Total pages in book: 51
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 256(@200wpm)___ 204(@250wpm)___ 170(@300wpm)
“Dad, we’re gonna ask you…” the first nurse said as she came into the room.
“He’s not leaving me,” I cried.
“I just want him to fill out some paperwork. He doesn’t have to leave your side,” she soothed. “He’ll be right here. We just need information.”
I blew out a breath.
Then my stomach seized, and I started to scream.
“Oh my God. It burns!”
Whatever I said must’ve alerted the nurse to something important, because the other nurse who’d been helping me out of my pants yanked them off so fast I heard them rip.
Seconds later, I had three nurses and my husband between my legs staring.
“Oh, fuck,” I heard Banner say. “That’s not good, right?”
“No,” the other nurse answered. “Feet first is definitely bad.”
My eyes widened.
One of the nurses hit a button on the wall.
Another was shoving shit around.
And then there was my husband, standing between my legs, paperwork all but forgotten on the chair beside the bed.
He reached down and…
Came up with my baby in his hands when I couldn’t stop myself from pushing.
He looked at me. Then at the baby. Then at the nurse. Then back at me. Before he looked back at the baby.
The baby started to wail.
And I started to cry right along with him.
“Umm,” Banner said as he held our newborn in his hands. “That’s really gross.”
“It’s normal,” the nurse who’d been doing the shoving around of stuff said as she came up to me and laid a blanket on my chest. “Put the baby here. Let’s get her cleaned off. Natalie, page Doctor Rhodes. And whomever is the on-call pediatrician right now.”
Banner placed our wailing baby on my chest, and I looked down in awe at the miracle we’d created together.
“Holy hell,” Banner breathed as he looked at his hands. “I didn’t even wash them. Do you think that’s okay?”
I couldn’t help it.
I laughed.
TRANCE & VIDDY
CHAPTER 4
My man risks his life for strangers. Just imagine what he would do for me.
-Viddy to a stranger
TRANCE
“Perry is in labor,” my wife said, jumping over the back of the couch, doing a barrel roll, and landing in my lap.
I laughed at her exuberance and wrapped my arms around her tight. “How do you know?”
I hadn’t heard the phone ring.
“She sent me a text,” she answered. “They just left for the hospital. We have to go. Now. Take this.”
Before I could so much as prepare for something to be shoved into my mouth, I was all but swallowing a pill. My wife’s finger was shoved so far down my throat that I had no possibility of not swallowing it.
I grimaced and pulled back as I tried to get the taste of that disgusting pill out of my mouth.
“But Viddy, baby,” I whined. “Why do I have to go?”
“Dad,” Ford said. “Stop being a little bitch and get in the car.”
I pulled at my bottle of Xanax that I could see poking out from Viddy’s pocket and popped another one, just in case.
Sure, the bottle said one, but in this instance, I think my doctor would understand.
“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let’s go.”
Time to see my newest grandbaby.
Goddamn, did I love my grandbabies. Why else would I get on a deathtrap of a plane?
• • •
“What the fuck are you doing here?” I asked as I walked up and crossed my arms over my chest. “I’m always the one who gets to hold my grandbabies first.”
Silas stood up with a grin, my baby granddaughter in his big hands.
“Well, I was in the area. Heard that they needed a friend here, and so I came.” He held the baby out to me, but then narrowed his eyes. “Did you wash your fuckin’ hands?”
Perry started to laugh from where she sat on the couch. My son, Banner, pulled her even closer into his arms.
I felt my heartrate decelerate at the sight of them, all happy and whole.
“Yeah, I washed my goddamn hands.” I paused. “This is my eighth grandchild. Not to mention I had three fuckin’ kids before that. I think I know by now that I’m supposed to wash my hands.”
Silas grinned and gave the baby over, making my heart all but crack open.
There was something different about holding your baby’s baby.
Not that I didn’t love my other grandkids to death, but Banner was my last. My final contribution to the world.
There was just something about it…
“Fuck, she’s beautiful,” I said softly, looking at the perfect blend of Perry’s features and Banner’s.
The baby had Perry’s skin tone and Asian eye shaping, but Banner’s everything else. His stubborn chin, cute little nose, lips, and especially the eye colors.
“Damn, guys.” I sat down heavily, feeling weak in the knees. “Y’all did good.”
Banner’s rumbling laughter, joined by Ford’s, caused me to look over my shoulder at them. “What?”
“Dad is such a wimp when it comes to the babies, man,” Ford said as he walked up to Banner and offered him his hand.