Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

There was a moment of pause, while everyone stared at Marty, reacting to her announcement. Lori was the first to react, some deeply ingrained ‘mom sense’ spurring her to action to help her daughter.

“You’re having a baby!” she whooped, throwing her hands in the air as she hurried around the decorated bench to Marty’s side.

“Oh my gosh,” Darla said, sounding flabbergasted even as she extended her arm to give her sister support. “You’re having a baby, like, right now!”

As everyone clustered around her, faces excited and nervous, Marty began to feel a little hysterical.

“Maybe I’m wrong,” she said, looking frantically between her mother and her sister. “Maybe it was just…” She trailed off, not wanting to speak the idea that maybe this was bladder-related, not true labor. “The doctor said it’s not like in the movies, it doesn’t always happen like that.”

“Did it feel like a big sudden thing?” Lori asked pragmatically.

“Um, yes?” Marty said.

Lori nodded. “That’s labor. Happened with Darla. Not with you.”

“Huh, interesting,” Darla said. Then she shook herself. “Okay, not the time. Mar, we have to get you to the hospital.”

“But I’m not even having contractions!”

Marty was eager to meet her little one, it was true, but now that the big moment was upon her, she was feeling more nervous than she’d expected.

“Didn’t you say your back was bothering you more than usual?” Wyatt asked. He looked a lot calmer and more reassured than Marty felt, but she supposed that was his whole job, while hers was to actually deliver the baby.

“Uh, yeah,” she said.

“Labor,” Lori said again. “Back labor. That one was you, not Darla.”

“We’re going to talk way more about all of that later,” Darla said, pointing at Lori. “For now though, Marty, when did the back pain start?”

“A few hours ago?” she estimated.

“You said the same thing last night though,” Wyatt reminded her.

Oh, gosh. Could she have been in labor that long and not even known it?

She took a deep breath, trying to seem cool and collected despite her growing nerves, the tension in her back that was increasingly feeling more like pinching, and the alarm bells in her head that said, go go go! It’s baby time!

“Okay,” she said. “The car is back that way. And then we have to go home, because my bag is there. Also, we should feed the cats.”

From the way everyone was looking at her like she was nuts, this was not the reasonable, rational response she’d thought it was.

“Um, no,” Darla said, cutting to the chase in the way only a big sister could. “You are going to the hospital. Rick will go to the house and get your bag and feed your cats.”

Rick nodded, already extending his hand to take the keys from Wyatt.

“And we’ll take Mom and Hudson’s car. It’s way closer,” Darla concluded.

Marty took a long look at her sister’s determined, confident expression, then another look at her mother’s wide smile and felt practically overwhelmed with gratitude for them both.

“Okay,” she said, nodding. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Lean on me, sweetheart,” Wyatt encouraged, wrapping arm around her waist and supporting her as she waddled toward her mother and Hudson’s car. She was about halfway there when she had to stop as a tight band of pain squeezed across her belly. She groaned at the feeling.

“Oh my goodness,” she panted when it was over. “ That’s what a contraction feels like?”

Lori gave her the sympathetic grimace of someone who had been there. “Yeah, it’s not great. But the end result is amazing beyond belief!”

Marty knew this was true… and clung to the idea as she continued her shuffling walk to Hudson’s car. She was glad Darla hadn’t let her get away with the insane idea to run errands before she went to the hospital. The Marty of five minutes ago hadn’t had the faintest clue what she was in for.

Darla helped Marty settle while Hudson and Lori got into the front of the car and Wyatt slid into the back seat beside her.

“You got this, sweetie,” Darla encouraged her younger sister. “Rick took your car, so I’m going to go grab ours. We’ll meet you at the hospital so we can greet my new niece or nephew, okay?”

“I love you, Dar,” Marty said, tears in her eyes.

Darla pecked a kiss on Marty’s cheek. “Love you too, babe. Go have a baby, okay? I’ll see you soon.”

Hudson pulled carefully from the parking spot and began to drive to the local hospital, which fortunately was not too far away in Blueberry Bay. Along the way, Marty had three more contractions, each one a little more intense than the previous, and a little closer together than the one before… although she only knew this second detail from Wyatt, who was taking his role as a birthing partner very seriously and tracking the duration of contractions and their intervals diligently, just as they’d learned in their prenatal classes.

When they reached the hospital, Lori and Wyatt both jumped immediately out of the car. “Help, please!” Lori called, waving to nearby staff while Wyatt opened Marty’s car door. “My daughter is having a baby!”

The staff sprang into action and brought Marty inside and got her checked in with what Marty considered to be impressive efficiency. They took her to a neat, private room where she would remain for the duration of her delivery.

Lori and Hudson saw them to their place and then bid the parents-to-be farewell, as Marty’s birthing plan had only Wyatt and the medical staff in the room with her. Lori kissed Marty’s hair.

“My baby’s becoming a mom,” she said, eyes bright with unshed tears. “You’ll be so good, sweetheart. I know it.”

“Thanks, Mom,” Marty whispered.

“You’ve got the easier job, but it’s not easy,” Hudson advised Wyatt with a fatherly clap on the shoulder. “But I know you’ll do your part well too.”

The two men exchanged an affectionate grin.

Marty felt her nerves cranked even higher when she and Wyatt were alone in the room.

“It’s really happening,” she whispered to her husband, anxiety and excitement audible in her tone in equal measure.

“It’s really happening,” he confirmed, perching on the edge of her bed and wrapping an arm around her lovingly. “You’re going to be amazing, sweetheart. And I’m going to be here with you every step of the way.”

She smiled up at him. There was nobody else she’d want with her as her life changed forever.

“I love you, Wyatt,” she said.

“I love you, Marty,” he replied.

And then another contraction stole her breath, but he was right there with her, holding her hand, and giving her something to hold on to as she prepared to bring new life into the world.

Lori looked around the hospital waiting room. The grin on her face hadn’t faded once in the last several hours, not since she’d learned that today was the day she was going to become a grandmother.

No, correction: her smile hadn’t faded since before that, since the man she loved had gotten down on one knee and told her that their love was so special that he wanted to keep experiencing it for the rest of their lives.

And now that man was seated beside her, waiting eagerly as they anticipated meeting Baby Jameson.

“I think it’s going to be a girl,” he predicted with surprising confidence for a man who had flip-flopped on his prediction a dozen times in the past few hours. “That looked like a girl bump to me.”

Lori laughed. “That’s just an old wives’ tale,” she chided. “Both times I was pregnant, everyone told me I looked like I was carrying a boy, and yet I present to you Marty and Darla.”

Hudson frowned thoughtfully. “You know, now that I think about it, I think people said the same thing to Stella, and we obviously got Claire. So I guess that means I should switch my guess. Marty’s going to have a boy. Or, wait, if we all got girls, maybe that means the baby is a girl? Yeah, I’m sticking with girl.”

Lori rolled her eyes playfully over his silliness as Darla approached them, shrugging out of her coat. She’d just been on the phone with Rick and had stepped outside to avoid disturbing any of the other people in the waiting room.

“Rick said Peaches was not happy when Rick came through the door instead of her mommy,” she said, grinning. Peaches was extremely devoted to Marty, so any other person was, in her feline eyes, way less good, no matter that Rick had been dispatched in part to feed the cats. “Since Wyatt confirmed that most of the stuff in Marty’s bag is for after the baby arrives, anyway, he stopped to soothe Peaches a little before leaving the house. He’s going to stop at our house and let Scout out quickly and then come back,” she reported. She bit her lip, considering. “Do you think we’ll be ready to meet baby by then?”

Lori held up her hands in a who can say gesture. “Babies come when they’re ready, and not one moment before,” she advised. “And first babies can be a little slower. With you, I was in labor for over a day.” She arched an eyebrow at her elder daughter as if to imply that she still held a grudge for that.

Darla leaned back in her uncomfortable hospital chair and tucked her head into Lori’s shoulder, something she hadn’t done since she was a little girl. Lori soaked up the cuddles. No matter how big her kids got, even becoming parents themselves, they would always be her babies, and she would always welcome an embrace.

“I can’t believe after all this pregnancy talk, not to mention all of your ‘give me grandbabies’ talk, we never talked about the details of when Marty and I were born,” Darla mused.

“The stories aren’t too complicated,” Lori said. “With you, my water broke, and so your dad and I rushed to the hospital. And then we waited. And waited. And waited . I’d gotten an epidural, so fortunately I was able to rest for some of it, but by the time you arrived? Phew, I was ready .”

“I know how to make a dramatic entrance,” Darla joked.

“Yeah, I should have known then that you’d be an artist,” Lori said. “Marty was different, which I remember being mad about. I’d already gone through this. Shouldn’t I know what to expect? But she showed me that each baby is their own person. I think she was six days past her due date, but it felt like about a million, especially since some little person kept saying, ‘Sister here? Sister here?’ about a thousand times a day.”

She pitched her voice higher to imitate toddler-Darla’s questions.

“Then I had that same back pain your sister described for ages. Couldn’t get comfortable, no matter what I tried. Eventually I called my doctor, and he told me, ‘Well, Mrs. Sims, I think you might be in labor. You’d best come on down to the hospital.’ Like Marty, I barely believed him. But your dad made me go, and good thing he did, because I’d only been there for maybe an hour or two when Marty made her debut.”

“Very different.” Darla laughed softly.

“Very different,” Lori agreed. “But then, you two girls always have been different. It’s part of what makes you perfect.”

“Aw, Mom,” Darla said, wrapping her arms quickly around Lori’s shoulders. Then she sat up with a groan. “Okay, as much as I liked the hugs, if I sit like that much longer, I’m never going to be able to get up. Am I getting old?”

“Don’t even talk to me about getting old, you young sprout,” Hudson chided. “I went down on one knee in the snow today. I may never recover.” He gestured to where the knee on one leg of his pants still bore faint damp marks. Both Sims women laughed.

“Are you all having fun without us?” Claire asked as she walked up, hand-in-hand with Liam.

“Never,” her father vowed.

“Good,” Claire shot back with a teasing wink. “We checked in with Monica to give her the news, but she said she’s going to stay home to wait out baby’s arrival.”

“Actually,” Liam interjected with a chuckle, “she said she’d make her way over and Braden said she’d spend her own time in the maternity ward soon enough, so she should probably remain at home where she was comfortable.”

Darla stretched and then wiggled in her chair. “Good point. I’d best get well acquainted with these seats, then.”

“We’ll all be back here for you too, soon enough,” Claire pointed out.

“And what about you, missy?” Lori said. “You going to give me and your dad any grandbabies?”

Claire and Darla exchanged a look and then both burst into laughter.

“Did we not tell you?” Darla asked. “Man, I can’t wait to see Marty’s face when we tell her about this.”

“You were right,” Claire said. “I didn’t believe you, but you were right.”

Lori frowned at them. “What are you talking about?”

Darla shot her a cheeky look. “Sister stuff,” she said. “Anyway, sis, want to go see if they’ve got anything worth eating in the cafeteria? I’m starving.”

“Sure thing,” Claire agreed, extending an arm so she and Darla could loop elbows. “Liam, you can come, even though you’re not in the sister crew.”

“Oh, thank goodness,” Liam deadpanned. “I was worried.”

Confusion notwithstanding, Lori watched the trio leave fondly, their laughter echoing behind them.

And then it was just her and Hudson which was, she had to admit, one of the ways she liked it best. Her children were wonderful, of course, and she already loved Claire like a daughter.

But Hudson was her guy. Time with just the two of them was always as perfect as she could ever hope for a moment to be.

As if he was reading her thoughts, he reached out easily and clasped her hand in his.

“Can you believe we’re going to be grandparents?” she asked, feeling practically giddy at the idea.

“Believe it?” He shook his head. “Hardly. But if you’re asking if I have plans? Oh, you bet your cute butt I do.”

“I’m cute all over, thank you very much,” she teased back. “But tell me more about these plans.”

“Oh, it’s your standard grandparent fare,” he said, eyes gleaming with happiness and mischief. “Cuddling them and then getting to hand ‘em back when they have a stinky diaper. Buying them the noisy toys that kids love and parents hate. Taking them out of school early maybe once or twice a year, just for a special ‘playing hooky’ day with Grandpa Hudson.”

Lori lit up. “Ooh, I hadn’t even thought about the noisy toys. When Marty was, I don’t know, three, Craig’s parents gave her this little toy horn. She loved that thing and I hated it, although I couldn’t deny how much she loved playing with it.” She rubbed her hands together like she was the villain in a movie. “It’s our turn to bring the noise.”

“That’s the prize you get for being grandparents,” Hudson said. “But I’m a nice guy too. I’ll take the kiddo for some sleepovers so Marty and Wyatt can have date night. I won’t even let them eat a thousand sweets while they’re sleeping over.”

“Only nine hundred and ninety-nine?” Lori guessed wryly.

“Darn, woman, you know me too well,” he said, stealing a quick kiss. “I’m going to have to think up some new tricks if I want to keep you on your toes.”

“That’s right,” she said. “The rest of our lives is a long time.” Then she paused. “Wait a minute, we don’t have the rest of our lives… or at least not yet.”

He pulled back to look at her quizzically. “What do you mean?”

She held up her left hand, wagging her fingers to show that she didn’t wear a ring. “What I mean, Hudson Boone, is that you never got to finish your question.”

He waved at the room around them. “The grandbaby thing seemed more urgent.”

She copied him, also waving at the room. “We’re not doing anything right now but sitting and waiting. Seems like as good a time as any to ask me again.”

He blinked at her in confusion for a moment before smiling. “You mean right here?” A look of excitement was starting to flit across his features.

“Right here,” she confirmed with a nod. “We had our big, romantic proposal… which was perfect, might I add. The way I see it, if you ask me here, we get to have our cake and eat it too. We get the romantic moment with our whole families and the private moment with just the two of us.”

His grin was broad and bright by now. “You know, you always do make such good points, Lori Sims.” He paused. “Although, if I’m telling you the truth, I’m not sure my knees are up to kneeling again so soon. So if you need me to do that part again, we might have to wait.”

She laughed and this time it was her turn to steal a kiss. “You know, I think I’m okay without it. Ask your question, Hudson.”

He grasped both of her hands in his, then looked deep into her eyes. Lori felt emotion well up inside her. As amazing as that morning had been, with its grand speeches and gorgeous scenery, this was perfect too. Just them. The way it was meant to be.

“Lori Sims,” he said simply. “I love you. I want to keep loving you until the day I die. Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” she said, just as simply. “Hudson Boone, I love you too. I will marry you. I can’t wait to marry you.”

When he pulled her in for a kiss then, it was no quick peck. In fact, when they pulled apart, several people in the waiting room were shooting them quizzical looks.

“She said yes,” Hudson told them with a shrug, prompting a polite, if slightly nonplussed, smattering of applause.

A few seats away, a little boy stood up on his chair and craned his neck to look at them.

“You’re s’posed to give her a ring,” he said, apparently unimpressed with Hudson’s proposal technique.

Hudson snapped his fingers and pointed at the boy. “You, my young friend, are right. I got caught up in the moment.” He rooted in his coat pocket for a moment before coming up with the iconic black velvet box. When he opened it, Lori gasped.

“Now, I know it’s not exactly traditional,” Hudson explained. “But there’s nothing traditional about how we got here either, and I wanted something special and different for us.”

“It’s perfect!” Lori exclaimed, holding out her hand.

The ring was a simple setting, an oval opal that shone iridescent colors across its surface. The green in the milky gemstone was accentuated by the halo of tiny emeralds and the shining yellow gold setting.

“You like it?” he asked as he slipped it onto her finger.

“I love it,” she breathed, clenching her hand around it. She was never, ever taking it off. “I love you.”

And then she stole another kiss, not caring one bit about any potential audience. Why would she ever worry about that, when it turned out that life could be this wonderful?