The Secret That Broke Us novel · Chapter 7 of 32

Chapter 7: Anders

My water broke at 3:10 on a Monday morning, three weeks later, at thirty-six weeks and two days.

I was lying on Lena's sofa with a pillow between my knees.

I felt a pop and then a warm rush, and I said, very calmly, "Lena."

She was in the doorway before I finished the word.

She had slept in her clothes since Tuesday, and she was wearing them now, with her glasses already on.

"How far apart?" she asked.

"I haven't had any yet."

"You will."

She picked up her car keys.

"I'm not calling an ambulance," she said. "They'd send three trucks and a priest."

"Lena. Just drive."

She drove like a woman who had listened to a thousand crashes and meant never to be in one.

The first contraction hit as we turned onto the hospital road.

It was bigger than anything the stress labor had done.

I gripped the door handle and breathed.

"Count," Lena said.

"What?"

"Count it, like you count for people. In for four. Out for six."

So I counted.

In my own voice, flat and slow, one, two, three, four.

It helped.

It helped more than it should have, and I thought, I'm doing the same job for myself.

The nurse at the desk had my chart open before I got through the door.

"Mrs. Okerlund."

"June," I said. "Just June."

"You're ready for us." She looked up. "Your husband called at midnight asking if you'd been admitted."

I stopped.

"He called here?"

"He was calling every few hours. We told him we couldn't give out information."

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