“What’s that mean?” I asked, sounding like a complete imbecile.
“It means I’m having a baby and you need to get me to the hospital!” She replied with her jaw clenched and her body hunched over in pain.
“Kid’s got great timing,” I muttered before bending my knees and lifting Adrianna into my arms. I didn’t think twice about carrying her out of the apartment and hurrying down the stairs to my car. The only thing I focused on was getting her to the hospital as quickly as humanly possible. I had never been around a pregnant woman before, and I didn’t know the timeline and shit but I was fucking sure I didn’t want to get stuck delivering A’s kid.
I deposited her into the passenger seat of the car before jogging around to the driver’s seat. I started the car, peeling out of the garage as if I had just robbed a bank. I glanced at Adrianna out of the corner of my eye as she let out a shrill cry.
“Anthony, drive faster!” She begged me as she braced one hand on the dashboard. Her breath was coming in short pants and her face contorted with pain. I pressed down on the gas and grabbed her hand.
Everything faded away, all the pain, the heartache, the years lost, even the pretend hatred – it all just disappeared. The only thing that mattered was that this baby was coming, and it was my job to get Adrianna to the hospital so she could safely deliver her child.
She squeezed my hand tightly as tears slid down her cheeks. “Oh God, here comes another one,” she moaned in pain.
“Breathe baby,” I ground out as she mangled my hand.
“What do you think I’m doing?” She spat through gritted teeth.
Damn, maybe breathing wasn’t the answer. I tried to ponder another way to help through the pain.
“Do you have a name picked out?” I asked hoping that if I got her talking about the happiness of having a baby, maybe she wouldn’t harp too much on the pain factor. She didn’t answer me right away, so I thought I should quit while I was ahead and just get her to damn hospital.
“Francesca if it’s a girl and Luca if it’s a boy,” she said in between breaths.
“Nice Jewish names,” I responded with a smile. She turned around to look at me then, and I winked at her. “You always loved the name Francesca, still plan on calling her Frankie for short?”
“I’m not sure. I think I’ll know that once I see her face for the first time.” Her contractions must have subsided because her voice was almost a whisper. I stole another glance at her, watching on as she caressed her belly through the fabric of her dress. Her eyes met mine, widening instantly as if she just realized something. “Anthony I’m having a baby. I’m going to be a mom,” she said, sounding frightened.
“I know baby,” I responded, giving her hand a soft squeeze. “You will do just fine.” I said reassuringly as I pulled up to Lutheran Medical’s Emergency room, not giving a damn that I parked in the fire lane. I lifted Adrianna out of the car and hurried through the automatic doors.
“We need some help here,” I yelled as I approached the front desk. “She’s in labor.”
“Okay who is the doctor?”
“Dr. Grant,” Adrianna answered as I sat her down into the wheelchair the nurse had brought around for her.
“Okay sweetie, we’ll page him right away. Let’s get you hooked up to a fetal monitor and examine you. Did your water break yet?”
“Yes,” Adrianna responded, looking even more scared than she had before. She turned to look at me, her eyes pleading with mine. “Please don’t go, I don’t think I can do this by myself.”
I stared at her knowing she was capable of nearly anything, even this, but I didn’t tell her that. I couldn’t walk away from her, not in this moment, not this time. I felt like I belonged by her side, like someone had aligned this moment for us. I walked away from this girl before, had been apart from her for three years, but there was a reason I was there tonight, a reason she had gone into labor the night I returned home. I wasn’t about to turn my back on that. I would not turn my back on her and her baby when they needed me, even if it was just so she had a hand to hold onto when she delivered her child. Even though that child wasn’t mine.
“I’m not going anywhere,” I said hoarsely, before bending down to press my lips to her forehead.