“No,” he said, and Maggie jumped out from the back seat.
“You want me to go in with you, honey?” she asked me, and I just nodded.
“You can wait in the lobby,” the nurse told Seth, and then I was wheeled back to a room as a burning fire bloomed between my legs.
I peered back at Seth, who was standing alone in the waiting room, and I had to fight the urge to beg him to come as well. The Lord was trying to tell me something. I could feel the Holy Spirit stirring within me, but I was in too much physical pain to listen.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Seth
“You the father?”
Those three words caused a desire to bloom inside of me until it was burning as bright as the sun.
I wish,I wanted to say.
I paced the waiting room for half an hour with no news of Ella and the babies. How long did it take for this sort of thing? I knew that labor could take hours, but her water had broken in the car, so that made it seem like she’d been further along and hadn’t realized. She’d been complaining of hip pain the past two days in our group text, but I’d Googled it and learned that pain was normal, especially with twins. There was something called “round ligament pain” that caused discomfort in eighty percent of pregnancies. After reading that, I hadn’t been worried, but now, I was.
Lord, let her be okay. Let both babies be okay. Please,I prayed.
I never got to see my daughter. She died in Scarlett’s stomach, so I prayed feverishly now that I’d get to see Ella’s babies healthy and alive. I’d grown so attached to Ella’s happiness, whether that involved me in her life or not. I just didn’t want any more hardships to befall that beautiful woman.
Even though it killed me to know that she wanted to raise her children in Paris with her mom for the first year, I recognized that it was probably best for her and the babies. She wanted her mother; she wanted comfort and familiarity and support, and that’s what she deserved. I feared she’d fall in love with France and never come back, but again, I just wanted her to be happy.
The door to the ER burst open, and Maggie came rushing out with mild alarm on her face.
“No.” I nearly collapsed right there.
“Everything’s okay.” Maggie put her hands out to calm me. “But one of the baby’s hearts is in distress every time she has a contraction, and they want to do a C-section. Ella wants you.”
I could barely process her words.Heart distress. C-section. Ella wants…me?
“What?”
Maggie grabbed me firmly by the underarm like she had when I was a little boy and started hauling me towards the doors. “She’s really scared, and she wantsyouthere, Seth,” Maggie said, and a protective need roared to life inside me.
I burst through the doors and came face-to-face with atiny nurse who slipped a gown over my clothes, booties on my shoes, and then a hair covering on my head.
“We’re in OR two,” she said.
My heart was racing. I wanted to ask her a million questions, and I wanted to panic, but I knew I had to be strong for Ella.
“She wants you.”
Those three words beat like a drum inside my chest, and warmth spread throughout my heart.
The nurse pushed the doors open, and I took in the scene before me.
I was behind Ella, and a blue curtain had been pulled up to cover her lower half. There were about six other people in the room, and I had no idea what their purpose was. There were two incubators with nurses beside each one.
I stood next to Ella and peered down at her tear-stained cheeks.
“Okay, Ella, your friend is here. Can we start?” the doctor said.
Ella looked up at me, and my heart nearly stopped beating when she slipped her hand into mine and squeezed, seemingly mustering strength from what I was hoping was the confidence in my face.
I reached out and brushed the tear from her cheek. “It’s going to be okay,” I told her calmly.
