Chapter 48

JAMES

Here we are. Any day now, I’ll be a dad again. But this time, I’ll be there for every moment.

Watching Anna carry our child has been a highlight of my life. I tried to shake off the guilt, and now it’s finally gone.

That’s life for you. You can’t control everything, but you make the best of what you get.

I adore my little Olivia more than words can express, and it stings that I wasn’t there from the start. But I’ll be there for all the years to come. Ever since I found out about her, I’ve stayed as close as possible.

Through everything.

I don’t give a damn about my business achievements. Money and work aren’t the be-all and end-all. Family is, and that’s what Anna and Liv have shown me.

What’s the point of dreams if you don’t have a family to share them with?

My playboy past is a distant memory. It vanished the moment I saw Anna again after all these years. Seeing her brought back all the pain of missing her.

Seeing her worn down like that—my heart still aches. She seemed happy, but I could tell it wasn’t complete.

Now, her face radiates pure joy. And that’s something money can’t buy.

“James!” Anna calls out, snapping me out of my thoughts. She’s doubled over, hands braced against the door, her face contorted.

“Shit.” Panic bubbles up as I start pacing the room.

~Pull yourself together.~

~

“Call—”

Right—that’s what I need to do. I grab my phone and glance at Becca and Jack.

“Can you call Jasmine?” I ask Jack, then turn to Becca.

“Can you call Brittany? I’ll call Lizzie,” I instruct her.

We each dial our numbers.

Lizzie answers after two rings. “James?” she asks, her voice laced with worry.

“Can you meet us at the hospital? Grab the emergency suitcase from your closet.”

She gasps. “Why? Liv is fine, James,” she protests.

“Anna’s in labor. It’s time, Lizzie. It’s time for Olivia to get her transplant,” I explain.

“We’ll gather everything we need—just get our girl to that hospital,” she instructs.

I end the call, and just as I think we’re all set, I see Anna pacing and Jack rushing to Becca, who’s clutching her stomach.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Jack mutters.

“Why did we decide to have this stressful conversation now?” Becca grumbles to Peter, who’s rubbing Anna’s back.

“Damn it.” I pinch the bridge of my nose and take a deep breath. I exchange a look with Jack and we nod.

“Hospital bags,” we say together, and we split up. Jack heads to the car and I go to the study where a bag is already packed for Anna.

~Thank God we planned ahead.~

I grab the bag and head to the kitchen. The girls are both gripping the table, breathing through contractions.

~But isn’t that too fast? I was only gone for like five minutes.~

“They’re coming fast. We need to get them to the hospital,” Peter insists.

I have to agree with him, it’s time to go. “Grab Becca, and I’ll take Anna. You can ride with us if you want, but first, we need to get them in a car.”

He nods, but Becca shakes her head. “No, I’m not leaving my daughter alone in this. These babies can come where they want, but I’m coming with you!” she declares fiercely.

She takes a few steps toward me.

“Momma, it’s okay,” Anna soothes, breathing deeply. She walks over to me and I wrap my arm around her waist, holding her close.

“Are you ready, Daddy?” she whispers in my ear, leaning back against me. Feeling her against me brings me joy. This is the last time I’ll see her like this. I touch her belly, round and full.

~I’ll miss this.~

“More than anything. Let’s get you to the hospital, A.”

“No medications,” she reminds me. Anna wants to do this naturally and I admire her for it. She warned me that no matter how much she begs, I can’t give in. She doesn’t want to miss a thing.

~She’s nuts... But I love her for it.~

“I know.”

We head out to the cars. Jack is running his hands through his hair and over his face, and I can tell he’s panicking. After all this time, he’s finally going to witness it—and not just one baby, but two.

~Yeah, he has every right to be scared.~

Seeing us approach, Jack rushes to Becca. “We’ll see you there,” he says, guiding Becca to the car. I do the same with Anna.

I see another contraction coming, so I lift her up and place her in the car.

The ride to the hospital feels like the longest fifteen minutes ever. Anna has contractions almost the whole time, but she never once complains about the pain.

The only thing she mentions is that she can feel the baby moving down, which tells me this baby is coming fast.

We reach the hospital at the same time as Jack and Becca. We walk our girls into the emergency room and Jackie rushes over to us.

“Anna? James?” she asks, looking puzzled.

“Hi, Jackie,” Anna greets, her face twisted in pain.

“You’re pregnant?” Jackie asks.

“I'm about to pop, Jackie!” she yells as another contraction hits her.

Jackie, the middle-aged nurse who’s always been there for us, hurries to get Anna onto a bed. Jack and I each support Becca and follow suit.

“Mom!” Anna hollers, her eyes scanning the room for Becca.

“I’m right here, sweetheart,” Becca responds, her voice strained as she battles through a contraction. She’s doing her best to ignore the fact that she’s in labor too.

“Jackie, this is my birth mom, Becca, and my dad, Jack,” Anna manages to say between gasps.

Jackie looks taken aback. “I’m guessing a lot has happened, but what I can see right now is that both of you are in labor,” she concludes, and we all nod in agreement.

“Anna’s contractions are about three minutes apart, but her water hasn’t broken yet,” Peter informs her.

“And who might you be?” Jackie asks, scribbling down the information.

“He’s my adoptive dad. We thought it would be a great idea, at thirty-seven weeks pregnant, to invite them all over for a super stressful conversation with my jerk of an adoptive mother.

“Because of the stress, we both went into labor,” Anna blurts out in one breath.

“Oh, Anna. Good Lord, whose bright idea was that?”

We all shrug our shoulders. Looking back, it was a terrible idea. Like, really, really bad.

“We wanted a fresh start before the babies arrived,” Becca explains, gripping Jack’s hand.

“Well, that sure didn’t happen,” Anna chuckles.

“So, let’s get this party started.” Jackie gets Becca settled in a bed and calls over some hospital staff to help roll us all to the maternity wing.

As we arrive, I spot two flustered-looking doctors rushing toward us.

The look on Jackie’s face is priceless. “Dr. Jones? Dr. Brittany?”

“Hi, Jackie. Hi, Anna and Becca. You thought it would be fun to go into labor together too, huh?” Jasmine teases.

“Not funny,” Anna snaps, doing her best to breathe through the pain.

“Where’s Olivia?” Jasmine asks. “I’ll get her ready for the transplant.”

“She should be here any minute,” I reply.

“We’re here! We’re here!” I hear Lizzie’s voice from behind us. We all turn to see Lizzie and Jim sprinting toward us with Olivia.

“Great. Anna, Becca,” Jasmine begins, pointing at us. “You two focus on your baby—or babies. I’ll take care of Liv,” she says, a smile spreading across her face.

Then her gaze lands on Jack. “Congratulations, Dad. I know you’ve always wanted this,” she says, giving his arm a squeeze. Then she walks with Liv, Lizzie, and Jim toward the oncology ward to prep Liv.

Being only one person with two hands, Brittany calls over another doctor to assist with the delivery. Anna is breathing as best she can, but I can tell she’s about to be sick.

I quickly hand her a small bowl just in time to prevent her from vomiting all over herself.

“I’ll go fetch the doctor,” the nurse says. A few minutes later, Brittany arrives, looking upbeat.

“Let’s take a look, shall we?” she suggests. A nurse and I each take one of Anna’s legs and place them on the stirrups.

Brittany positions herself between Anna’s legs and asks me to support Anna from behind so I can help her push. I know this is really just about getting me involved, but that makes me appreciate it even more.

“It’s time to push, Anna,” she says softly.

Anna nods and takes a deep breath. She pushes as hard as she can, her entire body moving forward with her eyes tightly shut.

“Hold it, hold it,” Brittany instructs her. Anna exhales.

“Again!” Brittany commands. And we do it all over again.

“Great, Anna. Keep pushing, I can see the head,” she says. When I hear that, I can’t help but look. And there it is—it doesn’t look gross, but it does look painful.

“I’m so sorry, A,” I whisper, feeling helpless.

“James! I need you!” Anna cries out. I can see the pain etched on her face. I take her hand as she pushes again.

“The head is out,” Brittany announces. “Now, Anna, one big push. We need to get the shoulders out.”

Anna grits her teeth and pushes once more. “Goddamn it!” she screams through the pain.

Suddenly, a small cry fills the room. Tears stream down my face as I realize, through that beautiful cry, that everything is okay.

“And it’s a boy!” Brittany exclaims, lifting the baby so Anna can see him. Just like that, I feel a sense of completeness.

“A boy?” I ask.

Brittany nods. “Yes, would you like to cut the cord?” she asks, offering me the scissors. I take them from her and cut the cord where she indicates.

I follow the baby as the nurses clean him up a bit and run the standard tests. He is perfect. His skin is rosy and he looks calm as the nurses fuss over him.

“Fuck!” Anna yells, causing me to spin around in worry. “This shouldn’t feel like this,” she says.

“What shouldn’t?” I ask her.

“The placenta. This feels like I need to push again—hard,” she explains.

Brittany looks alarmed, and she takes another look. “Okay, Anna. I need you to push again. It looks like we had another baby that was hiding.

“You’ll be okay. Do this first. Panic after,” she reassures Anna. I can see the guilt and worry on her face.

Before Anna can respond, she is hit again with the pain. I leave our son with the nurses to be by my wife’s side.

“Come on, sweetheart,” I try to comfort her, but she shakes her head.

“We didn’t know this, James. I didn’t know,” she sobs.

“I know, A. And it’s okay, we’ll be all right. We just need you to push this baby out, or things will get worse. It’s okay. We’ll be okay,” I assure her and wipe her tears away.

She gives a nod, pushing once more in the same steady rhythm.

“I see the head,” Brittany announces.

In no time at all, another wail echoes through the room. Brittany severs the cord and swiftly carries our crying newborn away.

“James, follow her,” Anna instructs me, her face streaked with tears. I trail behind Brittany, who’s now examining our baby. She scrutinizes everything, from the baby’s eyes to her weight to her reflexes, before letting out a sigh of relief.

Those five minutes feel like an eternity, as if the whole room is moving in slow motion. It’s agonizing.

“Congratulations, you two. Your daughter is perfectly fine,” she informs us. Relief washes over me. Anna starts crying again, and I join her.

Since we hadn’t known about the second baby, we had no idea if she was healthy.

Today, our family has grown by two. A boy and a girl. Both of them are at a healthy weight, and they look absolutely perfect.