“Kieran is fine. He and Brennan went to go and get Cormac.”
“They found Cormac?” Ciara pants. “Is he okay? If he’s not?—”
“You’ll kill him too?” I finish for Ciara.
“You bet I will. I swear this entire family will be the death of me.”
“Cormac is alive.” Ronan brushes the hair out of Ciara’s face, though I don’t miss the strained look in his eyes.
I don’t have a chance to ask for more details before the ambulance arrives, and Ciara is being loaded onto a trolley and into the back of the rig.
Her face twists, but I keep up the encouragement as she breathes through the contractions.
“Stay with her, Riley,” Ronan orders.
“Why? Where are you going?”
“I’m going to follow behind in the car. We’re not allowed to take the twins home without car seats.”
Among all of Ciara’s groans of pain, I had almost forgotten that the next time she will be home, there will be two babies with her.
My stomach flutters with nervous excitement at the thought.
“Drive carefully!” I call out before the doors are slammed shut.
“Riley… It hurts so much.”
I squeeze her hand. “I know. But you’re strong. You can do this.”
“I can’t… It’s too much.” Panic flashes in her eyes.
“You are stronger than you think.”
She huffs a laugh through gritted teeth. “You have no idea how fucking painful this is.”
“I don’t, but from the look on your face, I have a pretty good idea. And when it’s my turn, I give you full permission to laugh at all the ugly faces I pull when I’m pushing out a giant Sullivan baby of my own.”
“Reverse psychology won’t work on me.” She rolls her eyes, and I squeeze her hand again.
“Maybe not, but I’ll take my chances.”
“Is nowa bad time to tell you that hospitals make me nervous?” I say to Ciara once she’s set up in her delivery room.
“A little.” Ciara tries to make herself comfortable on the bed.
“Shall I go and find Ronan?” I hover anxiously beside the bed.
I don’t have a good track record with hospitals, considering the last time I was in one was right after my mother and sister were killed.
Hospitals mean death, and I never thought I would ever have so many people that I was terrified of losing, but right now I’m looking at one of them.
“Hopefully, he’s bribing the nurses to put me at the top of the epidural list.”
“I think we might be past the point of an epidural.”
“Don’t even joke with me, Riley. This shit hurts.”
Ciara snatches my hand and squeezes it so hard I have to bite down on my lip to stop myself from making a sound because I know she wouldn’t let me live it down.
