The 23rd Deletion Bride novel · Chapter 16 of 24

Chapter 16: Twenty-Two Weeks

Four months went by in lawyers' offices and doctors' waiting rooms.

At twenty-two weeks, my body picked two in the morning to tell me what stress costs.

The first cramp woke me in Hattie's loft.

The second one folded me in half on the edge of the bed.

Hattie was in another city, running a wedding.

I did not call her.

I picked up my phone, and the name I had in my hand was Cullen's.

He answered on the first ring, wide awake.

"It's Linnea. I'm having pains. They're coming every few minutes."

"I'm six minutes away," he said. "Don't stand up. Unlock the door and sit on the floor."

He made it in five.

He was in a coat over a T-shirt and pajama pants, and he had not stopped to put on socks.

He picked me up off the floor without asking and carried me down the stairs to his car.

I put my arms around his neck and my face against his collar, and I let him.

The cramps eased on the road.

My fear didn't.

"If I lose her," I said into his collar.

"You won't."

"You don't know that."

"No," he said. "I know I'm driving as fast as I can, and I know the hospital is expecting us."

At the hospital they put me on a bed under a bright light with two belts across my stomach.

A doctor with tired eyes read the monitor strip and nodded.

"These are contractions, early ones. The baby looks fine, and her heart rate is steady."

"Her?" I said.

"I shouldn't have said. It's a girl."

I put my hand over my mouth.

"Your body's telling you it's tired," the doctor said. "Fluids, rest, no more fourteen-hour days. We'll watch you till morning."

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