Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Charlie’s whole body stiffened and she reached for him. He moved as quickly as he could, giving her a hand to hold on to as the pain took her. It seemed to last forever, but he knew it wasn’t more than a few seconds. His wife was in pain and he couldn’t do a damn thing about it. Well, he could.
“Take the epidural.”
“I will if it gets to be too much,” she agreed. “But right now it would only slow down the labor.”
He needed everything to slow down. He needed it to stop. From the moment she’d told him the babies were coming to now seemed like both forever and the blink of an eye.
The door opened and Chelsea strode in. “Hey, sis. Looks like my nieces are eager to get here.”
Ian took that as a sign that he could step out for a moment. He kissed his wife and left her with her sister. Dr. Bates couldn’t have gotten too far. He had a few questions he didn’t want to ask around his wife.
He walked out the door and jogged to catch the OB who was standing at the nurses’ station. Melinda Bates was a lifestyle friendly doctor. There was a small network of them. Dr. Bates had grown up with a mom and dad who were full-on 24/7, and she understood. It made Ian infinitely more comfortable to have her watching out for Charlie. She wouldn’t look at them sideways if Charlie forgot and called out for her Master.
“Doc,” Ian began.
“Yes, Mr. Taggart? Is Charlotte all right?” Dr. Bates asked.
“For now. Shouldn’t we be doing a C-section? And isn’t it early? The babies are going to be premature. Shouldn’t we have things set up to take care of them?” They would be small. So fucking small. They would be fragile, and if anything happened to them it would be Ian’s fault. This was his family. His girls.
“Ian, it’s going to be fine.” She put a hand on his shoulder, obviously tossing aside formality. “If she hadn’t gone into labor this week, I likely would have pushed to induce her soon. The babies are at a good weight, and from what I can tell they’re already obedient little girls. They’re both in a heads down position and ready to be born. Charlotte’s placenta isn’t obstructing her cervix. This is a textbook case for delivering twins vaginally. Everything is going perfectly.”
“And if something goes wrong?” He didn’t even want to think about it. He would almost rather just get it all over with.
“Then we do an emergency C and she’s still fine. Look, nothing I say is going to make you feel better. You’re out of control and I can’t give it back to you. This is woman’s work and it always will be. There isn’t a man in the world who’s watched his beloved labor to bring their child into the world and not felt helpless,” Dr. Bates said with a sympathetic smile. “But Charlotte is strong and your daughters are strong. Let them do their work. For now, all you can do is let them know how much you love them.”
He nodded, but her words didn’t really help. All he could see was Charlie looking pale in that hospital gown she’d had to change into.
So many things could go wrong. He could lose them all.
“Ian?”
He turned and Sean stood there. He was still in his chef whites, as though he’d walked out in the middle of prep for tonight’s dinner. Which given the time was the most likely scenario. “You didn’t have to come up here. It’s probably going to be hours.”
Sean simply walked up to him. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else. My sous-chef can handle Top for the night. I’m staying here with you. Grace and Li stayed behind to close up McKay-Taggart, but they should be here soon. I think you’ll find everyone else is here. They’ve kind of taken over the waiting room. We are going to be hell on the volunteers.”
God, he hadn’t expected that. “Tell them to go home. Like I said, it’s going to be hours.”
Sean put a hand on his shoulder. “Walk with me. Chelsea’s got Charlotte covered for the moment. I want to talk to you.”
He stepped back, wary. “I don’t need touchy-feely shit.”
“Sometimes I wonder why we put up with you,” Sean said under his breath. “Fine. I’ll go to plan B. Ian, I’ve got lemon cookies Macon made in the waiting room.”
“Oh, I will take those.” As long as he wasn’t about to get some lecture about the step he was about to take. He didn’t want to hear about that. He kind of didn’t want to think about that. Sometimes it was best to simply let things happen.
He started to follow Sean down the hall.
“Do you remember the moment you decided you wanted kids?” Sean asked.