She’s dilated to a six.
Oh, that’s great movement, Abby said almost instantly.Georgia and Otis just got here with an early dinner.
I hope that baby comes soon, Georgia said.
Tears pressed into Bryce’s eyes at the kindness of his aunt. Otis and Georgia had adopted OJ all those years ago, and he knew his other biological son would be out in the waiting room waiting to meet this baby too.
“Can Abby come in?” Codi asked. “Just for a minute.”
Bryce looked at her, finding a hint of panic there. “Of course she can, baby. I’ll text her right now.” He stood and pressed a kiss to his wife’s forehead, and then texted as he walked out of the room.Abby, Codi wants you to come back. I’m coming to let you in.
He wasn’t sure he dared go all the way into the waiting room, and he slowed as he passed the nurse’s station. The double-wide doors just ahead required a code to enter orsomeone to come out and get a person, and he looked down at his phone as Abby said,Of course, I’m right by the doors.
Relief flooded Bryce, because Abby got it. He continued the last few steps and pushed the door open. Her eyes flew to his. “Is she okay?” she asked.
“I just think she’s really nervous,” Bryce said.
Codi’s mother had died several years ago, and yes, Codi had confessed to Bryce that she wished her mother could be there, that she had someone she could talk to and ask questions of. Abby had been that person for her, and she brushed past him with kindness and determined in one expression. “Room four-seventeen, yes?”
