Happily Ever All-Star: A Secret Baby Romance - Sosie Frost Page 0,100

cry. He needed me strong. I needed to be strong. Genie needed me strong.

In fact, she was demanding it.

“Yes, Jude. It’s your baby. Squeeze my hand.”

He didn’t squeeze. His brow furrowed. “When…did we have a baby?”

“About…” I guesstimated in my head. “Six hours from now. Squeeze my other hand.”

“His vitals are good,” Louisa said. “I’ll check again in five minutes and see if they’re deteriorating.”

“Thank you.” I waited for Jude to squeeze my left hand. “Can you touch your nose for me?”

He poked himself in the eye. Swore. Tried to get off the cart.

“Outta my way.” He batted at Louisa. “I’m having a baby. Gotta…get an epidural for Rory.”

“And this is why I love you,” I said. “Any other day I’d let you quest for painkillers, but I really need you to sit down now.”

I glanced at the training staff. Their expressions revealed the same dread I felt. Though they didn’t have an actively laboring baby stomping on their knotted stomach as well.

Jude obeyed me, but he grasped his head before throwing up.

Bad, bad sign.

I kept my voice calm. Somehow. Finally, those years of medical training paid off.

“We’re both really gross right now. You’re vomiting. I’ve broken all the water. I need you to lay down, okay? Rest. We’re taking you to the hospital.”

Jude frowned. “What about my baby?”

Genie was well on her way. The contraction ripped through me again. I leaned against the cart and sucked in a harsh breath of air. This one lasted a bit longer.

Holy hell…

“I’m working on the baby,” I said. “Let’s…let’s get you in the ambulance.”

I motioned for the trainers to make room. The tunnel was large enough to fit the emergency vehicles through, and the ambulance loaded Jude up within a minute.

And of course, I was counting. Checking the contractions.

They were getting closer together.

This was going to be a photo finish.

Louisa wrote down his vitals and handed them to the EMT. She pointed at me. “You get in too. I’m not delivering a baby on the fifty-yard line. The half-time concert was entertainment enough.”

Fine by me. I wasn’t leaving Jude’s side.

Leah shouted into her phone, relaying the news to Piper. She grabbed my hand.

“Want me to come?” she asked.

“No, I’ll be with Jude.” I said. “Watch the game. I’ll call with news.”

She hugged me, careful to avoid staining her shoes on my dribbled puddle. “Good luck.”

It wasn’t me I worried about.

Jude faded in and out as the EMTs helped me into the ambulance. They tried to strap Jude to the gurney, but the unruly running back broke free and attempted to bolt.

“Gotta get to my baby,” he grunted.

I took his hand. “We gotta have the baby first. She’s not here yet.”

“I wanna hold her.”

I nodded. “So do I. Just be patient, Jude.”

He stared at the ceiling of the ambulance, frowning as the paramedics shut the door and flashed the lights. The vehicle jerked and rolled away, bouncing over the cement.

I gripped the handrail. Hard. This wasn’t comfortable. Not at all.

“Where am I?” Jude whispered.

“The championship game,” I said. “You got hit.”

“Again?”

“Again.”

He went quiet. “Just tried to protect you. Didn’t want this to happen.”

“No one did.”

I couldn’t speak anymore.

Labor hurt. Worse than I’d imagined, and I wasn’t even in the hard part yet.

Another gush of fluid splattered the ambulance.

The EMT wrinkled his nose, unable to mask his surprise. Or was it disgust? “Ma’am, do you realize you’re in active labor?”

“Doctor,” I corrected him. “And yeah. I had a clue.”

“I’ve called in labor and delivery. They’re expecting you.”

“Forget it. I’m not leaving Jude. He’s got significant trauma, potential cranial edema and elevated cranial pressure. You get me in contact with the neurologist on staff at Ironfield Regional…” The contractions weren’t making it easy to talk. Screw Lamaze breathing. I rattled off my instructions for the hospital between panting breaths. “You tell him I want a CT scan the instant we roll into the ER, got it?”

“But Doctor—”

“No buts!” My voice rose. Oh, this pain really wasn’t making me much of a princess today. “You listen to me. You don’t have a seven-pound baby burrowing her way through your cervix. And I don’t think you have eight years of medical school, an internship, one year of residency, and a neurological fellowship guiding your assessment of this patient. Take whichever qualification sounds scarier at the moment and realize I’m not leaving Jude’s side. Not until I’m certain he’s okay.”

He panicked, suddenly looking paler than Jude. “O—okay. I’ll call.”

I could sufficiently terrify an EMT, but not the ER