They stopped talking as another contraction hit me, both of them hovering like flies that I wanted to smack away. Finally, I could breathe again and heard Ginger say, “I’m seeing some fetal distress which isn’t unusual with this type of rapid labor.” She put her hand on my leg. “Holly, I need to check you. Now.”
Another contraction hit and I could hear Ace, but I couldn’t see him anymore. The pain was blinding. All consuming. Then it began to recede.
“Okay, open up,” Ginger said and told Ace to hold one of my legs. He kept murmuring encouragement, telling me how great and brave I was. I wanted to reach over and wrap his balls around his dick.
“She’s ready to push,” Ginger said just as Whitney came flying into the room. Her hair was still piled into her wedding style, but she was wearing yoga pants and what looked like one of Calvin’s sweatshirts. Calvin skidded to a halt right behind her.
“I’m so sorry,” I cried out to them. “It’s your wedding night, and I’ve ruined it.”
Ginger said, “The doctor is coming. Don’t push.”
As if her words had penetrated my abdomen, the urge to do just that suddenly hit me. Another vice gripped my belly, and I screamed into the pain.
“Oh my God, is she okay?” It was Hannah, Jack right behind her.
“Get out!” Demons had possessed my soul, or at least that was how it seemed.
Whitney whirled around, shoving Calvin and Jack from the room while yanking Hannah farther inside.
“I’m sorry!” I started crying again, feeling totally out of control. My entire body was shaking, and I couldn’t make it stop.
“She’s experiencing a type of shock,” I heard Ginger say. “Also some minor hemorrhaging. I’m calling OR for a possible section.”
Strong hands clamped down on my shoulders and Ace bent down until we were face to face. “Holly. If you need to scream, do it. If you need to punch me, do it. I’m here, and I’m not leaving you. Do you hear me?”
My teeth were chattering. “Y-y-yes.”
The vice was back, clamping down. Someone else came into the room. People were talking, but all I could hear was Ace’s voice — I love you. You’re doing so great. You’re a beast. I’m so proud.
“We need to get this baby out.”
“She’s crowning.”
“Holly, push!”
I bore down with all my strength as someone started counting.
“Push!”
I bore down again.
“Push!”
Oh God, is that poop?
“It’s okay. It happens to everyone,” Ginger said as she wiped it away.
“One more push, Holly. Give me everything you’ve got.”
With Ace’s strong arm around me, holding me up in an almost sitting position, I pushed, and a rush of ecstasy ran through me as the baby’s head appeared.
“Good job, Holly,” the doctor was saying. “One more gentle push.”
I bore down, and watched the baby turn, then watched it slither out of me in a rush.
And it was over.
The pain was gone. The worry. The fear.
Nothing mattered but the slimy little creature in the doctor’s hands and the man crying beside me.
The doctor announced that we had a boy, a son, and Ace and I looked at each other, love in the form of tears streaming from our eyes.
“A boy,” I mouthed to him.
“A son,” he mouthed back.
And we smiled. And cried, together, including our new little man as they placed him on my stomach, goo and all, and I wrapped my arms around my son while Ace wrapped his arms around us both.
***
Two hours later, the horror of my labor experience had faded away, like a nightmare does upon waking. The doctor had been able to get my bleeding under control without surgery, for which I was grateful.
I smiled, watching Ace walking our tightly swaddled baby around the room, telling him things I couldn’t hear. He was perfect, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Whitney and Calvin had gotten in their cuddle time before heading back to their wedding night. Hannah was the proudest aunt I’d ever seen.
I’d apologized to Ginger for calling her a heartless bitch, which I only vaguely remembered doing. I also apologized to the doctor for pooping on him, which I remembered clearly.
Now it was just us, my little family
“What do you think about Rip?” I asked Ace, and he smiled down at his son.
“Rip Newman, huh?” he baby talked, making my heart turn to jelly. “You like that name? You gonna rip a baseball outta the park someday, little man?”
The baby farted, and we both laughed.
“I think that’s a yes.”
Moving back to the bed, Ace placed him back in my arms, then climbed on the bed with me. He kissed my forehead, then my cheek, then my lips.
“You saved me, you know?”
Tears pricked the back of my eyes, and I looked up at him. “You saved me too.”
I’m not sure how long we just sat there, gazing down at our son. Laughing when he scrunched up his nose. Panicking when he made a sound.
I didn’t know how to be a mother. Ace didn’t know how to be a dad.
As I gazed into the blue eyes of our baby, I promised him we’d do our best to figure it out.
It was like little Rip heard my promise and understood because one side of his little mouth lifted. A smirk. Just like his father.
When he closed his eyes, I closed mine too.
Safe in the arms of the man I loved.
THE END
Continue on to read the next book in this series, Hard to Catch, following Todd’s story!
Hard to Catch
THE BEASTS OF BASEBALL
BOOK 3
BOOK DESCRIPTION
This is the third sexy STANDALONE novel in Bestselling Author Alice Ward's brand new sports romance series, The Beasts of Baseball.
I couldn’t imagine anything worse than being traded from the Mets — until the day I’m traded to the Beasts. Now I’m catching for Calvin Malone, their star pitcher. Star pretty boy. Star pain in my ass. The tension between us is thick. All over a girl. Whitney. The woman I deserve. Not him.
If that’s not bad enough, I learn that my reputation as an adrenaline junkie, a daredevil, a risk taker has landed me a babysitter during spring training. I have to admit... Katrina Delaney is hot. Not only is she damn fine to look at, she’s the daughter of a baseball legend. And mysterious. She’s hiding something beneath that social media perfection. But what? I want to find out.
NOTE: The Beasts of Baseball series follows the sexy exploits of the players on the baseball team The Beasts, and the women they love. Each book can be read as a standalone and features a heart twisting HEA with No Cliffhanger.
CHAPTER ONE
Todd
“Higher!”
The buzz of the airplane’s engine sounded in my ears while the instructor, Hans, gave me the thumbs up. I shook my head and grinned. Not nearly high enough yet.
I sucked on the oxygen bottle, taking in what my lungs desperately craved as we made the climb past the eighteen thousand feet range my instructor had done his best to convince me was my “sweet spot.”
I wanted more.
Needed more.
My play time in the sky was going to last over a minute and a half, pushing two minutes if they’d let me. Not enough, but I’d take any moment of freedom I could get.
“We’re reaching twenty thousand feet,” Hans yelled in my direction.
The door of the plane was open, my parachute packed and tested by myself. This wasn’t my first rodeo. I wanted to go higher. “Twenty-five.”