Over Before She Loved Me novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: The Uncashed Check

Dustin carried her out of the boardroom himself.

Joelle told him twice that she could walk, and he did not answer either time.

Maureen ran ahead with the thermos and the pillow and the hospital bag.

Dolores brought the car around to the front entrance, in her navy dress, at a speed Dustin had never seen her drive.

"Seat belt," Dolores said from the front.

"Mother, I'm in the back with her."

"Then hold her hand and keep your mouth shut."

He held her hand.

Joelle breathed through the first hard pain with her eyes closed.

"Joelle."

"Don't talk. Count with me."

"One."

"Two."

At the hospital a nurse met them at the curb with a wheelchair.

"Name?" she asked.

"Joelle Hartigan."

"Emergency contact?"

"Dustin Rayburn," Joelle said, gripping his sleeve. "And he stays with me. Don't you dare send him to the waiting room."

The nurse glanced up at Dustin.

"Husband?"

Joelle opened her mouth.

"I'm the father," Dustin said. "And whatever else she lets me be."

The nurse smiled.

"Come on, Dad."

The labor ran fourteen hours.

He stood at the head of the bed for all of them.

Joelle gripped his forearms until the marks stayed.

She swore at him in a voice he had never heard and told him he would never touch her again.

Ten minutes later she asked him to put his hand on her back.

He did what she asked each time.

At four in the morning the doctor said, "It's time."

Joelle looked up at him, gray with exhaustion, her hair stuck to her forehead.

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