“I don’t know why I feel like I have to push,” she cried. “But I have to push, Xander.”
She tried to hold it in, but her body was not trying to cooperate.
Her face misted with sweat as another contraction rolled through. She tried to close her legs… but the urge to push gripped every muscle in her body like a vice, leaving her no choice but to give in.
She screamed as the wave of her contraction built and reached a high, and she bared down uncontrollably.
“Okay, okay.” Xander switched on his hazard lights and honked as he moved the truck up and over to the shoulder of the road. “I got you. I’m pulling over.”
“What is happening?” Rylee cried out, her face now wet with tears. “It’s too soon. My water just broke.”
“Precipitous labor,” Xander said, his voice steady, calmer. “You’re in active labor now. Dr. Grayson warned us about this.”
Rylee’s heart felt like it was in her throat as she felt another contraction creeping up.
“This is your third child.” Xander put the car in park and unhooked his seatbelt. “Labor likely already started while we were shopping. Open your door, Rylee.”
Rylee did as told. Her body was shaking, hands trembling… something she only noticed when she was opening the door.
“Aight,” Xander said outside, peeling off his hoodie by the sleeves. The breeze from outside whipped against her face, cooling her.
He was grabbing her by her legs when he told her, “Can you turn toward me, baby? Yeah, just like that.”
Rylee did as told, barely able to move but doing it anyway. “Xander?—”
“Sit sideways,” he coached over her. “One leg on the seat.”
Her breaths were coming in faster than she could stop them, but still, she carried out his request.
“Yeah.” He nodded, eyes firmly on her as he removed her sneakers. “Now put the other up on the dash if you can.”
“Xander, what’s happening?” she asked, doing as told.
“That’s it.” He exhaled slowly through his mouth, forcing a smile while nodding. “Stick right here, I’ll be right back.”
Her heart was pounding now. The sounds of honking cars, passing winds, and the natural sounds of the expressway they traveled down cluttered her sound space.
Another contraction rolled through her and she gritted her teeth while trying to hold back her scream and the sensation to push, but she struggled to do both.
She watched Xander open the backseat of his truck to retrieve something, then head to the trunk and grab a bottle of isopropyl alcohol. He poured it over his hands, the sharp scent instantly rising into the cold air.
“Aight,” he said as he returned in front of her, pushing air through his mouth. He grabbed at the waistband of her sweatpants and her heart dropped.
“Xander, what the fuck?!”
He looked up at her, and she held his gaze.
“I’m scared,” she admitted, her bottom lip trembling. “This can’t happen. I can’t have him right now. I don’t want something to happen to him?—”
“Look at me.” Xander crouched down on the ground outside, his breath still steady, his warm hand holding her by the side of her face. “You got me, and I got you. And we’ve got him,” he said, placing his hand on her hard belly. “You arenotalone, and you don’t have to be scared. Aight?”
With her pants off, Xander got low to check, using his fingers to measure how far she’d dilated.
He looked up at her, eyes focused. “Baby… you’re fully dilated.”
“Oh, God.”
Xander slid his hoodie underneath her next and grabbed one of the towels he got from the backseat.
