weird pop. A moment later, a small flood gushed from between my legs.
Oh shit, my water just broke!
“What’s that?” My genius student gawped at the puddle that formed at my feet. “Did you just piss yourself?”
“No, I’m in labor.”
“Huh?”
“The baby is coming.”
The kid’s brain cells finally fired up, and his mouth formed a perfect O. “What do I do?”
“Call your mom to come get you.”
“She goes to the grocery store when I’m here gettin’ tutored.”
“That has nothing to do with the price of eggs in China.”
“Huh?”
He missed my sarcasm completely, and I was out of patience. “Call. Your. Mom. Now!”
He pulled out his phone and dropped it twice before he was able to place the call. My phone was on the counter, and before I got there, a low pain twisted in my stomach. I puffed and counted while my student panicked.
“Oh, shit! I mean shoot! Uh… no, not you, mom. Miss Miser. She’s having the baby. Right now. Can you come get me?”
I didn’t pay attention to him as the pain faded and I took a full breath. Fuck me, if this was the beginning, I wanted drugs. Lots of them.
I texted Owen twice before I figured out he was probably driving and couldn’t answer me. I tapped his icon to call him, and another contraction hit me as the line connected. Owen got an earful of my hee-hee-heeing breaths.
“Almost eight minutes apart. Fuck, this is a lot faster than the book said it would be. Hee-hee-hee. Where are you?” I hated the whine in my voice, but dammit, that fucking hurt! It felt like a big fist just grabbed my abdomen in a vise.
“Driveway.”
A moment later, he was there, holding me and pressing into my back.
“Gary? Are you ready?”
Thank God his mom came quickly, or else I would have left his ass alone at my house.
“How did he do tonight? Do you want me to pay you now or next week?”
This woman gave birth at least once. Did she not recognize what was going on here? “Next week, please,” I gasped out as the contraction eased.
Owen glanced at his watch and frowned. “Go now.”
The woman blinked as her son gathered his books and papers and stuffed them haphazardly into a backpack. “That’s a little rude, doncha think?”
“I’m in active labor, Mrs. Tharpe.”
She flipped her hand. Actually flipped it. “Oh fiddle, you’ve got hours before that happens.”
Owen didn’t bother mincing any more words. He wrapped his arms around me and took my weight against him as we hobbled to his truck. I panted the entire short trip, hoping either mother or son had enough sense to lock up when they left.
The ride to the hospital was cut in half with Owen driving. I huffed and puffed and moaned the whole time. He hit the Bluetooth icon, and the cab filled with the buzzing ring of the phone.
“Hello?”
“Bevvie!” I cried out, “I need you, I… oh shit… hee-hee-hee.”
“Hospital. Now.” Owen contributed.
“Got it. I’m on the way. I’ll text Connor to let him know. Abby will stay with the kids tonight. Have you called the hospital to tell them you’re on the way?”
“Not. Yet. Would you mind?”
“I can do that for you. How far apart?”
Another conctraction hit me. Fuck, this hurts!
“I… hee-hee-hee… think maybe… hee-hee-hee… five minutes?”
“Shit, that was fast.”
“You’re telling me! I thought this was supposed to take a day or two. I… hee-hee-heeeee!”
Owen pulled up to the circular drive of the emergency entrance and parked.
“You can’t… hee-hee-hee… leave the truck here. It will get towed.”
“Don’t care.”
One look at me was all it took for the nurse to send us straight to the back. They plopped me in a wheelchair and whisked me away. No forms, clipboards, insurance cards—my red face and puffing breaths was enough. Owen followed me to a partitioned-off spot, and the nurse whipped the curtain closed. Two more nurses appeared, and I was unceremoniously stripped of my clothes and draped with sheets.
Another pain ripped through my belly. Fuck me sideways, this is cramps on super steroids! “Owen!”
He was right there by my side, holding my hand, his lips to my sweating forehead, hee-heeing with me. “Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me,” I cried.
“Never.”
“I mean it. Hee-hee-hee. I need you.”
“Always here.”
A steel band wrapped around my middle and tightened. I had no control. “I need some goddamn drugs! Where’s the fucking guy with the spinal thingy?”
It was a wonder I didn’t crush Owen’s hand. He held on for dear life as I hee-hee-heed through another hard