Brody.
A sob escaped me as he whipped his coat off and threw it on the chair in the far corner of the room, still wearing his practice jersey.
“What are you— How did you—” I started to ask questions, but another contraction started. My mom stood up quickly, with tears streaming down her face, and moved out of the way, allowing Brody to have the seat next to me. “Here, take her hand. It won’t be long now,” she whispered as she kissed his cheek.
I squeezed his hand tight and pushed again.
“Five… four… three… two… one. Relax.” Taylor sniffed.
My head fell back again and I gasped for air.
“You’re doing so good, baby.” Brody leaned over and kissed my temple but didn’t remove his lips, instead resting them against my head as if he somehow knew that I needed physical contact with him.
“Good job, Kacie. The head is right here. I can see it. A head full of dark hair.” Dr. Newman’s eyes popped up over the blanket. “One more good push oughta get the head out.”
“You got this, Kacie. One more good one,” Brody whispered into my ear. “Come on. Let’s meet our baby.”
A contraction started and I bore down as hard as I could, digging my chin into my chest, using every cell in my body to try and get Little Murphy out.
“Here we go!” Dr. Newman called out. “You wanna come down and look at this, Dad? It’s pretty cool.”
Without letting go of my hand, he squatted and slid down my legs just a bit, peeking over the blanket.
“Holy shit.” He breathed heavily. “It’s here. I can see it.”
Two more seconds of pushing and I felt the head come out, sending a tidal wave of relief over me as I struggled to catch my breath. I couldn’t see Dr. Newman, but I knew exactly what she was doing as she squished and wiggled the shoulders to fit them through.
“Okay, Kacie. One more tiny push and you’ll know whether you have a boy or a girl,” she instructed.
This push wasn’t nearly as tough as the others. I barely had to struggle and the baby slid out into Dr. Newman’s arms. I waited a couple seconds and heard the best noise ever—a screaming newborn.
“It’s a girl!” Dr. Newman called out, palming the baby’s chest as she wiped her down and quickly cleaned out her mouth. That pissed her off, making her scream even louder. I lay in the bed, completely exhausted but mustering up just enough strength to squeeze Brody’s hand. He sat back down next to me and it was the first time I noticed the tears streaming down his face too.
“She’s so beautiful, Kacie. Just like you.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead over and over. “Thank you. Thank you for taking such good care of our little girl. She’s the luckiest baby on the planet and she doesn’t even know it yet.”
“Of course she is,” I said softly. “She already has a castle in her backyard.”
“Here you go, Dad.” Dr. Newman handed her to Brody. “I have to clean Kacie up a bit, but I’ll give you guys a minute.”
My mom walked over and kissed my cheek, then the baby’s cheek, then Brody’s cheek again. “I’m gonna step out. I’ll come back in a little bit. You guys need time, okay?”
“Thanks, Mom. I love you.”
She blew me a kiss and slipped out the door.
My heart swelled as I watched Brody look at his daughter for the first time. His eyes took in every detail of her little face. He put his pinkie finger in her tiny hand and her fingertips turned white as she squeezed as hard as she could.
“She’s got good reflexes.” He sniffed, grinning at me. “Gonna be a hockey player.”
I laughed and grimaced in pain.
“Sorry,” he apologized. “You okay?”
“Just sore.” I smiled.
“If you want to come over here, she’s gonna get her first bath as I clean Kacie up, okay?” Taylor put her hand gently on Brody’s shoulder, directing him to the warming table.
That was the last thing I remember before dozing off.
After a quick yet rejuvenating nap, the baby got a bath and it was time to nurse her. She latched on immediately and ate for a solid half hour before passing right out as they were moving us to our private room.
“This place is pretty swanky.” Brody laughed as he inspected the room, opening and closing all the cabinets and checking out the pull-out bed for him.
“Knock, knock.” My mom peeked her head in the door. “Can we come in?”
“Of course.” Brody waved her in.
She came in, her eyes darting around the room, looking for the baby, with Lucy, Piper, and Fred right behind her. “I know it’s almost dinner time; we won’t stay long. They just wanted to meet her, and of course, I wanted to hold her one more time.” Mom snickered.
“Where is she?” Piper started interrogating us before she was all the way in the room.
“Right here,” I answered, nodding my head toward our new daughter, asleep in my arms.
Lucy and Piper circled around me, standing on their tippy toes to see her, as Brody videoed with his phone. Their eyes were wide, grinning at their new baby sister.
“What’s her name?” Lucy asked.
I looked up at Brody and smiled. “Go ahead.”
“Her name is Emma. Isn’t she cute?”
“She has a tiny head.” Piper craned her neck to the side, trying to get a better view of Emma’s head.
“It didn’t feel so tiny a few hours ago,” I mumbled under my breath.
Brody chuckled at my joke. “You guys wanna hold her?”
Their heads nodded up and down like bobblehead dolls as they climbed up on the couch excitedly. Brody took Emma from my arms and gently set her in both Lucy’s and Piper’s arms, right in the middle. “Okay, smile.” He took a step back and snapped the first picture of all of our girls together. “Three more and I can start my own hockey team.” He winked at me.
“Try telling me that when I’m not high on narcotics, okay?” I joked.
“She smiled at me,” Piper squealed proudly.
“It’s probably just gas, baby,” my mom said to her. “It’s too early for her to be smiling.”
“Gas?” Piper curled her nose up. “Like… farts?”
Everyone in the room laughed.
“Yes, like farts,” my mom answered.
“Sometimes I smile when I fart too,” Lucy quipped.
Brody laughed and held his hand out to Lucy for a high-five. “You and me both, kiddo.”
After an hour-long visit, I’d had all I could handle and needed a nap.
“I’m sorry, Mom.” I felt bad kicking everyone out, but I was so far past tired I felt like I could sleep for three days straight.
“No, don’t apologize. We’re gonna take the girls out to dinner and then go home and hang out. Zach said he’d take them next weekend instead, if that’s okay?”
I nodded, trying to keep my eyes open. “Thanks, Mom.”
“You’re welcome, sweetie.”
Lucy and Piper gave me careful hugs on the way out.
Fred came over and peeked down at Emma, who was passed out in my arms. “You done good, kid. She’s pretty cute.” He slapped a kiss on top of my head, shook Brody’s hand, and was out the door.
“Here, let me take her.” Brody lifted Emma out of my arms and sat down with her on his pull-out bed. “Close your eyes for a bit.”
“I will. I’m just enjoying the quiet right now.” I blinked slowly, taking in the sight of him snuggling with our daughter.
The evening news was on the TV and Brody stared up at it, a sneaky smirk appearing on his face. His smile was contagious, and I couldn’t help but grin right along with him.
“Penny for your thoughts?” I had to know.
He nodded toward the TV. “They were just talking about the weather for the weekend. They’re calling for rain. I was wondering what size Emma would be.”
“For what?”
He shrugged nonchalantly. “They’re calling for rain. Gonna be a lot of puddles out there. She needs pink rain boots like her big sisters.”
“She’s got a while before she’ll be ready to jump in puddles.” I giggled, picturing tiny rain boots in my head. “What are you doing?”
He’d set Emma down on the couch and pulled his shirt off, exposing his cut chest. Wiggling Emma’s blanket loose from her chest area, he laid her on top of him, skin to skin.
“I read that book, that What to Expect book, and it said it’s really good for babies to be skin to skin with their parents, especially dads since we don’t nurse.”
“You read that book?” I asked, surprised by the revelation. I hadn’t even read that book.
“Hell yeah. I wanted to be prepared.” He was talking to me, but taking selfies of him and Emma. “Kacie, you should lie down and rest.”
“I will. One more question.” I shifted myself up in my bed. “I started to ask, but then Little Murphy decided she’d had enough of my uterus. How did you get here so fast? I thought Fred wasn’t able to reach you.”
“We never did talk, but he left me a voicemail telling me your water broke in the kitchen. Then my phone died.”
Thinking back to Fred’s face as he stared at the puddle on the floor made me snicker. “He was so freaked out.”
“I could tell in his message. He’s usually very calm, but he was all kinds of flustered. Anyway, it was like a messed-up version of Planes, Trains, and Automobiles, minus the trains. I could not get a flight out of Chicago that would get me home before tomorrow and they had no available private planes, so I took a cab up to the Milwaukee airport and chartered a private plane from there.”
A tiny lump parked itself in the middle of my throat. “You did?”
His eyes shifted from Emma to me. “Of course. And let me tell you, it was the longest five hours of my life.” He swallowed hard, looking back down at Emma. “Once I charged my phone, I kept trying to call Fred and your mom and you, but I couldn’t get through to anyone. I didn’t know if I missed it or what, but I prayed the whole way that I hadn’t.”
I wasn’t sure if it was the hormones or the overwhelming sense of love and gratitude I was feeling, but my eyes filled with tears. “I can’t believe you did all that for her. For us.”
“Watching her come into this world was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen. I’m so glad I was able to get here in time.”
“Me too.” I sniffled.
“And I gotta be honest, I thought it was gonna be gross, but I was wrong. It was so cool. I can’t wait to see it again.”
“See it again? I’m gonna need a break for a while after that one.”
The corner of his lip pulled up in an adorable smirk. “I told you I read that book. You got six weeks, tops.”
First and foremost, thank you SO much to Pam Carrion and The Book Avenue for the hours you’ve spent organizing my cover reveal, blog tour, teasers and everything else. I’m absolutely crazy about you, Angry Kitty and Bob Saget.
Thank you to Kelsey Kukal-Keeton at K. Keeton Designs for another amazing cover photo.
Thank you to my cover designer, Sarah Hansen at Okay Creations, for working your magic and producing another amazing cover.
Thank you to Angela McLaurin at Fictional Formats for working pulling through for me last minute. You are the absolute best formatter in the business, hands down.
Melanie Codina, Michelle Finkle, Melissa Brown & katz… I can’t thank you enough for taking the time to read this book ahead of time. All of your ideas and suggestions helped make this book what it is. Thank you for the absolute bottom of my heart.
Whitney, my mudneck Twinkie. You’re such an amazing friend and I love you, and your boner, dearly.
Michelle Finkle. Where do I begin? What started as beta reading Room For You, turned into an amazing friendship and I truly do not know where I would be without you. You’re honest, thorough and creative as a beta reader. More importantly you are funny, sweet and loyal as a friend. You’ve talked me off the ledge more times than I can count and for that I’ll be forever grateful. I love you to pieces, Gayle.
Melissa Brown… who would’ve known at 8 years old, when we stood on that softball field together, that twenty-five years later this is where we would be? There’s no one I’d rather be surfing through this crazy amazing career with. Thank you so much for being my constant right hand man.
Happy Driggs. Namaste, a*shole.
Megan Ward. Good or bad, we did it… again! Thank you so much for being the absolute best editor. Your eagle eye is second to none, but your friendship means way more. Thank you for always sticking by my side and giving me a kick in the ass when I needed it. XOXO
Beth Ehemann lives in the northern suburbs of Chicago with her 4 children and her husband, Chris, who is really a big kid himself most of the time. She enjoys reading, writing, photography, martinis, and all things Chicago Cubs.
Twitter: @bethehemann
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bethehemann
Email: [email protected]
Blog: Coming Soon!