out. I get an image of all of Cameron’s interns and the nurses listening and what they must be thinking.
“Fine,” Adrian snaps. “Yes! I know!” he yells.
I walk out of the bathroom to see Adrian roll his eyes, his hand on his hip as he listens to Cameron’s lecture. He exhales heavily. “See you soon.” He hangs up and then quickly falls into role play and fakes a calm smile. “Ready to go, chick?”
“Yep.” I grab my handbag.
He looks around. “Where’s your hospital bag, Ash?” He frowns.
“God, I can’t believe this.” I shake my head because I’m forgetting everything.
I think for a moment. “Did Cameron remind you to get the hospital bag?”
He smirks. “Yes.”
“What else did he tell you?” I frown because it seems I can’t think without my husband doing it for me these days.
“To organize with Jenna to get Owen and to keep you calm.”
I nod. “Right.” I look at Adrian, who is now perspiring heavily. “We’ve got this, Adrian. We can do this without Cam if we have to.” I grab my bag. “And we might.”
Adrian looks like he’s about to faint.
“I know,” he murmurs.
Burning pain rips through my stomach, and I bend over and hold my stomach.
“What’s happening?” Adrian cries.
“Contraction,” I murmur. “Oh, that’s a real one.” I wince.
My stomach clenches hard and the pain is strong. “We need to get to the hospital, Adrian…and quick.”
“Quick?” he stammers with wide eyes. “How quick?”
“That wasn’t a first contraction.”
He looks at me blankly, not understanding.
“That was a ‘things are moving faster than I would like to’ contraction.”
Adrian puts his hands on his head. “What do I do?”
“Get me to the hospital.”
Cameron
I close my eyes and try to control my erratic heartbeat. Midway through a major heart operation is not the time to lose my cool.
Everyone in the room has fallen silent, as if scared to speak.
“Hanna,” I call.
“Yes, Doctor?”
Hanna is one of my PAs. “Can you get Peter Martin on the phone, please?”
“Yes, of course.”
Peter is a heart surgeon who works in the other hospitals in L.A.
I keep working.
Hanna comes back to me. “Peter Martin is in a conference in London.”
I close my eyes. “Get Hamish on the line, please.”
Hamish is a colleague who runs the country side of our practice.
“Yes, Doctor.” She disappears again, and I continue my surgery.
“He’s on the line, Doctor,” Hanna calls, and puts him onto speaker.
“Hello,” I say.
“Hey fuck knuckle,” he calls in his boisterous voice.
“I’m in surgery, Hamish, and you’re on speaker,” I snap.
Everyone laughs.
“Oops, sorry everyone,” he calls.
I roll my eyes. “I’ve got a problem.”
“What’s up?”
“Ashley’s in labor and I’m in the middle of a bypass.”
“Oh shit,” he replies. “That is a problem.”
“Can you get down here?”
“I’m fully booked this afternoon.”
“Cancel your appointments.”
He stays silent.
I bite my bottom lip. “I’ll finish the surgery, but I just need someone here in case something happens.”
He thinks for a moment. “Yes. Okay. I’ll be there in two hours.”
“Two hours?” I snap.
“That’s how long it takes to drive there.”
“Get on a plane. I’ll hire you a private plane,” I stammer.
“It will take that long getting into one airport and out of the other…it’s quicker if I drive.”
Shit.
“All right.” I pause for a moment. “Can you leave immediately?”
“Yes.” He sighs. “On my way.”
I blow out a breath and the nurse wipes the perspiration from my brow. The room falls silent and everyone is edgy. I inhale deeply as I try to calm myself down. “Hanna,” I call.
“Yes, Doctor.”
“Can you keep in contact with Ashley by phone, please, and let me know if there’s any change, other than that I need to concentrate here.”
“Yes, of course.” She pauses for a moment. “Calling her now.”
I inhale again as I try to slow my heart to a regular beat.
It’s okay, I’m going get there… fate couldn’t be so cruel as to let me miss another birth.
Hold on, Bloss... hold on.
Ashley
“Ahhhhh!” I call as I sit slumped over in the car.
Adrian’s eyes are nearly popping from the sockets and he’s driving like a maniac. We’ve been stuck in traffic for forty-five minutes. “It’s okay, Ash. It’s okay.” He tries to soothe me.
“It’s not fucking okay!” I yell.
He shakes his head as he grips the steering wheel with white-knuckle force and changes lanes aggressively. The car behind honks its horn, and he flips them the bird.
“Oh, just great, get us killed by a road rager, why don’t you?” I stammer.
“I’d like to see someone pull something right now.” He changes lanes again. “I could totally take them if my adrenaline level