23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

“Are you sure you should be going out? You were just nesting a couple weeks ago. You’ve already held out longer than anyone expected you to.” I rolled my eyes at my mother’s warning.

“I’m fine. I’ve been feeling good for a few days now. I just want to go enjoy a nice meal with Braxton that neither of us has to cook. Besides, Dr. Martinez said it looks like I’ll be delivering on time and my due date is still September 12th.”

“Okay, Avi. You know your body better than anyone else. Could you ease my worries a bit and at least put your hospital bag in whatever car you’re taking tonight?”

I wanted to laugh at my mom, but this was her first grandchild, and she was nervous, too. Brax shouldered my bag and winked at Mom as he guided me out the front door. “We’ll be back before nine,” he called to Mom.

“Doubt that,” she whispered loud enough for us to hear her. Amelia laughed, which also gave her away.

“Love you, Mom. Thanks, Amelia.”

It took twenty minutes to get to the restaurant where we decided to have dinner. The whole time, it felt like I couldn’t get comfortable. My back ached and I had this overwhelming feeling of being unsettled.

“You’re squirming a lot over there,” Brax said as he reached to grab my hand.

“I’m just not very comfortable these days.”

“That’s to be expected at 39-weeks.”

“Ugh!” I groaned. “I still have one week to go, too. It feels like her feet are curled under my ribs at this point and her head is sitting as low as it can possibly go without her sticking a hand out and waving at us from my vagina.”

“Sounds like she’s showing off how big she is.”

“I got the picture, baby-J. You can ease off any time now.” My stomach turned into a hard ball as my back ache intensified and then it eased, and I could breathe easy for a minute. “There. She’s such a good girl, she listened to her mom.”

Brax squeezed my hand and then pulled into the restaurant. Once he parked, he helped me from the Jeep, and we made a slow progression toward the front door before I had to stop and try to catch my breath.

“Holy crap. That felt like lightning whipping around my back,” I groused.

“Maybe we should just go back,” Brax muttered as I took another step toward the door. We were two feet away, and the host was set to greet us when it felt as though something popped inside me and, in a whoosh, water fell from between my legs and splattered all over the stoop of the steakhouse we had been about to enter.

“Holy shit!” The young man who was acting as host called out.

“Let’s get you back to the car. Pretty sure it’s time to go to the hospital,” Brax informed me like I hadn’t figured that out for myself.

“I’m soaked,” I cried out.

“It’ll be okay. You have leather seats, it’ll wash.”

“It’ll wash?” I questioned before another whipping pain traveled from the middle of my back around both of my hips and down lower. “Ow! Ow! Ow!” I cried out as tears formed in my eyes. “Brax, I think we better hurry.”

“Avi, have you been feeling bad for a while?”

“Just a stupid back ache,” I admitted.

“Uh-huh. Do you by chance know how long that’s been going on?”

“A few hours,” I said before I cottoned on to what he was getting at. “You think I’ve been in labor all that time?”

“Seems plausible,” he said as he buckled me in. “Pretty sure your mom knew that you were in labor, and that you wouldn’t listen to her, if she told you.”

“The bag…” I started to say, but my stomach turned into a hard ball as pain zipped through my midsection again. “Oh, this sucks!”

“The good news is that the restaurant is way closer to the hospital than the house was. We’ll be there in about five minutes, okay?”

“Yeah, but we didn’t get dinner,” I cried.

“Sweetheart, no offense, but I don’t think you’re in any shape to eat right now anyway.”

“I could probably nibble on… OH GOD! WHAT IN THE HOLY HELL IS HAPPENING?” I yelled as a crippling contraction ripped through me. The next one stole my breath completely, so I didn’t even have the air to yell. “Hurry,” I pleaded as we pulled into the hospital parking lot.

“Emergency is around the other side!” I yelled at Braxton. He tossed my bag over his shoulder and threw my purse inside before getting me out. Then he helped me waddle until another contraction hit. As soon as we hit the front door, a woman from the front desk came running with a wheelchair.

“I need to get her information.”

“We pre-registered last week. Aviva Acker, she’s 39-weeks, and Dr. Martinez has been looking after her,” Brax rattled off as he guided us toward the bank of elevators. Another contraction hit and after it eased, I realized they were coming really quickly.

“We need to hurry,” I panted.

The elevator took us up to the third floor where a nurse waited to greet us. “Aviva, Sheila called up from downstairs. Is this dad?” She asked while looking at Brax.

“Yes?” I said, though it sounded more like a question.

“Hell yeah, our baby girl is about to make her entrance,” Braxton crowed enthusiastically.

“That’s what we like to see up here,” the nurse chirped in an overly excited voice. I’d bet money she was once a cheerleader. “We’ll get you set up in a delivery suite and then the doctor should be in to check Avi before we even get the monitors on her. I’m Melinda Matheson. I will be your nurse for the night. Hopefully, I get to be here for delivery.”

“That won’t be a problem,” I assured her.

“That’s what all the moms say, sadly many of them wait until morning, after shift change to bring their little bundles into the world.”

“Nope. I’m telling you; this little bundle is on her waaaaaaaayy!” I grunted through the last word because another contraction hit me so hard I couldn’t stop the noise. “I really feel like I should be pushing her out now,” I cried.

“Oh no. Just hang in a few more minutes, Avi. No pushing. Once we were inside a room, the nurse hit the brakes on the wheelchair I was in and ran around in front of me. “At least you’re wearing a dress. That makes this easier. I’m just going to move your panties out of the way, so I can take a peek,” Melinda insisted as she pulled my soggy underwear down my legs. The nurse looked up at Brax and pointed toward the bed. “Go to the bed, see the red button hanging on the side there?” She asked.

He ran over there and picked up what looked like a remote control for the television. It had a giant red button at the top. “This?” Brax asked as he pointed at it.

“Yes, push that and tell them we are delivering a baby in room 312 right now and Melinda could use some help.”

Brax did exactly as he had been instructed. Within seconds, bodies started flying into action immediately. I was picked up and put on the bed. No time to change into a hospital gown. Instead, my dress was hiked up above my belly and my feet were pushed back so my legs bent at the knee. Everything seemed to happen in an absolute rush after that. One nurse attempted to fit me with straps around my belly that were supposed to measure my contractions and the other the baby’s heartbeat. There was no need to measure the contractions, they were coming quickly, and the baby’s head was already crowning.

“Brax!” I called for my boyfriend.

“Yeah, sweetheart?”

“I need you to not go anywhere.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he said as he leaned in and kissed the top of my head. It was probably gross since I’d started sweating at some point, but he didn’t complain.

“All right, Ms. Acker, it looks like we’re ready to bring your baby girl into the world!” Dr. Martinez made that chipper announcement as he came strolling into the room a minute later, but not a moment too soon.

“Need. To. Push.” It was a demand and there was no holding back for the sake of a nurse or doctor’s command anymore. I couldn’t fight the urge any longer.

“Okay, Aviva, do what your body is telling you to. Let’s go, don’t forget to breathe through it. That’s it,” Dr. Martinez coached as he took a seat on the stool between my legs. “This is going to be a quick one,” he stated.

“That’s good,” I whimpered.

“Okay, relax for a minute. Breathe. Here we go,” he insisted as the urge to push hit me again.

Twenty minutes later, Melinda leaned in and placed my baby girl on my chest after Brax and another nurse helped to remove my dress. There was absolutely no modesty in that room. I didn’t care if they opened the doors and let every Tom, Dick, and Harry in to sightsee… That wasn’t true. Still, I was too blissed out and focused on my beautiful little Janine to care about what the medical professionals were seeing.

“She’s perfect.”

“Just like her mom,” Braxton added and when I glanced over at him, he had tears in his eyes. “You did so well, Avi. I love you.”

“Do you want to hold her?” He nodded his head and Melinda helped transfer Janine from my arms to his.

“While he has baby girl, let’s get a gown on you, so you can have a little modesty.”

“Thanks, Melinda.”

“Someone needs to call Mel and my mom.”

“Do you want me to call Rich?” Brax asked.

“I guess now that she’s here, I have to.”

“Rich?” Melinda asked. Her brows pinched together as she said his name.

“I’m going to be Janine’s dad, no matter what, but Rich is her biological father.”

Braxton gave my daughter over to the other nurse who took her to a little station where she weighed her, measured her length, and did whatever else they were doing over there. “Five-minute Apgar is a 9,” the woman called out.

Mel smiled down on me, but it felt a little forced. “That’s a good number,” she explained. “Your name is Aviva Acker?” She asked.

“That’s correct.”

My name seemed to puzzle Melinda, but she brushed off whatever she’d been about to say and continued to help the doctor as he delivered my placenta and popped a couple stitches in where I’d torn a little bit as Janine came out. “Normally, most doctors would have tried to give you a little cut to help, but she came to fast. You were lucky because the tear was relatively straight.”

“No offense doc, but I don’t think any woman counts herself lucky when her vagina has been ripped open and in need of stitches.”

He chuckled. “I suppose not.” Melinda didn’t laugh, which was weird because she had been in really good spirits the whole time up until a minute or two ago.

“Is everything okay with my baby?” I asked.

“Yes, for sure. Is the biological father’s name going on the birth certificate?”

“Does it have to?” I asked.

“Not necessarily, but he can petition the court to put it there later.”

I huffed in frustration. “Richard Thomlinson is his name.” Melinda gasped just as the door opened.

“Sir, you can’t go in there.”

“My daughter was just born,” Rich called back to whoever tried to stop him.

“Rich?” Melinda asked. His head snapped around and his eyes, the same ones I once looked into lovingly, rounded out in surprise and what looked a whole lot like fear. “What is going on here? You said your wife was pregnant with another man’s child.”

“She is.” The lie rolled off his tongue too smoothly.

“No, she’s not,” I corrected. “The DNA test said it was yours. Mel told us.”

“Mel? His wife?” Melinda asked.

I nodded my head slowly as something Mel kept saying finally clicked. Rich had been dating a nurse who he was trying to keep secret, but the kids had met her.

“Mel, his pregnant wife,” I added.

“But you just said that Richard Thomlinson was your daughter’s biological father.”

“That is correct. He lied to me. I didn’t know he was married or that he had two children already. He got me pregnant while we were dating and managed to go back and get his wife pregnant a few weeks later after me. She’s due in a few weeks. Both children are his – biologically,” I tacked the last on because I wouldn’t give him any credit for being a father.

“Are you kidding right now?” Melinda asked in a sharp tone.

“Mellie, we can talk about this later,” Rich demanded just as Janine gave a loud wail of disapproval for whatever the nurse had been doing to her.

“I just put her ID bracelet on. Yours matches her,” the other nurse, Julie, explained. "I have one for dad as well.” She held it up, but her eyes coasted between Brax and Rich like she wasn’t sure who should get it.

“Braxton gets it,” I stated as I hitched a thumb toward the man who was still quietly standing by my shoulder watching the drama unfold.

“Okay,” Julie stepped forward to put the bracelet on his wrist, but Rich reached out and snatched it.

“I’m the baby’s father.”

“The baby has a name and a gender,” I told him.

“And I’d know it if you told me.” He snarled back.

“You’re an asshole. You’ve been told that I was having a girl since I found out. We’ve said her name around you numerous times as well.” I turned to Julie. “That’s why he doesn’t get the bracelet. Braxton will be staying with me while I’m in the hospital. Rich is only allowed to come see his daughter during visitation hours.”

“You can’t just give him the father’s bracelet," Rich argued.

“I can and I did. You will not be staying here with me.”

“Dammit, Avi, when are you going to clue in that I’ve been in love with you since we met. It’s supposed to be me there by your side with our daughter.”

“Seriously, Rich?” I asked. “Maybe if you’d told me about your wife and children, we wouldn’t even be in this mess. You lying piece of…”

“Shit!” Melinda finished my sentence for me. “I can’t believe you just said that in front of me. You were just talking about getting engaged two weeks ago.” It was my turn for my eyes to widen in surprise.

“All right, Melinda, take your personal business outside of this room. Julie, Aviva is our patient and she said Braxton gets that bracelet. If Mr. Thomlinson wants to come back to the hospital with a court order stating we need to get him one, too, we will handle it then.” Dr. Martinez called out before turning back to the door. “Melinda, have Shawna send someone else in to replace you. I don’t want you working with Ms. Acker.”

“I would never…” she started to say, but then stopped herself as she realized Rich had already caused her to behave unprofessionally. “I’m so sorry,” she apologized before turning and leaving the room with Rich hot on her heels.

“Well, he didn’t even bother to look at his baby girl, for all the fuss he made about that security band,” Julie noted.

“We’re not surprised,” I told her as Janine was handed back to me.

By the time we were placed in a regular room, the whole maternity floor was talking about the soap opera style drama that had been hashed out as Rich followed Nurse Melinda around telling her she didn’t understand what he meant. Luckily for her, Nurse Melinda seemed wiser than Rich realized, and she wasn’t willing to listen to his shit. Instead, she told him he better have all his things cleared out of her home before the end of her shift.

“Well, I guess now we know why Rich was so secretive about where he was staying,” Mel said as she helped me get Janine latched on to a nipple. “There you go. She’s got it now.”

“Thank you.” I whispered. “I always thought it just happened naturally.”

“Oh, it does, but with a lot of trial and error along the way sometimes.”

“Speaking from experience?” I asked.

“I had a crappy nurse, no mom, and Rich’s mother never breastfed, so she was no help. Gavin and I figured it out eventually, but there were a lot of tears first.

“I wonder how Rich will take it if I give you or Brax the other security bracelet when this little one is born?” Mel mused.

There was a quick knock on the door and then Nurse Melinda came into the room. “I just wanted to stop in and tell you again how sorry I was that…” She stopped and stared at Mel for a moment. Her eyes closed shut and she shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

“Please, come in,” I said. “Don’t worry, nothing is being held against you. If you’re off the clock, you are more than welcome to get a little scoop of truth from us before you leave.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it. It feels like up is down and down is up right now. I didn’t even know he had a pregnant mistress, too.” Melinda’s shoulders stiffened, obviously worried she offended me.

“How about I tell you what happened to me and how I met Mel?” She nodded her head. As I fed my daughter, I explained our situation, how it started, how I met Mel, the switcheroo Rich tried to pull with me so he wouldn’t get caught, and even how he was so callous about my mother’s situation. I laid it all out for Melinda and watched as Mel took in the other woman. My friend didn’t seem as forthcoming with the nurse as she had been with me, and it made me wonder why. At least it did, right up until she explained.

“Did he tell you that we were talking about reconciling?” Mel asked Melinda.

“No,” the nurse shook her head, but something in her eyes made me think she wasn’t being entirely honest.

“The day he came up to the cabin on Juniper Lake, that was supposed to be the day we told the kids that he was moving back in with me,” Mel explained.

“Oh, Mel, why didn’t you say anything?” I asked.

“I knew it was a dumb decision, but with the pregnancy, and the kids, I just felt overwhelmed, and he was constantly in my ear about how much easier it would be if I would just let him come back home.”

Mel waved away anything I was about to say. as she turned her attention back to Melinda “He said he told you that we were going to give it another go. He told me that it was never serious between the two of you,” she said to the nurse who shook her head in denial the whole time.

“He’s lived with me since the end of May.”

“That must have been fast, considering we only just moved to town at the end of April, and he was still living with me then.”

Melinda grew uncomfortable then. “We started dating in April,” she admitted.

“He just can’t help himself, can he?” I asked.

“Apparently not.” Mel agreed. “Did you know he was married?”

“He said that he was separated and had two children. He told me the reason you were separated was because you cheated and were pregnant with another man’s child.”

Mel sighed and then told her story from beginning to end the same way I did. Melinda could tell by the way everything overlapped that she was telling the truth. “It’s weird that he’s dating a woman named Melinda, right? It’s not just me, is it?”

“He called me Mellie, not Mel,” the nurse insisted.

“Still weird,” I stated. “Anyway,” I added as I swapped my daughter to the other breast the way Mel had explained to do earlier. “I think that about covers everything, including the fact that his wife is still pregnant with their third child. It is definitely his and you see he hasn’t been back to even see his daughter.” I sighed. “That is the kind of man Rich Thomlinson is.”

“I’m getting a good picture. He’s not here because he’s back at my place clearing his things out.”

“Probably moving in with the next sucker,” I mumbled, and Mel laughed.

“That’s the damn truth.”

“Sorry to have bothered you both,” Mel stated and turned on her heel to head out. Neither of us bothered with platitudes. Her situation was different than the one that started a friendship between Mel and me.

“Where did Brax run off to?” Mel asked once Melinda was gone.

“He went to go get my mom, so she could come meet her granddaughter.”

“That’s so sweet. You have a good one there,” Melinda reminded me.

“I know. I’m going to marry him one day.”

“Told you I would hold you to that,” Brax called out as he came through the door strolling my mom in a wheelchair.

“Mom, come see your granddaughter,” I insisted as I popped Janine off my breast and tucked her up to my shoulder to burp her. “Sorry, give me one more minute to get her situated first.”

“Take your time, my girl. I remember what it was like.”

As Mel helped my mother hold Janine and the two most important women in my life cooed over my beautiful baby girl, Brax came around and slid on the bed beside me. “We saw that nurse leaving your room when we came off the elevator. Is everything all right?”

“Yeah, just had to hand her some truths. Can you believe Rich has been dating her since April?”

“Seriously?” Brax asked.

“Yeah, and moved in with her in May, most likely after that incident at work.”

“I wonder if he was dating her longer,” Brax questioned out loud.

“I wondered the same thing. She was lying about something. I just couldn’t tell if it was because she knew he was trying to get back with Mel, or if he was seeing her at the same time as me and Mel.” I shivered. “Thankfully, I had myself tested for everything as soon as I found out he was a cheating piece of shit.” No offense, Mel. I don’t think you’d give me anything, but who knows who else he was really with.”

“I still can’t believe him.”

I didn’t bother bringing up the fact that Mel had considered taking him back again. That was news that she would have to share with Brax on her own.

“How’s Trent?” I asked.

Mel blushed. “He had to go back to Colorado for some launch, but he’s coming back to stay in a week, so that he can be here when the baby is born.” She smiled sweetly. “Best thing that happened while we were at Juniper Lake was Rich reminding us all exactly who he was again just before I met Trent.” I nodded because that was most likely true. Had he not made an ass of himself and run off to be with his little girlfriend again, Mel might have had an emotional lapse in judgment that would have cost her. At least, even if Trent didn’t work out, he was someone new and it was a big boost to Mel’s spirit.

It was more than an hour later when everyone left. As if he had been waiting for such an opportunity, Rich came shuffling in the room.

“I wanted to talk to you privately, so I waited for everyone to leave.” His smug face made me want to punch him. “So much for your new boy toy sticking around, huh?”

“You mean the man who went to take my mother home? The same man who went out of his way to bring her here after I gave birth, so she could meet her granddaughter?” I asked. “That boy toy?”

“Yeah,” he muttered, clearly disappointed that he was unable to make Brax out to be the bad guy. “He’s planning on sticking around, then?”

“He is.”

“What if I told you that I’ve thought about it, and I think your daughter would be better off not knowing me.”

I stayed silent and waited for him to finish. “I don’t know what happened, Avi. I’m honestly not sure how I turned a corner one day and suddenly I couldn’t stop myself from cheating with you.”

“Don’t pretend I was someone special, Rich. Your girlfriend stopped by to talk earlier. You were seeing her a long time, too.”

He nodded. “You’re right. You were the first, though.” I notice he didn’t say Melinda was the last. “I’m not fit to be a father to another child, especially when I haven’t been doing a good enough job with the ones I already have.”

“She’s here now, too,” I stated quietly, so as not to disturb my daughter.

“I know, but she’s still not real to me yet. Gavin and Gwen are a part of the years when I was a decent person.”

“I see.”

“If you want me to sign papers, I will.”

“Just like that?” I questioned. “You’ll give up your daughter without a single fight.”

“I think it’s the best thing to do for her.” Rich insisted.

“I’m not going to fight you on that. If you want to relinquish your parental rights, have the paperwork drawn up and bring me an official copy.”

Rich stood and nodded his head, but refused to look at the little bassinet that held our sleeping daughter. “I am sorry, Avi, for everything.”

“Sorry is just a word, Rich. It doesn’t fix the things you break. It will never fix the people you’ve broken either.”

He nodded again, then turned and walked right out of my life.