“Make me,” Jake said stubbornly. One of them, Jack wasn’t sure who, instigated a pushing and shoving match in the back seat.
“Boys!” Jack warned sternly, not in the mood for their spirited antics. Kathleen’s contractions had gone from five minutes apart to less than two in the span of a few hours. Taking the boys along wasn’t his first choice, but they hadn’t been able to get hold of Erin, and Brian had his hands full with the bar.
“It shouldn’t take long,” Kathleen said, slightly breathless. “Your new brother or sister is in a bit of a hurry, it seems.”
“I hope it’s not a girl,” Kane wished fervently.
“No girls,” Jake agreed.
“I’ll see what I can do. In the meantime, I want you both to be on your Sunday behavior.”
“Like church?”
“Exactly like church, except you can talk quietly and color. I’ve got brand new coloring books and crayons in my bag for you.”
“The sixty-four count box?” Jake asked hopefully. “With the sharpener in the back?”
“Yes.”
Leave it to Kathleen to think ahead and prepare activity bags for the boys in case it came to this. He hadn’t given it a single thought until just then.
“Okay, Mom.”
“Okay, Mom.”
“Stop copying me!”
Jack was just about to reprimand them again when Kathleen put a hand on his arm. “Jack.”
“What?” he snapped.
“Hurry.”
Jack pressed his foot to the floor, fishtailing his way along the frosty streets toward the hospital. Kathleen held on to the side while the boys whooped in glee in the backseat. At least they weren’t arguing anymore, though Jack didn’t miss the way they took advantage of the momentum around the corners to body slam each other.
The ER was bursting with activity when they arrived. Jack helped Kathleen to the only available chair and told the boys to stay with her while he ran up to the receiving window.
“My wife’s in labor,” Jack said hurriedly.
“Not another one,” a square-jawed, gray-haired nurse muttered. “I hate full moons. Name?”
Jack didn’t know what full moons had to do with anything, but he didn’t particularly care. In the forty-five minutes it had taken to collect the boys and get to the hospital, Kathleen’s contractions had become almost continuous.
“Jack Callaghan.”
The nurse rolled her eyes. “Your wife’s name, not yours.”
“Kathleen. Callaghan. Kathleen Callaghan.”
“When did the contractions start?”
“About four hours ago.”
“Did her water break?”
Did it? Shite, he didn’t know. Kathleen said they had to go, so they went. “I – I don’t know.”
Heaving a heavy sigh ripe with disdain, she handed him a clipboard. “Have a seat and fill this out.”
“No, you don’t understand, she’s -—”
“In labor. Yes, you’ve said.” Her mouth thinned into a tight line. “Childbirth is a marathon, Mr. Callaghan, not a sprint. Have a seat.”
“But—-”
“Have. A. Seat.”
“Now look here,” Jack began, about to give Nurse BattleAxe a piece of his mind, but Kathleen beat him to it.
“Jack!” she cried out, her voice ringing like fine crystal through the frenzied hum. “The baby is coming right now!”
That got the beefy nurse up off her ass. She stood and peered out through the sliding glass windows. She took one look at Kathleen and her eyes widened before she started shouting out commands with the authority of a commanding officer.
“I need an orderly, stat!”
Like magic, a harried-looking orderly appeared with a wheelchair.
“Get this woman up to OB.” The nurse tossed Jack a dirty look as if he had been the one stalling. “Why didn’t you say she was so far along?”
Jack clenched his jaw and swallowed his response, concentrating instead on getting Kathleen out of the waiting room chair and into the wheelchair. Kathleen grabbed on to him and gripped his hand hard enough to crush a few of the smaller bones. He winced when he realized how much pain she must have been in to produce that level of strength.
She was forced to break the contact when they turned the corner. The orderly pushed ahead toward the elevators, where they all crammed in. The muted Muzak piped into the car was at odds with Kathleen’s heavy breathing and sense of urgency.
“I love you, baby,” he said, brushing a kiss across Kathleen’s forehead.
“I love you, too,” she panted, “but I also kind of hate you right now.”
Jack chuckled with nervous anticipation. She didn’t mean it. He hoped.
The moment the doors opened on the fourth floor, the orderly took off like a shot. A short, motherly-looking nurse in scrubs appeared out of nowhere and kept them from following.
“I’m sorry,” she told them, “but no children are allowed in the birthing rooms. If you’ll follow me, I’ll take you to the waiting room.”
“But what about Mom?” Jake was looking down the hallway where Kathleen disappeared from sight.