“All right, nine centimeters, but ten is almost here,” she says. “It’s almost baby time.”
“No!” I shout. “Maddox. He’s almost here. He’s less than an hour away.”
The doctor looks at the clock before looking back at me. “I’ll wait as long as I can. But we’re checking on you frequently. This baby is coming soon, and as much as I want Maddox to be here for this, and for you, I’m not going to put you or the baby at risk.”
“I understand,” I say, but her words have sent my anxiety through the roof.
“Everything will be okay,” Ainsley says as she wipes my forehead with a washcloth. “He’ll get here. I know Simon. He won’t fail. Especially for something like this.”
She gives my hand a squeeze before leaving the suite.
“Shelby? I’m scared.” It’s the first time I’ve said those words out loud, but I can’t keep them in anymore. “I know he’s on his way. But I feel like things are coming fast now and he’s not here yet and I already feel another one coming on and…”
“Hey,” she says, leaning down and tapping her forehead to mine. “No matter what, you’re going to do this. Whether it’s me or Maddox standing next to you, you’re going to do this. Hard things are petrified to see you coming. No matter the obstacle, you’ve always overcome it. And what you’ve done this past year? Starting your life over? Divorcing the douche bag? Running the bakery? Finding love again? Some people can’t do that in alifetime. But here you are, adding giving fucking birth to that list. I know it’s hard. I know you’re tired, but if anyone can do this, it’s you Gabi Devereaux.”
I feel the tears on my cheeks, but don’t have the energy to wipe them away. “Thank you. For everything.”
“What are best friends for? Though I would’ve liked to have known when we became friends that one day I’d have a front row seat to you pushing a human out of your vagina.”
“Would you not have been my friend if you knew that?”
She shrugs. “I would’ve had to consider it more.”
I’d throw a pillow at her if I had any energy. “I love you.”
“Love you too,” she says as she picks up her cell phone.
“What are you doing?”
“Messaging your baby daddy,” she says. “I’m here for you. But now that I think about it, I really don’t need to see my nephew being born.”
CHAPTER 36
MADDOX
4:35 a.m. CT
“Ithink that name is fucking perfect!” Simon says, slapping his steering wheel.
“Thanks,” I say as we pass a sign that says we’re thirty miles away from Nashville. And one that says the speed limit is sixty-five miles per hour. A sign Simon is clearly ignoring. Though he’s at least not going ninety anymore. “You said you have a daughter?”
“Yup. My Lainey. She’s two and a half. My pride and joy and the reason why I’ve embraced the salt and pepper hair.”
“That’s amazing,” I say as I look out the window. Simon has tried to keep my mind off things, but I can’t help but worry every time the conversation stops.
Am I missing it? I haven’t heard from her or Shelby in nearly an hour. What’s happening? Is she okay? Why haven’t I heard? Should I call? Am I a bother to call? Are they not calling because it’s happening and they don’t want me to feel bad? Are they not calling because nothing significant is happening? The notknowing is killing me. I feel like I’m failing her already and Tiny Tot isn’t even here yet.
“Let me guess. You feel like shit because you aren’t there and you’re worrying yourself to death that you’re a horrible father already and the kid isn’t even born yet?”
I look over to Simon in awe. Is he also a mind reader?
“How did you know?”
“I had that look approximately two and a half years ago,” he says as he weaves past a car. “Charlie, my wife, wasn’t due for a few weeks and my friends took me out for a stag party, but for babies. Golf, beer, a diaper haul, the whole nine.”
“That’s amazing.”
“It was until one of my best friend’s teenage sons, who was our designated driver, had to pull my ass out of the bar because she was in labor.”
