My Regretful Ex-Husband novel · Chapter 23 of 24

Chapter 23: Hold My Hand and Be Useful

By nine that night, Wren had stopped being polite to anyone.

"Where is the doctor?"

"On her way," Hallie said, writing a number on a chart. "You're doing beautifully. Breathe."

"I hate breathing."

"I know. Everybody says that about now."

The delivery room was white and bright, with a monitor that beeped in time with a heartbeat that was not hers.

The baby was thirty-three weeks along and in a hurry. A pediatric team waited by a warmer in the corner with their sleeves rolled.

Jonas was in the corridor.

He had ridden in the ambulance.

He had filled in a form with a hand that would not hold the pen.

Then a nurse had asked who the support person was.

"Hallie," Wren had said, between two breaths.

He had not argued. He had said, "Of course," and stepped back, and let the door close.

He had been out there for four hours.

Hallie knew because she kept looking at the little window in the door.

It showed the back of his head, and sometimes his shoulder, as he paced.

"He's wearing a groove in my hospital's floor," Hallie said.

"Good."

"He's been to the vending machine three times and he doesn't eat anything."

"Good."

A contraction took Wren by the spine and bent her over.

It lasted a long time.

When it was over she lay back, gasping, with wet hair stuck to her forehead.

She thought of the driver he had sent to the diagnosis meeting.

She thought of a black notebook with thirty-six pages in it.

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