log Felicia’s information and moving quickly back to her side. “It’s not too early. The baby measured large at your last appointment, remember?” She brushed the tear away. “He or she is ready to be held in your arms.”
Felicia nodded. “But—”
“No, buts,” Suz said. “You’ll both be fine.”
A tear slipped from Felicia’s eye, and Suz had been through this exact scenario enough times to not be too worried. What Felicia was experiencing was a combination of nerves about the delivery (especially when it was moving this fast) and fear that she was going to actually be a new mom in reality and not just in her dreams.
“Promise?” Felicia asked.
“I promise,” Suz told her.
“Okay,” Felicia murmured. “Ok—ow!”
“Breathe, honey,” she said, talking her through the contraction.
She groaned loudly, gripping the railing until it threatened to crack, until her knuckles were standing out in sharp relief. Hank, her husband, was lucky she had hold of that instead of his hand. “Oh God, it hurts.”
And it wasn’t all nerves. It was also the pain.
Because this was fast. This labor was moving very fast, especially for a first baby.
“Lie back, honey,” she ordered. “Let me see how things are going.”
“Is it okay?” Felicia asked.
“Yes,” Suz assured her. “I just want to see how things are progressing.” She reached for Felicia’s shoulder, coaxing her to lie back.
Then she looked.
And realized that fast had turned into warp speed.
She stood. “All looks good, honey. Just try to relax.” Which Suz knew was easier said than done when she wasn’t the one about to squeeze a watermelon out from a lemon. But it had to be said, especially because she needed a few things in place in order to safely bring this baby into the world.
She moved to the cabinet with her supplies, but before she could open it, Graham was by her side.
Discomfort trickled through the bond—the bond!—connecting them.
“Are you uncomfortable being next to me,” she muttered. “Or because a baby’s about to be born?”
“Neither,” he said after a pause. “I’m uncomfortable because I don’t know if Felicia is okay with me being in here. It’s not like I know her that well, and this is an . . . intimate situation.”
“Sounds like door number two,” she said, standing on tiptoe to reach one of the birthing kits Gabby, her former receptionist and current nurse, had recently restocked. Speaking of which, “You called Gabby?”
He nodded. “No answer, but I left a message. I can go knock on her door, though.” He reached past her, snagging the kit, his chest brushing her back, making her suck in her breath, making her remember. Making her remember too much when she was trying to pretend what had happened between them didn’t actually happen. “Suz?” he said, when she didn’t move. “Should I go get her?”
“No,” she said quietly. “That’ll take too long.”
“Too long?” he hissed, lurching back.
“This baby is coming. Now.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah.” She met his gaze. “And I’m out a nurse.”
Now, the discomfort was related to a baby’s imminent birth, but the words that came out of Graham’s mouth didn’t align with the nerves she felt across their link.
“I guess I’m putting my first aid skills to use tonight.”
Suz bit back a smile then her gaze caught on Felicia’s husband, saw that Hank was a special shade of pale.
“Make sure he doesn’t pass out,” she said with a slight nod. “I don’t need a second—or soon to be third—patient.”
“On it,” Graham said as she dragged a tray over and began laying out her supplies. “Sit,” she heard him order, pushing Hank down into the chair next to the bed before asking Felicia softly, “Is it okay if I help Suz? Or do you want me to go?”
Felicia groaned again, head thrashing on the pillows. “Whatever gets this baby out sooner!”
A beat of amusement flicking from his mind to hers. “Suz is the expert on that. She’ll make it happen, okay?”
She dragged a stool over, nodded to Graham. “Help me shift this bed.” It only took him a minute to catch on, to mirror her movements so the gurney could be shifted into a birthing bed, and then he was carrying the removable panel to the side of the room while she was donning gloves and a gown before passing him a set to do the same.
Felicia, meanwhile, was squirming in pain. No matter how quickly Suz moved, having a baby was an agonizing business, especially Felicia’s way—her birth plan called for a natural birth.
Still, Suz was a doctor and hated to see