The bassinet is next to my side of the bed, and several swaddling blankets are neatly folded in the little storage basket underneath. The apnea monitor Abby got me is charged and ready to offer Lucas and me reassurance our baby is doing just fine as we’re trying to get some sleep. I even have bottles and a breast pump at the ready, along with post-delivery care items for myself.
We’ve read the books—and Lucas read them a second time—and are ready. Yet I feel so unprepared, and all the normal worries crash down on me, bombarding me with a million what-ifs.
“Right now,” I start, “I feel like walking around. With only Lucas,” I add. Knowing I’m going to have a house full of people is starting to sound incredibly unappealing. Ideally, I wanted just Lucas in the room with me along with the midwife, of course, and Tabatha would be right outside the door, ready to come in and give me support if I needed it.
My friends would come over not long after the baby was born, and Lucas and I would get to spend the first precious moments alone with our daughter. It’s not going to happen that way, and I understand why. It’s just as much for Juliet’s protection as it is mine.
“Then you do that. I will contact Maryellen.” Tabatha squeezes my hand and lets go, looking at the twins, Evander, and Kristy. “You four, go to your rooms and don’t come out unless I tell you to.” She smiles. “It’s been a while since I’ve said that.”
“What rooms?” Evander retorts, amusement on his face.
“Find one,” she says right back. “There are plenty in this house. You four are here as magical protection backup if the need should arise. This is an important time for Callie and Lucas to spend together. That goes for all of you,” she adds, eyeing Eliza. I’m so grateful for Tabatha. She didn’t enter my life until I was ten years old, but she is my mother. I feel it more now than ever. “Now go and watch a murder documentary you millennials love so much.”
“We can laugh at the rookie mistakes the murderer made to get caught,” Evander adds. “I’ll make popcorn.”
“If burying bodies was a game, we’d win,” I chide, absentmindedly rubbing my stomach with one hand. “It’s almost a shame it’s not a game.”
“How would you play this game?” Nicole asks.
“Everyone gets a body to dispose of and whoever’s body is discovered first loses, and so on until there’s only one hidden body left to find. That’s the winner.”
“We would win that game.” Lucas holds out his hand for me to take. I grunt when I get to my feet, so damn uncomfortable. I make a pitstop at the bathroom to pee before Lucas and I go outside, slowly walking down the steps.
“Too many people in the house?” He takes my hand, thumb rubbing circles over my wrist.
“Was it that obvious? I don’t want to make anyone feel unwelcome.”
“No, and you shouldn’t feel bad if it was. You’re in labor, my love. If there’s any time for you to act selfishly, it’s now.”
“I agree,” I tell him. “I shouldn’t feel bad that my friends are stuck here for the foreseeable future, but these damn hormones are getting to me.” I look up at the sky and inhale. It’s peaceful outside, and as long as we stay in the warding, we’re safe. “I wanted it to just be the two of us.”
“It still will be.”
I put a hand on my lower back and groan. Juliet feels heavier and heavier with each step.
“Do you want to go back inside?” Lucas asks when my pace slows even more.
“Not yet. I’m feeling some weird instinct to walk and let gravity do its thing. And don’t contradict me if it doesn’t work that way,” I add. “It’s making me feel productive.”
Lucas chuckles. “I wouldn’t dream of contradicting you now.” He looks at his watch, and we keep walking. Twelve minutes after my last contraction, I have another, and then another ten minutes after that. This pain is different and more intense, and I can feel it pushing the baby down.
“Come here,” Lucas says gently, lifting my hands and putting them on his shoulders. I lean forward, widening my legs and trying to find some relief. I suck in air, gritting my teeth as a deep pressure pushes down from inside. Lucas rubs my back, and I cling to him, reminding myself to try and breathe.
“This isn’t fun,” I grunt as the pain starts to subside, and Lucas laughs. He continues to rub my back and kisses my neck.
“How are you doing?”
“Okay. They’re getting more intense, but I’m okay. We can keep walking. It’s nice out.”
“It is.” He looks up at the moon. “It’s a good night to meet our daughter.”