I glanced over at her as I pulled out onto the road and sped to Destin where the nearest hospital was located. “I don’t want them being a part of this. They don’t deserve it,” I replied, then reached over and squeezed her hand. “This is our family now. Mine and yours. We decide who we let in it.”

     Blaire nodded and laid her head back on the headrest. I could tell she was having some pain from the scrunched look on her face even though she was keeping quiet about it.

     “How can I help?” I asked, anxious to do something to make this stop.

     “Drive,” she replied with a tight smile.

     She squeezed my hand and let out a deep sigh of relief. “That one’s over. They aren’t very long or close together so we are good on time,” she sounded breathless.

     She squeezed down on my hand again. “Rush!”

     I almost swerved off the road. “What baby? Are you okay?” My heart was slamming against my chest.

     “I forgot about Della. You have to call Woods. He needs to know that the cops came and got Della.”

     Who the fuck was Della? Was she hallucinating? “Baby, I don’t know a Della,” I replied carefully in case this hallucinating thing could make her crazy. I hadn’t read about this in any of those books she’d kept by the bed.

     “Della is who Woods is dating. Jimmy thinks they’re boinking. She was really sweet and I liked her. She looked so scared. Woods needs to help her.”

     She had been at the club to visit Jimmy. That’s why she was there. Not because she had been in labor. This was making sense now. “Grant has my phone. Where’s yours?” If this didn’t mean so much to her I wouldn’t be worried about Woods’ love life and his so-called girlfriend being hauled in by the cops. Because that shit didn’t sound promising and I didn’t want Blaire around someone dangerous. But she didn’t need anymore stress so I’d do whatever I could to make her feel better.

     “He isn’t answering his phone. It goes straight to voicemail. Who else can we call?” she asked.

     I reached for her phone and dialed Grant.

     “I called Dean and he’s grabbing the next flight out,” was Grant’s greeting.

     “Thanks. Listen, Woods isn’t answering his phone. Call his dad. Tell him that Della,” I paused and looked at Blaire who nodded that I’d gotten the name right, “Della was arrested and she needs help.”

   “FUCK! When was Della arrested? What the hell happened?” Grant roared in my ear. Guess he knew who Della was.

     “I don’t know. My wife is in labor. Just call his dad. He can find him. I gotta go.”

     “I’ll tell him,” Grant replied and I hung up.

     “Woods’ Dad will know how to reach him,” I assured Blaire. She was frowning.

     “I don’t know about that but maybe I misunderstood.” She stopped talking and squeezed my hand again. Another contraction.

BLAIRE

     I was scared of needles. I’d decided months ago that I wouldn’t be getting a long needle stuck down my back. At the moment, I was thinking that might have been a bad decision. Because I felt like my insides were being sliced open.

    It didn’t help that every time I needed to scream Rush completely freaked out. He needed to calm the fuck down.  I had to scream to deal with this. Never again would I moan over menstrual cramps. Those were a walk in the park compared to this.

     Another wave hit me and I grabbed handfuls of the sheets and let out another cry of pain. The last time the nurse checked I was seven centimeters dilated. I needed to get to ten, dammit.

     “Do I need to go get the nurse? Can I get you some ice? Do you want to squeeze my hand?” Rush kept asking me questions. I knew he meant well but at the moment I didn’t care. I reached up and grabbed his tee shirt and jerked his face down to mine.

     “Be glad I don’t have my gun because right now I’m considering the different ways I can get you to shut up. Let me scream and back off,” I snapped at him and grabbed my stomach as another contraction hit.

     “Time to check you again,” the bubbly nurse with bright red hair pulled back in pigtails said as she all but bounced into the room. She needed to be glad I didn’t have my gun too. Because she’d be next on my list.

     I closed my eyes hoping I didn’t have a contraction while she was down there because I might kick her in the face.

     “Oh! We’re sitting on ten and ready to roll. Let me get the doctor in here. Don’t push,” she told me yet again. I’d been told not to push for the past hour. All my body wanted to do was push. The doctor needed to hurry his ass up.

     Rush was being abnormally silent. I glanced up at him and his face reminded me of a little boy’s at the moment. He looked scared and nervous. I felt bad for yelling at him but the feeling didn’t last when another contraction hit me and this time it was worse. I hadn’t realized it could get worse.

     The balding doctor walked in and beamed at me like this was a good thing. “Time to get that little guy out of there and into the world.” He sounded as jolly as my nurse. Bastard.

    “You can either come down here and watch, as long as you aren’t queasy or you can stay up there with her while she pushes,” the doctor told Rush.

     Rush stepped up to my head and reached down and took my hand in his. “I’ll stay with her,” he said and squeezed my hand gently.

     The encouragement made me want to cry. He’d been trying so hard to make things easier on me and I had threatened to shoot him. I was an awful wife. I sniffed and he was instantly beside me. “Don’t cry. It’s okay. You can do this,” he said, looking determined and ready to go into battle.

    “I was mean. I’m sorry,” I choked out.

     He grinned and kissed my head. “You’re in a helluva lot of pain and if it makes you feel better to hit me I’d let you at me.”

     I wanted to kiss him but then another contraction hit me.

     “Push!” the doctor ordered and I did as I was told.

     Several curse words and pushes later I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. A cry. My baby’s cry.

RUSH

 

     He was perfect. I counted all ten toes and fingers while Blaire kissed each one. He was also so damn tiny. I hadn’t realized babies were so little.

     “We have to decide on a name now,” Blaire said, looking up at me after she finally managed to get our son to latch on and nurse.

     We had thrown around several ideas over the past three months but nothing had seemed right. Blaire had said it was hard to name someone you’d never seen so we agreed to wait until he was born to name him.

     “I know. We’ve seen him now. We need to give him a name. What are you thinking?” I asked her hoping to God she didn’t suggest Abraham Dean again. I loved my dad but I wasn’t naming my kid after him.

   “I think he looks like a Colton,” she said, smiling down at him. I wasn’t a fan of that name.

     “You still against River?” I asked.

     She smiled up at me. “I want to put Rush in his name but if we name him River we can’t. River Rush or Rush River sounds silly.”

     I’d forgotten she was trying to use my name too. I wasn’t going to argue with her. I liked the idea of my son having my name. “What about Cash? Cash Rush!” I teased and she bit down on her lip to keep from giggling and scaring him.

     “What about Nathan we could call him Nate?” she asked. He stopped sucking and let go to look up at her as if she’d called his name. I guess we’d come to a decision.

     “Nathan Rush Finlay has a good ring to it,” I agreed.

     She beamed up at me happily and bent her head down to kiss his nose. “Hello Nate. Welcome to the world.”

     I wanted to hold him but he looked like he had decided to go to sleep instead of socializing. Blaire lifted him up and laid him on her shoulder and patted his back softly. I stood there and watched in amazement. This was mine. My family. And they were perfect.