But it was obvious she was losing patience. And quickly.
“Your wife is not the first woman to give birth. She’ll be fine,” she muttered before walking out of the room.
“Well, she is my woman. And she’s giving birth for the first time,” Alessio retorted back. “There is a big difference!”
I closed my eyes, my head sinking into the pillow.
This was going to be a long ride.
A long, tiring ride with six overbearing, gun-carrying, ruthless mafia men.
Who promptly panicked at the idea of a woman giving birth.
Chapter 33
When the contractions hit me again, it was impossible to hold my scream. Letting out a bellowed shout, I tightened my fingers around Alessio’s hand.
Maybe I was crushing them impossibly tight. Too tight.
I even caught him wincing a few times.
I didn’t have the time to care when I felt another pain in my lower belly. It felt like my stomach was going to burst open any second now.
“Ouch. Ahhhh…” I cried out as another contraction hit. This time, I was full-on sobbing. “It hurts…” I moaned, trying to find Alessio’s face through my blurry vision.
When something cold touched my forehead, I sighed. So soothing. Maddie had been doing this for a while now.
I was sweating, it was too warm, and it hurt. After wrapping some ice in a towel, she pressed it over my forehead and dragged it softly over my face.
Only Alessio and Maddie were with me in the delivery room. Not that it stopped the others from bursting into the room whenever I screamed.
Like now.
“Shit. Is it time?” Viktor practically broke the door in his haste.
“No. She still isn’t fully dilated,” Maddie replied, sounding tired.
“Oh, okay,” he muttered, closing the door again.
“Alessio, it hurts…too much…” I huffed as I felt another contraction coming.
“It’s okay. Breathe. Breathe. Ivy said breathe,” he said stiffly. I could hear the fear and panic in his voice. His voice was too low…too soft for my liking.
The pain hit me harder than before, and I screamed yet again, bearing down at the pain.
His voice was next to my ear. “Breathe, Ayla. Breathe.”
“I am breathing!” I screamed at him. Anger suddenly swelled inside of me, and I gripped his hand harder.
He hissed painfully.
That hurt? Huh? Huh?
I was pushing his baby out of my vagina, and he was complaining about his hand?
I tightened my fingers even more, maybe too much.
“Alessio!” I hissed angrily.
Weren’t my contractions coming too hard and too fast?
Alessio was saying something incorrigible, and I heard Maddie arguing with him. My ears couldn’t make out the words. The pain was too much.
When Alessio let go of my hand, I wanted to cry.
Why did he let my hand go? Was I too mean?
No. Come back!
Opening my eyes, I saw Alessio pacing the length of the room. He gripped his hair tight in frustration, and I suddenly felt bad for taking my anger out on him.
For the first time, I noticed that his suit jacket was no longer on. His tie hung loosely around his neck, and the first two buttons of his shirt were open. His hair lay on his forehead, and sweat masked his skin.
He looked as tired as I felt. Like he was feeling my pain.
“Where is Ivy?” he growled for the hundredth time.
Ivy came and went a few times. But because I wasn’t ready and Princess wasn’t ready to make her appearance yet, she went to check up on her other patients.
“Alessio, can you help me up?” I croaked out. My throat felt dry from hours of screaming out my pain.
His head snapped to me, and his eyes met mine. Those intense blue eyes never failed to get all my attention, even when I was in impossible pain.
He hurried to my side again and pushed a hand behind my back, helping me in a sitting position. Ivy said I could walk around; it might make the labor go faster.
And that was exactly what I was going to do.
The little smart princess was coming out of me soon, whether she liked it or not.
“Are you sure?” Alessio asked quietly. He appeared almost scared to talk to me.
I nodded silently as he helped me off the bed, with Maddie always at my side.
They helped me around the room toward the huge blue bouncy ball. With Alessio in front of me, he helped me sit on it. He knelt between my legs, his hands on either side of my hips, holding me securely.
I could see the lines of stress on his forehead. He looked like he’d aged by five years in just hours.
I held Alessio’s cheeks while softly bouncing on the ball. “I’m going to be okay. Princess is going to be okay too. Have a little faith in me, would you? I can do this. We can do this.”
“I can’t see you in pain like this, Angel,” he muttered hoarsely.