Gavin: Good. Don’t do anything crazy.
Me: How’s Briel?
Gavin: Fine. We’re out right now, let me call you later.
Me: That’s okay. I’ll be at my house with Milo. Lance is staying with a friend.
Gavin: Copy.
Copy?There was something so distant in that sign-off. Maybe he was pulling back, knowing that I needed it—or maybe he needed it in order to focus on Briel? I should have been relieved—it was exactly what I needed at the time—but something in his tone made me unsettled.
32.Thirteen Years Ago
PENNY
I went into labor a little after ten on a Monday morning, twelve days before my due date. Lance had gone to Phoenix for a quick business trip the night before. He wasn’t scheduled to be back until the next day.
The first person I called was my doctor, who told me to keep track of the contractions and to call someone immediately to come stay with me. The next two hours were a blur. The doctor told me, on average, first labors could last as long as twelve hours, which would give Lance plenty of time to get home and be present for Milo’s birth.
I frantically dialed Lance’s cell but he didn’t answer, so I calmly left a message: “Damn it, I’m in labor! You need to come back NOW.”
He called back almost immediately. “I’m in a cab, heading back to my hotel! I’ll grab my things and get on the first flight back. Hang in there, sweetie.”
I called my mother next. “Kiki and I will be there in twenty minutes!” she said. Lance and I were living in a small house about six miles from my mother’s house and twelve miles from the hospital.
Unfortunately, my doctor was completely wrong: my labor was progressing fast and my contractions were coming one on top of the other. There was no way this was going to be a twelve-hour labor.
I called Frank, who lived two miles away.
Gavin answered. “Penny?”
I was breathing hard. “How’d you know?”
“Everyone has caller ID, silly.”
“What are you doing there?”
“I came to visit. What’s wrong? Why are you breathing hard?”
“I’m in labor and Lance is trying to fly back from Phoenix right now. He won’t be back for hours. Ahhh!” I screamed. “Fuck, this hurts!”
“We’ll be there in five.”
Five words from Gavin could calm me down. But not for long. I was in the throes of labor after all, alone in our little house on Pine Nut Drive. Five minutes felt like three hours.
Gavin and Frank arrived right on time. Gavin ran around frantically, looking for my overnight bag, which Lance had conveniently put on the top shelf of our closet without telling me. Frank helped me to Gavin’s car, but I was in so much pain I could barely walk.
“I managed to catch your mom before she left the house,” Gavin said behind us. “She’s meeting us at the hospital with your sister.”
Frank got in the driver’s seat while I lay down on Gavin’s lap in the backseat. Frank quickly but cautiously drove us to the hospital as we swerved through Monday-morning traffic.
“Oh god! This hurts.”
Gavin rubbed my sweating head. “I know, baby, just breathe in and out.”
I was wearing a nightgown and slippers. Gavin had thrown a heavy jacket over my shoulders since it was snowing out. Still, I was sweating bullets.I felt a gush between my legs. Looking down, I could see amniotic fluid spilling across the leather seat and onto the floor. “Oh no.”
“It’s okay, Penny. Your water just broke.”
